7 minute read
RESEARCH
URI pharmacy Professor Matt Bertin collects algae from a net for study during a marine pharmaceutical trip in the Gulf of Mexico.
Pharmaceutical Scientists Fuel Health Innovation
URI Researchers Continue College’s Tradition of Marine Pharmaceutical Research
In the 1950s and 1960s, pharmaceutical developers started looking into the ocean as a new field for discovery, intriguing then-URI College of Pharmacy Dean Heber W. Youngken Jr., who recruited noted marine pharmaceutical researcher Yuzuru Shimizu to lead the program and helped organize the first national “Drugs from the Sea” conference on the Kingston Campus in 1967. URI’s quest to look to the oceans for pharmaceutical discovery has continued through the years. Pharmacy Professors Matthew Bertin and David Rowley—both also oceanographers educated at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego—are the latest to hold down the tradition, discovering new therapeutics, helping aquaculture systems avoid toxic disease, and helping tap into the enormous potential the blue economy offers coastal communities.
“It’s not unique, but it’s uncommon” for oceanographers to populate colleges of pharmacy, Rowley said. “There is a long history at URI of marine pharmaceutical research spanning more than 50 years now. It’s about both identifying harmful elements in the ocean and extracting molecules that may have therapeutic possibilities.” Both professors have made significant strides in developing new pharmaceutics and protecting aquaculture systems like shellfish farms that are so vital to the local and national seafood industry. Bertin has identified chemicals produced by toxic algal blooms that have the potential to reduce neuroinflammation and some that may fight cancer cells. He has also focused on an alga that produces a neurotoxin known as domoic acid, which is filtered by mussels, oysters, and clams, and can end up in the food supply. His research helps aqua-farmers determine whether the toxin is present, and in what quantities, to prevent potentially harming consumers. Rowley has examined how some bacteria can be beneficial in reducing disease in aquaculture systems. He and his team have identified bacteria that can protect against marine pathogens, particularly in oyster larvae that are critical to the marine economy in Rhode Island. He is currently working with biotech firm Kennebec River Biosciences to develop the probiotic bacteria developed at URI into a product to be sold on the commercial market.
“We know a lot of the organisms in the ocean communicate and defend themselves by producing small molecules,” Rowley said. “We’ve come to understand they have value for testing in biomedical systems. So, we’re accessing the medicine chest of the sea to provide groundbreaking new molecules for addressing some of our unmet medical needs.”
For a more extensive look at their marine pharmaceutical research, visit uri.edu/pharmacy/news.
Big Ideas. Bold Plans. Strategic Opportunities
For the college to take the next step, we need to be nimble and take advantage of opportunities that require quick action. Strategic funds like the Mario Family Foundation Impact Endowment and Operating Fund provide financial agility to ensure the College of Pharmacy’s long-term success.
Pharmacy Professors Attract Millions in Research Funding
Study Aims To Ease Age-Related Disorders
Aging is a complex process affecting virtually all vital parts of an organism, characterized by an overall decrease in cellular functions that lead to increasing risk of disease and death. As the proportion of the aging population continues to grow worldwide, so does the incidence of age-related disorders, with the most devastating affecting the aging brain, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Thus, there is a tremendous need to discover novel treatments to increase the health of the aging populace. URI pharmacy Assistant Professor Jaime Ross is seeking such treatments in her study on the role of role of epigenetics in age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease, funded by a $249,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Emerging evidence links age-related gene expression changes with alterations in how our DNA is packed. Ross will use a novel model called “ICE” (inducible changes in the epigenome) to test whether alterations in DNA packaging result in age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease pathology and if these changes are preventUniversity of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy researchers continue to grow and expand the college’s research goals through securing collaborations and funding with private and federal sponsors. Professors and researchers in the college have brought in millions of dollars in public and private financing for impactful studies on such topics as cancer treatment, overdose prevention, Alzheimer’s disease, and many more. The following is a look at some of those important studies. Log onto uri.edu/ pharmacy/news-and-events for a more complete look at the research projects.
able or even reversible.
The project aims to illuminate the underlying mechanisms that drive age-related cognitive impairment, use the ICE system to determine if epigenetic changes can drive the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease, and study how chromatin modifications specifically disrupt the mitochondria during dementia and neurodegeneration.
“Results so far support the hypothesis that alterations to the epigenome can trigger aging acceleration in mammals,” Ross wrote in a project summary. “Taken together, this project will provide new valuable insights into the underlying mechanisms of the aging process—focusing on brain aging disorders—reveal potential biomarkers, and highlight therapeutic strategies to improve the human condition.”
Student Integrates Fungi into Medicinal Garden
A URI College of Pharmacy student’s study on a common disease affecting shrimp in aquaculture projects won first place at the Undergraduate Research Showcase on campus. Maggie Hill, a B.S.P.S. student in the College of Pharmacy, aims to improve the health of aquaculture systems by seeking new ways to treat shrimp infected with acute hepatic necrosis disease (AHPND), an infection affecting many species of Penaeus shrimp in aquaculture systems. She is focusing the study on the use of probiotics on shrimp, which are not only among the world’s most valuable and popular aquaculture species, but also one that encounters high economic losses due to diseases, which influence global supply and prices for longer periods. Hill won first place in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) category of the research showcase, even showing off her study to URI President Marc Parlange. “The goal of probiotics is to create cost-effective, preventative measures against disease. Antivirals tend to be very specific and costly to develop. And antibiotics promote antibiotic resistance if not dosed correctly, (so) you can imagine dosing large batches of shrimp larvae is very difficult,” Hill said.
Pharmacy student Maggie Hill explains her research on shrimp disease to URI President Marc Parlange.
The Heber W. Youngken Jr. Medicinal Garden outside Avedisian Hall is a one-of-a-kind resource with nearly 300 medicinal plants offering immense clinical and educational opportunities. One thing the garden was missing, however, was medicinal fungi, something Pharm.D. student and fungi enthusiast Anthony Makashov set out to remedy. Working with Garden Coordinator Elizabeth Leibovitz, Makashov worked to integrate medicinal fungi species into the garden and to highlight their physiological benefits. He integrated lion’s mane, beard lichens, reishi, chaga, and turkey tail. He created wooden garden signs to detail each fungus and its benefits. Finally, Makashov obtained dietary supplements created from each species to demonstrate the medicinal and commercial potential of the fungi. “I really wanted to fulfill a need that could benefit the college as a whole,” Makashov said. “I felt there are so many wonderful learning opportunities in that garden for all students. And while the plants are obviously great, there was no fungi, which play such an immense role in the medicinal market and in growing the dietary supplement industry. So, I thought, ‘What a perfect way to combine my passions of mycology and fungi.’” Makashov traveled to the Pacific Northwest, “the mushroom mecca of the world,” which helped inform his study to “demystify fungi” and bring more awareness to the benefits that Eastern cultures have used for centuries. He plans to develop a medicinal garden web application to detail the benefits of lion’s mane (cognition, memory), reishi (overall vitality and immune health), chaga (digestion, immune health), beard lichen (antibacterial, antiviral), and turkey tail (liver health, cancer prevention).
Pharmacy student Anthony Makashov and medicinal garden coordinator Elizabeth Leibovitz present Makashov’s project during a research event on campus in May.
