Rising Researchers

More Than 50 Podium, Poster Presentations from UHCOP Labs Showcased at PPS Research Symposium

Aug. 14 — The University of Houston College of Pharmacy's (UHCOP) Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences hosted its 2024 PPS Research Symposium Aug. 7-8, which featured 19 podium and 46 poster presentations by graduate and undergraduate students as well as postdoctoral fellows showcasing their work conducted in UHCOP labs and/or in collaboration with UHCOP faculty members.

Through oral and poster presentations, the rising researchers discussed their investigations into such wide-ranging debilitating or deadly ailments ranging from cancer, spinal cord and kidney injuries, and drug misuse to cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, infectious, and musculoskeletal diseases as well as drug delivery systems and optimization.

The presentation award winners were:

• Graduate Student Oral Presentation — First place, Ph.D. candidate Fatima Dagher for "Effect of Combination of Calcipotriol with Paclitaxel on Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Mouse Model," and second place, Ph.D. candidate Anika Nusrat for "Numb Family Proteins in Epicardium Regulate Epicardial Cells Differentation and Ventricular Patterning During Development" 
• Graduate Student Poster — First place, Ph.D. candidate Josef Fowler for "Proton pump inhibitors alter macrophages and neutrophil function through H/K ATPase-dependent and independent effects: a systematic literature review," and second place, Ph.D. student Songpol Srinual for "Validation of LC-MS/MS Method for the Quantification of Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate (DHEAS) and Phase-2 Metabolites of Several Hormones in Rat's Plasma and Bile Samples"
• Postdoctoral Fellow Oral Presentation — First place, Luqi Zhao, Ph.D., for "Numb Family Proteins regulate ventricular compaction by modulating the autophagic flux," and second place, Sunil Lingaraju, Ph.D., for "Expression, Purification and Characterization of the C1-C2B Domain of Munc13-1 for Ligand Binding and Crystallization Studies"
• Undergraduate Poster Presentation — Tamima Tahsin for "Immunogenic Neopeptides from Novel Chimeric RNA EGFR-CDK6 as Vaccine Candidates for Brain Cancer Treatment"

In addition to the podium and poster presentations by the budding researchers, attendees also gained insights from the symposium's 2024 Scholar-in-Residence Christopher R. McCurdy, Ph.D., R.Ph., FAAPS. McCurdy serves as associate dean for Faculty Development, professor of medicinal chemistry and Frank A. Duckworth Eminent Scholar Chair in Drug Research and Development at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy. He also serves as director of the UF Translational Drug Development Core. 

His research is centered on the design, synthesis, and development of drugs for treating pain, anxiety, and substance use disorders. He is an internationally recognized expert on kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) and has developed a PET/MR imaging diagnostic agent for visualizing the origins of chronic neuropathic pain, with Phase 1 and 2 human clinical trials currently underway.

A fellow and past president of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), McCurdy currently serves as a consultant to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee and co-chair of the Special Interest Group on Drug Design and Discovery of the International Pharmaceutical Federation.

During the symposium, McCurdy presented a scientific lecture, "Translational Development of a Tool to Visualize Pain in Humans," and a career development talk, "From Pharmacist to Medicinal Chemist and Beyond."