Two Adams graduate students were selected to present posters and papers to the Graduate Student Symposium in Analysis and Pharmaceutical Quality at the Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) in San Diego, November 11-15, 2007. This program recognizes excellence in graduate education in the fields of pharmaceutics, bioanalytical chemistry and pharmaceutical analysis, and is sponsored by UCB Pharma. Four students were selected from all applicants for this award.
Kristin Price, a doctoral student from St. Joseph, Missouri and Pradyot Nandi, a doctoral student from Kolkata, India, received cash awards of $250, commemorative plaques and complimentary registration and travel expenses to the Annual Meeting. Kristin’s poster and presentation were titled “Tissue-Targeted Metabonomics: Implications of Basal Metabolism Studies for Data Collection and Interpretation.” She is a student in the Craig Lunte Research Group, located in room 240 MRB. Kristin stated that “I was honored to be recognized by the AAPS APQ section through their Graduate Student Award. Through this award, I was given the opportunity to present my research and interact with leading pharmaceutical scientists as well as my peers.” Pradyot’s poster and presentation were titled “Development of a Microdialysis-microchip Capillary Electrophoresis System for Simultaneously Monitoring Blood Brain Barrier Permeability and Concentration of Brain Neurotransmitters.” Pradyot is a student in the Sue Lunte Research Group, 210 MRB. Congratulations to Kristin and Pradyot for their excellent work, and best wishes as they complete their doctoral programs next year and move forward in their careers.
Congratulations to Kalonie Hulbutta, graduate student in Sue Lunte’s Research Group, for placing first in the Geosciences division at the Annual Conference of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) held Oct. 11 – 14 in Kansas City, MO. Kalonie’s oral presentation, “Using GIS and LiDAR for Modeling and Visualization of Localized Sea Level Rise” was based on her undergraduate research at Haskell Indian Nations University, where she received a BS in Environmental Science in May of 2007. During her Junior and Senior years at Haskell, Kalonie conducted research on sea level rise as an undergraduate fellow with the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS). CReSIS continues to support her as she makes the transition to graduate school at KU and participates in the Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP). Kalonie plans to enter graduate school in the Pharmaceutical Chemistry department in the fall of 2008.
Sitta Sittampalam will join the Kansas University Cancer Center as its deputy director, KU announced Monday.
Sittampalam comes to KU after a career in the pharmaceutical industry, including 23 years at Eli Lilly and Co. KU hopes that bringing Sittampalam on board will help turn molecular biology discoveries into disease-fighting drugs. Full article on the Lawrence Journal World Online.
The University of Kansas, in collaboration with Creighton and Northeastern Universities, has been awarded a 5 year $2.2 million dollar grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to identify possible treatments for cocaine abuse. The project entitled "Peptidic Kappa Opioid Receptor Ligands as Potential Treatments for Drug Addiction,” is headed by Dr. Jane Aldrich, Professor of Medicinal Chemistry in the School of Pharmacy at KU in collaboration with Dr. Kenneth Audus, Dean of the School of Pharmacy and Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, and Dr. Susan Lunte, R. N. Adams Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, at the University of Kansas, Dr. Thomas Murray, Chair and Professor of Pharmacology at Creighton University School of Medicine, and Dr. Jay McLaughlin, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University.
Cocaine is a major illegal drug of abuse, with nearly 2 million cocaine users in the U.S., but there is currently no medication available to treat cocaine abuse and addiction. The researchers will examine compounds synthesized in Dr. Aldrich's laboratory for their ability to block cocaine-seeking behavior in animal models. Stress can cause animals or people who have quit taking cocaine to begin taking the drug again. Particularly exciting are recent results showing that compounds that block kappa opioid receptors, including compounds identified in Dr. Aldrich's laboratory, can block this reinstatement of drug seeking behavior caused by stress. The project involves examining the compounds synthesized in Dr. Aldrich's laboratory for their ability to cross into the brain to reach their site of action and the evaluation of their biological activity both in cell culture and in animal models. The goal of the research is to identify compounds that can modify cocaine-seeking behavior and that can lead to treatments for cocaine abuse.
