Julius Axelrod Award in Pharmacology Lecture
Arresting Developments in Receptor Signaling
Speaker: Jeffrey L. Benovic—Thomas Jefferson Univ.
Boston Convention & Exhibition Center
Sunday, March 29, 2015
2:00 pm–2:50 pm
About the Speaker
Dr. Jeffrey L. Benovic is chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Thomas Eakins Endowed Professor at Thomas Jefferson University. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Penn State University and earned his doctoral degree at Duke University under the 2012 Nobel Laureate Robert Lefkowitz.
Following a research associate position under Dr. Lefkowitz, Dr. Benovic moved to Temple University School of Medicine and subsequently to Thomas Jefferson University’s Department of Pharmacology where he has served in a number of leadership positions including director of the Molecular Pharmacology and Structural Biology PhD Program and leader of the Cancer Cell Biology and Signaling Program at the Kimmel Cancer Center.
Dr. Benovic is recognized for his major contributions to research and his outstanding leadership and mentorship to several generations of trainees. Dr. Benovic’s investigations opened up an entire new field of study. By applying biochemical approaches creatively and rigorously, he advanced our understanding of how G protein-coupled receptor function is regulated.
A committed educator and mentor of young pharmacologists and biochemists, Dr. Benovic’s contributions to predoctoral and postdoctoral training have been recognized by awards from the Jefferson Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and the Jefferson Postdoctoral Association. This devotion to mentoring young scientists and to the professional development of his students ensures that Dr. Benovic’s contributions to pharmacology extend well beyond his own scientific discoveries.
John J. Abel Award in Pharmacology Lecture
Creating the Facebook for Molecular Analysis
Speaker: Pieter C. Dorrestein—Univ. of California, San Diego
Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, Room 107AB
Monday, March 30, 2015
8:30 am–9:20 am
About the Speaker
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Dr. Dorrestein was trained by Tadgh Begley in the chemical biology of enzymes involved in vitamin biosynthesis and by Neil Kelleher and Christopher Walsh, who were co-sponsors of his NRSA postdoctoral fellowship, in top and middle down mass spectrometry on proteins that made small molecules of therapeutic value. Since his arrival to UCSD in 2006, Dr. Dorrestein has been pioneering the development of mass spectrometry methods to study the chemical ecological crosstalk between populations of organisms for agricultural, diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
In general Dorrestein thinks about the application of the tools that they develop and new functions of molecules that they discover. In the academic branch of his lab he works on the understanding of the functional roles of specialized molecules and applies this information towards disease intervention such as the evaluation of newly discovered molecules as anti-infective strategies. Many of his tools and methodologies are also impacting industry. For example, the molecular networking tool is being used by industry to discover new pharmacologically related molecules. Molecular networking has led to the first crowd source and social molecular analysis infrastructure at http://gnps.ucsd.edu that is also used by thousands of researchers from over 60 countries. Industry now has jointly developed and implements an assay that monitors inflammatory status and potential of patients and how they respond to therapies using just a small amount of blood. This is being evaluated as a way to stratify patients in clinical trials. Similarly he has a joint project with industry that aims to answer the question of how healthy commensal bacteria alter the immune system.
He has published over 140 articles and is the recipient of several awards, including the Beckman Foundation Young Investigators Award, The National Institutes of Health Exceptional and Unconventional Research Award (EUREKA), the Lilly Award in Analytical Chemistry, the Hearst Foundation Award, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America Award, the Matt Suffness Award and was named a V-Foundation Scholar. In addition he is a technological and research advisor/consultant for INDICASET, Janssen, Agraquest, Bayer, CUBIST, and Sirenas Marine Discovery.
Drug Metabolism Early Career Achievement Award Lecture
Drug Metabolism Considerations in HIV Treatment and Prevention
Speaker: Namandjé N. Bumpus—The Johns Hopkins Univ. Sch. of Med.
Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, Room 109A
Monday, March 30, 2015
2:00 pm–2:50 pm
About the Speaker
Dr. Bumpus received a PhD in pharmacology from the University of Michigan and performed thesis research in the laboratory of Dr. Paul F. Hollenberg where she investigated the effect of a naturally occurring cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2B6 mutation on the ability of the enzyme to become inactivated by known inactivators of the wild-type enzyme.
As a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Eric F. Johnson at The Scripps Research Institute, Dr. Bumpus studied the regulation of CYP4A and CYP4F genes in mice. She is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology & Molecular Sciences and the Department of Medicine – Division on Clinical Pharmacology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her research program is focused on defining the contribution of drug metabolism to the pharmacology and toxicology of drugs used to treat and prevent HIV infection. She serves on the Drug Metabolism and Disposition editorial board and is a regular member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Xenobiotic and Nutrient Disposition and Action study section.
