Pharmacology

Zoe McElligott featured in WRAL News Segment Answering Viewer Questions about THC drinks

Betsy Clarke — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 18:08:41 +0000

Zoe McElligott, PhD, was featured in a recent WRAL news segment focused on the growing popularity and public health questions surrounding THC-infused beverages sold legally in North Carolina.

In the WRAL news segment with Dan Haggarty titled, Dr. McElligott, Associate Professor of ��ý Psychiatry and Pharmacology and a Member of the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, provides her expert insight into how these cannabis-derived drinks interact with the brain, their potential risks, and the ongoing need for education and research in this rapidly evolving area.

This news segment was preceded by an earlier news segment examining THC in drinks:�� .�� Viewers of that segment submitted questions for the news segment with Dr. McElligott.

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Pharmacology students honored at 27th Annual Graduate Student Recognition Celebration

Betsy Clarke — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 18:07:23 +0000

Congratulations to Amy Aponte, Tania Bellinger, McKenzie Grundy Gehris, Sarah Mott, Ryan Robb, and Michael Sturdivant for being recognized at the 27th Annual Graduate Student Recognition Celebration!

Top (L to R): Amy Aponte, Tania Bellinger, and McKenzie Grundy Gehris. Bottom (L to R): Sarah Mott, Ryan Robb, and Michael Strudivant.

The students were recognized for receiving prestigious External Fellowships awards. External fellowships, which are highly competitive awards from the federal government and other organizations, add to Carolina’s reputation as one of the world’s leading public research universities.

Amy Aponte, NIH Fellowship (F31) – National Cancer Institute
Tania Jazmine Bellinger, NIH Fellowship (F31) – National Institute on Drug Abuse
McKenzie Grundy Gehris, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program
Sarah Mott, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program
Ryan Robb, NIH Fellowship (F31) – National Cancer Institute
Michael Sean Sturdivant, NIH Fellowship (F31) – National Cancer Institute

These students have demonstrated exceptional dedication, resilience, and scholarly excellence, and we are so proud to see their hard work honored by the Graduate School. Their achievements reflect the strength and spirit of our department, and we’re excited to celebrate them at this special event.

Our congratulations to all of these outstanding scholars!

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Jen Jen Yeh appointed Assistant Dean for Translational Research

Betsy Clarke — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 15:16:17 +0000

Congratulations to Dr. Jen Jen Yeh, Professor of Surgery and Pharmacology, on her appointment as Assistant Dean for Translational Research in the ��ý!

Jen Jen Yeh, MD

In this role, Dr. Yeh will bring her extensive experience in clinical and translational research to advance ��ý’s mission of bridging scientific discovery with patient care.

A leader in clinical and translational research, Dr. Yeh has driven breakthroughs in pancreatic cancer treatment, molecular subtyping, and drug delivery technologies.�� She currently serves as co-leader of the ��ý Lineberger Clinical Research Program, and director of the ��ý Lineberger Pancreatic Cancer Center of Excellence.

Click here to read more about Dr. Yeh’s appointment and her impactful contributions to translational research.

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Antonio Baines Honored with the 2025 Award for Excellence in Teaching!

Betsy Clarke — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 21:14:01 +0000

Congratulations to Dr. Antonio Baines on being honored with the 2025 Award for Excellence in Teaching by the ��ý Board of Governors.

This prestigious award recognizes Dr. Baines’ exceptional dedication to education and his significant contributions to pancreatic cancer research. His commitment to academic excellence and student mentorship has profoundly impacted the university community.

The award recipients will each receive a��commemorative bronze medallion and a $12,500 cash prize, and be honored at each of their institutions at a future date.

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‘Avengers’ research team makes xylazine discovery

Betsy Clarke — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 20:55:44 +0000

Congratulations to the “Avengers” Research Team, led by Dr. Zoe McElligott, for their important discovery of the effects of xylazine on opioid use disorder!

Zoe McElligott, PhD

As part of the Triangle Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (), this team, researchers at Triangle CERSI, discover effects of xylazine on opioid use disorder. has made significant progress in addressing a pressing public health issue. Awarded an FDA grant, the team is studying the effects of xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer, when combined with opioids like fentanyl—a combination that has contributed to a sharp rise in overdose deaths.

Early findings from the research reveal the severe physiological impact of this mixture, providing crucial insights that could lead to improved treatments for overdoses. This project is part of a broader effort by Triangle CERSI to combat the opioid crisis and highlights the importance of innovative research in tackling such challenges.

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Leon Coleman Receives 2025 ASPET Early Career Award!

Betsy Clarke — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 20:32:13 +0000

Congratulations to Dr. Leon Coleman for receiving the prestigious 2025 ASPET Division for Neuropharmacology Early Career Award!

