Pacific University School of Pharmacy offers several competitive Summer Research Awards to Pacific University undergraduate students. The award offers 8-weeks research experiences at the School of Pharmacy research laboratory in the summer.

This award is ideal for students interested in pharmaceutical research and applying to Pharmacy School. Students will be paired with a faculty mentor and participate in ongoing research. Summer research will typically be performed between June 5th and July 28th, 2017. In addition, accepted students will be paid a salary or stipend of up to $3,500. Students are responsible for housing and transportation during the summer research period.

Applications should be submitted by April 15th for full consideration and no later than May 1st.

Application Process:

1.  Fill out the application form

2.  Select and rank up to four faculty members that you are interested in doing research with (see research profiles below)

3.  Provide contact address, email and phone number of two references

4.  Please submit complete application (one document) via email to:

Sigrid Roberts, PhD

Assistant Dean for Pharmaceutical Sciences

School of Pharmacy Summer Research Award

Application Form

Name:

Address:

Contact phone number and email:

Why do you want to participate in research? (max. 200 words)

What type of research/project interests you most? (max. 100 words)

Describe previous laboratory experience. Be sure to specify your individual contributions, strengths and challenges. (max. 200 words)

What are your expectations for a summer research experience? (max. 100 words)

Why are you interested in pharmaceutical research and the pharmacy profession? (max. 100 words)

Provide any additional information that you would like us to consider as a part of this application: (max. 200 words)

Please rank up to four faculty members that your are interested in working with:

1. ______

2. ______

3. ______

4. ______

References (Names, positions, phone number, email):

1.

2.

Faculty members and research profiles

Nicola Carter:

Our laboratory interests are centered on how the human pathogen Leishmania donovani interacts with its host environment to acquire purines - essential nutrients for parasite growth and pathogenesis. The research in my laboratory is focused in two main areas of purine metabolism: (1) Characterization of the molecular components used in the capture of purine from the host environment and the evaluation of these components as potential drug targets. (2) Delineation of the signaling pathways and responses that enable parasite survival during prolonged bouts of purine starvation. Both projects offer the potential for training in cell culture, molecular and cellular biology, protein chemistry, and proteomic technologies.

Leslie Devaud:

The overall focus of my research is to improve our understanding of the neurobiological basis for behaviors; particularly those behaviors associated with stress, anxiety and/ or alcohol dependence. I have two projects: The first (1) is to assess changes in protein levels in selected mouse brain areas from animals that have been binge drinking and/ or exposed to repeated stress. My OHSU collaborator runs the behavioral component and then I study the brains. (2) The second project is to use the zebrafish vertebrate animal model to explore sex differences in anxiety-like behaviors induced by a repeated, mild stressor. Once we have characterized the behavioral paradigm, we will initiate studies looking for sex-selective effects on gene expression.

Fawzy Elbarbry:

My research interests revolve around two main projects related to drug metabolism: 1) Studying the Effect of Herbal Remedies on Drug Metabolizing Enzymes, and 2) Studying the Effect of Herbal Remedies on Arachidonic Acid Metabolism as a Target for Hypertension Treatment. Our research in the last 5 years has discovered several small and natural molecules (e.g. sulforaphane from broccoli) that inhibit the endogenous metabolism of arachidonic acid and reduces blood pressure in hypertension animal models. Additionally, we investigated the potential effect of these molecules on drug metabolizing enzymes to predict possible herb-drug interactions

John Harrelson:

1. Cinnamon andSmoking Cessation:This project focuses on investigating cinnamonaldehyde (cinnamon oil)and structural analogs of cinnamic aldehyde as potential smoking cessation agents. It involves in vitro-in vivo pharmacokinetic extrapolation to estimate clinical relevance of changes in nicotine metabolism, molecular modeling, and enzyme inhibition/kinetic studies.This project is funded by an award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. 2. Drug-drug interactions involving letrozole (a breast cancer drug): This project involves work to understand the basis for the broad interpatient variability in letrozole pharmacokinetics and mechanistic studies to understand unexpected interactionsbetween letrozole andazole antifungals. Both projects involve HPLC and LC-MS to quantify the concentration of metabolites and the parent drug, and in vitro metabolism techniques.

Ashim Malhotra:

The overall goal of the Malhotra lab is investigating the role of the mitochondria in health and diseases. Specifically, our current focus is to elucidate the role of mitochondrial proteins and phospholipids in two unrelated diseases, a pediatric cardiomyopathy, and pancreatic cancer. We use molecular biology/pharmacology techniques to understand the molecular processes that govern and regulate changes that result in these diseases. The Malhotra lab is ably supported by a Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Badejo, who provides training and supervision to interested students.

Deepa Rao:

Development of formulations for drug delivery of compounds with low aqueous solubility for disease states like cancer and Alzheimer's to be tested in vitro in cell culture models. Students will gain experience in analytical techniques like HPLC, fluorescence and cell culture based assays. Students interested in compounding pharmacy will be provided with an opportunity to work on stability of extemporaneous formulations. Students, as part of this rotation will learn to analyze data, perform preliminary statistical analysis and present their data to faculty. Depending on the project they may also potentially prepare a poster or manuscript for presentation at a local, regional or national meeting.

Sigrid Roberts:

The overall objective of my research is to characterize and therapeutically validate the polyamine pathway of the protozoan parasiteLeishmania, which causes devastating and often fatal diseases in humans worldwide. Polyamines are essential cations that are especially important for rapidly proliferating cells such as parasites. The polyamine biosynthetic pathway inLeishmaniais essential for parasite survival and significantly disparate from the host’s mechanism of polyamine production. A variety of genetic, cell and molecular biology, as well as tissue culture techniques are being used to study the importance of polyamines for parasite proliferation, survival, and infectivity.

Brendan Stamper:

Structure-toxicity relationships can be used to pinpoint the structural elements in a compound responsible for propagating toxicologic effects. Research in my lab primarily utilizes comparative transcriptomic (gene expression) approaches to identify biomarkers critical to propagating xenobiotic-induced liver injury. Projects currently underway include structure-toxicity studies investigating the mechanisms associated with the differential hepatotoxic outcomes observed in comparisons between structurally similar compounds like acetaminophen and 3-hydroxyacetanilide or diquat and paraquat. Techniques most commonly utilized in these studies include tissue culture, cell-based assays, immunoblotting, qPCR, microarray, and online data repository mining and analysis.

2