Molecular Pharmacology

About

Aorta AntagonistResearch in Molecular Pharmacology at UVA focuses on mechanisms by which hormones, neurotransmitters, autacoids, synthetic chemical agents, and toxins modulate biological processes.It draws on all traditional basic science fields to provide a synthetic understanding of how drug targets regulate normal physiological mechanisms and contribute to pathophysiology of disease.  Thus, pharmacologists work to identify drug targets with the ultimate goal of intervening — with rational and effective drug therapy — in signaling cascades and metabolic pathways that have gone awry.  Such intervention requires understanding of the major organismal control systems and identification of defects in these systems that occur with disease.

The Pharmacological Sciences Training Program at the University of Virginia encompasses the breadth of this discipline and provides students with a solid foundation for lifelong careers in pharmacology.  The diverse expertise of the pharmacology faculty provides training opportunities that encompass molecular and cellular biology in the context of whole animal physiology, drug discovery and translational medicine. Students are supported by the Pharmacological Sciences Training Grant, now in its 48th year.  Visit our pharmacology page here.

 

Faculty

  • Ai, Huiwang

    Molecular Biosensors; Spatiotemporal Regulation of Biological Signaling; Protein Engineering for Imaging, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics

  • Barrett, Paula Q.

    Regulation of low-voltage activated T-type Ca2+ channel activity by kinases and heterotrimeric G-proteins and their roles in physiological responses.

  • Bayliss, Douglas A.

    Mechanisms of neuromodulation in central neurons

  • Beenhakker, Mark P.

    Circuit mechanisms of sleep and epilepsy

  • Bland, Michelle

    Molecular mechanisms linking innate immune and insulin signaling to control cell growth and metabolism

  • Bochkis, Irina

    Epigenetic and genetic mechanisms underlying metabolic disease

  • Bourne, Philip E

    Data Science

  • Bushweller, John H.

    Drug Development Targeting Transcription Drivers in Cancer; Structure/Function Studies of Transcription Factor Drivers in Cancer

  • Chalfant, Charles Edward

    Hematology and Oncology, Cell Biology, Lipid Signaling, Cancer Cell Signaling, and RNA Biology

  • Civelek, Mete

    Systems Genetics Approaches to Understand Cardiometabolic Traits

  • Creutz, Carl E.

    Calcium-dependent, membrane-binding proteins and mechanisms of exocytosis

  • Desai, Bimal N.

    Ion channels and Ca2+-signaling in inflammation, immunity and tissue homeostasis

  • Engel, Daniel A.

    Drug Discovery and Molecular Biology of Pathogenic RNA viruses: Ebola, SARS-CoV-2, Influenza and Zika

  • Fallahi-Sichani, Mohammad

    Cancer systems biology, Single-cell quantitative biology, Computational modeling

  • Felder, Robin A.

    Clinical Chemistry and Toxicology. Medical Automation Research. Neurotransmitters, cell surface receptors and intracellular second messengers.

  • French, Brent A.

    Novel Therapies for Treating and Preventing Ischemic Heart Disease

  • Guler, Jennifer

    Mechanisms of Genetic and Metabolic Adaptation in the Malaria Parasite, Plasmodium falciparum

  • Harris, Thurl E

    Molecular mechanisms controlling insulin signaling and fat synthesis.

  • Hsu, Ku-Lung

    Chemical Biology, Lipid Biochemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, and Mass Spectrometry

  • Isakson, Brant

    Translating our discoveries in the microcirculation to tangible benefits in patients.

  • Kadl, Alexandra

    Lung injury and repair, sepsis

  • Kuyumcu-Martinez, Muge N

    RNA regulatory networks and RNA binding proteins during cardiovascular development and in cardiovascular disease

  • Laurie, Gordon W.

    Restoration of Homeostasis in Disease

  • Lazo, John S.

    The mechanism of action of small molecules and the fundamental biological role of protein tyrosine phosphatases

  • Leitinger, Norbert

    Role of lipid oxidation products in inflammation and vascular immunology in atherosclerosis and diabetes

  • Lynch, Kevin R.

    Chemical biology of sphingosine 1-phosphate

  • Miller, Clint L.

    Genetic variation, Complex diseases, Coronary artery disease, Genomics, Epigenomics, Regulatory mechanisms, Vascular biology, Pharmacology and Physiology

  • Mohi, Golam

    Cell signaling, stem cell biology, molecular and epigenetic mechanisms of blood and breast cancers

  • Nakamoto, Robert K.

    Structure-Function of Active Transporters

  • Patel, Manoj

    Understanding the cellular mechanisms by which seizures are initiated in SCN8A epileptic encephalopathy (DEE13) and temporal lobe epilepsy. My lab uses a number of experimental techniques including patch clamp electrophysiology and in vivo seizure monitor

  • Perez-Reyes, Edward

    Exploring epilepsy circuits then preventing seizures using gene therapies. Developing drug-inducible genetic switches for insulin replacement gene therapies.

  • Pompano, Rebecca

    Bioanalytical tools for inflammatory disease

  • Schulman, Ira G.

    Regulation of transcription by nuclear hormone receptors, transcriptional control of metabolism and inflammation, small molecule approaches to drug discovery

  • Swiatecka-Urban, Agnieszka

    Regulation of cell-surface stability and intracellular trafficking of membrane proteins in epithelial cells

  • Tao, Jianguo

    Pathology

  • Trinh, Bon Q

    Understanding Protein and RNA regulations of gene expression via chromatin structure in myeloid cell development and diseases

  • Ukhanov, Kirill Y

    Pharmacology

  • Venton, B. Jill

    Analytical Neurochemistry; Dopamine and Serotonin Neurotransmission in Drosophila; Mechanisms of rapid adenosine signaling in rodents

  • Zhang, Tian

    Biochemistry

  • Zhu, J. Julius

    Neural Circuits in Healthy and Diseased Brains