Leon Coleman, MD, PhD

Dr. Coleman is receiving this award in recognition of his research, teaching and lasting contributions to pharmacology.

From the ASPET Award website:��“Dr. Coleman has a history of making pioneering discoveries in the field of neuropharmacology, particularly Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research. Recently, he has focused on finding novel regulators of immune pathology for alcohol abuse, Alzheimer’s disease, and severe burn injury. Dr. Coleman has found that heavy alcohol use promotes Alzheimer’s pathology through persistent activation of microglia leading to the disruption of neuronal lipid metabolism. He identified the loss of neuronal lysosomal acid lipase as a fundamental feature of the progression of Alzheimer’s disease that is enhanced by heavy alcohol use and midlife obesity. This has resulted in a US patent, and the development of novel PET ligands for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. His work has identified extracellular vesicles are fundamental drivers of immune dysfunction in AUD and burn injury. The targeted removal of these detrimental vesicles is now under investigation as a novel immunotherapy approach.”

“The award will be presented by the Division for Neuropharmacology on April 5, 2025, during the ASPET 2025 Annual Meeting in Portland, Ore. Additionally, Dr. Coleman has been invited to give a lecture on his work as part of the annual meeting.

~the above two quotes are excerpts from the

��for 2025 ASPET Award Winners!

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Congratulations to our new PhD, Kaeli Welsh

Betsy Clarke — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 21:08:50 +0000

Dr. Welsh successfully defended her PhD Thesis, “Regulating the Anaphase-Promoting Complex/Cyclosome (APC/C): Intrinsic Mechanisms and Cell Cycle Inhibitors” under the guidance of Dr. Nicholas Brown.

Publications

Ledvin L, Gassaway BM, Tawil J, Urso O, Pizzo D,��Welsh KA, Bolhuis DL, Fisher D, Bonni A, Gygi SP, Brown NG, Ferguson CJ. Dev Cell. 2023 Dec 4;58(23):2666-2683.e9. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2023.10.002. Epub 2023 Oct 23. PMID: 37875116. ��

Bodrug T,��Welsh KA, Bolhuis DL, Paulаkonis E, Martinez-Chacin RC, Liu B, Pinkin N, Bonacci T, Cui L, Xu P, Roscow O, Amann SJ, Grishkovskaya I, Emanuele MJ, Harrison JS, Steimel JP, Hahn KM, Zhang W, Zhong ED, Haselbach D, Brown NG. Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2023 Nov;30(11):1663-1674. doi: 10.1038/s41594-023-01105-5. Epub 2023 Sep 21. PMID: 37735619 .

Bolhuis DL*, Martinez-Chacin RC*,��Welsh KA*, Bodrug T, Cui L, Emanuele MJ, Brown NG. Protein Sci. 2022 Jun;31(6):e4324. doi: 10.1002/pro.4324. PMID: 35634770.

Welsh KA*, Bolhuis DL*, Nederstigt AE, Boyer J, Temple BRS, Bonacci T, Gu L, Ordureau A, Harper JW, Steimel JP, Zhang Q, Emanuele MJ, Harrison JS, Brown NG. EMBO J. 2022 Feb 1;41(3):e108823. doi: 10.15252/embj.2021108823. Epub 2021 Dec 23. PMID: 34942047.��

Bodrug T*,��Welsh KA*, Hinkle M, Emanuele MJ, Brown NG. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021 May 24;9:687515. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2021.687515. eCollection 2021. PMID: 34109183.

*These authors contributed equally

Dr. Welsh is also an author on a paper that has been accepted by Nature Communications which will be published shortly.

Honors, Awards & Highlights

American Heart Association Award, January 2023
Kaeli Welsh, PhD student in Nicholas Brown’s lab, received the Pre-doctoral Fellowship for her project, “Visualizing Essential Molecular Mechanisms That Promote Mitotic Exit.”

Kaeli Welsh featured scholar in Carolina Grad Student F1rsts, April 2021
Congratulations to graduate student, Kaeli Welsh (Brown Lab) for being a Carolina Grad Student F1rsts featured scholar!

Pharmacology Thomas Collum Butler Award, December 2022
The Thomas Collum Butler Award recognizes the outstanding work of a PhD or MD/PhD PHCO Graduate Student currently working in a core or joint PHCO lab. Selection is on the basis of merit.

Congratulations, Kaelie, we wish you all the best!

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��ǲԲ��ٳܱ��پ��ǲԲ��ٴ� Dr. Jonathan Schisler, who has been appointed as the new faculty director of PRISM (Postbaccalaureate Research Initiative in Science and Medicine)!

