The Pharmacologist December 2022

the

Pharmacologist

A Publication by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Vol.

Parkinson's Disease and L-DOPA

Leadership Profile: Xinxin Ding 2022 Year in Review

March Issue: February 1

June Issue: May 1

September Issue: August 1

December Issue: November 1

THE PHARMACOLOGIST PRODUCTION TEAM

Catherine L. Fry, PhD

Lynne Harris, MA, APR Dave Jackson, MBA, CAE Maria Pasho

COUNCIL

President

Michael F. Jarvis, PhD President Elect Namandjé Bumpus, PhD Past President Margaret Gnegy, PhD Secretary/Treasurer

Kathryn A. Cunningham, PhD Secretary/Treasurer Elect Xinxin Ding, PhD

Past Secretary/Treasurer Carol L. Beck, PhD

Councilors

Nina Isoherranen, PhD Randy A. Hall, PhD

John R. Traynor, PhD

Chair, Publications Committee Kenneth Tew, PhD Chair, Program Committee Michael W. Wood, PhD

FASEB Board Representative Catherine M. Davis, PhD

Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Accessibility Representative Martha I. Dávila-Garcia, PhD

Chair, Young Scientists Committee Dianicha Santana, PhD Executive Officer Dave Jackson, MBA, CAE

The Pharmacologist (ISSN 0031-7004) is published quarterly in March, June, September, and December by the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 1801 Rockville Pike, Suite 210, Rockville, MD 20852-1633. Annual subscription rates: $25.00 for ASPET members; $75.00 for U.S. nonmembers and institutions; $100.00 for nonmembers and institutions outside the U.S. Single copy: $25.00. Copyright © 2023 by the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Inc. All rights reserved.

GST number for Canadian subscribers: BN:13489 2330 RT.

ASPET assumes no responsibility for the statements and opinions advanced by contributors to The Pharmacologist.

Postmaster: Send address changes to: The Pharmacologist, ASPET, 1801 Rockville Pike, Suite 210, Rockville, MD 20852-1633.

Message from The President

Dear ASPET members,

I am delighted to have an opportunity to update members on the many activities and projects currently under way at ASPET. These include ASPET 2023 meeting preparations, generation of a new Strategic Plan, revisions to ASPET’s Bylaws, and operational analysis of ASPET’s journals. These key initiatives are designed to further enhance APSET’s ability to meet the professional and scientific needs of our membership. This important work could not be implemented without the dedicated commitment and hard work of our many volunteer leaders and exemplary professional staff.

The ASPET office in Rockville, Md., is now fully staffed and several new positions have been added as well. Please welcome Ana Hilton, Awards Program Manager, and Yesenia Mendez, Governance and Office Coordinator, to Team ASPET. Additionally, Dianicha Santana, PhD, Chair of ASPET’s Young Scientists Committee has joined the ASPET Council as an ex-officio member.

ASPET 2023. Our annual meeting at St. Louis Union Station, May 18-21, will be a “not to be missed” event with an outstanding mix of exciting science, social programing, and professional development opportunities. The multidisciplinary approach to next year’s meeting is exemplified by our excellent list of Keynote Speakers that includes Yasmin Hurd, PhD, Director of the Addiction Institute, Mt. Sinai, Holden Thorp, MD, Editor in Chief of Science, and William Kaelin, PhD, 2019 Noble Laureate in Physiology and Medicine. ASPET 2023 meeting attendees can also experience many new interactive social events including our Welcome Event at the St. Louis Aquarium, Poster Presentations Mixers throughout the meeting, a Volunteer Appreciation Reception, and Closing Awards Presentation Luncheon for all attendees. These events contain traditional elements of ASPET programing along with new and enhanced opportunities to network and celebrate the community of pharmacology.

ASPET 2023 Strategic Plan. In light of the ever-changing biomedical professional landscape, a well-developed and current strategic plan is an essential mechanism to coordinate and integrate ASPET’s many activities. The process for ASPET’s 2023 Strategic Plan is well underway. As many will know, a Strategic Planning Survey was sent to the larger ASPET community in October. We are very happy with the high level of engagement we received with more than 1,000 responses. This activity is crucial for both benchmarking and the development of metrics to assess the performance of all ASPET initiatives and programs. This effort will ensure that we have cohesive programs to meet our members needs in the years ahead. Based on the feedback in that Strategic Planning Survey, the ASPET Council and Strategic Planning Task Force met in November and spent two days dedicated to mapping the vision and strategy for ASPET’s future.

ASPET Bylaws Revisions. As I have mentioned previously, our collective efforts to enhance membership engagement and transparency of ASPET operations include updating ASPET’s Bylaws. This initiative will ensure that ASPET operations are updated and aligned with best practices for nonprofit associations incorporated in the State of Maryland. Further, appropriate changes to the existing bylaws have been proposed that will provide greater clarity to how ASPET committees and divisions function, how decision-making processes are implemented, and provide enhanced flexibility for the Society to address member’s needs in the future. Another aspect of the Bylaws revision process will be the generation of an ASPET Policy manual. This manual will

provide the membership with detailed policies and procedures underlying all ASPET activities and operations and increase transparency of how the Society operates.

ASPET’s Journals. The Publications Committee and an ASPET Journals Taskforce are working with an external vendor to assess ASPET’s journal operations and portfolio. This is an especially important and timely initiative considering the recent Office of Science and Technology Policy directive regarding public access to all federally funded research. ASPET remains committed to maintaining complete scientific oversight of our journal portfolio as we develop strategies for improving our journal operations and develop innovative ideas to further enhance the financial stability of our journals and the Society.

As all can see, there is a lot under way at ASPET. These efforts are critical to building the future of the Society and I look forward to a productive and fruitful 2023.

Sincerely,

Michael F. Jarvis, PhD ASPET President

Leadership Profile

A Conversation with ASPET Councilor

Xinxin Ding, PhD

Dr. Xinxin Ding is the Secretary/TreasurerElect for 2022-2023. He began his role on July 1, 2022. He is currently the editor of ASPET’s journal, Drug Metabolism and Disposition. He has been an ASPET member since 1997 and has served in several capacities. Dr. Ding is a professor and head of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy. He is also a member of the Bio5 Institute, the University of Arizona Cancer Center, and UA Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center. Prior to joining UA, he held various positions at the University of Michigan, the New York State Department of Health, the State University of New York at Albany, and SUNY Polytechnic Institute. Dr. Ding has been an associate editor for DMD since 2010. He has served as an editorial board member for Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, Journal of Biochemical and Molecular Toxicology, Journal of Biological Chemistry, International Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Toxicology, and Current Pharmacology Reports. Dr. Ding has been an associate editor of Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B and Tobacco Regulatory Science. He has published nearly 170 articles and 27 book chapters, review articles, and other publications.

How did you get started in pharmacology?

My degree is in biological chemistry at University of Michigan, but the subject of my thesis research was biochemical pharmacology of drug metabolizing

P450 enzymes. My mentor, Jud Coon, had academic appointments in both Biological Chemistry and Pharmacology Departments.

How did you first get involved with ASPET?

I did not get involved with ASPET until 1997, when Dennis Koop and Eddie Morgan recruited me to the DMDD division. They were officers of DMDD around that time. Before that, I’d attend EB meetings, but only as a member of American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

What do you want the ASPET membership to know about you and your ideas on how to move the organization forward during your term?

I am passionate about serving the ASPET community. In my new role, I plan to do my best to advance ASPET’s strategic goals. Some of the topics that I am particularly excited about include the opportunity to transform ASPET’s journals to meet the current challenges, reshape the ASPET meetings to enhance ASPET’s financial stability, and expand the reach of ASPET among the next generation of pharmacologists.

What has been your proudest accomplishment in your career so far?

Though I am most comfortable as a researcher, I am proud of my record in serving the research community in a variety of roles, including the current roles in the ASPET council and the editorial board of DMD

What advice would you give young scientists who are just starting out in their careers?

I would say to young scientists — know your strengths and weaknesses, and do not let your weaknesses prevent you from following your dreams.

2022 Contributions

Thank You to Our Supporters!

ASPET appreciates the continued support of its members. Thank you to all who have supported ASPET in 2022! Your membership renewals, journal submissions, and participation in webinars and meetings throughout the year contribute to ASPET’s success. The future of pharmacology depends on you, and we thank you for making ASPET your home.

We especially thank our individual donors who contributed to ASPET from November 2021 to October 2022.

Allison Brackley

Martha Dávila-GarcÍa

Robin Dodson

Susan Gonsalves

Susan Band Horwitz

Richard Johnston

Lewis Kinter

Bettie Sue Masters

Mark Osinski

Walter Prozialeck

Gary Rankin

Eugene Steffey

Paula Stern

Robert Theobald

Lynn Wecker

2023 ASPET Elections

The 2023 ASPET election for president-elect, secretary-treasurer elect, and councilor will open on January 10, 2023. Candidate biographies are available online at www.aspet.org/aspet/about-us/aspet-council/2023-aspetelection-candidates. All regular, postdoctoral, emeritus, affiliates, and graduate student members are eligible to vote. Eligible voting members will receive a notification when the election opens.

The following divisions are also holding elections:

■ Division for Behavioral Pharmacology

■ Division for Cardiovascular Pharmacology

■ Division for Drug Discovery and Development

■ Division for Drug Metabolism and Disposition

■ Division for Molecular Pharmacology

■ Division for Pharmacology Education

■ Division for Toxicology

Biographical information on division candidates can be found on page 58.

As the ASPET bylaws require, the election will be open for a minimum of 30 days from the day of notification. The election will close on February 10, 2023.

Nominees for President-Elect

Carol L. Beck, PharmD, PhD

Associate Professor, Dept. of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Cancer Biology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University

Associate Dean for Curriculum and MS Programs; Program Director, MSPharmacology; Jefferson College of Life Sciences

Randy Hall, PhD

Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Chemical Biology, Emory University School of Medicine

Carol L. Beck, PharmD, PhD Candidate’s Statement

I am honored to be nominated to serve as President of ASPET. My involvement in a regional chapter resulted in my ASPET membership. Then I discovered that I could connect with fellow pharmacology educators. I became involved with the Division for Pharmacology Education and was Division Chair (2013-2016). I was elected an ASPET Councilor (2016-2019) and Secretary-Treasurer (current Past Secretary-Treasurer). Through these experiences, I have gained insights into the potential of ASPET to serve the discipline of pharmacology.

I have BS and PharmD degrees from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy and a PhD in Pharmacology from Vanderbilt University. My current roles are with graduate and medical pharmacology education and higher education administration.

I represent pharmacology in the medical school curriculum (Sidney Kimmel Medical College). I am also the Associate Dean for MS programs (Jefferson College of Life Sciences) and the Program Director for an MS program in Pharmacology. I do not currently have a research program, but Jefferson is a Carnegie R2 doctoral university and I am surrounded by the challenges faced by researchers.

My leadership style is interactive, collaborative, and organized. Groups need structure to make decisions—but inside that structure, the group comes to consensus to make decisions. Not only are the group decisions greater than the individual opinions involved, but the participation of the group in making the decision means a more effective implementation is possible, since buy-in already exists. I try to ensure that transparency, communication, and collaboration are part of all processes. I would apply these same approaches as ASPET President.

ASPET was established in 1908 to be the home for investigators in the disciplines of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics. In 2022, ASPET still strives to be the home for the community of pharmacology. Council started the strategic plan revision process in fall 2022. Promoting and publishing rigorous scientific research through our meetings and journals; developing and encouraging the next generation of

pharmacologists; creating a diverse and inclusive community of pharmacologists; and providing mentoring and career development: these are all important parts of the current and future ASPET. We want to be a diverse and inclusive community of pharmacologists and to encourage and connect with pharmacologists throughout their careers, in academic research, education, industry, and government.

ASPET has a strong suite of pharmacology journals. The journals are a venue for publishing pharmacology research, but they also provide training for pharmacologists as reviewers, editorial board members, and editors. Regardless of how the journals are published, these opportunities should be retained.

With the end of the multi-society Experimental Biology meeting in 2022, ASPET is re-imagining our annual meeting from beginning to end. We know that our members value networking and personal connections. The 2023 meeting will be the first of many iterations of our new more intimate annual meeting.

To connect with the next generation of pharmacologists, we need more programs like the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF). SURF involves undergraduates in pharmacology research via program and individual grants. Can we add fellowship opportunities for under-represented students and add virtual components?

The Washington Fellows Program for graduate students, post docs and early career scientists is one form of mentoring and career development; however, we need more! The Fellows program gives training in science policy and underscores that advocating for evidence-based science policy is part of being a scientist. Can we develop a science advocacy curriculum for pharmacology trainees?

ASPET has started the quest for greater diversity, equity, and inclusion, but we need more concrete actions. One approach would be greater transparency about pathways to leadership. We can also expand our pharmacology community via partnerships and collaborations. The Partnership Committee is charged with evaluating current and potential collaborations—

regional, national, and international. ASPET has regional chapters that provide leadership training and community-building. We should also consider connections with clinical pharmacology groups.

We will need new programs to accomplish our goals. However, pharmacologists are a creative lot; these ideas will come! ASPET has a talented and dedicated staff to assist with implementation. We need to continue to invest in the people who work with us.

Randy Hall, PhD Candidate’s Statement

I have been an enthusiastic member of ASPET for more than two decades and served the society in many different leadership roles. This experience has positioned me well to serve as an effective President of ASPET.

The last few years have been a very challenging time for our society. A major goal of ASPET is to promote interactions between scientists, but the pandemic has made such interactions more difficult over the past couple of years. As a member of ASPET Council during this time, I’ve been involved in numerous decisions about how ASPET should evolve in the current era. I am proud of the choices we’ve made and the way the society has come together to not only survive but genuinely thrive during this tumultuous period.

There has never been a more important time than right now for ASPET and other scientific societies to continue the work of bringing people together. I know of numerous collaborations that began as conversations at ASPET meetings and also know of many students who found their first positions after graduation because of contacts made at ASPET events. For this reason, it is critical to keep ASPET meetings vibrant, with the goal of facilitating these fruitful interactions in the years to come. My hope as President will be to enhance the many ways in which ASPET brings diverse communities together to promote the advancement of pharmacology research, education, and public outreach.

My efforts as ASPET President will be informed by my deep experience in serving the society. I’ve

The pandemic provided an unusual opportunity to hit the “reset” button. Let’s eliminate things that no longer work and make changes to keep ASPET relevant to you as a member.

I would be honored to serve as President of ASPET and to apply my experiences as a pharmacologist, educator, and administrator to help us move toward our goals of creating and maintaining a strong community of pharmacologists.

served on the Board of Publication Trustees, which oversees the ASPET Journals, so I possess a wealth of knowledge about how our journals work as well as many ideas for helping to promote and enhance our journals. I’ve also served on the Program Committee and have many ideas about ways in which the annual meeting (and other ASPET events) can be enhanced. Moreover, at Emory, I’ve directed the Pharmacology graduate program for over a decade, so I feel that I have my finger on the pulse of what students find interesting and engaging. As President, I will bring this knowledge to bear on the crucially important efforts by ASPET to attract and develop the next generation of pharmacology researchers.

I have served shoulder-to-shoulder on ASPET Council for the past few years with Past President Peggy Gnegy, current President Mike Jarvis and PresidentElect Namandjé Bumpus, working closely with these leaders on many key initiatives. Thus, my work as President will benefit from continuity with the actions of previous Presidents, providing strong, stable leadership as opposed to any sort of policy reversals that might slow the positive momentum that ASPET has been building.

I am excited for what the coming years will bring for ASPET. Let’s work together to continue building an amazing, diverse society that brings people together to exchange ideas and promote the field of pharmacology.

Nominees for Secretary/Treasurer-Elect

Pamela Janet Hornby, PhD

Senior Principle & Fellow (retired), CV & Metabolic (CVM), Janssen R&D, LLC. Spring House, PA

Professor (ADJ), Dept. of Physiology and Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA

Pamela Janet Hornby, PhD Candidate’s Statement

Fadi T. Khasawneh, PhD

Associate Professor and Department Head of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Rangel School of Pharmacy, Texas A&M University

As Secretary/Treasurer I am excited about helping to build a stand-alone ASPET society that seeks to understand and meet the needs of the early career and trainee pharmacologists. Implementing the ASPET strategic plan by representing diversity of careers for next generation of pharmacologists, by promoting ASPET, and by reimagining the annual meeting experience are my highest priorities.

There is a growing gap of trainees needed to meet the demands of drug discovery, from Government (NCATS) to Academic Centers, Biotechnology to Pharma. There are few opportunities for PhD’s to connect their skills in basic design and interpretation of pharmacology to therapeutic programs moving towards the clinic. One reason for this gap is that the exposure of trainees to many non-academic roles is still relatively limited. As TCPD Chair, and as MCDC member, I have promoted pharmacology as a set of skills applicable to many different careers. I would like to further spread this knowledge through greater involvement in ASPET.

To promote pharmacology we must be able to communicate our ideas. My experience with Bridge to Employment high school students and their

parents has demonstrated how big this shortfall of communication is. The pandemic has further confounded the ability to share with our communities how they can benefit from what we do. Training in communication skills is essential to reduce barriers and build trust. The Pharmacologist is a great resource for providing historic examples of benefits to health, but I would like to work with members to explore more communication avenues.

