Members in the News

ASPET Members Take Positions on FASEB Board

2017 ASPET Washington Fellow Sophia Kaska has joined the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Board as an early career representative member. She is positioned to share her insights and experience to connect current and future generations of researchers. Dr. Kaska earned her PhD in pharmacology and toxicology from Michigan State University and holds a BS in biochemistry from the University of Kansas. Her research is focused on investigating the molecular neuroadaptations in the ventral tegmental area in response to opiates, stress, and stress-induced opiate reward. Dr. Kaska is currently the Manager of Science Initiatives and Outreach with Research!America. Mary-Ann Bjornsti, PhD, is now the FASEB presidentelect and was FASEB’s vice president for science policy in 2021. Dr. Bjornsti most recently served as ASPET’s past secretary/treasurer and served on the Science Policy Committee and the Division for Cancer Pharmacology executive committee. She is the chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and chair of the Newman H. Waters Clinical Pharmacology. Dr. Bjornsti also serves an associate director for translational research at the UAB comprehensive cancer center and will serve as chair-elect of the division.

Dr. Ghayur Takes a Lead Pharmacology Role at University of Pikeville

M. Nabeel Ghayur, BPharm, MPhil, PhD, was named Course Director for Pharmacology at the Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine (KYCOM), University of Pikeville (UPike), Pikeville, Ky., in July. He is an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at UPike’s KYCOM and Kentucky College of Optometry (KYCO). Dr. Ghayur has an undergrad degree in Pharmacy, and master’s and PhD degrees in Pharmacology. He also completed a pre-doctoral fellowship in Neuropharmacology and Pharmacognosy from King’s College London, England and a post-doctoral fellowship in Physiology and Pharmacology from McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. Dr. Ghayur is a licensed pharmacist in Ontario, Canada.

He has been a member of ASPET since 2001 when he joined as a graduate student member. Since that time, Dr. Ghayur has served twice (2002-2003 & 20042005) as a Student Councilor with the ASPET Student Chapter and was also affiliated in the past with one of ASPET’s special interest groups on Herbal Medicines and Medicinal Plants from 2003-2005. Dr. Ghayur is a member of the Divisions for Drug Discovery and Development, Cardiovascular Pharmacology, Molecular Pharmacology, Pharmacology Education, and Toxicology.

Dr. Palmer Co-edits The Pharmacology of Taste

Kyle Palmer, PhD, Chief Science Officer and cofounder of Opertech Bio, Inc. has co-edited the recently published volume The Pharmacology of Taste in The Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology series with Guy Servant, Vice President of Biology at Firmenich.

The chemosenses, taste and olfaction, now are universally recognized as being mediated by cellsurface receptors. The Pharmacology of Taste represents a shift in thinking about chemosensory phenomena as physiological and behavioral processes under the control of receptor function. This is the first volume in The Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology series to present the study of taste as proper subject matter for pharmacological investigation and was published in June 2013. The Pharmacology of Taste is comprised of contributions by leading scientists from the field of chemosensory research, presented all together in the context of pharmacological principles of receptor function. The chapters cover all levels of scientific inquiry, from molecular and physiological mechanisms underlying taste signaling to its manifestation in overt behavior. The overarching objective of this volume is to inspire the application of concepts and methods of pharmacology to the study of the chemosenses.

Dr. R. Kyle Palmer received his PhD in pharmacology from the University of Michigan. Dr. Palmer cofounded Opertech Bio, Inc. where he is the Chief Science Officer. He also is adjunct professor at Temple University School of Pharmacy. An ASPET member since 2003, he currently serves as vice president for the Mid-Atlantic Pharmacology Society.