Betsy Clarke — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 21:06:43 +0000

The Research Pillar of the current School of Medicine Strategic Plan, Accelerate Forward Together, includes several initiatives that are being led by the Vice Dean for Research.

These initiatives will be implemented for the next 5 years of the strategic plan. One initiative is focused on launching a new postbaccalaureate research program to provide recent graduates with the opportunity to build their research skills by taking part in a 1-to-2-year lab-funded or clinical-funded research opportunity. The goal will be to prepare them for future careers in the biomedical sciences (e.g., pursuit of medical, doctoral, or other advanced degrees).

As the Faculty Director of ��ý PRISM, Dr. Schisler will serve on the SOM Office of Graduate Education (OGE) team and provide support to PRISM students and their faculty mentors. As such, they will work closely with Dr. Brian Strahl (Associate Dean for Basic Research), Kaitlin Blakemore (PRISM Program Coordinator), and Dr. Donita Robinson (Associate Dean for Graduate Education), as well as colleagues in participating units across the SOM.

Our congratulations to Dr. Schisler!

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Der lab research highlighted by NCI as one of 28 key studies for 2024!

Betsy Clarke — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 21:01:00 +0000

This puts the Der Lab among three studies from ��ý in the National Cancer Institute’s end-of-year summary of pivotal discoveries!

Drs. Channing Der, Adrienne Cox, Jeffrey Klomp, Clint Stahlnecker and Jennifer Klomp, team leaders of pancreatic research recently highlighted as one of 28 key studies by NCI.

��ǲԲ��ٳܱ��پ��ǲԲ��ٴ� Dr. Channing Der whose laboratory has received significant recognition for his recent publications, highlighted by the NCI as one of 28 key studies for 2024. Several articles have recently highlighted their work.

“There’s much more to learn about how KRAS spurs cancer growth—and how KRAS-mutant cancers resist treatment with existing KRAS inhibitors. To address this need, researchers behind two studies in Science��have established the most comprehensive molecular portrait yet of the workings of KRAS and how its many downstream impacts may influence outcomes for people with pancreatic cancer.^1,2 The findings could lead to new treatment approaches, including ways to potentially guide treatment for individuals with pancreatic cancer, the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the U.S.”

“These studies, supported in part by NIH, come from a team led by ��Ի� Adrienne Cox, together with Jeffrey Klomp, Clint Stalnecker, and Jennifer Klomp, at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The researchers were inspired in part by the Food and Drug Administration’s recent approval of treatments that block a mutated version of KRAS that drives many pancreatic cancers. The team was also motivated by the realization that many patients whose cancers initially respond to the new treatments relapse rather quickly as the cancers find ways to reactivate underlying growth pathways.”

“Importantly, the researchers found that the molecular signatures they’ve uncovered may predict tumor responses in patients treated with KRAS inhibitors or ERK inhibitors. Based on their findings, they suspect that the reason so many pancreatic cancers don’t respond to KRAS inhibitors may be because the drugs simply don’t block KRAS well enough—and not because the cancers no longer depend on KRAS signals for their growth. The researchers suggest it may be beneficial to monitor these underlying molecular pathways in patients to better understand treatment outcomes and guide treatment decisions.”

~The above are excerpts from the NIH Director’s Blog, posted on June 27th, 2024 by Dr. Monica M. Bertagnolli,

You can read more about NCI’s recognition of the Der lab in their article,

This groundbreaking work was also highlighted in a , and in a spotlight on phosphoproteomics recently featured in TiBS. These prestigious recognitions underscore the far-reaching impact of their research and the exceptional quality of our proteomics core, led by Dr. Laura Herring and her dedicated team.

New PAGERs technology builds on Roth lab’s DREADDs

Betsy Clarke — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 20:57:34 +0000

Dr. Bryan Roth and his lab previously developed synthetic GPCRs called DREADDs. This technology has in turn laid the foundation for a new technology, PAGERs, which has an innovative approach to controlling cell activity.

��DREADDs (Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs) are synthetic GPCRs that are activated in cells or transgenic animals only when researchers administer a specific drug. The new technology, called PAGERs (Programmable Antigen-gated G-protein-coupled Engineered Receptors) provide modular, customizable G-protein-coupled receptors for cell-signalling studies.��

The PAGERs modular system developed by Alice Ting of Sanford) and Yulong Li (Peking University), builds on Roth’s existing DREADDs technology.�� Ting’s and Li’s paper “Synthetic GPCRs for programmable sensing and control of cell behaviour,” was published in Nature in December 2024.

The Nature article by Stephanie Melchor highlighting PAGERs includes an interview with Bryan Roth: ��

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