Re-imagining the meeting experience is something I am passionate about and have thoroughly enjoyed. Pitch competitions in scientific entrepreneurship (Young Scientists Committee), datablitz, ‘fireside chat’ and panel discussions with active audience participation must take their place beside the traditional discipline-based invited speaker symposia. This will not only engage attendees but will also expand our membership.

Finally, being elected Treasurer/Secretary would help advance my own career goals by enabling me to gain insight into fiscal oversight of ASPET and contribute to strengthening the society for future members.

Fadi T. Khasawneh, PhD Candidate’s Statement

I am honored and humbled to be nominated for ASPET’s Secretary/Treasurer. I believe that my service and involvement with ASPET since 2006, both at the division (e.g., secretary treasurer of the cardiovascular pharmacology division) and national levels (e.g., member of Partnership Committee), and the experiences I have had throughout my career have not only given me a keen understanding of ASPET’s operations, budgeting process and strategic plan, but also prepared me well to take on this challenge. The unprecedented circumstances we continue to deal with due to a pandemic of global proportions, the decline in Federal funding, and the reimagining of our annual meeting, have also provided us with new challenges we must address and unique opportunities we must seize. Some of my priorities (derived from strategic Goal F; Strengthening ASPET) would be to work collaboratively with the ASPET Chief Financial Officer and Executive Officer, Council, Finance

Nominees for Councilor

Associate Professor, Department of Neural and Behavioral Sciences, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine

Amy C. Arnold, PhD

Candidate’s Statement

I have been actively involved in ASPET since 2006, which has spanned my graduate studies in integrative pharmacology and physiology, postdoctoral fellowship

Committee, and Investment Subcommittee to assure good stewardship of ASPET’s assets, and to explore and identify new avenues of income (e.g., expanding/ retaining our membership, engage our members for reimagining the Big Ideas initiative, international chapters, journal structure, amongst others), which will collectively support the fiscal health and stability of ASPET. I also plan to work with Council and engage members in working towards common goals, investing in new and innovative ideas, and implementing projects that align with our shared mission as well as serve our members, especially our junior scientists and trainees (e.g., bridge funding). I welcome the opportunity to serve as ASPET’s Secretary/Treasurer and to work together with our stakeholders to ensure that we continue to meet our financial obligations, and to achieve the ASPET mission of becoming the professional home for entities working to advance the field of pharmacology.

Instructional

in clinical pharmacology, and current independent faculty position with translational research focused on cardiovascular autonomic regulation. I have been

Amy C. Arnold, PhD

Catherine M. Davis, PhD Assistant Professor, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

Jayne S. Reuben, PhD

Associate Professor and Director of Instructional Effectiveness at the Texas A & M University (TAMU) School of Dentistry (SOD)

involved in substantial ASPET service activities over the past 15 years including: Member, SecretaryTreasurer, and Chair of the Recruitment subcommittee for the Division of Cardiovascular Pharmacology Executive Committee; Member of the Division of Pharmacology Education Executive Committee; and member of the Nominating Committee. As part of these committees, I gained experience in leadership, research, education, and strategic planning initiatives related to pharmacology. I have also been effective in organizing symposia at the annual meetings on evolving topics of importance in pharmacology research while ensuring balance in terms of speaker

Catherine M. Davis, PhD Candidate’s Statement

I am delighted and honored to be a candidate for ASPET Councilor. Since becoming an ASPET member in 2008, I have been actively involved in the society, including at the division level as the Postdoc Representative on the Executive Committee for the Behavioral Pharmacology Division, and Communications Director for the Division for Pharmacology Education, and most recently at the society level as the Chair of the Science Policy Committee and ASPET’s representative to the FASEB Board of Directors. In this last role, I also serve as an Ex Officio member of the ASPET Council. Through these activities, I have gained experience in several areas essential to ASPET’s continued growth, success, and service to its members, most importantly, in policy and advocacy areas where current and upcoming changes to things like open access publishing, big data management and open science initiatives, drug scheduling, and animal research regulations could

Jayne S. Reuben, PhD Candidate’s Statement

I have been a dedicated member of ASPET since joining in 1998 as a graduate student. The guidance and mentorship that I have received through my interactions with ASPET members, participation in various ASPET committees and attendance at ASPET annual meetings has had a significant impact on my career. In more recent years, I have been thrilled to see that ASPET has strived to provide more programming and support to

diversity and career stage. I am dedicated, motivated, have strong organizational skills, have led and organized collaborative teams within my division, and have optimized research and career development resources for trainees and investigators at all stages. Of note, I am a translational scientist with expertise and connections spanning preclinical and clinical pharmacology research and thus also bring a unique perspective in terms of enhancing outreach, increasing a diverse membership, and promoting exciting and cutting-edge science. Overall, I have made significant contributions to ASPET that I believe make me an ideal candidate to serve as Councilor.

significantly impact how our members complete their research, educate students, and provide a high quality research environment for their trainees. These changes are occurring in an evolving scientific landscape, where recent public health and economic challenges have highlighted the importance of forward-thinking policies regarding the best use of our resources, including virtual meeting spaces, events throughout the year, and other activities that allow our members to remain engaged with the society. With these challenges come exciting growth opportunities for ASPET and I am interested in being a Councilor to work with the ASPET staff and other volunteer leaders to develop creative solutions to move ASPET forward as the definitive home for members in all areas of pharmacology. I am confident that my previous experience and past roles within ASPET have prepared me well for the position of Councilor.

facilitate the success of pharmacology educators like me and to provide information on novel and impactful educational methodologies.

As Chair of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Division of Pharmacology Education (DPE), I helped to increase the diversity, overall membership and visibility of our

division so that we now have representatives from pharmacy, dentistry, medicine, and nursing schools on the DPE executive committee. I would use the same strategies to help ASPET grow as a society. As an ASPET Council member, I will work diligently to build the membership and assist in other strategic initiatives of the organization because we have a better chance of ensuring the perpetuity of our organization by actively engaging all of our members as early as possible in their careers. Furthermore, I have valuable

experience from my service as a member of several award, admissions, search, curriculum, journal review (Academic Medicine) and trustee board committees. The opportunity to serve on the ASPET Council will provide me with more insight into our professional organization and if elected, I pledge to continue to support the outstanding members who comprise this exceptional society. As a member of the ASPET Council, I welcome the chance to build on the excellent work that previous leaders have begun.

ASPET Council Approves Revised Bylaws

On November 10, 2022, the Council approved a full revision of the ASPET Bylaws. Following approval by Council, the revised ASPET Bylaws will now go before the voting members of the Society for its consideration and approval.

The revised ASPET Bylaws are the result of nearly 18 months of time and effort from the ASPET Bylaws Task Force, chaired by Dr. Mary-Ann Bjornsti. Established in June 2021, the task force was charged with reviewing the feedback on the existing Bylaws from ASPET legal counsel, Council or Task Force members and proposing revisions to the Bylaws to

address recommendations. The task force approached the work with the goals of ensuring ASPET is fully compliant with nonprofit incorporation regulations in the state of Maryland (where ASPET was incorporated in 1933) as well as providing flexibility for the organization to update its processes quickly in the future, as needed.

All regular, postdoctoral, emeritus, affiliate, and graduate student members are eligible to vote for the revised Bylaws. Voting will begin on January 10, 2023, and end on February 10, 2023, as part of the 2023 ASPET Elections.

The ASPET 2023 election will open on January 10, 2023. All eligible voters will be sent notification with your login credentials to vote. If you have any questions, please contact membership@aspet.org

ASPET 2023 Annual Meeting

Join us in St. Louis for an exciting and interactive program highlighting the highest quality, innovative science in pharmacology and experimental therapeutics.

Re-designed by ASPET members for the pharmacology and experimental therapeutics community, the ASPET Annual Meeting is no longer part of Experimental Biology. The meeting will deliver a valuable, inspiring, fun experience, so everyone feels the warm welcome of ASPET, your home for pharmacology.

Come to St. Louis to be Inspired by new insights from leading experts.

Internationally Renowned Neuroscientist

Yasmin Hurd, PhD Director, Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai

Dr. Yasmin Hurd is the Director of the Addiction Institute within the Mount Sinai Behavioral Health System as well as the Ward Coleman Chair of Translational Neuroscience and Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. Dr. Hurd is an internationally renowned neuroscientist whose translational research examines the neurobiology of drug abuse and related psychiatric disorders. Her

research exploring the neurobiological effects of cannabis and heroin has significantly shaped the field. She uses multidisciplinary approaches to provide unique insights into the impact of developmental cannabis exposure and epigenetic mechanisms underlying the drug’s protracted effects into adulthood and even across generations. Dr. Hurd is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. She is also the recipient of the 2020 Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Neuroscience.

Nobel Prize-winning Physician

William G. Kaelin, MD Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber

Cancer Institute

Dr. William Kaelin is the Sidney Farber Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and DanaFarber Cancer Institute, Senior Physician in Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. A Nobel Laureate, Dr. Kaelin

received the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Dr. Kaelin’s research seeks to understand how, mechanistically, mutations affecting tumorsuppressor genes cause cancer. His laboratory is currently focused on studies of the VHL, RB-1, and p53 biochemical functions of tumor suppressor genes. The team uses genetic and biochemical approaches with both human and mouse cells,

including genetically engineered mouse models. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National

Academy of Medicine, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and the American College of Physicians.

Science, Journal Editor-in-Chief

Holden Thorp, PhD

Rita Levi-Montalcini

Distinguished University Professor at Washington University

Dr. Holden Thorp became Editor-in-Chief of the Science family of journals in October 2019. He joined the Science journals from Washington University, where he was provost from 2013 to 2019 and where he is Rita Levi-Montalcini Distinguished University Professor and holds appointments in both chemistry and medicine. Dr. Thorp joined Washington University after spending three decades

at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he served as the 10th chancellor from 2008 through 2013. In his research career, Dr. Thorp studied electron-transfer reactions of nucleric acid, developed technology for electronic DNA chips, and cofounded Viamet Pharmaceuticals, which developed VIVJOA (oteseconazole), now approved by the FDA. Dr. Thorp is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences the National Academy of Inventors and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Meet

2023

will be announced in January.

Scientific Achievement Awardees Advance

Annual Meeting Program

Friday, May 19

10:30 am – 12:00 pm

“Guppy

Tank” Translational Science Pitch Showcase

Chairs: Saranya Radhakrishnan and Khalid Garman

Speakers: Trivia Frazier and finalists selected from competition applications

The “Guppy Tank” competition will showcase translational science pitches from four ASPET trainees who were coached by mentors with established experience in the biotech, pharma, and entrepreneurship realms. In addition, The Guppy Tank event will feature a keynote discussion by a seasoned scientific entrepreneur who will highlight the importance of a translational vision to scientific innovations and effective strategies for a successful science pitch. This session will be an exciting and essential educational opportunity for ASPET trainees to hone their translational scientific communication skills while getting publicly recognized for their talents.

Graduate students and postdocs are encouraged to learn more and to apply to participate in the competition at no charge at www.aspet.org/guppytank2023

Evolution of Psychedelics: Molecules Inspired by 5-HT2 Receptor Biology

Chairs: Kathryn Cunningham and Kurt Rasmussen

Speakers: Kathryn Cunningham, Lindsley Cameron, Charles Nichols, and Joshua Zamora

Psychedelics hold great promise for the treatment of several neuropsychiatric disorders. These compounds induce rapid and long-lasting neuroplastic effects in cortical neurons, effects which may play an important role in their therapeutic efficacy. The potential therapeutic impact of resetting neuroplasticity is linked to their affinity/ efficacy for the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor (5-HT2AR). Unfortunately, hallucinogenic drugs may not be a viable option for many patients as even mild dementia or a history of psychosis may heighten risk for drugassociated adverse effects. There is a critical chemical gap in the development of molecules that maintain the neuroplasticity-promoting effects of psychedelics, but with a range of hallucinogenic-like effects. New classes of compounds have been synthesized that hold promise as non-hallucinogenic 5-HT2AR potentiators and therapeutics, and this panel presents distinct and innovative approaches in this regard.

Cell-Cell Communication in Heart Failure and Therapy

Chairs: Yang Kevin Xiang and Rongxue (Rosie) Wu

Speakers: Willian M. Chilian, Yajing Wang, Altayeb Abdelwahid, Pillar Alcaide, and an abstract-based young scientist presentation

The symposium will highlight the current progress on cell-cell communications involved in the development of heart failure and preclinical treatment. Heart failure is a complicated process that is involved interactions among myocytes, fibroblasts, endothelia cells, pericytes, adipocytes, and marcophages, etc, and critical to understand the tissue remodeling underlying a variety of cardiac phenotypes, ranging from depressed ejection fraction, impaired cardiac relaxation, to cardiac arrhythmia. The symposium aims to deliver the important messengers to better understand non-traditional mechanisms of cell-cell communication in heart failure.

Transporter Regulations and Their Role in Drug Disposition and Interaction

Chairs: Hong Shen and Xinning Yang

Speakers: Hong Shen, Shuiying Hu, Xinning Yang, and an abstract-based young scientist presentation

Various transporters, expressed in the gut, liver, and kidney, are known to govern a drug’s ADME, and their activities can be up- or down-regulated, and thus have significant consequences on the

Friday, May 19

1:00 pm – 2:30 pm

Revolutionary Tools to Unveil Undruggable Therapeutic Targets

Chairs: Francis Willard and Harshini Neelakantan

Speakers: Dirk Bussiere, Danette Daniels, Daohong Zhou, and Gwenn Hansen

The class of drugs called the protein degraders, or better known as the “PROTACs: Proteolysis Targeting Chimeras”, have gained significant momentum in the past decade with seminal work led by Crews et al. and other pioneering leaders to follow. Today, successful small molecule PROTAC interventional therapeutics have entered clinical trials for cancer treatment, with significant advancements occurring rapidly in the field to leverage this tool to investigate several undruggable targets for varied clinical indications. The objective of this symposium will be to introduce the emerging protein degrader tools (PROTACs and molecular glues) for drug discovery and highlight the successful application of these approaches to the innovation of novel therapeutics. The panel of worldleading speakers in this symposium will present on the evolution and emergence of the PROTACs, use cases

systemic and tissue exposures to drug substrates. However, transporter regulations are an emerging field with mechanisms that remain elusive. This symposium aims to highlight recent advances in our understanding of transcriptional, posttranscriptional, and post-translational modification mechanisms of transporter regulation, and their clinical relevance. Novel and translational tools, such as endogenous biomarkers and cynomolgus monkey models, have been utilized to investigate the regulatory effects on transporters in vivo.

of PROTACs across therapeutic areas of research. opportunities and challenges in the therapeutics application of this ground-breaking technology, and progress made, future expectations, and areas of growth in the field.

Recent Advances in Orphan GPCR Structure, Signaling and Pharmacology

Chair: John Allen

Speakers: Kirill Martemyanov, Innes Ibanez-Tallon, John Allen, Bryan Roth, and an abstract-based young scientist presentation

Although G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are successful therapeutic targets for approximately 35% of FDA-approved medications, roughly 120 remain orphan receptors with poorly understood physiology and pharmacology. This session will bring together experts working on the structure, signaling, physiology and novel pharmacology of brain orphan GPCRs. Speakers will discuss their recent research on orphan receptors expressed in the nervous system including GPR158, GPR151, GPR52 and MRGPRX4. Research

will include descriptions of high-resolution orphan receptor structures, unexpected receptor signaling mechanisms, novel agonist/antagonist modes-ofaction, neurophysiology and drug discovery. These studies are providing new pharmacological tools to better define the function of these understudied GPCRs, and opening new directions for both basic and translational pharmacology.

Advances in ADME and Toxicity Biomarkers

Chairs: Bhagwat Prasad and Xiaochao Ma

Speakers: Bhagwat Prasad, Leah Siskind, Xiaoyan Chu, and an abstract-based young scientist presentation

Drug transport and metabolism are critical determinants of drug absorption, metabolism, distribution, elimination (ADME) as well as drugdrug interactions (DDIs) and toxicity. While significant progress has been made to utilize in vitro models to predict drug ADME and toxicity including physiologically-based pharmacokinetic and toxicokinetic modeling, these models are either not sufficiently complex or require comprehensive physiological data. ADME and toxicity biomarkers that can be quantified using accessible biofluid such as urine and blood from patients, healthy volunteers or preclinical species are recognized as a relatively

non-invasive approach to facilitate DDI and toxicity potential of drugs. Recent data on biomarkers of drug transporter, metabolism, and toxicity in human and preclinical species suggest their promising applications in drug development.

Adipose Tissue Connects Dysbiosis to Heart Disease: Sex Differences?

Chair: Ahmed El-Yazbi

Speakers: Ahmed El-Yazbi, Saleh Ibrahim, Haneen Dwaib, and Christian Sina

Metabolic impairment induces a state of low-grade inflammation triggering cardiovascular dysfunction. In parallel, western-type diets drive an imbalance of microorganisms in the gut known as dysbiosis. Recent research implicates localized inflammation in certain adipose depots in causing the earliest pathologies in cardiovascular tissues/organs. Dysbiosis was suggested to augment the inflammatory phenotype in adipose tissue, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Here, we describe the early molecular changes in these adipose depots, demonstrate the pathways through which microbiota alters the host mitochondria, causing the observed alterations, and highlight the sex-based differences in these cascades. Potential therapies modulating these processes are discussed.

