Med Chem graduate receives highest ACS Award

The American Chemical Society Division of Medicinal Chemistry awarded the 2014 Robert M. Scarborough Award for Graduate/Post-Graduate Excellence in Medicinal Chemistry to Mike Peterson, former graduate of Robert Fecik, based on his doctoral research here at Minnesota. This award, the highest given to a graduate student or postdoc in medicinal chemistry from ACS, has gone to University graduates two years in a row. Micah Niphakis, former graduate student of Gunda Georg, received the 2013 award.

Dr. Rebecca Cuellar – Distinguished Poster Award

Becca Cuellar, ITDD research assistant professor, was awarded the Distinguished Poster Award for Senior Researcher at the Mayo Clinic Young Investigators' Research Symposium held in Rochester March 22-23, 2014. She presented "Design, Synthesis, and In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation of Retinoic Acid Receptor-Alpha Antagonists for Male Contraception."

Dr. Gunda Georg - Kenneth E. Avis Professorship

Department head and ITDD director Gunda Georg was awarded the 2014 Kenneth E. Avis Distinguished Visiting Professorship in Pharmaceutical Sciences, an annual honor bestowed by the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Tennessee Health Science Center. The Avis Distinguished Visiting Professorship is named after Kenneth E. Avis who began UT’s strong history in pharmaceutical research.

In its nearly 25-year history, Dr. Georg is the first woman researcher to hold this prestigious Professorship. She presented her research entitled “Recent Progress in Male Contraception” for the Distinguished Visiting Professor Lecture on March 24, 2014 in Memphis.

Maggie Olson - predoctoral fellowship

Maggie Olson was awarded a two-year Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award F31 predoctoral fellowship from the National Cancer Institute for her project, "Chemical Probes of Endogenous Mutation: Small Molecule APOBEC3B Inhibitors." Maggie is a grad student in the Harki lab.

Ferguson manuscript - Most Read Article

A recent publication by Dr. David Ferguson, with Dr. Courtney Aldrich and other department researchers,is the most-read article on the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry website. "Structure-Activity Relationship Analysis of Imidazoquinolines with Toll-like Receptors 7 and 8 Selectivity and Enhanced Cytokine Induction" was published online January 10 and appears in the January 23, 2014 issue of J. Med. Chem.

Dr. Phil Portoghese - The Scientist article

Professor Phil Portoghese is quoted and his research cited in The Scientist article "Pain and progress."

Dr. David Ferguson featured drug expert

The HealthTalk story "With codeine abuse on the rise, it's important to remember regulation can work to curb misuse" included quotes from Professor David Ferguson. He was also a featured guest on Canadian sports radio show "The Timeout," to discuss performance enhancing drugs.