Pharmacology and Toxicology: Faculty

Faculty

	Joyce A. DeLeo, Ph.D., 1988; Chair of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Professor of Anesthesiology. Neuropharmacology; Neuroimmunology: Mechanisms that lead to chronic pain with a focus on spinal neuroimmune responses. Central neuroimmune activation and neuroinflammation play a key role in generating chronic pain. Utilization of molecular, cellular, and in vivo behavioral pharmacological approaches with the ultimate goal to develop novel, non-addictive therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of chronic neuropathic and low back pain.
	Michael Cole, Ph.D. 1978. Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Genetics and is also a member of the Norris Cotton Cancer Center. Molecular basis of cancer; oncogenic activation of transcription factors; mechanisms of chromosome-mediated transcriptional control; target genes for oncogenic pathways.
	Ruth W. Craig, Ph.D., 1984; Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Molecular mechanisms of induction of differentiation and reversal of the leukemic phenotype; oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, and genes affecting the programming of differentiation and viability, such as mcl-1.
	James DiRenzo, Ph.D., 1995; Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Regulation of proliferation, self-renewal and cellular differentiation in mammary epithelial stem cells.
	Ethan Dmitrovsky, M.D., 1980; Andrew G. Wallace Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology and of Medicine. Translational research (bench to bedside) and studies of vitamin A derivatives known as retinoids and their roles in tumor cell differentiation therapy and chemoprevention.
	Alan R. Eastman, Ph.D., 1975; Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology; Associate Director for Basic Sciences, Norris Cotton Cancer Center. Cancer chemotherapy: drug synthesis, mechanisms of drug action, novel drug combinations, and clinical trials. Mechanisms of cell-cycle arrest by DNA-damaging agents and development of drugs that abrogate arrest. Define the signal transduction pathways that regulate cell death by apoptosis, and modulate these pathways to enhance drug-mediated cell killing. These strategies are being developed to target tumors selectively.
	Sarah J. Freemantle, Ph.D., 1993; Research Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Identification and study of genes and signaling pathways involved in induced tumor cell differentiation. In particular the role of the Wnt signaling pathway in maintaining the proliferative nature of cancer cells and evaluating this pathways potential as a chemotherapeutic target.
	Matthew J. Friedman, M.D., 1969, Ph.D.1967; Professor of Psychiatry and of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Executive Director of the Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Underlying neurobiological abnormalities associated with PTSD and development of better treatments for this disorder; with a major focus on pharmacotherapy. Neurogenesis and apoptosis in transgenic mice exposed to laboratory stress.
	Alan I. Green, M.D., 1969; Raymond Sobel Professor of Psychiatry and of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Chairman, Department of Psychiatry. Neuropharmacology: Mechanisms involved in the abuse of alcohol and other substances in patients with schizophrenia and development of medications to reduce such abuse. Techniques involve behavioral, molecular and pharmacological studies in alcohol-preferring rodents and schizophrenia-model rodents, as well as neuroimaging studies of brain reward circuitry in patients with schizophrenia.
	Joshua W. Hamilton, Ph.D., 1985; Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Director of the Center for Environmental Health Sciences at Dartmouth. Molecular pharmacology and toxicology; molecular basis of chemical carcinogenesis: DNA damage and repair; mechanisms of toxic metal-induced diseases, especially arsenic and chromium; alterations in gene expression by environmental chemicals; molecular pharmacological approaches to reversal of cancer multidrug resistance and to treatment of cystic fibrosis.
	John Hwa , M.D., 1986, Ph.D., 1996, Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology. The structure and function of G-protein coupled receptors: Analysis of the ligand binding pocket, receptor activation, constitutive activity and naturally occuring mutations. (Faculty Profile)
	Alexei F. Kisselev, Ph.D., 1995; Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Ubiquitin-proteasome pathway; development and therapeutic application of proteasome inhibitors.