Teaching Blitz

Chairs: Diptiman Bose and Rupa Tuan

Speakers: Patrick Murphy, Nicholas Denton, Allyson Spence, and Carolina Restini

The Teaching Blitz will discuss innovative teaching ideas that are readily transferable to your classroom. Speakers will present and demonstrate the implementation of novel approaches to rethinking approaches to classroom assessments, course designs, and instructions.

Molecular Mechanism of Cardiac Aging

Chairs: Haobo Li and Hemal Patel

Speakers: Anthony Rosenzweig, Kristin Stanford, Ann Chiao, and abstract-based young scientist presentations

Heart failure is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in older adults, representing the main cause of hospitalization in this population. However, effective pharmacological intervention for this disease is lacking. This session will discuss recent advances in understanding molecular mechanisms of cardiac aging and their potential therapeutic implications for agedrelated cardiac disease. Three leading investigators and two trainees will discuss how stress drives cardiac aging, how to target brown adipose tissue to treat cardiac senescence, and how to target aging hallmarks to treat heart failure with preserved ejection fration, the most common form of heart failure in older adults.

Pharmacology of Opioid/ Stimulant Co-abuse: From the Lab to the Clinic

Chairs: Vanessa Minervini and David R. Maguire

Speakers: Christopher M. Jones, Kelly E. Dunn, Gregory T. Collins, and Stephen M. Husbands

In addition to the well-documented increase in deaths involving opioids over the past two decades,

overdose deaths involving stimulants have also increased sharply, and recent estimates indicate a high prevalence of polysubstance abuse involving opioids and stimulants. With speakers representing a broad spectrum of expertise, including epidemiology, human behavioral pharmacology and clinical trials, pre-clinical behavioral pharmacology, and medicinal chemistry, this symposium highlights current research on opioid and stimulant co-abuse and demonstrates contributions pharmacology research can make toward addressing this rapidly growing and evolving public health challenge.

ADME of Biological Therapeutics for Drug Discovery and Development

Chairs: Xiao-bo Zhong and Hongbin Yu

Speakers: Hongbin Yu, Donald Mager, Xiao-bo Zhong, and Jingkai Gu

Biological therapeutic drugs, including nucleic acids, such as mRNAs, antisense oligonucleotide (ASO), and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), and proteins, for example antibodies and peptides, have very different ADME features than traditional small chemical medications, which can directly impact on their therapeutic efficacy and adverse reactions. The session will contain several presentations from pharmaceutical industry and academics to provide updated information on ADME studies covering nucleic acid and protein drugs as well as their nanocarrier delivery systems.

This

Division for Toxicology Highlights and Advances in Toxicology (TBD)

This session will highlight advances in toxicology as selected from abstract submissions.

Division for Translational and Clinical Pharmacology

Young Investigator Awards Platform and Early Career Faculty Showcase

This session will highlight oral presentations by young scientists chosen from abstracts and feature talks from the division’s two Early Career Awardees.

Pharmacology in Color Symposium

Chairs: Nathalie Momplaisir and Manoj Puthenveedu

Speakers: Jenny Wilkerson, Marcus Delatte, Emmeline Edwards, and Jackee Sanchez

Underrepresentation of people of color in STEMrelated fields is a long-standing and serious problem that continues to worsen as we go up the ladder. As such, trainees of color see very few examples of individuals who belong to underrepresented/marginalized groups in successful scientific careers. This symposium will highlight scientists of color and provide a welcoming space for all scientists. It will further establish a forum for discussing issues critical to thriving as underrepresented groups in Pharmacology-related careers and create networking opportunities to support the continued growth of scientists of color at all career levels.

Saturday, May 20 11:00 am – 12:30 pm

Thinking Outside of the Box: Career Paths for Pharmacologists

Chairs: Janet Clark, Kennedy Outlaw, Gregory Grumbar, and Martha Davila-Garcia

Speakers: Don Button, T. Lee Gilman, Felix Kim, Joseph Jilek, Ciearra Smith, Ashley Guillory, and Stephanie Davis

After completing graduate studies and postdoctoral training, many scientists find themselves seeking career opportunities that are rewarding, utilize their biomedical training and take them to the academic realm as well as private or government institutions or industry. The career opportunities for those trained in pharmacology are broad and not always obvious to those who have trained specifically for a career in academia.

This symposium will bring together a panel of highly successful biomedical professionals who have utilized their biomedical training to pursue very different career paths. The speakers will briefly discuss their particular career path and how they arrived in the positions that they currently hold. Following the short presentations each speaker will lead/facilitate a small group discussion with members of the audience to discuss their particular pathways in greater detail. This will allow attendees the opportunity for an informational interview with the professionals to obtain targeted information in dialogue with the speaker about their particular careers, how they determined their career paths and how best to prepare and pursue such a career path. This will also serve as a networking opportunity for attendees.

Division for Cancer Pharmacology Young Investigator Award and Susan B. Horwitz Award Lecture in Cancer Pharmacology

Chair: Lori Hazlehurst

The focus of this session provides a spotlight for the top scored abstracts submitted by undergraduate, post-bac and post-doctoral cancer pharmacologists. In addition, the prestigious Susan Band Horwitz award will be presented to a senior investigator who as established national and international recognition for cancer drug discovery or development.

Division for Drug Metabolism and Disposition Okita Early Career and Gillette Award Lectures and Junior Investigator Platform Session

Chairs: Joanne Wang and Hyunyoung Jeong

This session will feature a talk from the Okita Early Career Award recipient, followed by two talks from the authors of the best papers of 2022 from the journal of Drug Metabolism and Disposition who received

the James R. Gillette Awards in pharmacokinetics/ transporters and drug metabolizing enzymes. The session will also include abstract-based oral presentations from graduate students and postdoctoral fellows focused on drug metabolism and disposition.

Division for Behavioral Pharmacology Motivation-related Targets for Drug Development

Chairs: Jack Bergman and Emily Jutkiewicz

Speakers: Vanessa Minervini, Brian Kangas, Raymond Pitts, and David Maguire

CNS therapeutics can alter reward-related behavioral processes through targeted or non-targeted actions and thereby affect motivated behavior. Rigorous characterization and interpretation of such changes in motivated behavior can help advance our understanding of pharmacological and behavioral mechanisms through which they may be mediated. This symposium will feature presentations on recent work from several laboratories demonstrating different approaches toward studying effects of drugs on reinforcement and reward-related processes in preclinical research.

Charis: Ama Okyere, Gustavo Oliveira de Paula, and Bradley McConnell

This session will feature the Trainee Showcase oral presentations by young scientists, featuring both graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. This showcase also features a keynote talk by the Benedict R. Lucchesi Young Scientist Awardee.

Division for Drug Discovery and Development

Scientific Achievement Award Lecture and Notable Abstracts Platform Presentations

Chairs: Benita Sjogren and Alicja Urbaniak

This session will showcase three notable abstractbased platform presentations by ASPET members followed by the division’s Scientific Achievement Award Lecture in Drug Discovery and Development presented by the 2023 awardee to be announced in January.

Division for Neuropharmacology Award Lectures and Postdoctoral Fellow Showcase

Chairs: Carolyn Fairbanks and Dan Morgan

This session will feature oral presentations from postdoc finalists selected from the submitted abstracts as well as talks by the winners of the division’s 2023 Early Career Award and DEI Recognition Award.

Journals Workshop: Let’s Get Interactive with ASPET Editors

Chairs: Maria Pasho and Ken Tew

Speakers: Beverley Greenwood-Van Meerveld, Xinxin Ding, and Lynette Daws

This workshop is perfect for early career researchers, but we encourage all to attend what is sure to be a lively and interesting 90 minutes of information-packed discussion. Authors can learn about the scope of the journals and get tips to reduce the chances of their papers being rejected. Reviewers can hear from an editor ideas on how to write a review that is concise, informative, and balanced. Everyone can learn more about the various roles from what the editor-in-chief does to what the reviewers do, including how they make recommendations for revision and acceptance, with a look at what goes on in the decisionmaking process. This workshop is of interest for anyone who is thinking about submitting their work to an ASPET journal and who would be interested in a view from the inside from those in the know. Attendees should be prepared to break out into groups, ask questions, learn...and submit! Three ASPET editors-in-chief will speak to the benefits of choosing journals from ASPET, the home of pharmacology.

Saturday, May 20 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm

The Null Hypothesis: The Importance of Showcasing Non-Significant Data

Chairs: Dianicha Santana and Khalid Garman

Speakers: Pamela Hornby and abstract-based young scientist presentations

Scientific publications today are biased towards reporting positive results to tell a good story. Whereas, well controlled studies resulting in non-

significant data are less likely to get published. This creates a publication bias which severely impacts the ability to accurately synthesize data and limits an appropriate description of complex research problems. This session will highlight the impact of research studies where results led to an independent finding through oral presentations from trainees that were selected from submitted abstracts. Additionally, this session will feature a keynote speaker presenting a translational science study on the delivery of mAbs.

The NIH Blueprint for Neurotherapeutics Network

Chair: Rebecca Roof

Speakers:

Carolyn Bondar, John Mulcahy, and Courtney Miller

The NIH Blueprint for Neurotherapeutics Network (BPN) was launched to enable neuroscientists in academia and biotechnology companies to develop new drugs for nervous system disorders. The BPN provides grant funding as well as free access to CROs (medicinal chemistry, pharmacokinetics/ADME, toxicology, drug manufacturing, drug formulation and phase I clinical trials) and consultants for small molecule drug discovery and development, from hit-to-lead chemistry through phase I clinical testing. A fundamental hallmark of the program is that the research institution retains the intellectual property rights. The goal is to generate the required data to de-risk further funding for subsequent clinical trials, partnership, or out-licensing. Attendees will hear not just from NIH staff but also grantees who have benefited from the program.

Creating, Delivering and Assessing Online Content

Chair: Helmut Gottlieb

Speakers: Katharina Brandl, Helmut Gottlieb, and Lila LaGrange

COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the movement of courses from a face-to-face to an online content delivery. We are now in a position to adopt successful online strategies and use in any mode of teaching. The goal of such strategies is for students to develop

critical thinking skills for solving problems. As we move forward, these new approaches for creating and delivering course content, and assessing student learning can be refined and shared. This symposium will present modalities of creating and delivering online content, and assessing student performance and learning. It will conclude with interactive activities.

Science Policy and You: How Pharmacologists Can Become Science Advocates

Chairs: Catherine Davis and Lindsey Galbo

Speakers: Catherine Davis and Debra Cooper

Given the rise in science denial and distrust across the United States, it is more important than ever for pharmacologists to learn about the various ways they can become advocates for the field of pharmacology, and science in general. However, ASPET members may find it difficult to identify important policy areas, navigate the legislative process, engage stakeholders, or determine the right avenue for their advocacy work. Given these difficulties, the Science Policy Committee (SPC) wants to be a resource for ASPET members and to demonstrate how advocacy requires pharmacologists at all career levels to use their expertise to communicate the importance of science to their elected officials and greater community. This session will introduce attendees to the ASPET SPC, highlight the advocacy work of individual ASPET members, and provide a casual forum to learn more about getting involved in science policy.

Sunday, May 21

9:00 am – 10:30 am

Julius Axelrod Lecture and Symposium

Melatonin Receptors: Molecular Pharmacology and Role in the Modulation of Circadian Disorders

Chair and Award Lecturer: Margarita Dubocovich

Speakers: Margarita Dubocovich, Ralf Jockers, Gloria A Benítez-King, and David E. Blask

This symposium honors the memory and pioneer work by Dr. Julius Axelrod who made fundamental discoveries on the synthesis, signaling and neuroendocrine actions of melatonin, a molecule that signals darkness. The distinguished panel of speakers including 2022 Axelrod Awardee, Margarita Dubocovich joined by Drs. Ralf Jockers (Université Paris Cité, Institute Cochin, Paris, France), Gloria A Benítez-King (National Institute of Psychiatry Ramon de la Fuente Muniz, Mexico City, Mexico) and David E. Blask (Tulane University, New Orleans, USA) will address the molecular and neuropharmacological mechanisms of melatonin receptor function, and the potential of novel melatonin receptor ligands to treat circadian disorders, depression, cancer, and type 2 diabetes among other conditions and diseases.

Cyclic AMP serves as the volume control for physiological processes in nearly every organ system, from stress and contractility in heart, bronchodilation and remodeling in lung, to learning and memory and pain responses in the nervous system. The last two decades of research has made clear that compartmentalization of cAMP signaling is key to its physiological function. Yet the molecular details of how compartmentalization is achieved are still debated. This symposium will feature PI and trainee talks focused on new technologies to measure localized cAMP and novel mechanisms that drive downstream functional effects.

Margarita L. Dubocovich, PhD University at Buffalo

Space: The Final Frontier for cAMP Signaling

Chairs: Rennolds Ostrom and Carmen Dessauer

Speakers: Manuela Zaccolo and Ying-Chi Chao, Andreas Bock and Charlotte Kayser, Tom Rich and Santina Johnson, and Aldebaran Hofer and Matt Strobel

Division for Pharmacology Education Embracing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Pharmacology Curricula

Chairs: Joe Blumer and Monzurul Roni

Speakers: Joe Blumer, Monzurul Roni, Naunihal Zaveri, Marieke Kruidering, and Michael Lee

Our goals in this symposium are to help participants identify and discuss the prevalence of DEI issues in pharmacology education curricula and assessments, to discuss best practices for addressing DEI issues in pharmacology education, and to discuss frameworks for guidance in promoting DEI and removing racial bias in pharmacology curricula. At the end of the session, participants will be able to: (1) Describe DEI issues in the health sciences curriculum, assessments, and education. (2) Identify DEI issues in pharmacology curriculum and assessment using case scenarios and examples. (3) Discuss strategies to mitigate racism and bias in pharmacology education and assessment.

Muscarinic Receptors in Stages of Alcohol and Substance Use Disorders

Chairs: Morgane Thomsen and Leigh Walker

Speakers: Morgane Thomsen, Matthew Banks, Laura Teal, and Leigh Walker

This session compare and contrast the impact of selective modulation of muscarinic receptor subtypes across the addiction cycle of different addictive

Sunday, May 21

11:00 am – 12:30 pm

Pharmacology-based Tools Opening New Frontiers in Biological Research

Chairs: Erin Calipari and Mike Beckstead

Speakers: Lin Tian, Mike Tadross, Carrie Jones, and Ismail Ahmed

Many promising tools recently developed for biological research rely heavily on principles of pharmacology. This session will focus on novel tools that are being used to explore pharmacological and biological questions with unprecedented precision. Talks will focus on the development of novel optical sensors for monitoring peptide release in awake and behaving animals, Drugs Acutely Restricted by Tethering (DART) which allow for cell type-specific pharmacology in intact systems, and new tools for the control and modulation of GPCR signaling. Together, this session will demonstrate how the next generation of pharmacological tools is unlocking new frontiers for understanding biological functions.

substances. Dr. Thomsen will discuss effects of M1 and M4 mAChR ligands on aspects of cocaine self-administration inlcuding choice, and cognitive disturbances. Dr. Banks’s findings will highlight how M1 mAChR effects on methamphetamine vs food choice compare to those cocaine effects. Ms. Teal will contrast the effect of M1 and M5 mAChR ligands on aspects of opioid drug taking and seeking. Dr. Walker will present M4 and M5 mAChR ligand effects on alcohol taking and seeking in different brain regions in rats and humans.

Impact of the Microbiome and Pathobiome in Drug Metabolism and Disposition

Chairs: Jed Lampe and Libin Xu

Speakers: Julia Yue Cui, Jed Lampe, Nina Isoherranen, Sangeeta Khare, and an abstract-based presentation by a young scientist

This symposium will bring together leaders in the field to discuss the importance of microbial mediated drug metabolism in both health and disease. Topics will include: 1) the gut-brain axis as a therapeutic target for neurodegenerative diseases, 2) impact of gut microbiome on vitamin A homeostasis and retinoid metabolism, 3) the pathobiomes’ contribution to drug metabolism and disposition, and 4) using rodent animal models to evaluate the microbiome and pathobiome as a mechanism of toxicity. Participants will gain a greater understanding and appreciation of the role of the microbiome and pathobiome in drug metabolism and disposition as well as the cuttingedge methodologies used to study these important phenomena. A student-led Q&A session with all the panel speakers will round out the session at the end.

Therapeutic Targeting Myeloid Cells in Cancer

Chairs:

Yulia Nefedova and Dmitry Gabrilovich

Speakers: Filippo Veglia, Qing Chen, and Hiromi Wettersten

In recent years, extensive studies implicated myeloid cells in tumor development, progression and metastasis. Myeloid cells is a complex network of different cells with different function. These cells are characterized by fascinating biology and biochemistry and focus of intensive studies by many research groups in academia and multiple pharmaceutical companies. Clinical studies support their role in tumor progression and limitation of the effect of various immune therapeutics. Because of this, there is an intensive effort to target this cells. The session will cover the role and targeting opportunities for myeloid-derived suppressor cells and macrophages in different types of cancer. The goal of this session is to discuss several topics focused on different aspects of myeloid cell biology and their targeting.

