2010 News

people discuss research results
Table of contents Introduction Budget significance Reasons for past success A decade of funding for bioinformatics New drug discovery directions attract support Research stalwarts draw funding for decades New directions in translational research attract support Expansion of the School’s research agenda brings support New roads to continued funding leadership Clinical department focuses on research Getting that initial grant Great science is the goal
The implantable bioartificial kidney is explained in this December 6, 2010, SmartPlanet video featuring Shuvo Roy, PhD, a faculty member in the UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine.
Roy
Shuvo Roy, PhD, an engineer and research scientist, is leading a U.S. project to build the world’s first bioartificial kidney to treat end stage renal disease. The goal is to surgically implant this coffee-cup-sized device in a human patient within 5 to 7 years. The bioartificial kidney both filters toxins from the blood and performs many of the metabolic functions of the healthy kidney. And, the bioartificial kidney requires no batteries or external pumps.
Ortiz de Montellano
Paul Ortiz de Montellano, PhD, is the newly appointed associate dean of research in the UCSF School of Pharmacy. The associate dean of research advises the UCSF School of Pharmacy dean and leaders on research trends, issues, and opportunities and represents the School's research agenda to the campus. Ortiz de Montellano is a professor in the School's Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry.
Giacomini
Kathy Giacomini, PhD, co-chair of the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine, will receive the 2010 Therapeutic Frontiers Lecture Award from the American College of Clinical Pharmacy on October 17, 2010, in Austin, Texas at ACCP's annual meeting. The Frontiers Lecture recognizes scientists who have made outstanding contributions to pharmacotherapeutics.
academic ranking
UCSF, Harvard University, and Stanford University have been ranked as the top three world universities in the broad subject fields of clinical medicine and pharmacy in the 2010 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), which was released on August 15, 2010, by the Center for World-Class Universities of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. UCSF has remained among the top three universities in clinical medicine and pharmacy since this ranking category was introduced by ARWU in 2007.
A national research project is under way to develop an surgically implantable bioartificial kidney using the latest advances in science and technology with the goal of both improving the health and lives of patients with end stage renal disease and saving health care dollars. The Kidney Project team is led by Shuvo Roy, PhD, in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine.
Fischbach
Michael Fischbach, PhD, is the recipient of a 2010 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award from the National Institutes of Health. Fischbach is a faculty member in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine.
Koda-Kimble
Fresh UCSF Leadership: Desmond-Hellmann, Bluestone, Plotts, Harel, Moss, Hawgood, Featherstone; Leadership Transitions: Debas, Feachem, Dracup; UCSF Economic Impact Report; UCSF Operations and Budget Cuts: 3 campus work groups, 3 fiscal challenges, $28 million cut; UCSF Physical and Program Plans: Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research; The School in Context; New and Departing Faculty Members: Shu, Brock, Dill; Faculty H
Giacomini
Kathy Giacomini, PhD, co-chair of the UCSF Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences and an expert in the field of pharmacogenomics, is leading two research projects funded by two grants totaling $15.1 million over the next five years to expand research into how genes affect an individual's response to medication and to strengthen a global network of researchers involved in these efforts.
Roy
The model for a surgically implantable bioartificial kidney the size of a coffee cup has been unveiled by the national project's lead researcher, Shuvo Roy, PhD, a member of the UCSF Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences. The device is intended to give patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) the health benefits of a kidney transplant while addressing the limited number of donors.
Fischbach
Michael Fischbach, PhD, a faculty member in UCSF’s Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, is one of two recipients of the 2010 Young Investigator Grant for Probiotics Research. The announcement was made August 2, 2010, by The Global Products Council, which funds the program to contribute to the advancement of probiotics and gastrointestinal microbiota research in the United States.
Genetic ancestry
Genetic ancestry can tell more about a person's potential lung function than the self-identified racial profile commonly used to determine normal lung function reference standards, according to the results of research led by UCSF and Northwestern University. "When we force patients into an individual box, such as 'African-American' or 'Caucasian', we're missing a lot of genetic information," noted the study's senior author Esteban G.
key women in science research and education at UCSF
Four members of the UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty have been named from among a list of 14 as key women in science research and education at UCSF. They are (pictured left-to-right):
Burchard
Asthma specialist and genetics researcher, Esteban G. Burchard, MD, MPH, joint faculty member in the UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine, discusses the differences in the incidence of asthma and response to asthma drugs among various subgroups within the larger Latino population. His goal is to find the underlying genetic reasons for these differences and to use this knowledge to improve asthma treatment. The report appeared April 27, 2010, on ABC 7 TV.
For his historic contributions to what is now known about the rate at which drugs are broken down and "cleared" from the body, Leslie Benet, PhD, was honored by the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ASCPT) with the Oscar B. Hunter Memorial Award in Therapeutics. The award was presented on March 20, 2010, at the ASCPT annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.
Koda-Kimble
Mary Anne Koda-Kimble, PharmD, dean of the UCSF School of Pharmacy, has been named by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) as the 2010 recipient of the Robert K. Chalmers Distinguished Pharmacy Educator Award. The award will be presented during the 2010 AACP Annual Meeting and Seminars in Seattle, Washington, to be held July 10-14.
Koda-Kimble
UCSF School of Pharmacy Dean Mary Anne Koda-Kimble, PharmD, will receive the 2010 Remington Honor Medal from the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) on March 13, 2010, at APhA’s annual meeting in Washington, DC. The medal is the profession’s highest honor.
Koda-Kimble
Research: 30th anniversary as the nation's top National Institutes of Health-funded pharmacy school, Lightwood, Mandell, Kortemme, Coutsias, Keiser, Shoichet, Irwin, Laggner, Hert, Thomas, Edwards, Voigt, Levskaya, Lim, Weiner, Craik, Darragh, Schneider, Farady, Lou, Marks, Phojanakong, Hann. Faculty honors and awards: Stebbins, Levens Lipton, Benet, Giacomini, Gazzaley, Yee, Hessol, Roy. Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences inaugural forum.
symposium
In the first symposium held by the newly minted UCSF Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, researchers described progress in the fields of systems biology, pharmacogenomics, and bioengineering, and how scientists in these fields are working in concert to develop novel diagnostics and therapeutics to effectively and safely diagnose and treat disease.
Esteban G. Burchard, MD, MPH
Burchard participates in a panel and explains the differences between race and ethnicity and more with NPR’s Science Friday aired January 15, 2010.