	Murray Korc, M.D., 1974; Joseph M. Huber Professor of Medicine, Chairman Department of Medicine, and Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Mechanisms of action of growth factors, and the role of growth factors and their receptors in carcinogenesis, especially as it relates to enhanced mitogenic signaling, enhanced angiogenesis, and attenuated growth suppressive effects in pancreatic cancer.
	Lionel D. Lewis, M.D., 1988; Professor of Medicine and of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Clinical pharmacology of antineoplastic agents, particularly the relationship between the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of these agents; mechanisms of toxicity of nucleoside analogues and antineoplastic agents to the mitochondrion and ways of ameliorating this toxicity.
	Christopher H. Lowrey, M.D., 1985; Associate Professor of Medicine and of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Regulation of chromatin structure and its relationship to gene expression; gene therapy. By understanding how domains of transcriptionally active chromatin structure are formed, this laboratory is designing more effective vectors for gene therapy.
	Kathleen A. Martin, Ph.D., 1996; Research Assistant Professor of Surgery and Pharmacology and Toxicology. Signaling mechanisms regulating proliferation, growth, and differentiation in vascular smooth muscle. Molecular and cell biology approaches toward identification of targets for therapeutic intervention in intimal hyperplasia and restenosis.
	David W. Nierenberg, M.D., 1976; Edward Tulloh Krumm Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology and Toxicology. Clinical pharmacology of methotrexate and other antineoplastic agents.
	Raymond P. Perez, M.D., 1985; Associate Professor of Medicine and of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Associate Director for Clinical Research, Norris Cotton Cancer Center. Clinical pharmacology and early trials of anticancer agents, particularly molecular targeted therapies; Mechanism of action and proof-of-principle for novel drugs and combinations; Modulation of signal transduction and cell death, particularly focused on endogenous inhibitors of receptor-kinase mediated signaling and downstream determinants of sensitivity to apoptosis.
	David J. Robbins, Ph.D. 1993, Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Elucidating the mechanism of action of the Hedgehog family of secreted proteins, as they pertain to cancer. (Faculty Profile)
	Bill D. Roebuck, Ph.D., 1975; Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Modulation of toxic processes by dietary factors or nutritional status; evaluation of the effects of dietary dithiolethiones on prevention of liver cancer; chemoprevention of cancer.
	Yolanda Sanchez, Ph.D., 1993; Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Checkpoint signaling events triggered during the response to DNA damage or replication interference, how they regulate cell cycle progression, DNA repair and cell death and their role in the etiology and treatment of cancer.
	Michael Simons, M.D., 1984; Anna Gundlach Huber Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) and of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Chief, Section of Cardiology and Director, Angiogenesis Research Center. Mechanisms of angiogenic growth factor signaling with emphasis on the role of heparan sulfate proteins.
	Mark R. Spaller, Ph.D., 1995; Asstistant Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Assistant Professor (Adjunct) of Chemistry, and is also a member of the Norris Cotton Cancer Center. Discovery and development of cellular probes and therapeutic agents targeting protein-protein interactions; chemical biology; peptide and organic small molecule synthesis; combinatorial chemistry; chemical libraries for in vitro and cell-based screening; biophysical analysis of protein-ligand interactions. (Faculty Profile)
	Michael J. Spinella, Ph.D., 1992; Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Identifying downstream genes and pathways signaling induced differentiation and growth suppression of human solid tumor cells, especially in response to retinoids; relationship between differentiation and cell-cycle control, and the role deregulation of differentiation plays in tumorigenesis and acquired resistance to chemotherapeutic agents.
	Michael B. Sporn, M.D., 1959; Oscar M. Cohn '34 Professor in Residence of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Chemoprevention of cancer, especially by retinoids and other ligands of the steroid receptor superfamily; peptide growth factors, especially transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) and its mechanism of action; development of new natural products for prevention of cancer. (Faculty Profile)
	Craig Tomlinson, Ph.D., 1984; Assistant Professor of Medicine and of Pharmacology and Toxicology. The basis of adult diseases from in utero exposures to environmental toxicants, the interaction of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor and transforming growth factor-beta signaling pathways, and the use of high throughput genomics as a tool to predict the outcome of gene/environment interactions.