BPS-ASPET Symposium:

Recent Insights into Ion Channel Modulation by Plant Extracts

Co-sponsored by the British Pharmacological Society

Chairs: Iain Greenwood and Geoffrey W. Abbott

Throughout history plant extracts have had a considerable role in human health and even today plant-derived remedies are often used as alternative medicines. Many natural products have actions consistent with ion channel modulation and sophisticated electrophysiology, mutagenesis and molecular modelling has revealed how certain plant extracts modify ion channel activity. The work on temperature and mechanosensitive ion channels modulation by chilli extract, menthol or garlic derived pungents by the 2021 Nobel prize winners for Physiology/Medicine, David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian, brings considerable focus to this aspect of pharmacology. This symposium features speakers who will describe different facets of ion channel modulation by plant-derived entities. Derivation of key molecular hot spots for plant derived products provides considerable insight into the workings of several ion channels with key physiological roles. The symposium will be of broad appeal for members with interests in ion channel modulation, pharmacophore modelling, pharmacological translation and drug targeting.

Speakers: Peter McNaughton, Tamara Rosenbaum, Geoffrey W. Abbott, Nina Ottosson, and Jennifer Van de Horst

Come to St. Louis to Connect with the pharmacology community

Evening Poster Receptions

Enjoy a drink and snacks while exploring the latest science or presenting it yourself! Poster presentations are held every evening. Posters are grouped by divisional topic area and every night includes student and postdoc finalists competing for poster awards. Hear their presentations and discuss the latest research advances.

Opening Event at the Aquarium

ASPET will be making a splash on Thursday night in St. Louis! The Aquarium will be reserved for our exclusive use. Connect with old friends, meet new ones, and journey into the deep.

Shared Meals

The program is designed to allow plenty of opportunities to share a meal with other scientists focused on pharmacology and experimental therapeutics. We encourage you to sit with someone different at every meal.

Generous Breaks Between Sessions

We’ve built 30-minute breaks between sessions into the schedule. You don’t have to rush to find the next session room. Take the time to linger to meet the speakers or chat with other attendees in the session or compare notes with a colleague who attended a different session.

Give a Day of Service to St. Louis

Thursday, May 18, 7:00 am – 1:00 pm

Since 2009 ASPET members attending the annual meeting have given a day of volunteer service in the local communities. Volunteer activities have ranged from home construction, to painting, cleaning, stocking shelves, building maintenance, food preparation and service. ASPET’s Division for Behavioral Pharmacology will again sponsor a volunteer opportunity at ASPET 2023 in St. Louis.

We will spend the day at the Saint Louis Dream Center helping them serve the citizens of St. Louis. If you want to volunteer, please sign-up when you register for the meeting. Space is limited and further details will be provided to those who volunteer.

Pre-Conference Activities

Since our opening session on Thursday, May 18th doesn’t start until 2:00 pm, it gives you the morning to join in a smaller ASPET group for site-seeing tours or a community service project. More information is coming soon.

Parkinson’s Disease and L-DOPA

Rebecca J. Anderson, PhD

James Parkinson was a colorful character. In addition to following his father as a practicing surgeon in London, James actively pursued geology, paleontology, and politics. In 1807, he became a founding member of the Geological Society of London, along with other notables including Sir Humphry Davy. Parkinson’s geological monograph, Organic Remains of a Former World, remained in print for half a century (1).

Parkinson was possibly the only person ever to win a raffle for a natural history museum. In 1785, Sir Ashton Lever was bankrupted by his wide-ranging collection of natural wonders. Parkinson assumed ownership of the museum and no doubt added his own extensive

collection of fossils, until he, too, could no longer finance it. In 1805, the collection was divided into lots and sold (1).

Politically, Parkinson was an advocate for the underprivileged and an outspoken critic of Britain’s conservative government. He engaged in several social and revolutionary causes, was a member of several secret political societies, and wrote 20 pamphlets calling for social reforms and universal suffrage.

In 1794, Parkinson’s involvement with those activities implicated him in a conspiracy called the “Pop-gun Plot.” The plotters planned to shoot King George III in the neck with a poisoned dart while he sat in his box at

the theater (1). Parkinson managed to avoid arrest and imprisonment, unlike several of his friends.

But amongst all of his eclectic activities, Parkinson is best remembered for an essay he published in 1817.

Clinical Clarity

At that time, physicians evaluated and attributed individual neurological symptoms to distinctly different diseases (2). Parkinson managed to piece together the medical histories of patients over many years and realized that, first, some neurological symptoms emerged and intensified very gradually. And second, those symptoms were all connected and part of one syndrome (2)

With impressive clarity, Parkinson took the observations of a very limited number of cases and came up with insightful conclusions. He documented all stages of the syndrome in only two patients through detailed medical histories and observed their clinical decline over several years. His remaining four cases were fragmentary. Three of them were men he casually observed while walking along the streets of London. The final case was a man who relocated and was lost to follow up (2)

All six were men over the age of 50 (2). It remains true today that the disease is more common in men than women, and symptoms typically appear in patients over 50 (3).

Parkinson said the initial symptoms were so slight and progressed so slowly that the patients could not recall precisely when the impairment began (2). The first perceptible symptom was a slight weakness and some trembling, usually in one of the hands or arms. After perhaps a year or more, the same symptoms appeared in the other hand and arm.

A few months later, patients developed a stooped posture, which was most prominent while walking. Following this, one of the legs began to tremble and became easily fatigued. A few months after that, the other leg also exhibited trembling and a loss of power. The legs could not rise sufficiently and moved less smoothly, making the patient at risk of falling. The diminished function only hampered fine motor activities, like handwriting. As the disease progressed, writing, eating, and walking became more difficult (2) .

Progressing further, the arms and legs could not be willfully directed, and the patient could not perform ordinary tasks of daily living. There was also a constant, resting tremor, which stopped temporarily when the patient voluntarily moved. The patient constantly leaned forward and took short, quick, shuffling steps. Eventually, even walking failed to dampen the tremors (2)

The resting tremor became so pronounced that sleep was disturbed and could awaken the patient. Constipation, which was one of the earliest signs, became so severe that powerful laxatives or purgatives were needed (2)

In the final stages of the disease, the trunk was constantly bowed, muscle power was greatly weakened, and the tremors became violent. The patient walked with great difficulty. Chewing and swallowing were also difficult. Bowel and bladder function were involuntary. Death eventually resulted from extreme exhaustion (2)

Based on these clinical observations and his understanding of neuroanatomy (about which little was known at the time), Parkinson suggested that this syndrome was a disease of the brainstem and specifically cited the medulla oblongata (2). In that, he was surprisingly close to the actual neuropathology.

Parkinson called this syndrome the shaking palsy. Today, everyone calls it Parkinson’s disease.

Taking the Challenge

An Essay on the Shaking Palsy was published in 1817 (2). Parkinson readily admitted that his conclusions were “immature and imperfect,” but he hoped his essay might inspire others who had the “abilities and opportunities” to conduct more thorough research (2). With a better understanding of the disease and early diagnosis, he said, physicians might be able to effectively treat or even cure it.

Of those who took up the challenge, Jean-Martin Charcot, the most influential neurologist of the 19th century, made the greatest contributions, including coining the term, “Parkinson’s disease.” In the mid-1800s, Charcot and his students at Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris provided a more detailed description of the syndrome, adding to, but not contradicting any of, Parkinson’s observations (4)

William Gowers in London also made notable contributions. Over the next century, other clinicians supplemented descriptions of the disease’s clinical and morphologic progression (4)

belladonna to patients with Parkinson’s disease in 1892 (4, 5). Of the many centrally acting anticholinergic agents available, he preferred hyoscyamine. This plant-derived compound was usually incorporated into bits of white bread or given as a syrup (4).

Gowers also prescribed hyoscyamine but experimented with arsenic, morphia, hemlock, and cannabis. He specifically noted that the combination of cannabis and opium lessened tremors (4). (Cannabis is known to have some dopaminergic activity.)

Up to the mid-20th century, a wide variety of centrally acting anticholinergic drugs were prescribed. They all had similar efficacy and side effect profiles (4) .

Biochemical Pathfinders

John J. Abel, American pharmacologist and biochemist, founded ASPET in 1908.

At the turn of the 20th century, John Jacob Abel (the founder of ASPET) and Jokishi Takamine, working independently, isolated a hormone from animal adrenal glands, which Abel called “epinephrine” and Takamine called “adrenalin” (6). In 1901, Thomas Aldrich, a chemist at Parke, Davis & Company, crystalized the substance and correctly identified its chemical structure (6). A few years later, chemists synthesized the compound, the first hormone to be synthesized in the lab (5).

The only treatments that James Parkinson offered were the customary remedies of the early 1800s: bloodletting and inducing skin blisters. The first effective therapies were introduced by Charcot and Gowers (4)

Charcot eagerly tried new treatment strategies when the traditional ones failed. But he just as readily rejected those new remedies if they also failed. Anticholinergic drugs were an exception (4)

The 1867 medical thesis of Charcot’s intern, L. Ordenstein, described treating parkinsonian tremor with belladonna alkaloids. Charcot first administered

Casimir Funk, a Polish chemist who emigrated to London, was interested in how animals produced adrenaline and suspected that it was made from the amino acid, tyrosine (5). Funk’s attempts to prove that theory failed, but despite that, he went ahead and synthesized 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine, which he thought might be a biochemical precursor of adrenaline. He presented his results on July 22, 1912, at the Physiological Society of Great Britain (5).

Markus Guggenheim, a researcher at HoffmannLaRoche in Switzerland, followed up on Funk’s results. Funk’s compound was racemic. Guggenheim focused on the L-form, because L-enantiomers are the physiologically active form of amino acids (5) Guggenheim performed some pharmacological experiments and found that this L-compound had little

effect on blood pressure or respiration, and no effect on various smooth muscle preparations (5, 7).

Guggenheim continued his research and gave some of his compounds to his uncle, Bruno Bloch, who was Chief of the Department of Dermatology in the Medical Clinic of Basel County Hospital. Bloch correctly identified Funk’s L-compound as a key intermediate in the conversion of tyrosine to biologically active amines, such as adrenaline (5).

Bloch found the compound’s chemical name cumbersome and shortened it to DOPA, which is an acronym of its German spelling: Dioxyphenylalanin. It was an imperfect choice, because DOPA has a mildly scatological meaning in Polish (5).

In the late 1930s, a decarboxylase enzyme was discovered and helped to explain the stepwise biochemical conversion of tyrosine to epinephrine: tyrosine to L-DOPA, L-DOPA to dopamine, dopamine to norepinephrine, and finally norepinephrine to epinephrine (5, 8). (In 1952, Sir Henry Dale suggested the name dopamine (i.e., the amine derivative of DOPA) because its full chemical name, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylethylamine, was cumbersome.) (8)

Dopamine had been synthesized in 1910 by chemists George Barger and A.J. Ewins at the Wellcome Laboratories in London, and Henry Dale had tested it (9). Dale found that dopamine had only weak epinephrinelike effects on peripheral smooth muscle preparations. Like Guggenheim’s assessment of DOPA, Dale dismissed dopamine as physiologically unimportant (4, 5, 7, 8, 10)

Switching Gears

In the early part of the 20th century, evidence accumulated that synaptic transmission in the peripheral nervous system was mediated by chemicals, primarily acetylcholine and norepinephrine (10, 11). But very little evidence supported chemical transmission in the brain. Most neurophysiologists stuck to the notion that synaptic transmission in the brain was electrical (10).

The research that convinced those neuroscientists that the brain relied on chemical neurotransmission came out of Arvid Carlsson’s desire to get promoted (10)

Even upon entering medical school at the University of Lund, Carlsson aimed to become a researcher (12) World War II temporarily diverted his attention. As he was

Arvid Carlsson, Swedish neuropharmacologist, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2000.

beginning his clinical training in 1944, he was assigned to examine people who had arrived in Sweden from German concentration camps. Count Folke Bernadotte, a member of the Swedish royal family, had arranged evacuation of 30,000 captives, including 11,000 Jews. Many were children. Carlsson found they suffered from malnutrition and tuberculosis (12).

After that humanitarian diversion, and having passed his pharmacology exams, Carlsson was offered an unpaid research position in Lund’s pharmacology department. In 1951, he received his MD and PhD degrees from the University of Lund and immediately joined the pharmacology faculty (12)

In 1955, the university’s expert committee informed Carlsson that to advance to associate professor, he needed to redirect his research. His studies of calcium metabolism were not considered central to pharmacology (10)

On the advice of colleagues and through several referrals, Carlsson obtained a visiting researcher position under Bernard Brodie, Chief of the Laboratory of Chemical Pharmacology at the US National Heart Institute (7, 10, 11)

The Role of Reserpine

A shy, introspective teenager, Brodie had become a championship boxer in the Canadian Army, simply (he said) to avoid getting hurt. He was a mediocre student until a chemistry project sparked his interest in organic chemistry (13)

Brodie’s forte was developing methods and general principles for accurately measuring drugs and their

metabolites in biological tissues (13). At NIH, he built a well-deserved reputation in drug metabolism research. Many considered him the father of modern biochemical pharmacology (7, 10, 13)

Among his drug metabolism studies was reserpine, which had recently been introduced as a treatment for hypertension and schizophrenia. Reserpine has a very short half-life, but its pharmacological actions persisted long after the drug had been eliminated (13). Brodie wanted to know why.

Many researchers were speculating about reserpine’s effects in the brain (13). Brodie knew little about the brain, but his team noticed a structural similarity between reserpine and serotonin, and they had a tremendous advantage (7, 10, 11, 13) His colleagues, Sidney Udenfriend and Robert Bowman, had developed a new instrument, a spectrophotofluorometer, which could detect and measure serotonin and other biogenic amines in various tissues (7).

The Catecholamine Conection

When Carlsson returned to Sweden in 1956, he still wanted to pursue catecholamines, but he needed a knowledgeable partner. Fortunately, Nils-Åke Hillarp, an expert in histology and histochemistry at the University of Lund, was interested. Hillarp also had extensive knowledge of physiology and biochemistry, which nicely dovetailed with Carlsson’s broad expertise in pharmacology (7, 10, 11).

In their first experiments, Carlsson and Hillarp found that reserpine depleted catecholamines from the adrenal medulla in rabbits (10). After purchasing a new commercially available Aminco-Bowman Spectrophotofluorometer, they demonstrated that reserpine also depleted catecholamines from the animals’ heart and brain (14). Because of reserpineinduced neurotransmitter depletion from nerve endings, sympathetic nerve stimulation no longer elicited a response. Carlsson concluded that depletion of catecholamines was also responsible for reserpine’s behavioral effects (7, 10, 11)

To test this, they gave DOPA to reserpine-pretreated animals. They chose DOPA, the biochemical precursor, because epinephrine and norepinephrine do not cross the blood-brain barrier (7, 10, 11). DOPA caused a dramatic reversal of the reserpine-induced behavioral syndrome in the animals (14). But to their surprise, DOPA administration did not restore the animals’ brain norepinephrine (14, 15)

Using their new instrument, they showed that after administering reserpine to rats and rabbits, the content of serotonin in the animals’ brains became undetectable (11, 13). The results suggested to Brodie that depletion of brain serotonin was responsible for reserpine’s pharmacological effects. It was the first time an apparent link had been observed between brain biochemistry and important brain functions (7, 11)

In August 1955, a few months after Brodie’s reserpine discovery, Carlsson arrived. Brodie showed Carlsson his analytical methods and how to use his new spectrofluorometer (7, 10)

Carlsson proposed studying the effects of reserpine on catecholamines (i.e., epinephrine and norepinephrine), which are chemically similar to serotonin. Brodie thought that was a waste of time. He was convinced that serotonin was the key neurochemical (7, 10, 11)

To explain these effects, Carlsson was forced to look more closely at dopamine, the precursor, which until then had been disregarded because of its modest effect on smooth muscle preparations. No analytical method for differentiating dopamine from norepinephrine was available, so Carlsson and Hillarp had to develop one (10)

Using their new method in 1958, they showed that dopamine occurs normally in rabbit brains at slightly higher levels than norepinephrine, and dopamine disappears after reserpine treatment (15). DOPA restored brain dopamine levels, and that correlated with the ability of DOPA to reverse the behavioral syndrome induced by reserpine (15)

In addition to reserpine’s autonomic (cardiovascular) effects and calming effect in schizophrenia, clinicians were well aware that long-term reserpine treatment in

"Most neurophysiologists stuck to the notion that synaptic transmission in the brain was electrical."

