Department of Cell and Molecular Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics

This is a period of consummate opportunity for students or postdoctoral fellows who may be interested in entering the department. A significant transformation, both at the infrastructural and faculty levels, has taken place in the last few years. Renovated laboratory space and additional core facilities have been created on the third floor of the Basic Science Building to house both existing and newly recruited faculty in an environment that will foster research, education and teaching. The department has recently recruited faculty whose interests encompass disease-oriented research that includes drug discovery/ development in cancer; stress response with special emphasis on redox pathways; and G protein receptors in aging and neurological disorders, kinase signaling and cancer, neurological research in ALS. The Proteomics Center is also housed within the department, and provides an opportunity for students and postdoctoral fellows to gain expertise that will prepare them for careers in academics or the pharmaceutical sector. In addition, this research effort now focuses upon biomarkers in human pathologies. Highly advanced Bruker instrumentation fosters this effort. Faculty members in Pharmacology hold two South Carolina Centers of Excellence Chairs and funded programmatic efforts emphasize our strengths in signaling and drug development.The COBRE grant in Redox and Oxidative Signaling supports five independent faculty members and three core facilities and provides a strong focus on how redox chemistry and biochemistry interface with pharmacology. Partly as a consequence of these research strengths, in terms of NIH national ranking, the Department is now 27th out of 100 in terms of Medical School Pharmacology Departments. A creditable performance considering the relative sizes of departments at other Medical Schools. Using this same algorithm, the Chair of the Department ranks in the top 2 percentile of Pharmacology researchers nationally.

Interdisciplinary research endeavors with the College of Pharmacy, other departments within the College of Medicine or with the Hollings Cancer Center ensure a broad base of educational possibilities. New faculty recruitment will continue over the next five to six years, resulting in a progressive environment. The utility of drugs in the management of disease is not likely to diminish. Our department offers a wonderful opportunity to participate in, and contribute to, a greater understanding of drugs and how they work - all in a geographic location conducive to a high quality of life.

In the News

"MUSC Lands $10.5 Million COBRE Grant"
"Pharmacology Majors Among Most Hired Graduates"
"Chairs Created to Create Economy"
"Clyburn Center Opens New Era"
Student Exposure Day Slideshow
"Searching Globe for Healing Plants: MUSC Scientist on Mission to Help Prevent Cancer"
Slideshow of Pharmacology Get-together 8/20
An interview with Dr. Michael Wargovich
"Rooting Out National Treasure"
"New SmartState Endowed Chair Richard Drake, PhD, to Lead MUSC's Proteomics Center"
Breast Cancer Researcher Dr. Carola Neumann wins $1.4 million Department of Defense grant

Recent Publications

Liu Y, Conaway L, Rutherford Bethard J, Al-Alyoubi AM, Thompson Bradley A, Zheng H, Weed SA, Eblen ST. Phosphorylation of the alternative mRNA SPF45 by Clk1 regulates its splice site utilization, cell migration and invasion. Nucleic Acids Res. 2013 Mar 21. [Epub ahead of print]

Nagel AK, Schilling M, Comte-Walters S, Berkaw MN, Ball LE. Identification of O-GlcNAc modified osteoblast proteins by electron transfer dissociation tandem mass spectrometry reveals proteins critical for bone formation. Mol Cell Proteomics. 2013 Feb 26. [Epub ahead of print]

Manevich Y, Hutchens S, Tew KD, Townsend DM. Allelic variants of glutathione S-transferase P1-1 differentially mediate the peroxidase function of peroxiredoxin VI and alter membrane lipid peroxidation. Free Radic Biol Med. 2013 Jan;54:62-70.

Kwon M, Pavlov TS, Nozu K, Rasmussen SA, Ilatovskaya DV, Lerch-Gaggl A, North LM, Kim H, Qian F, Sweeney WE, Avner ED, Blumer JB, Staruschenko A and Park F. “G-protein signaling modulator 1 deficiency acceleratescystic disease in an orthologous mouse model of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease” Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2012 Dec 10

Gan L, Vargas MR, Johnson DA, Johnson, JA. “Astrocyte-Specific Overexpression of Nrf2 Delays Motor Pathology and Synuclein Aggregation throughout the CNS in the Alpha-Synuclein Mutant (A53T) Mouse Model” Neuro, 2012 Dec 5. pii: 32(49):17775–17787.