Pharmacology examines and characterizes the action of drugs in humans and animals. It emphasizes the therapeutic responses of drugs, their mechanisms of action, the fate of drugs in the body, potential adverse reactions, and drug-drug interactions. Physiology considers processes that control and regulate the functioning of systems within an intact organism.
Basic physiological processes underlie all fields in biomedical science. Understanding and exploiting the specific actions of drugs can also furnish a way to probe physiological and biochemical processes in both normal and pathological circumstances. Research in pharmacology and physiology provides challenging and exciting opportunities for graduate study.
The Pharmacology & Physiology graduate students held a potluck to celebrate the return to the lab this summer.
2025 ASPET Meeting Awards
The Pharmacology and Physiology program was well represented at the recent American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) 2025 meeting in Portland, Oregon. Breanna Channer, Marzieh Daniali, Simran Gill and Katelyn Reeb received ASPET travel awards. Tofunmi Oteju and Clara Xu received Daniel T. O’Connor Young Investigator Travel Awards from the Catecholamine Society. Katelyn Reeb won best graduate student poster presentation award in the neuropharmacology division. Congratulations to all!
2024 Mid-Atlantic Pharmacology Society Meeting Awards
The 2024 MAPS Annual Meeting was held on November 8 and included a poster competition. In the graduate student poster category, Geena John (Jackson Lab) won first prize.
Discovery Day 2024 Winners
Congratulations to the following Pharmacology & Physiology program students for their awards at Discovery Day: Katelyn Reeb (Bondi Fellowship); Oluwatofunmi Oteju (Outstanding Senior Graduate Student Poster Honorable Mention); and Jason Wickman (Outstanding Postdoctoral Fellows Poster 2nd Place). View photo gallery.
We congratulate the following master’s and PhD students from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Studies on the successful defense of their theses. Read more.
2024 AY Dean’s Fellowship for Excellence in Collaborative or Themed Research
The Graduate School is excited to announce this year’s recipients of the Dean’s Fellowship for Excellence in Collaborative or Themed Research. This fellowship is designed to support PhD-Track students with innovative research projects to further develop their research experience. These students will receive financial support for twelve months in the form of a scholarship in addition to funds for supplies or conference attendance. Please join us in congratulating the following student on this achievement: Deepa Reddy, PhD candidate, Pharmacology and Physiology program, mentored by Dr. Ajit.
Congratulations Sim, Tofunmi and Geena
Simran Gill (A. Mortensen lab) and Tofunmi Oteju (Gaskill lab) were chosen to give oral presentations and Geena John (Jackson lab) won best graduate student poster award at the PCSFN (pcsfn.org) meeting. View photos.
Dean’s Travel Award
Congratulations to Deepa Reddy, recipient of the Dean’s Travel Award for the spring 2024 award cycle. Reddy is a PhD candidate in the Pharmacology & Physiology program. The Dean’s Travel Award is meant to partially defray the cost of attending a scientific meeting at which a graduate student is making a presentation, that is related to the student’s graduate study.
"Responsible Genes for Neuronal Migration in the Chromosome 17p13.3: Beyond Pafah1b1(Lis1), Crk and Ywhae(14-3-3ε)"
Xiaonan Liu, Sarah A. Bennison, Lozen Robinson, Kazuhito Toyo-Oka
Brain Sci. 2022, 12, 56
"Mechanisms of neuronal dysfunction in HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders"
Irollo E, Luchetta J, Ho C, Nash B, Meucci O
Cell Mol Life Sci. 2021 May;78(9):4283-4303
"Human mini brains and spinal cords in a dish: Modeling strategies, current challenges, and prospective advances"
Kofman, S., Mohan, N., Sun, X., Ibric, L., Piermarini, E., Qiang, L.
Journal of tissue engineering, 13, 20417314221113391. (2022)
"Double life: How GRK2 and β-arrestin signaling participate in diseases"
Zhai R, Snyder J, Montgomery S, Sato PY
Cell Signal. 2022 Jun;94:110333
"Myocardial GRK2 Reduces Fatty Acid Metabolism and β-Adrenergic Receptor-Mediated Mitochondrial Responses"
Zhai R, Varner EL, Rao A, Karhadkar S, Di Carlo A, Snyder NW, Sato PY
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Mar 3;23(5):2777
"Subsets of cancer cells expressing CX3CR1 are endowed with metastasis-initiating properties and resistance to chemotherapy"
DiNatale, A., Kaur, R., Qian, C., Zhang, J., Marchioli, M., Ipe, D., Castelli, M., McNair, C. M., Kumar, G., Meucci, O., Fatatis, A.
Oncogene, 41(9), 1337–1351. (2022)
"Co-receptor signaling in the pathogenesis of neuroHIV"
Nickoloff-Bybel EA, Festa L, Meucci O, Gaskill PJ
Retrovirology. 2021 Aug 24;18(1):24
"Circulating microRNAs from the mouse tibia fracture model reflect the signature from patients with complex regional pain syndrome"
Wickman JR, Luo X, Li W, Jean-Toussaint R, Sahbaie P, Sacan A, Clark JD, Ajit SK
Pain Rep. 2021 Aug 24;6(3):e950
"Therapeutic Strategies for Mutant SPAST-Based Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia"
Mohan, N., Qiang, L., Morfini, G., Baas, P. W.
Brain sciences, 11(8), 1081. (2021)