Early Stage Middle Stage Advanced Stage

Dopamine level

8 am Noon 4 pm 8 pm 8 am Noon 4 pm 8 pm 8 am Noon 4 pm 8 pm

Natural dopamine level

Therapeutic window

Medicated dopamine level Off period ↑ L - DOPA dose

Dyskinesia

L-DOPA is typically dosed 3 times daily. As Parkinson’s disease progresses, the therapeutic window narrows, natural dopamine levels decline, and higher and more frequent L-DOPA doses are required. Dyskinesias develop, typically corresponding to maximal L-DOPA levels in the brain. When L-DOPA levels drop below the therapeutic window, “off” period parkinsonian symptoms occur.

patients also caused a movement syndrome (rigidity, tremor, akinesia) indistinguishable from Parkinson’s disease (10, 16)

Carlsson’s observations led him to conclude that depletion of dopamine induces parkinsonism, and that treatment with L-DOPA would alleviate that syndrome by restoring brain dopamine levels (14) Carlsson presented all of this at the First International Catecholamine Symposium in October 1958 (7, 10)

These results did not attract much attention among neurophysiologists, but it was good enough for Carlsson to earn a promotion to Associate Professor at the University of Lund. In 1959 at the age of 36, he was appointed Professor and Chair of the Pharmacology Department at Göteborg University (11). Carlsson’s new job came with well-equipped research facilities (10).

Defying Dogma

In January 1959, Carlsson’s students, Åke Bertler and Evald Rosengren, found that the bulk of dopamine was in the striatum, the part of the brain known to control motor activity (8, 14, 17). They followed up by measuring dopamine in normal human brain specimens (8)

In March 1960, Carlsson again presented his findings at the Symposium on Adrenergic Mechanisms in London. This meeting attracted the most eminent experts in the field, and they all held the view that the brain operated via electrical transmission (10)

No one questioned Carlsson’s results, but there was “profound and nearly unanimous skepticism” regarding dopamine’s role in the brain (10). Carlsson was still a relatively young and unestablished investigator, and he said, “the clear message to me was that I was a nobody!” (10).

Returning home from London, Carlsson and Hillarp resolved to intensify their efforts and “convince the world that chemical transmission does indeed exist in the brain” (10). They thought that the ability of catecholamines to fluoresce might allow them to visualize neuronal content of the compounds under the microscope (7, 10).

Hillarp developed a quantitative histofluorescent method (7, 11). Within a few years, Carlsson and Hillarp clearly established the neuronal localization of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin (10). Others subsequently confirmed this and also found high dopamine levels in the substantia nigra and globus

pallidus (16). This led to mapping of the brain’s major monoaminergic pathways and provided irrefutable evidence to counter their critics (10, 11)

In February 1965, an international symposium, Mechanisms of Biogenic Amines, was held in Stockholm, again, with most of the leading experts in the field attending. This time, none of the participants doubted that amines play an important role in chemical neurotransmission in the brain (10).

It was a major turning point in neuroscience, not only acknowledging chemical transmission in the brain, but also inspiring investigators to determine the mechanisms of centrally acting drugs on brain amines (11). Carlsson said, he (like his mentor, Brodie) “simply had the advantage of being ignorant and not so much burdened by dogma” (10)

Carlsson’s suggestion that lack of dopamine caused parkinsonian symptoms motivated clinical investigators on three continents to simultaneously and independently take the next logical step: conduct therapeutic clinical studies of Parkinson’s disease.

Japan

On August 5, 1959, Isamu Sano presented data showing that in the normal human brain, the bulk of dopamine was found in the striatum (8, 10, 17). It was the first clinical report of brain dopamine and further supported Carlsson’s view that dopamine might have a central role in the control of motor function (10, 17).

On February 6, 1960, Sano gave a lecture in Tokyo. He reported that in the post-mortem exam of a patient with Parkinson’s disease, he had found a low level of dopamine in the basal ganglia. Later that year, Sano also reported that intravenous administration of DOPA alleviated the rigidity of a patient with Parkinson’s disease (10).

Austria

Like Arvid Carlsson, Oleh Hornykiewicz’s interest in dopamine began as a visiting researcher to a pharmacology lab. In 1956, Hornykiewicz went to Oxford University to work under Hermann Blaschko (8)

Blaschko suspected that dopamine was biologically active, and he asked Hornykiewicz to pursue it. Using rabbits and guinea pigs, Hornykiewsicz confirmed Blaschko’s suspicion, showing that dopamine has physiological activity independent from norepinephrine and epinephrine (9)

After Hornykiewicz returned to Vienna, Austria, in February 1958, he saw several reports, including Carlsson’s 1958 paper reporting the presence of dopamine in rabbit brain. He adapted a colorimetric assay to measure dopamine and began his own studies of dopamine in rat brain homogenates (8).

Then, in 1959, Hornykiewicz saw Bertler and Rosengren’s and Sano’s publications. Along with his postdoctoral fellow, Herbert Ehringer, Hornykiewicz started collecting and analyzing human brains freshly obtained at autopsy. In April 1959, they obtained their first brain from a patient with Parkinson’s disease (8)

Hornykiewicz and Ehringer showed that the concentrations of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin were markedly reduced in the caudate and putamen of patients with Parkinson’s disease, compared to control specimens (4, 5, 7, 17).

Their achievement was all the more remarkable, considering their austere facilities. They worked at a bench in a narrow semi-dark hallway in the basement of the pharmacology building. Without a spectrofluorometer, they relied on their comparatively crude colorimetric assay and a labor-intensive ionexchange chromatography separation (7, 8).

Interestingly, the color change was so dramatic that they could see the difference with the naked eye (8). In 1960, Hornykiewicz and Ehringer reported their findings, which, for the first time, linked neurochemical changes in the brain to the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (5, 7, 8)

Clinical Proof

Those results provided a rationale for the next step: treating Parkinson’s disease with L-DOPA. Walther Birkmayer was caring for many patients with Parkinson’s disease at the Vienna Geriatric Hospital (8, 18). Hornykiewicz urged him to give those patients

"Brodie thought that was a waste of time. He was convinced that serotonin was the key neurochemical."

L-DOPA (8). But Birkmayer had seen Brodie’s reports about reserpine-induced depletion of serotonin and clung to the idea that brain serotonin was responsible for parkinsonian symptoms (10, 18).

After nine months of Hornykiewicz’s “frequent reminders” and “pressure from above,” Birkmayer finally yielded (8, 18). Hornykiewicz gave Birkmayer his entire 2-gram supply of L-DOPA, which he had received from Hoffmann-LaRoche (18). At that time, it was a very precious compound, because of the difficulty and expense of producing the pure L-enantiomer. In July 1961, a skeptical Birkmayer gave 50 mg of L-DOPA intravenously to his first test patient. She improved so dramatically that it erased all his doubts (8, 18)

Birkmayer proceeded to treat 20 patients with up to 150 mg of L-DOPA. A home movie of some of the patients was shown at the Viennese Medical Society in November 1961. Hornykiewicz and Birkmayer’s published report gave an eloquent description of the drug’s effects:

“The effect of a single intravenous injection of L-DOPA was, in short, a complete abolition or substantial relief of akinesia. Bedridden patients who were unable to sit up, patients who could not stand up when seated, and patients who, when standing, could not start walking, performed all these activities with ease after L-DOPA. They walked around with normal associated movements, and they even could run and jump. The voiceless, aphonic speech, blurred by palilalia and unclear articulation, became forceful and clear as in a normal person” (8, 18).

Canada

André Barbeau spearheaded the parkinsonian research efforts in Canada. He conducted a great deal of experimental work on DOPA and the catecholamines. In patients with Parkinson’s disease, he found subnormal levels of dopamine excreted in the urine (5, 7).

Gerald Murphy (a graduate student at the time) and Ted Sourkes urged Barbeau to administer L-DOPA clinically.

In 1962, they reported that L-DOPA exerted an anti-rigidity action in Parkinson’s disease, which appeared rapidly and lasted about 3 hours with a dose of 100 mg (5)

Convincing the Skeptics

Although the clinical results aroused great scientific interest, it took more than 5 years for L-DOPA to be implemented as a routine treatment for Parkinson’s disease (8, 10, 17). The initial treatment regimens provided only brief, marginal improvement, and as such, were thought to be of questionable clinical value (7).

George Cotzias, a senior scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory and attending physician at Brookhaven National Laboratory Hospital, evaluated the early clinical reports and decided to administer higher doses, hoping to prolong DOPA’s effect (19)

He used the racemic D,L-DOPA, because the L-enantiomer was still very expensive (19). Sufficiently high oral doses of DOPA (3-16 grams per day) produced either a complete, sustained disappearance or a marked reduction of parkinsonian symptoms in 8 of his 16 patients. When the drug was discontinued, the full parkinsonian syndrome returned. Cotzias filmed some of his patients before and during therapy and published his results in 1967 (19)

Arvid Carlsson saw Cotzias’s convincing film at a meeting in Canada and hastened back to Göteborg, full of enthusiasm (10). He reached out to several Swedish clinicians, but they said replacement therapy for a neurodegenerative disease seemed “too fantastic to be seriously considered” (7).

Finally, one physician, Prof. Alvar Svanborg, agreed to conduct a clinical study. Then, Carlsson saw Svanborg’s patients, many of whom were in wheelchairs, and even he doubted that any drug could work. “But sure enough, in full agreement with Cotzias’s observations, a most dramatic result of this treatment soon became apparent” (7). Other clinical centers observed the same result, leading to widespread adoption of L-DOPA therapy (5)

Unfortunately, in addition to restoring dopamine levels in the brain, the high doses of L-DOPA also induced abnormally high levels of catecholamines in the rest of the body. And that caused an array of unpleasant side effects.

"Carlsson’s results did not attract much attention among neurophysiologists, but it was good enough for him to earn a promotion to Associate Professor."

Carbidopa to the Rescue

Pharmacologists were initially interested in dopa decarboxylase (the enzyme that converts L-DOPA to dopamine) as a means of regulating norepinephrine at sympathetic nerve endings. Specifically, they thought that inhibiting dopa decarboxylase might lower blood pressure in hypertensive patients (5).

Researchers at the Merck Institute for Therapeutic Research synthesized many compounds, looking for a potent, selective inhibitor. Ultimately, they developed α-methyldopa, which was marketed to treat essential hypertension. Among the other inhibitors they synthesized was carbidopa (6)

Because carbidopa did not cross the blood-brain barrier, it inhibited dopa decarboxylase only in peripheral tissues, suppressing norepinephrine production in sympathetic nerve endings and reducing most of L-DOPA’s gastrointestinal and cardiovascular side effects. Co-administration of L-DOPA and carbidopa improved patient outcomes and is now the treatment of choice for Parkinson’s disease (5).

Mimicking Dopamine

Apomorphine, a natural product isolated from the roots and bulbs of water lilies, was used for decades as an emetic to treat poisoning (20). In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was also prescribed for sedation, analgesia, insomnia, schizophrenia, and erectile dysfunction (20, 21)

In 1951, investigators first administered sub-emetic doses of apomorphine to patients with Parkinson’s disease. The drug dampened rigidity and tremor. Even Cotzias continued to pursue apomorphine treatment after he demonstrated the efficacy of L-DOPA (5, 20). In the mid-1960s, researchers discovered that apomorphine is a dopamine agonist (5)

Nausea could be controlled with anti-emetic drugs, and apomorphine for Parkinson’s disease was introduced into clinical practice in the mid-1980s. Multiple clinical trials have since confirmed its efficacy, which equals L-DOPA. Due to extensive first-pass

metabolism, apomorphine has a short oral half-life and must be given subcutaneously, which (along with emesis) limits its use (20).

In 1969, a 58-year-old woman who had contracted influenza was given the antiviral drug, amantadine (4, 5). The woman, who coincidentally suffered from Parkinson’s disease, experienced improvement in her parkinsonian symptoms. Later studies revealed that amantadine has mild dopamine effects (4, 5)

Other researchers focused on selective dopamine agonists, which they thought might avoid some of the side effects caused by L-DOPA (5). Experimental and clinical evidence indicates that activation of D2 receptors is beneficial in Parkinson’s disease, but dopamine agonists also stimulate other dopamine receptors to some extent (21)

By acting directly on dopamine receptors, dopamine agonists bypass the need for failing neurons to synthesize dopamine. Also, most dopamine agonists have much longer half-lives than L-DOPA, so they can produce a more sustained response (21)

The dopamine agonist, bromocriptine, is the prototype ergot derivative. In 1974, clinical trials showed that it was effective in treating Parkinson’s disease. All of the ergot alkaloids cause unpleasant side effects and liver and renal toxicity that limit their use (5).

The non-ergot dopamine agonists, such as pramipexole and ropinirole, were developed to provide therapeutic efficacy without the adverse effects of the ergot derivatives. In general, the clinical benefits of dopamine agonists are less than with L-DOPA, and they may be poorly tolerated by older patients (21)

Therapeutic Downside

Dopamine agonists are also associated with higher overall risk of adverse events than L-DOPA (3). The most critical of these side effects are fibrotic valvular heart disease and dopamine receptor-mediated impulsive/compulsive disorders (21).

Fibrotic valvular heart disease refers to functional abnormalities of the heart valve leaflets. It is

"Although the clinical results aroused great scientific interest, it took more than 5 years for L-DOPA to be implemented as a routine treatment for Parkinson’s disease."

associated with long-term administration of the traditional ergot dopamine agonists (21). The risk of valve pathology may result from either high daily dosing or from cumulative dosing.

More than 40% of patients treated with oral dopamine agonists experience impulsive/compulsive disorders, especially at higher doses (3, 21). These non-motor effects (from excessive central dopaminergic stimulation) are a serious complication of long-term treatment.

The behaviors include gambling, compulsive spending, drug addiction, stereotyped behaviors such as inappropriate and unproductive fascination with common objects, pathological internet use, compulsive skin picking, binge eating, and hypersexuality (3, 21). Reducing the dopamine agonist dose and/or treatment with antidepressant drugs are effective remedies.

Unstoppable Degradation

The discovery of brain dopamine led to effective therapies, as James Parkinson anticipated, but not to a cure. Parkinson’s disease arises from degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the nigrostriatal tract (5, 16, 21). Symptoms appear when 50-80% of those neurons are lost, and the severity of the disease correlates with the degree of loss (5, 21)

L-DOPA and the dopamine agonists aim to replace or substitute for neuronal dopamine. They improve motor (tremor, rigidity, akinesia) and nonmotor (constipation, cognition, mood, sleep) symptoms. But no existing drug treatment prevents neuronal loss or disease progression (3, 21).

Consequently, the clinical response to L-DOPA declines as the disease worsens (3, 17, 21). The therapeutic window narrows, requiring higher and more frequent drug doses. The resulting large swings in drug levels cause episodes of parkinsonian tremor and slowed movement when the drug level drops below the therapeutic window (“off” periods) and overdose side effects such as dyskinesia when the drug level peaks (3, 17)

The “off” periods can occur within 2 years of starting L-DOPA, and the frequency of “off” periods increases as the therapeutic window narrows (3)

Dyskinesias are involuntary twitching, jerky, or writhing movements of the face, limbs, or trunk. About 40% of patients experience dyskinesias after 4-6 years of

L-DOPA treatment, and the risk of dyskinesia increases with higher L-DOPA doses (3). Dopamine agonists, which provide less robust symptom relief, have lower dyskinesia risk (3, 21)

Only apomorphine has efficacy comparable to L-DOPA, and it is an effective adjunct to oral dopaminergic treatment in advanced Parkinson’s disease. Injected apomorphine has a rapid onset and is effective in relieving “off” episodes, as well as suppressing dyskinesia (3, 20, 21). Co-administration with an antiemetic drug greatly increases tolerability.

In addition to severe “off” periods and dyskinesias, nonmotor symptoms increase as Parkinson’s disease progresses (3). Sensory symptoms include loss of smell, visual disturbances, and pain. Autonomic symptoms include constipation, orthostatic hypotension, and urinary dysfunction. Neuropsychiatric symptoms include anxiety, apathy, depression, and cognitive impairment (3)

Dopaminergic drugs generally provide little benefit, because many of these symptoms are mediated by non-dopaminergic pathways (3). Non-dopaminergic therapeutics include SSRIs for depression, antipsychotics for persistent psychosis, and cholinesterase inhibitors for cognitive impairment. Ultimately, most patients with Parkinson’s disease use drugs from multiple classes to attain complementary benefits while limiting high drug doses and doserelated adverse events (3)

Launching Neuroscience

The discovery, primarily by Arvid Carlsson, that dopamine is a neurotransmitter in the brain was a seminal event in the development of modern neuroscience (11, 17). He also showed that centrally acting drugs produced biochemical changes that correlated with changes in motor function. That insight led to L-DOPA therapy and development of more selective drugs for treating Parkinson’s disease.

In addition, researchers were inspired to conduct basic and clinical studies showing that centrally acting dopamine also mediates mood regulation, cognition, and reward. And dysfunction of those dopamine pathways is associated with major psychiatric diseases (8, 11, 17). But that’s another story.

For his many contributions to neuroscience, Arvid Carlsson received the Nobel Prize in 2000.

1. Bryson B (2003) A short history of nearly everything. Broadway Books, New York.

2. Parkinson J (1817) An essay on the shaking palsy, Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, London.

3. Armstrong MJ and Okun MS (2020) Diagnosis and treatment of Parkinson Disease. JAMA 323(6): 548-560.

4. Goetz CG (2011) The history of Parkinson’s Disease: Early clinical descriptions and neurological therapies. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med 1:a0008862.

