News

Major funding for The Kidney Project from NIBIB Quantum Program

Tue Nov 3, 2015

The research journey toward building a fully functioning, surgically implantable artificial kidney as an alternative to kidney transplant and dialysis just took another step forward with the announcement of a $6 million grant to The Kidney Project, headquartered at the UCSF School of Pharmacy. The funding comes from the National Institute of...

Yang study demonstrates simulator to study antibiotic dosing against biofilms

Thu Oct 29, 2015

Nearly every human bacterial infection—including some of the most serious, life threatening, and costly to treat—can take the form of a biofilm, in which bacteria aggregate into structured communities that enclose themselves within a secreted slime.

Biofilms can be up to 1,000 times more resistant to antibiotics than free-swimming (...

Desai elected to the National Academy of Medicine

Tue Oct 20, 2015

UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty member Tejal Desai, PhD, has been newly elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly known as the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

NAM membership is considered one of the highest honors in health and medicine. Elected by current members, the membership recognizes individuals who have made major...

Fischbach joins project to generate drugs from bacterial genomes

Thu Oct 15, 2015

Bacteria generate small molecules to fend off their fellow microbes. They also produce molecules that affect the response of host organisms—including humans—to their presence. Such molecules have been a major source of antibiotics, immunosuppressants, anti-cancer agents, and other drugs. But their discovery has not been systematic and the...

Benet to receive ISSX North American Scientific Achievement Award

Wed Sep 23, 2015

UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty member Leslie Benet, PhD, has been named the 2015 recipient of the North American Scientific Achievement Award, presented by the International Society for the Study of Xenobiotics (ISSX).

The award recognizes Benet’s long-standing leadership in discovering key principles related to drug metabolism and...

Antibody Network partners with Celgene to develop cancer therapies

Tue Sep 15, 2015

A new collaboration between Celgene Corp. and the Recombinant Antibody Network (RAN) will support the development of next-generation, antibody-based cancer therapies. The RAN is a consortium comprising researchers from the UCSF School of Pharmacy (UCSF Antibiome Center), the University of Chicago, and the University of Toronto.

In this...

Roy receives JDRF funding to develop implants to treat type 1 diabetes

Tue Sep 1, 2015

UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty member Shuvo Roy, PhD, has received a three-year $1 million grant to create surgically implantable capsules of donor pancreas cells to free type 1 diabetes patients from daily insulin injections and the disease’s potentially life-threatening complications. The work is being funded by JDRF, the largest charitable...

Jacobson named chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry

Wed Aug 12, 2015

Renowned researcher and educator Matthew Jacobson, PhD, has been named the new chair of the UCSF School of Pharmacy’s Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. His appointment by Dean B. Joseph Guglielmo, PharmD, will be effective January 15, 2016.

Jacobson will become the department’s 10th chair since its formation in 1958. He succeeds...

Kroetz leads new study of genetics of cancer drugs’ dose-limiting side effects

Mon Jul 27, 2015

Taxanes are a class of drugs widely used to treat a variety of cancers, including breast, ovarian, lung, gastric, and head and neck. But dosages are often limited by toxic side effects—most commonly damage to the body’s peripheral nerves, causing numbness, pain, and/or hyper-sensitivity—that can require reduced or suspended treatment and which...