Pharmacy Research Day celebrates innovative research at the college

The College of Pharmacy held its 16th Annual Research Day on March 31, with in-person and virtual celebrations and poster presentations starting March 28.

Research Day provided faculty, residents, staff and students the opportunity to present their research projects and findings and network with other potential collaborators. This year’s event included two days of poster presentations by students, residents, faculty, research staff and post-doctoral researchers from throughout the college.

On March 31, recipients from the 2021 Dean’s Innovative Research Awards presented on their work funded by the grants. Macarius Donneyong, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of outcomes and translational sciences, presented on his research titled, "High Order Drug-Drug Interactions in the Emergency Department Among Older Patient Populations.” Due to the start-up funding provided by the Dean’s Innovative Research Award, Dr. Donneyong applied and received a NIH grant for this work. Christopher Coss, PhD, assistant professor of pharmaceutics and pharmacology, presented his research titled “Effective Targeting of the Androgren Receptor in Heptocellular Carcinoma (HCC),” co-authored by Tom Li, PhD, associate professor of medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy. 

Research Day’s 2022 keynote address was presented by Adeboye Adejare, PhD, professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of the Sciences Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. Dr. Adejare’s research is geared towards the discovery of novel compounds that can be used to probe mechanisms and for treatment of neurodegeneration as observed in Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders, anti-cancer drug discovery, pharmaceutical profiling and drug targeting. His keynote address was titled, “Rethinking CNS Drug Discovery.”

Finally, awards were presented for the 2022 Research Day poster competition. This year’s Research Day poster winners include:

Dean’s Innovative Research Award Winners:

Title: “Damage-Associated Molecular Patterns in Chemotherapy Toxicity”
Authors: Sharyn Baker, PharmD, PhD, and Alex Sparreboom, PhD

Title: “A Chemical Biology Approach for Predicting OATP1B-Type Transporter-Mediated DDI Liability”
Authors: Shuiying Hu, PhD, and Blake Peterson, PhD

Resident, PharmD and Undergraduate Student Division:

First Place $500
Presenter: Carissa Tedeschi and Whitney Jones
Title: “Role of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus/Methicillin-Sensitive Staphylococcus Aureus Polymerase Chain Reaction Nasal Swab in Antibiotic De-Escalation in Critically Ill Immunocompromised and Immunocompetent Patients with Pnemonia.”
Authors: Carissa M Tedeschi, Whitney L Jones, Claire V Murphy

Second Place $250
Presenter: Deborah Ipinmoroti
Title: “Initial Construction and Evaluation of Flag-Tagged DNA Topoisomerase IIα/170 (TOP2α/170) Isoforms: Potential Role of Carboxyl Terminal Amino Acids in top TOP2α/90 in Acquired Drug Resistance”   
Authors: Deborah S Ipinmoroti, Victor A Hernandez, Jessika J Carvajal, Xinyi Wang, Jack C Yalowich, and Terry S Elton 

Post-Doctoral Researcher and Research Staff Division:

First Place $500 
Presenter: Yang Li, Ph.D.
Title: “Discovery and validation of OATP1B biomarkers for predicting transporter mediated drug-drug interactions”
Authors: Yang Li, Hanieh Taheri, Yan Jin, Alice A Gibson, Eric D Eisenmann, Sharyn D Baker, Alex Sparreboom, and Shuiying Hu

Second Place $250
Presenter: Erick Carlson, Ph.D.
Title: “Fluorescent Detection of Production of Peroxynitrite by Phagocytic Cells in Cancer”
Authors: Erick J Carlson, Himanshu Savardekar, Steven Sun, Gabriella Lapurga, Xiaojun Hu, William E Carson, and Blake R Peterson

CCTS Translational Science Award: $500

Presenter: Qinqin Fei
Title: “Macrophage-Specific Nanoparticle Delivery of Micro-RNAs to Mitigate Ventilator-Induced Lung Injury”
Authors: Qinqin Fei, Christopher Bobba, Samir Ghadiali and Joshua Englert

Graduate Student Division:

First Place: $500
Presenter: Charmaine Lindsay
Title: “Penicillim aurantiacobrunneum as a Promising Source of Cytotoxic Compounds”
Authors: Charmaine A Lindsay, Choon Y Tan, Gerardo D Anaya-Eugenio, Chad A Rappleye, Richard J Spjut, Esperanza Carcache de Blanco,  Alan D Kinghorn, Harinantenaina L Rakotondraibe 

Second Place: $250
Presenter: Muhammad Erfan Uddin
Title: “Contribution of MATE1 to Dofetilide-Induced Proarrhythmia”
Authors: Muhammad Erfan Uddin, Yan Jin, Alice A Gibson, Alec Millar, Przemyslaw Radwanski, Cynthia A. Carnes, Shuiying Hu, and Alex Sparreboom