5. Sourkes TL and Gauthier S (1983) Levodopa and dopamine agonists in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, In Discoveries in Pharmacology: Psycho- and Neuro-pharmacology (Parnham MJ and Bruinvels J eds), pp 249-267, Elsevier, New York.

6. Parascandola J (2010) Abel, Takamine, and the isolation of epinephrine. J Allergy Clin Immunol 125(2): 514-517.

7. Carlsson A (2002) Treatment of Parkinson’s with L-DOPA. The early discovery phase, and a comment on current problems. J Neural Transm 109: 777-787.

8. Hornykiewicz O (2002) Dopamine miracle: From brain homogenate to dopamine replacement. Mov Disord 17(3): 501-508.

9. Barger G and Dale HH (1910) Chemical structure and sympathomimetic action of amines. J Physiol 41: 19-59.

10. Carlsson A (December 8, 2000) A half-century of neurotransmitter research: impact on neurology and psychiatry. Nobel Lecture; available from: https://www.nobelprize. org/uploads/2018/06/carlsson-lecture.pdf.

11. Rubin RP (2007) A brief history of great discoveries in pharmacology. Pharmacol Rev 59(4): 289-359.

12. Arvid Carlsson – Biographical (May 6, 2022) NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2022; available from: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2000/ carlsson/biographical/

13. Costa E, Karczmar AG, and Vasell ES (1989) Bernard B. Brodie and the rise of chemical pharmacology. Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol 29: 1-21.

14. Carlsson A (1959) The occurrence, distribution and physiological role of catecholamines in the nervous system. Pharmacol Rev 11(2): 490-493.

15. Carlsson A, Lindqvist M, Magnusson T, and Waldeck B (1958) On the presence of 3-hydroxytyramine in brain. Science 127(3296): 471.

16. Hornykiewicz O (1966) Dopamine (3-hydroxytyramine) and brain function. Pharmacol Rev 18(3): 925-964.

17. Björklund A and Dunnett SB (2007) Fifty years of dopamine research. Trends Neurosci 30(5): 185-187.

18. Czech H and Zeidman LA (2014) Walther Birkmayer, co-describer of L-dopa, and his Nazi connection: victim or perpetrator? J Hist Neurosci 23(2): 160-191.

19. Cotzias GC, Van Woert MH, and Schiffer LM (1967) Aromatic amino acids and modification of Parkinsonism. New Engl J Med 276(7): 374-379.

20. Carbone F, Djamshidian A, Seppi K, and Poewe W (2019) Apomorphine for Parkinson’s disease: Efficacy and safety of current and new formulations. CNS Drugs 33: 905-918.

21. Hisahara S and Shimohama S (June 13, 2011) Dopamine receptors and Parkinson’s disease. Int J Med Chem, Article ID 403039; doi:10.1155/2011/403039.

Biosketch:

Rebecca J. Anderson holds a bachelor’s in chemistry from Coe College and earned her doctorate in pharmacology from Georgetown University. She has 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical research and development and now works as a technical writer. Her most recent book is Nevirapine and the Quest to End Pediatric AIDS. Email rebeccanderson@msn.com In the next issue of The Pharmacologist…

Dr. Anderson will feature botox.

Individual Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program

Applications Due Tuesday, February 1, 2023, for Summer 2023 Fellowships

ASPET’s individual SURF program introduces undergraduate students to pharmacology research through a 10-week laboratory research experience. The goal of the program is to use authentic, mentored research experiences in pharmacology to heighten student interest in careers in research and related health care disciplines. The SURF individual awards are intended to support students whose institutions do not have a currently funded institutional SURF program. Research may be conducted at the student’s home institution or another institution, as appropriate to the research project.

Who Should Apply

Undergraduate students conducting pharmacologyrelated research including, but not limited to, students representing departments of pharmacology, toxicology, pharmaceutical sciences, and/or biological chemistry are invited to apply to the program.

Applications from women and underrepresented minorities are particularly encouraged.

Program Details

■ Students must apply with a mentor who is a regular or affiliate member of ASPET in good standing or an emeritus member who is still active in research.

■ Students and mentors must have already identified, and briefly describe a summer research project that the student proposes to undertake.

■ If awarded, ASPET will provide a student stipend of $2800 for a minimum of ten weeks’ participation.

■ The student must apply for membership in ASPET no later than the beginning of their summer research experience.

For more information and to apply, please visit www. aspet.org/awards/SURF. For questions, please contact Catherine L. Fry, PhD at cfry@aspet.org

Science Policy News

Recapping the Year in ASPET Advocacy

Many of the same challenges in advocacy from the past year carried over to 2022. The Capitol Hill complex reopened to visitors; however, with new security procedures that continue to inhibit meetings with congressional staff and stakeholders, ASPET members continued to feel disruptions to their research that Congress is still working to address. Nevertheless, ASPET’s advocacy work continued, and the Society made significant progress on many key issues. The December issue of The Pharmacologist gives us an opportunity to look back at the year in advocacy, assess ASPET’s advocacy results and anticipate what’s in store for 2023.

FY 23 Appropriations

Much like previous years, Congress was unable to finalize an appropriations package before the end of the fiscal year on September 30, 2022, and the government is currently operating under a continuing resolution (CR) that funds the government at FY 22 levels. The CR expires on December 16, 2022. Below is a look at the amounts ASPET requested for agencies that fund scientific research. These numbers were developed with the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB).

■ National Institutes of Health (NIH)

» $49 billion requested

■ National Science Foundation (NSF)

» $10 billion requested

■ Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical and Prosthetic Research Program

» $980 million requested

ASPET and its partners advocated for these funding levels at virtual hill days, in testimony, and in targeted messaging to congressional leadership. ASPET also made FY 23 appropriations a centerpiece of its Washington Fellows program, and fellows met virtually with congressional staff to encourage robust,

sustained and predictable funding for biomedical research. Though Congress is still negotiating the final FY 23 package, the House proposed funding levels for the federal science agencies. The Senate will release its top line numbers following the 2022 midterm elections. At present, those numbers are:

■ National Institutes of Health (NIH) » $47.5 billion (House)

■ National Science Foundation (NSF) » $9.63 billion

■ Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical and Prosthetic Research » $926 million

Before voting on a final package, the two chambers will have to reconcile differences between their appropriations numbers. ASPET and its partners will continue to advocate for increased funding for biomedical research until the process is completed.

In anticipation of the FY 24 appropriations process, ASPET will be updating several position papers that provide explanations of why ASPET supports funding for the NIH, NSF and the VA’s Medical and Prosthetic Research Program. The papers provide background on the agencies, highlight areas of biomedical research that these agencies support and reinforce ASPET’s commitment to advocating for congressional support for these agencies. The position papers are the basis for ASPET’s advocacy on appropriations funding moving forward and help standardize ASPET’s messaging on this issue. View the newly created position papers on the ASPET website.

Animal Research

ASPET continues to meet with the new FASEB Animal Research Special Interest Group comprised of member societies that have an interest in the use of animal models in biomedical research.

ASPET signed on to a letter to the House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) Appropriations Subcommittee that stressed the importance of animal research supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Steve Kohut, one of ASPET’s representatives on the FASEB Animals in Research and Education subcommittee, participated in FASEB’s first Animal Research Capitol Hill Day. FASEB anticipates a larger Hill Day on this policy area in the future.

ASPET supported FASEB and 27 other scientific societies with comments to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW). The comments were submitted in response to a Request for Information for input on flexibilities for conducting semiannual animal program review. The joint comments submitted on July 12 highlighted recommendations that OLAW include language that permits institutions to review standard operating procedures that are unrelated to animal welfare on a more flexible, as-needed basis.

The Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act 2.0 passed the Senate by unanimous consent during the passage of the Continuing Appropriations and Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act 2023. The Act allows for alternatives to animal testing for purposes of drug and biological product applications. The Act does not ban animal testing however, the above language gives an avenue for future amending that could ban animal testing. The legislation heads to the House of Representatives but further action is not expected until after the November elections.

Drug Policy

The DEA withdrew a proposed rule that would have placed five tryptamine hallucinogens in schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.

Other Issues OSTP Directive for Public Access

The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a memo that directs funding agencies to update their public access policies to provide free, immediate and equitable access to Federally funded research with said policies to go into effect 12/31/25. This directive would end the longstanding ability of journals to paywall content for up to one year before making its freely accessible. ASPET is actively engaged in this policy area and will be releasing comments in the future.

CHIPS and Science Act

President Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act on August 9, 2022. The law authorized increases to the National Science Foundation to essentially double its budget; however, Congress will still need to budget for the increase.

New OSTP Director Confirmed

Arati Prabhakar, PhD, became the first woman, immigrant, and person of color to lead the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. Prabhakar, an engineer and former director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), will also serve as President Biden’s science adviser, a role elevated to a Cabinet-level position for the first time. In July, ASPET signed on to a letter urging a fast confirmation process.

ARPA-H Falls Under NIH

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced on May 25, 2022, that the Advanced Research Project Agency for Health (ARPA-H) would be formally established and an independent entity within NIH. ASPET and others are stressing to Secretary Becerra and the Biden Administration that any funding for ARPA-H should not come from existing NIH funding.

New Editor for Molecular Pharmacology

ASPET’s Publications Committee is pleased to announce that Dr. John Tesmer has been selected to succeed Dr. Kathryn Meier as editor of Molecular Pharmacology. The transition to the new editors is effective January 1, 2023.

Dr. Tesmer, Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, has served in various professorial positions at Purdue University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Texas at Austin.

Having most recently served as Deputy Editor on the editorial board of Molecular Pharmacology, he

has been very active with ASPET, having served on ASPET’s Molecular Pharmacology Executive Committee, Programming Committee, Awards Committee, Finance Committee, Council, and served as Chair of ASPET’s Molecular Pharmacology Division. In addition, Dr. Tesmer has also worked in various capacities on other editorial boards and positions of peer review and in volunteer service.

As of this writing, he has published 116 research articles and 28 invited reviews. He also holds 7 U.S. patents. He is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including ASPET’s John J. Abel Award in 2009.

We extend our thanks and say farewell to outgoing editor Dr. Kathryn Meier as she hands over the reins to Dr. Tesmer.

New PharmRev Associate Editors and MolPharm Editorial Board Members

The Publications Committee recently approved the following new Associate Editors for Pharmacological Reviews: ■ Dr. Andrew Baker, University of Edinburgh, UK and Maastricht University, NL ■ Dr. Erin Calipari, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

■

Prof. Kay Double, University of Sydney, Australia

Prof. Michelle Glass, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

Dr. Francesca Levi-Schaffer, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Dr. Sara Liin, Linköping University, Sweden

Prof. Harald Sitte, Medical University of Vienna, Austria ■ Dr. Joanne Wang, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Dr. John Tesmer

The Committee also recently approved the following new Molecular Pharmacology Editorial Board members:

■ Dr. Jennifer Cash, University of California-Davis, CA ■

Dr. Alisa Glukhova, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and The University of Melbourne, Australia ■

Dr. Naoto Hoshi, University of California, Irvine ■

Dr. Ole Valente Mortensen, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA ■

Dr. Senthil Natesan, Washington State University, Spokane, WA ■

Dr. John Traynor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

The Publications Committee thanks them and all ASPET editorial board members for their service and dedication to the Society’s journals.

Dr. Andrew Baker Dr. Erin Calipari

Prof. Kay Double Prof. Michelle Glass

Dr. Francesca LeviSchaffer Dr. Sara Liin

Prof. Harald Sitte Dr. Joanne Wang

Dr. Jennifer Cash Dr. Alisa Glukhova Dr. Naoto Hoshi

Dr. Ole Valente Mortensen

Dr. Senthil Natesan Dr. John Traynor

Call for Papers for Quantitative Systems Pharmacology for JPET

A special section on Quantitative Systems Pharmacology (QSP) is being planned for publication in the June 2023 issue of The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics

Original research pertaining to QSP will be considered for publication in this special section. QSP has established itself as a challenging and unique discipline that produces mechanistic models of drug action, either action related to therapeutic efficacy and/or those related to drug toxicity. The field is an extension of pharmacodynamics in that relevant protein-protein interaction pathways and networks are represented in the models providing a systems-level view of drug action. Manuscripts describing new and innovative QSP models, as well as computational tools, such as machine learning, to develop and evaluate QSP models, manually or through automatic model learning, and means to incorporate multi-omic data into model building, are especially welcome. Other QSP research topics, such as those related to drug

development, including in vitro/in vivo or interspecies model scaling, are also appreciated. Presubmission proposals are welcome and will be evaluated by our guest editors listed below.

Original articles addressing any aspects of the aforementioned topics will be considered. Please send a presubmission inquiry and include in your cover letter your interest in being considered for the special section, the title, abstract, significance statement, and full author information to the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics in advance of full submission. The guest editors, Dr. James M. Gallo and Dr. Annabelle Ballesta, will review your presubmission inquiry and respond with comments and suggestions, and will assess whether final approval will be granted for a full submission. All submissions to the journal must refer to the journal Instructions to Authors (https://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/ifora) where specific guidelines on research articles are located.

Call for Papers for Clinical Pharmacology for JPET

A special section on Clinical Pharmacology is being planned for publication in the August 2023 issue of The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

The full paper submission deadline is  December 2022.

This will be a dedicated forum for original research on various aspects of clinical pharmacology, including but not limited to experimental and regulatory aspects of drug development, Phase I-II studies, therapeutic drug monitoring, pharmacokinetic and/ or efficacy and safety issues in a special population (children, the elderly, multi-morbidity patients), population pharmacokinetics, pharmacogenomics,

personalized pharmacotherapies, advanced therapies (gene and cell therapy), and bioinformatics.

Original articles addressing any aspects of the aforementioned topics will be considered; please send a presubmission inquiry and include the title, abstract, significance statement, and full author information to The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics in advance of full submission. The guest editor, Dr. Giorgio Minotti, will review the presubmission inquiry, respond to the authors with comments, and assess whether final approval will be granted for a full submission. All submissions to the journal must refer to the journal Instructions to Authors (https://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/ifora) where specific guidelines on research articles are located.

Call for Papers for Special Section on Sphingolipids for Molecular Pharmacology

A special section entitled Therapeutic Implications for Sphingolipids in Health and Disease is expected to be published in the January 2024 issue of Molecular Pharmacology

We are looking for the following:

■ Original research pertaining to novel inhibitors and drugs targeting sphingolipid metabolism in disease, as well as novel roles for sphingolipids in therapeutic responses;

■ Manuscripts describing efforts in demonstrating the efficacy of novel sphingolipid inhibitors, as well as their emerging functional role as targets to treat human disease;

■ Research papers describing innovative in vitro/ ex vivo/in vivo, bioanalytical, -omics, modeling, and/or clinical research approaches; and

■ Approaches that advance the understanding of the sphingolipids as novel targets or describing their function in therapeutic responses.

Review articles addressing any aspects of the aforementioned topics will be considered, and proposals should be sent to the guest editors, Dr Ashley Snider or Dr. Chris Clarke, for approval prior to submission. All interested individuals are strongly encouraged to refer to the Molecular Pharmacology Instructions to Authors before submission of articles. The full paper submission deadline is April 2023

Call for Papers on Protein and Peptide Therapeutics for JPET

A special section entitled Nanotechnology-based Delivery Strategies for Protein and Peptide Therapeutics is expected to be published in the January 2024 issue of The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics

Protein and peptide therapeutics promise significant clinical advantages in severe disorders such as cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and autoimmune diseases. Their higher potency, greater specificity, and fewer immunological responses all account for these advantages. However, protein and peptide therapeutics also have delivery challenges due to their low oral bioavailability, low plasma stability, short circulation time in the biological milieu, immunogenicity and inability to cross cell membranes.

This special section is a call for original research as well as authoritative reviews focused on varied nanotechnology-driven delivery approaches for protein and peptide-based therapeutics.

Prospective articles can include:

Nanocarrier-based delivery strategies

PEGylation of protein and peptides

Hydrophobization

Encapsulation/Electrostatic interaction

Self-assembly via electrostatic interactions

Hydrogen bonding

Hydrophobic interactions

Polymerization-based encapsulation

Co-delivery with permeation enhancers or protease inhibitors and active targeting by ligand/antibody/peptide conjugation for site-specific delivery

Full-length articles focusing on, but not limited to, the above-mentioned aspects of protein and peptide delivery will be considered. Please send a presubmission inquiry including title, author information, abstract, and significance statement to The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics prior to full submission.

The guest editors, Prof. Anupama Mittal and Prof. Deepak Chitkara, will review these presubmission inquiries, respond to the authors with comments, and assess whether final approval will be granted for a full

submission. All submissions to the journal must refer to the journal’s Instructions to Authors before submission of articles. The full paper submission deadline is March 2023.

Highlighted Trainee Authors

Congratulations to the latest Highlighted Trainee Authors selected for Drug Metabolism and Disposition, The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, and Molecular Pharmacology:

Drug Metabolism and Disposition

■ Mengyue (Melody) Yin (Univ. of Washington) – September

■ Dr. Ziteng Wang (National Univ. of Singapore) – October

JPET

■ Emily Stevenson (Rutgers) –September

■ Dr. Nikhil Patil (Univ. of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center) –October

■ Dr. Gisela Camacho Hernandez (NIDA-IRP) – November

Molecular Pharmacology

■ Dr. Franziska Heydenreich (MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK) – September

■ Dr. Irina Teslenko (Janssen Research & Development) –November

A brief description of their areas of research, current projects, the anticipated impact of their work, and what they enjoy when not in the lab is online at https://bit.ly/2yX1YeH. Congratulations to all for being selected.

