The University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy continues to excel in research spanning the entire healthcare research continuum, from basic science drug and formulation discovery, to clinical/population health and policy development. Per the AACP FY21 research rankings (October 2020-September 2021), the College of Pharmacy ranked seventh in terms of funding from the National Institutes of Health and eighth in terms of all funding sources as compared to the other 141 schools of pharmacy across the nation, securing more than $24M for research. We are proud of our research rankings and the funding our talented investigators receive, but more importantly, research by our faculty and staff is making a difference in the lives of individuals throughout the world.
Center for Drug Design Receives UMN Innovation Impact Case Award
The Center for Drug Design’s Dr. Swati More and Dr. Robert Vince are recipients of an Innovation Impact Case Award for their work on a noninvasive tool for earlier detection of Alzheimer’s disease through the retina. These inaugural awards are presented by the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) to recognize University of Minnesota research that has led to significant impact outside of academia.
Glaucoma Drug Clinical Trials Offer Promising Results
Phase 2 clinical trials for glaucoma drug QLS-101, the product of a research collaboration between Peter Dosa, PhD and professor Michael Fautsch of the Mayo Clinic, have demonstrated a favorable safety and tolerability profile, according to a news release by Qlaris Bio, which licensed the drug in 2019. A positive efficacy signal was also reported. Read more about the clinical trials and next steps.
Patenting Her Chemical Creations
Dr. Carrie Haskell-Luevano loves being a researcher. As a professor and Philip S. Portoghese Endowed Chair in Chemical Neuroscience, she finds joy in teaching students and making discoveries alongside her laboratory staff. Read about the value she finds in her partnership with UMN Technology Commercialization.
Industry-University Cooperative Research Center Launches
The Center for Integrated Material Science and Engineering for Pharmaceutical Products (CIMSEPP), an Industry-University Cooperative Research Center backed by the National Science Foundation, was recently launched with the goal to transform the way we formulate and manufacture pharmaceutical drugs. CIMSEPP is the product of a collaboration between Raj Dave of the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Calvin Sun, PhD, FRSC, professor of pharmaceutics at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy.
Harki to Serve as Co-Investigator and Deputy Director of Medicinal Chemistry DMPK Core for Midwest Antiviral Drug Discovery Center
The University of Minnesota has received $66 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to establish a center to develop antiviral drugs for pandemic-level viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. Dr. Daniel Harki,Northrop Professor in the College of Pharmacy’s Department of Medicinal Chemistry, serves as co-investigator and deputy director of the Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics (DMPK) Core for The Midwest Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Center. The center is part of a network of nine national centers established by NIAID in response to the public health emergency caused by COVID-19.