Reynold Spector Award in Clinical Pharmacology Lecture
Bench-to-Bedside Translation in Clinical Pharmacology: From Knowledge Generation to Healthcare Delivery
Speaker: Scott A. Waldman—Thomas Jefferson Univ.
Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, Room 107C
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
8:30 am–9:20 am
About the Speaker
Dr. Waldman obtained his PhD from Thomas Jefferson University, and his MD from Stanford University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Virginia and Stanford University in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology in the laboratory of Ferid Murad, MD, PhD (Nobel 1998).
He currently holds the endowed chair as Samuel MV Hamilton Professor of Medicine, and is director of the Delaware Valley Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Program of the Kimmel Cancer Center, director of the Institute for Individualized Medicine, and chairman of the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics of Thomas Jefferson University.
Dr. Waldman also directs the MD-PhD Program, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) sponsored Postdoctoral Training Program in Clinical Pharmacology, and the Training Program in Human Investigation (former NIH K30 Program) at Jefferson. He is a past member of the American Board of Clinical Pharmacology, a past Regent of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology (ACCP), a past-president of ASPET, and chair of the Scientific Program Committee and council member of ASPET. He is a Fellow of the ACCP (FCP) and American Heart Association (FAHA). He is the editor-in-chief for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics and Biomarkers in Medicine, the deputy editor-in-Chief for Clinical and Translational Science and co-editor for Waldman and Terzic’s Pharmacology and Therapeutics: Principles to Practice. Dr. Waldman’s research interests focus on clinical pharmacology and translational medicine in the context of gastrointestinal malignancies and obesity.
Benedict R. Lucchesi Distinguished Lectureship in Cardiac Pharmacology
Regenerative Therapy for the Failing Heart
Speaker: Andre Terzic—Mayo Clinic
Boston Convention & Exhibition Center
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
4:30 pm–5:30 pm
About the Speaker
Dr. Andre Terzic, MD, PhD, has pioneered regenerative medicine at Mayo Clinic. Dr. Terzic received his MD from the School of Medicine at the University of Belgrade and continued his education at the University of Illinois, receiving a PhD in pharmacology.
He is Michael S. and Mary Sue Shannon Director, Mayo Clinic Center for Regenerative Medicine, and Marriott Family Professor in Cardiovascular Diseases Research. He is professor of medicine and pharmacology; chair, Discovery-Translation Advisory Board; director, Marriott Heart Disease Research Program; director, National Institutes of Health Cardiovasology Program; and serves on the board of directors, Mayo Collaborative Services.
He has authored more than 450 publications, advancing diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for heart failure. His works include team-science efforts in the discovery of genes for dilated cardiomyopathy and atrial fibrillation. His scientific manuscripts have been cited more than 10,000 times.
He led efforts in the development of next-generation regenerative solutions, including first-in-class products for heart repair. More recently, his efforts and the efforts of his colleagues to use stem cell strategies for cardioregeneration have drawn international attention and represent cutting edge translational research.
Norman Weiner Lecture
Structural Basis for Function and Pharmacology of Voltage-Gated Sodium and Calcium Channels
Speaker: William Catterall—University of Washington
Boston Convention & Exhibition Center
Wednesday, April 01, 2015
8:30 am–9:20 am
About the Speaker
Dr. William A. Catterall received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Brown University in 1968, his doctoral degree in physiological chemistry from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1972, and his postdoctoral training in neurobiology and molecular pharmacology as a Muscular Dystrophy Association Research Fellow with Dr. Marshall Nirenberg at the National Institutes of Health from 1972 to 1974. Following three more years as a staff scientist at the National Institutes of Health, he joined the faculty of the University of Washington School of Medicine in 1977 as an associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology, became professor in 1981, and chair of the Department of Pharmacology in 1984.
After establishing his laboratory at the University of Washington, Dr. Catterall and his colleagues discovered the voltage-gated sodium and calcium channel proteins, which are responsible for generation of electrical signals in the brain, heart, skeletal muscles, and other excitable cells. Their subsequent work has contributed much to understanding the structure, function, regulation, and molecular pharmacology of these key cell-signaling molecules. Dr. Catterall's recent work has turned toward understanding diseases caused by impaired function and regulation of voltage-gated ion channels, including epilepsy and periodic paralysis.
He served as editor-in-chief of Molecular Pharmacology from 1985 to 1990, was a founding member of the editorial board of Neuron in 1988, and has been an editorial board member of numerous other professional journals. Dr. Catterall and his colleagues have published more than 400 research papers and 30 reviews and reference works on voltage-gated ion channels. Catterall is a member of several science academies, including the US National Academy of Science, the Institute of Medicine, and the Royal Society of London, UK. He has received numerous awards, including the Gairdner International Award of Canada in 2010.