Emily Stevenson

Dr. Nikhil Patil Dr. Gisela Camacho Hernandez

Mengyue Yin Dr. Ziteng Wang

Dr. Franziska Heydenreich

Dr. Irina Teslenko

2022 ASPET Fellows

The ASPET Council is pleased to announce the 2022 class of fellows. Selection as a Fellow of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (FASPET) is an honor bestowed to our most distinguished members. Fellows are recognized for their meritorious efforts to advance pharmacology, through their scientific achievements, mentorship, and service to the Society. An abbreviated bio is listed below. To learn more about each of the 2022 ASPET Fellows, visit https://bit.ly/3EwjpBX.

ASPET Fellows Class of 2022

Katerina Akassoglou, PhD

Katerina Akassoglou earned a BSc degree in biology and a PhD in neuroimmunology at the Hellenic Pasteur Institute and the University of Athens, Greece. She was trained in neuropathology at the University of Vienna before performing her postdoctoral work at the Rockefeller University and New York University. She started her laboratory as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego where she was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. She is now a Senior Investigator at the Gladstone Institutes, a Professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco (USCF), and the founder and Director of the Center of Neurovascular Brain Immunology at Gladstone and UCSF.

Wayne L. Backes, PhD

Wayne Backes received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Western Maryland College, his PhD in biochemistry from West Virginia University, and completed postdoctoral studies in pharmacology at the University of Connecticut Health Center,

under the direction of John B. Schenkman. He joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor at Louisiana State University Medical Center – New Orleans in 1984, and is currently the Joseph M. Moerschbaecher, PhD Professor of Pharmacology and the Associate Dean for Research for the School of Medicine at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center – New Orleans.

Mary-Ann Bjornsti, PhD

Mary-Ann Bjornsti is Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and Associate Director for Translational Research in the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center. She received her PhD from the University of Minnesota in Genetics and subsequently pursued a Fogarty Fellowship at the Biozentrum in Basel, Switzerland, where she studied bacterial nucleoid structure. She then moved to Harvard University where she was a post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. James Wang and pioneered the use of the genetically tractable yeast model system to investigate the mechanism of action of DNA topoisomerase I and chemotherapeutics that target this enzyme. In 1989, she moved to Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.

Kathryn A. Cunningham, PhD

Kathryn A. Cunningham received her B.A. in psychology/ philosophy from the University of St. Thomas in Houston and her PhD in neuropharmacology from the University of South Carolina in Columbia. She is currently the Chauncey Leake Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology, Director of the Center for Addiction Research, and Vice Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the John Sealy School of Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas.

Martha I. Dávila-García, PhD

Martha Dávila-García received her BS in Biology from Slippery Rock University in 1982, and a master’s and PhD degree in Biology from New York University (NYU) in 1986 and 1989, respectively. She went on to do a Postdoctoral Fellowship on pharmacology at the University of California, Irvine with Frances M. Leslie and a second postdoc with Kenneth J. Kellar. Dr. Dávila-García joined the faculty of the Pharmacology Department at Howard University (HU) College of Medicine in 1999 and is presently an Associate Professor of Pharmacology.

Carmen W. Dessauer, PhD

Carmen W. Dessauer earned her BS and PhD in biochemistry from Louisiana State University. She was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Nobel laureate, Alfred G. Gilman, at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. In 1998, she joined the faculty in the Department of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Dr. Dessauer is currently the John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Distinguished Chair at the McGovern

Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. After serving 5 years as vice-chair, she is now Professor and Chair, ad interim of the Department of Integrative Biology.

Charles P. France, PhD

Charles P. France is the Robert A Welch Distinguished University Chair in Chemistry and Professor in the Departments of Pharmacology and Psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA). He did undergraduate studies at Northland College and the University of Minnesota and received his MA and PhD from the University of Michigan. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School, he held faculty appointments at the University of Michigan, LSU Health Science Center in New Orleans, and UTHSCSA where he founded and is the current Director of the Addiction Research, Treatment and Training Center of Excellence.

J. Silvio Gutkind, PhD

J. Silvio Gutkind received his PhD in Pharmacy and Biochemistry from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and joined the National Institute of Dental Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) after his post-doctoral training at the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Cancer Institute. He served as the Chief of the Oral and Pharyngeal Cancer Branch, NIDCR, NIH, for more than 20 years, until his recruitment to the University of California San Diego (USCD), where he is now Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, and Associate Director for Basic Science at the Moores Cancer Center.

Tracy M. Handel, PhD

Tracy Handel obtained a BS in Chemistry at Bucknell, and PhD, also in chemistry, at Caltech where she received the McKoy Award for excellence in graduate research. She then conducted postdoctoral work at DuPont Merck Pharmaceuticals and stayed on as principal investigator in structural biology, while concurrently chairing an inflammatory diseases team focused on chemokine receptor drug discovery. After two years, Dr Handel transitioned into academia and joined the Molecular and Cell Biology Department at the University of California Berkeley where she received tenure. She was recruited in 2005 to the University of California, San Diego by Palmer Taylor, then Dean of the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (SSPPS), where she is currently Distinguished Professor, while also strongly involved in the Department of Pharmacology. She served as Division Chair of Pharmaceutical Sciences in SSPPS for two three-year terms.

Pamela J. Hornby, PhD

Pamela J. Hornby’s research has focused on the mechanisms that can lead to potential therapeutics for patients who suffer from diseases originating in the gut. Her research has added to the scientific knowledge of brain-gut communication in functional bowel disorders, gut-endocrine signaling in obesity and Type 2 Diabetes, and how the gut microbiome-host metabolism can influence health and disease. Her career has included positions in academia at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSU-HSC), and in drug discovery at Janssen Pharmaceutical Research & Development Johnson & Johnson. She is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at Drexel University College of Medicine.

Allyn C. Howlett, PhD

Allyn C. Howlett earned a PhD in Pharmacology from Rutgers Medical School, followed by postdoctoral training in pharmacology at the University of Virginia with A.G. Gilman. Her first faculty appointment was in the Saint Louis University Department of Pharmacology, where she played a major role in the development of a new medical pharmacology curriculum and graduate program. From 2000-2006, she was the founding Director of the Neuroscience of Drug Abuse research program at the newly established Julius Chambers Biomedical/Biotechnology Research Institute at North Carolina Central University (NCCU). This was funded by a cooperative agreement grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to build a research program at this historically black university. Between 2004-2006, she also served as the Assistant Director of the masters’ program in Biology and established the NCCU-Wake Forest University Bridge to the PhD funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. She subsequently took a full-time faculty appointment in the Wake Forest University School of Medicine’s Department of Physiology and Pharmacology in 2006, and later served as Director of the Integrative Physiology and Pharmacology PhD training program from 2010-2015.

Susan L. Ingram, PhD

Susan L. Ingram received an AB from Bowdoin College and a PhD in Pharmacology from Oregon Health & Science University in the laboratory of Dr. John Williams. She was a Human Frontiers Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Macdonald Christie at the University of Sydney followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Susan Amara at the Vollum Institute in Portland, OR. Dr. Ingram’s first faculty position was in the Department of Psychology at Washington State University Vancouver and she is currently Professor and Vice-Chair of Research at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

V. Craig Jordan, PhD

V. Craig Jordan received his BS, PhD, and DSc degrees in the Pharmacology Department, Leeds University Medical School, England. Following two years, as a Visiting Scientist, at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology, MA, he returned to Leeds University in 1976 as a tenured lecturer in Pharmacology. He is now the Dallas/Ft. Forth Living Legend Professor of Cancer Research and Professor of Breast Medical Oncology at the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Craig W. Lindsley, PhD

Craig W. Lindsley, Ph.D. is the William K. Warren Jr. Chair in Medicine and University Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology, Chemistry and Biochemistry at Vanderbilt University. He is also the Director of the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery (WCNDD), a clinical stage biotech, nestled within the University. Dr. Lindsley received his BS in chemistry from California State University, Chico before completing his graduate studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara and postdoctoral studies at Harvard University. After successful stints at Eli Lilly and Merck running a large medicinal chemistry group (2000-2006), Craig moved to Vanderbilt University to work with Jeff Conn in establishing an academic drug discovery center, as well as a co-founder of Appello Pharmaceuticals.

Jayne S. Reuben, PhD

Jayne S. Reuben is an Instructional Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Director of Instructional Effectiveness at the Texas A&M University (TAMU) School of Dentistry. She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the TAMU School of Medicine. Dr.

Reuben earned her PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences with a specialization in Pharmacology and Toxicology from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan in the department of Pathology under the direction of Dr. Peter A. Ward. She was recruited back to TAMU to lead instruction in pharmacology for the dental curriculum after serving as a founding faculty member at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville.

Des R. Richardson, PhD, DSc

Des Richardson is the Alan Mackay-Sim Distinguished Chair of Cancer Cell Biology at Griffith University, Australia, and has held multiple international professorial appointments in Europe, Japan, China, and Canada. He received his PhD from the University of Western Australia in Perth, Australia. He has been awarded successive competitive National Career Fellowships for more than 20 years, including the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Senior Principal Research Fellowship, and is the Director of the Centre for Cancer Cell Biology and Drug Discovery.

Alan Saltiel, PhD

Alan R. Saltiel is Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology, and Director of the Institute for Diabetes and Metabolic Health at the University of California, San Diego. He received his AB in Zoology from Duke University in 1975, and his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of North Carolina in 1980. From 1981-1984 he did postdoctoral training with Pedro Cuatrecasas at the Wellcome Research Laboratories in Research Triangle Park, NC, studying mechanisms of insulin action. In 1984 he moved to the Rockefeller University as Assistant Professor, continuing work on the molecular and cellular biology of insulin action. In 1990 he joined Parke Davis Pharmaceutical Research as a Distinguished Research

Fellow and Senior Director/Vice President of Cell Biology, and directed drug discovery activities in diabetes, obesity and cancer.

Daniela Salvemini, PhD

Daniela Salvemini is the William Beaumont Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at Saint Louis University (SLU) Medical School and Director of SLU’s Henry and Amelia Nasrallah Center for Neuroscience. Dr. Salvemini received her BSc in pharmacology from Kings College in London and her PhD in pharmacology from the University of London under the mentorship of the late Nobel Laureate Professor Sir John Vane, where she investigated the role of nitric oxide as an intercellular messenger between platelets, neutrophils and the vascular endothelium. She pursued her postdoctoral studies at the William Harvey Research Institute in London with Professor Vane, then moved to the Department of Discovery Pharmacology at Monsanto in Saint Louis, Missouri, to pursue studies on nitric oxide and prostaglandins in inflammation.

Emily E. Scott, PhD

Emily Scott is the F. F. Blicke Collegiate Professor of Pharmacy at the University of Michigan. Her studies of heme proteins originated during undergraduate Marine Biology fieldwork at Texas A&M at Galveston and grew with myoglobin research during her PhD in Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Rice University with Drs. John Olson and Quentin Gibson. She studied cytochrome P450 enzymes as a postdoctoral NRSA fellow at University of Texas Medical Branch with Professor James Halpert, during which she notably generated one of the first membrane P450 structures. In 2004 Dr. Scott became Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at University of Kansas, rising through the ranks before moving to the University of Michigan Department of Medicinal Chemistry.

Karam F.A. Soliman, PhD

Karam F.A. Soliman is the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies and a Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Institute of Public Health of Florida A&M University (FAMU). Dr. Soliman received his MS and PhD in physiology from the University of Georgia in 1971 and 1972 respectively. He started his academic career in 1972 as an assistant professor of physiology/pharmacology at the School of Veterinary Medicine of Tuskegee Institute. He moved to FAMU in 1975, where he was involved in teaching, research and graduate education in neuropharmacology and cancer pharmacology.

Roger K. Sunahara, PhD

Roger K. Sunahara received his PhD and graduate training with Dr. Philip Seeman in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Toronto. He later joined the laboratory of eminent biochemical pharmacologist, Dr. Alfred G. Gilman, at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School as a post-doctoral fellow. His training has provided a strong foundation and appreciation for the applications of pharmacology, biochemistry and structural biology to delineate mechanisms of action. Dr. Sunahara started his independent research career in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Michigan Medical School, where he climbed the academic ladder. In 2015 he moved his laboratory to the Department of Pharmacology at the University of California in San Diego. His main area of research focuses on the structural and pharmacological bases for hormone-mediated activation of G proteins by G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs).

R. Clinton Webb, PhD

R. Clinton Webb graduated from Southern Illinois University in 1971 and received his PhD in Anatomy from the University of Iowa in 1976. After postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan and the Universitaire Instelling Antwerpen, he joined the faculty of the Department of Physiology at the University of Michigan in 1979, reaching full Professor in 1989. In 1999, he joined the faculty at the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University where he was the Herbert S. Kupperman Chair in Cardiovascular Disease and Regents’ Professor in the Department of Physiology. He served as Chair of the Department of Physiology for 19 years. In 2020, Dr. Webb was appointed Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy and Director of the Cardiovascular Translational Research Center at the University of South Carolina. He is an affiliate faculty member in the Biomedical Engineering Program in the College of Engineering and Computing.

Jürgen Wess, PhD

Jürgen Wess is the Chief of the Molecular Signaling Section, Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He received his PhD in Pharmacology from the

Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main in Germany, and subsequently worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Dr. Wess is a pharmacologist with a primary interest in the general area of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs).

Thomas C. Westfall, PhD

Thomas C. Westfall is currently the William Beaumont Professor and Chair Emeritus, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. Dr. Westfall received his undergraduate and PhD degrees from West Virginia University (WVU) in 1959 and 1962 respectively. He did his postdoctoral work in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate Professor U. S. von Euler, Department of Physiology, Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Dr. Westfall has had many faculty appointments, including in the Department of Pharmacology, WVU School of Medicine for two years; at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology for 14 years; and in the Department of Pharmacology and subsequently Pharmacology and Physiology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine for 37 years, where he was both a professor and Chair. He was a visiting scholar in the laboratory of Dr. Jacques Glowinski Group of Biochemical Neuropharmacology at the College of France in Paris.

Membership News

ASPET Welcomes New Members

Affiliate Members

Amanda Culbertson, TX

Postdoctoral Members

Syed Anees Ahmed, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, NC

Aaron Del Pozo Sanz, University of Washington

Antonios Diab, Dalhousie University, Canada

Mayur K. Ladumor, University of Washington

Bianca N. Quade, Duke University, NC

Guilherme Henrique Souza Bomfim, New York University

Ziteng Wang, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Regular Members

Geoffrey W. Abbott, University of California-Irvine

Michael W. Beck, Eastern Illinois University

Ross Cheloha, NIH, MD

Leon G. Coleman, Jr, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Christopher C. Coss, Ohio State University

Nicholas L. Denton, Ohio State University

Anwar Y. Dunbar, US EPA, VA

Kin Fong, ADARx Pharma, CA

Anibal Garza Carbajal, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, McGovern Medical School

Vinit Gholap, Merck KGAA, MA

Alisa Glukhova, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Australia

Martin Job, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, NJ

Ning Lee, Chengdu Hyperway Pharmaceuticals, NJ

Sushil K. Mahata, VA San Diego Healthcare System and Univ of California San Diego, CA

Jayme McReynolds, University of Cincinnati College of Med, OH

Yulia Nefedova, Wistar Institute, PA

Jeanette C. Perron, St. John’s University, NY

Lauren G. Poole, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Freeborn Rwere, Stanford University, CA

Maria Sosa, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, NY Shuo Xiao, Rutgers University, NJ

Xiaoyu Yan, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, School of Pharmacy

Graduate Student Members

Sadikshya Aryal, Purdue University, IN

Kuber Bajgain, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Raeanne Geffert, Univ of North Carolina- Chapel Hill Cuauhtemoc U. Gonzalez, University of Texas Hlth Sci Ctr at Houston

Denaja Haygood, University of Cincinnati, OH Yiming Jin, University of Connecticut Abdul-Azeez A. Lanihum, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Ariel Magee, Southern Illinois University Fatima Muili, Texas Southern University Israel I. Olayide, Saint Louis University Corin O’Shea, University of Miami, FL Bhumi P. Patel, Rowan University, PA Katyayani Sharma, University of Bern, Switzerland Lisa M. Tran, University of Arizona Diego Trujillo, University of California San Diego Elijah Ullman, Emory University, GA Maya N. Vasishth, University of California San Diego Clark G. Wang, University of California San Diego Shen Yue, University of Cincinnati, OH

Emily Zaniker, Northwestern University, IL

Post-baccalaureate Members

Jamie L. Colon, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI Jenna Staples, National Institutes of Health, MD

Undergraduate Student Members

Emily Abrahamson, Washington State University Rachel M. Craig, Cornell University, MN

Sarah Dierks, Eastern Washington University

Winifred Dorlean, University of Rochester, TX

Abigail Edwards, Gonzaga University, WA

Lauren F. Flakne, College of St Benedict, MN

Shyenne Grady, University of North Carolina

Kemi P. Katemboh, Waldorf University, IA Hope Kellner, Binghamton University, PA

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ASPET

Here’s what our journal editors have to say:

“ASPET’s Drug Metabolism and Disposition (DMD) journal wants to become “an instrument of greatest usefulness to the community of workers in the field.” This noble wish has been an important guiding principle for the journal as it stood the test of time and became the leading journal in the drug metabolism and disposition field. Over the past 50 years, DMD has published nearly 9,000 papers. It is the journal of choice for publishing first rate fundamental as well as translational drug metabolism and disposition research, where new trends, regulations, and concepts are introduced, differing opinions are debated, and important works from PhD dissertations and new drug approval pipelines are archived.”

XINXIN DING, PHD Editor-in-Chief, Drug Metabolism and Disposition

“At the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (JPET), we are committed to growing our readership and making sure published papers have the impact they deserve. Please submit to JPET Special Sections to help to shape our future. You can choose from three new special sections on 1) Quantitative Systems Pharmacology, 2) Clinical Pharmacology and 3) Protein and Peptide Therapeutics.”

BEVERLEY GREENWOOD-VAN MEERVELD, PHD, AGAF, FACG, FASPET Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics

“Pharmacological Reviews provides comprehensive and authoritative articles from thought leaders in the field, making it a one-of-a-kind resource for all interested in the pharmacology of a broad range of areas, crossing the bounds of a wide cross-section of physiological systems.

Pharmacological Reviews ranks first for citation half-life and boasts a 2021 impact factor of 20.5. Its comprehensive reviews bring readers up to date with the most current state of knowledge in both classical and new pharmacological spaces.”

LYN DAWS, PHD Editor-in-Chief, Pharmacological Reviews

ASPET publishes four highly respected and widely read journals that provide rapid publication and easy access on mobile devices, tablets and desktop computers. The Society co-publishes a wholly open access journal with the British Pharmacological Society and Wiley. Since the launch of JPET in 1909, ASPET has provided scientists in pharmacology and related fields with leading primary research and review articles. ASPET members have access to all journal content as a member benefit.

Members in the News

ASPET President-Elect Namandjé Bumpus: FDA’s Chief Scientist

ASPET President-Elect

Namandjé Bumpus assumed the position of Chief Scientist for the Food and Drug Administration this summer. The Chief Scientist is responsible for leading strategic planning and coordination that support research, science and innovation aligned with FDA’s public health mission. Dr. Bumpus will begin her term as ASPET’s President in July 2023.

Since taking on her new position at the FDA, Dr. Bumpus has taken some time to reflect on her career thus far. She says there are several key moments that prepared her for her current role.

“Joining the laboratory of Dr. Paul Hollenberg at the University of Michigan was a major step that set me on my path. In the Hollenberg Lab, I learned how to think about science and how to apply principles of pharmacology to a range of scientific questions. In graduate school I did an internship in industry. The internship sparked an interest in translational pharmacology, and I decided that I ultimately wanted to pursue an academic career performing research focused on understanding drug outcomes at a mechanistic level,” Dr. Bumpus explained.

During her postdoctoral fellowship at The Scripps Research Institute with Dr. Eric Johnson, Dr. Bumpus was equipped with the tools and critical thinking that she needed to become a principal investigator. Furthermore, as a principal investigator at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, she developed as a scientist and leader. As a faculty member, she also

became an active member of ASPET, which she says was a substantial career boost.

“When I joined ASPET, I gained a supportive network of colleagues and mentors who helped guide me through establishing and growing my research program. I also gained opportunities to get feedback on my research and to develop my leadership skills,” said Dr. Bumpus.

Clinical pharmacology is the study of drugs in humans, including the discovery of new target molecules and the effects of drug usage to improve patient care. There are exciting opportunities for clinical pharmacologists to contribute to advancing the use of real-world evidence and real-world data to understand health outcomes. Additionally, clinical pharmacologists are increasingly engaged in teams of investigators from a broad range of scientific fields, and I think this brings great opportunity to spur discovery in science.

Clinical pharmacologists can bring unique expertise and insights to virtually every frontier of biomedical science and this can be leveraged by collaborative teams, for instance, to augment the translatability of in vitro technologies such as microphysiological systems and in silico tools like artificial intelligence and machine learning.

“Over the next five years, I think that all scientific fields will increasingly face the challenge and opportunity of adapting to emerging technologies and incorporating new innovations. With this, standardized approaches to data sharing, data management and data curation will be important particularly in fields like clinical pharmacology that leverage clinical data,” predicted Dr. Bumpus.

Graduate students starting out in clinical pharmacology look for guidance from mentors who are paving the way for the next generation. Clinical pharmacology creates an opportunity for students to investigate the application of pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics to patients with diseases. Dr. Bumpus recommends that students immerse themselves in their science.

“Read the literature daily, including doing some reading outside of your immediate field. Set aside an hour a day at least for reading and writing. Identify a team of mentors – people who fascinate you that you really want to learn from. Strong communication skills are crucial. It is important to be able to communicate your science to others in a compelling way and to be able to communicate your professional needs so that you can advocate for yourself,” Dr. Bumpus suggested.

National Institutes of Health Selects ASPET Member for SuRE Program

ASPET Member Helmut Gottlieb, PhD, was awarded an NIH SuRE (Support for Research Excellence Program R16grant). Dr. Gottlieb has served on the ASPET Diversity Committee and Division of Pharmacology Education Executive Committee.

The SuRE program supports research capacity building at institutions that enroll significant numbers of students from backgrounds nationally underrepresented in biomedical research (see NOTOD-20-031), award baccalaureate and/or graduate degrees in biomedical sciences and receive limited NIH Research Project Grant funding. The SuRE funding mechanism has an additional component

designed to engage undergraduate and graduate students in basic science research from minority serving institutions. The goal is to develop and sustain research excellence of faculty investigators and provide students with research opportunities while catalyzing institutional research culture and enriching the research environment.

The SuRE program supports investigator-initiated research in the biomedical, clinical, behavioral and social sciences (collectively termed “biomedical” sciences) that falls in the mission areas of NIH Institutes, Centers and Offices.

ASPET Congratulates Naunihal Zaveri for Her Selection as a 2022 Medical Educator Fellow

The International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) has named its 2022 Medical Educator Fellows. Among them is ASPET member Naunihal Zaveri, MS, PhD. Dr. Zaveri is a member of ASPET’s Division of Pharmacology Education.

The program is designed to develop well-rounded medical education scholars with additional evidence of specialized achievement that enhances and supports career advancement. As a capstone, this program offers the opportunity to complete a mentored project, where participants receive individualized mentorship and access to resources that may increase the likelihood of presentation or publication of their scholarly work.

Division News

2023 Division Elections

The 2023 election includes nominees for the ASPET Council (president-elect, secretary/treasurer-elect, and councilor), as well as officers from the Division for Behavioral Pharmacology, Division for Cardiovascular Pharmacology, Division for Drug Discovery and Development, Division for Drug Metabolism and Disposition, Division for Molecular Pharmacology, Division for Pharmacology Education and Division for Toxicology. The election will open on January 10, 2023, and eligible voting members will receive an email with instructions.

Division for Behavioral Pharmacology

Nominee for Chair-Elect

Brian Kangas, PhD

Director, Cognition Biology Laboratory, McLean Hospital, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

Nominee for Secretary/Treasurer-Elect

Robert Warren Gould, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Division for Cardiovascular Pharmacology

Nominee for Chair-Elect

Michael Tranter, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Health and Disease, University of Cincinnati

Nominee for Secretary/Treasurer-Elect

Boyd Rorabaugh

Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Marshall University School of Pharmacy, Interim Associate Dean of Academic and Curricular Affairs, Marshall University School of Pharmacy

Division for Drug Discovery and Development

Nominee for Chair-Elect

Alicja Urbaniak, MSc, PhD, PhD

Instructor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

Nominee for Secretary/Treasurer-Elect

Harshini Neelakantan, PhD

Executive Director, Research and Development, Ridgeline Therapeutics

Division for Drug Metabolism and Disposition

Nominees for Chair-Elect

Bhagwat Prasad, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Washington State University

Nominees for Secretary/Treasurer-Elect

Klarissa Jackson, PhD

Assistant Professor, Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Eshelman School of Pharmacy

Kerry Goralski, PhD

Professor, College of Pharmacy (Primary Appointment), Department of Pharmacology (Cross-Appointment) and Department of Pediatrics (Cross-Appointment) Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Yurong Lai, MD PhD

Executive Director of Drug Metabolism, Gilead Sciences Inc

Division for Molecular Pharmacology

Nominees for Chair-Elect

Adriano Marchese, PhD

Professor and Graduate Program Director, Department of Biochemistry, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI

Michelle Kimple, PhD

Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Cell and Regenerative Biology, University of WisconsinMadison; Co-Director, UW Madison Diabetes Research Center Islet Core

Division for Pharmacology Education

Nominees for Chair-Elect

Khalil Eldeeb, MD, MSc, PhD

Associate Professor of Pharmacology School of Osteopathic Medicine

Campbell University Adjunct Faculty Wake Forest School of Medicine

Nominees for Secretary/Treasurer-Elect

Daniel G. Isom, PhD

Assistant Professor, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Michael W. Lee, PhD

Associate Professor of Pharmacology, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College

Smita Yadav, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, University of Washington; Faculty, Institute of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, University of Washington

Nominee for Secretary/Treasurer-Elect

Diptiman Bose, B.Pharm, M.S, M.Ed, PhD, RPh

Associate Professor, Dept of Pharmaceutical and Administrative Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Health Science, Western New England University, Director of Pharm D Distance Learning Pathway, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Western New England University

Division for Toxicology

Nominee for Chair-Elect

Elaine M. Leslie, PhD Professor, Department of Physiology, University of Alberta, Canada, Nominee for Secretary/Treasury-Elect

Nominee for Secretary/Treasurer-Elect

Sudin Bhattacharya, PhD Assistant Professor, Michigan State University

Chapter News

CSPT Co-Hosts Safety Pharmacology Society Annual Meeting

Report on the 2022 Scientific Meeting

Submitted by Brendan McKeown

CSPT Opening with Trainees

The Canadian Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics and the Safety Pharmacology Society recently held its first in-person joint meeting since 2019. The annual meeting and exhibit show was held from September 11-14, 2022, at the Palais des Congrès in Montréal, Quebec. The meeting offered presentations, seminars and networking events. Nearly 160 CSPT attendees participated including about 70 trainees. The meeting consisted of six trainee platform

presentations, 66 poster presentations and 23 rapid fire presentations.

The Top Trainee Abstracts Oral Presentations kicked off the meeting with six trainees who presented their research on a variety of clinical and basic pharmacology topics. This was followed by a Molecular Pharmacology session, where Dr. Noël Raynal, University of Montréal, discussed the importance of choosing the correct preclinical model, Dr. Stéphane Laporte, McGill University shared his findings regarding functional selectivity in

G protein-coupled receptors, and Dr. Marie-Pierre Dubé, University of Montréal, discussed her research experiences with genomics and randomized clinical trials in cardiovascular medicine.

The Practical Pharmacology session with seminars included presentations from Dr. Kathy Wan-Chun Chang, University of British Columbia, Dr. David Maj, Western University, and Dr. Lauren Kelly, University of Manitoba, where each discussed patient cases. Dr. Chang and Dr. Maj shared experiences with adverse reactions and toxicity that highlighted the increasing importance of pharmacogenetic testing in medicine while Dr. Kelly offered her observations into harms, benefits, and patient experiences with cannabis in ADHD. The first day closed with a formal welcome reception and first look at the posters in the exhibitor hall.

ASPET Director of Education

Catherine Fry and CSPT Past President Kerry Goralski at the joint CSPT-SPS meeting in Montreal, Quebec

The CSPT 2021 Junior Investigator Award recipient, Dr. Simon Wisnovsky, University of British Columbia, gave an insightful lecture regarding the role of the cell surface glycome in regulating the activity the immune system in cancer. By investigating these cell surface glycans, Dr. Wisnovsky is discovering new targets for cancer immunotherapy.

Official Welcome and Keynote

Plenary Keynote Speaker Dr. David Lee with Health Canada addressed the attendees about “Bringing regulatory design together with drug safety science: opportunities now and for the future.” Dr. Lee shared key observations about the path drug regulation has taken in the past, the present and the plans Health Canada has for the future.

The Safety and Efficacy in Cancer Pharmacology session featured seminars on a variety of cancer pharmacology topics including epigenetic considerations that can be used to personalize cancer treatment (Dr. Isabelle Laverdière, Laval University), genetic considerations for asparaginase toxicity in pediatric leukemia (Dr. Maja Karjinovic, University of Montréal), the appropriate design of a clinical study involving pharmacogenomics using corticosteroid induced avascular necrosis as an example (Dr. Bruce Carleton, University of British Columbia), and the repurposing of anti-cancer drugs for other diseases such as vascular anomalies (Dr. Niina Kleiber, University of Montréal).

The first round of trainee poster and rapid-fire presentations were followed by scientific sessions. An interesting tradition for the SPS is the inclusion of debates within their conference programming and, in honor of our joint meeting, the CSPT took part. The first debate was “Should mandatory surveillance of adverse drug events replace voluntary surveillance,” where Dr. Elaine Lau, University of Toronto, took the position in favor of mandatory surveillance and Dr. Michael Rieder, Western University, took the position against. The day wrapped up with an evening social allowing for interaction between trainees, junior investigators, and senior members of the society.

Canadian Science Publishing Managing Editor Josephine Sciortino offered tips on successful submissions to the journal in the Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology workshop “How to successfully improve your chances of getting published.” Dr. Rachel Tyndale, University of Toronto, addressed “Drug metabolism within the brain alters drug concentrations, response and side effects.” Dr. Tyndale provided an overview of the involvement of CYP2B6 in the metabolism of chlorpyrifos to a toxic oxon in the brain and the effect of enzyme inhibition on this process. Dr. Tyndale subsequently covered CYP2D6 in opioid metabolism, methamphetamine sensitization, and haloperidol associated adverse effects.

The CSPT Senior Investigator Award Lecture, “Preclinical models to reflect those most likely to consume medications: why age, sex and frailty matter,” was presented by the award recipient Dr. Susan Howlett from Dalhousie University. Dr. Howlett argued for the inclusion of animal models, which better

Dr. Simon Wisnovsky received the Junior Investigator Award.

Canadian Science Publishing Managing Editor Josephine Sciortino

represent the intended patient population, describing her development of a frailty assessment tool for mice. A panel on Drug Safety in Children included Dr. Yaron Finkelstein (University of Toronto) who described the implications of recreational cannabis legalization on children. Dr. Michael Rieder from Western University spoke on issues concerning drug safety across the age spectrum. Dr. Tamorah Lewis with The Hospital for Sick Children offered expertise on drug safety studies in the neonatal intensive care unit Finally, Dr. Catherine Litalien with the University of Montréal discussed issues about compounding safety in children.

The Legendary Conversations Dinner was held with CSPT president Dr. Bruce Carleton who informally interviewed the four inaugural Fellows of the CSPT. Dr. Gail Bellward, University of British Columbia, Dr. Jean Gray, Dalhousie University, Dr. James Hammond, University of Alberta and Dr. Stuart MacLeod, University of British Columbia. They spoke about their life experiences and shared stories of their career.

The meeting ended with the CSPT Annual General Meeting and closing awards ceremony. The annual meeting seeks to maintain collaborative working environments and expose trainees to future opportunities.

2021 CSPT Award Winners

■ Distinguished Service and Education Award –Dr. Michael Rieder (Western University)

■ Senior Investigator Award – Dr. Susan E. Howlett (Dalhousie University)

■ Junior Investigator Award – Dr. Simon Wis-

Dr. Susan Howlett received the Senior Investigator Award.

novsky (University of British Columbia)

■ Publication Award – Dr. Khaled Abdelrahman (University of Ottawa)

■ Canadian Publication Award – Dr. Kerry Goralski (Dalhousie University)

Induction of the Inaugural Fellows of the CSPT

■ Dr. Gail Bellward (University of British Columbia)

■ Dr. Jean Gray (Dalhousie University)

■ Dr. James Hammond (University of Alberta)

■ Dr. Stuart MacLeod (University of British Columbia)

The CSPT 2022 Trainee Presentation Awards

■ Rhoderic Reiffenstein Award (Poster Presentation) – Gracious Kasheke (Dalhousie University)

■ Peter Dresel Award (Poster Presentation) – Nur Safa (University of Manitoba)

■ Ken Piafsky Award (Platform Presentation) – Angela Siemens (University of British Columbia)

■ William Mahon Award (Rapid Fire Presentation –first session) – Garmen Ng (Western University)

■ William Mahon Award (Rapid Fire Presentation –second session) – Nicole Sidor (Western University)

In closing the CSPT would like to acknowledge ASPET for financially supporting our annual conference and for participation as an Exhibitor. We are looking forward to our next conference in 2023!

Article by: Brendan McKeown, BSc Pharm, MSc, PhD Candidate, Dalhousie University

Happy Holidays

From the ASPET Staff

American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET)

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