Department Announcements

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November 2023 Announcement:

September 2023 Announcements:

Melanie Joy, PharmD, PhD, has received an award of $50,000 from the 2023-2024 HESI Thrive Seed Grant for her project “Biomarkers to inform kidney toxicities from immune checkpoint inhibitors”.

Congratulations to Krishna Mallela, PhD, and David Bain, PhD, on their 2-year industry contract award in the amount of $566,968 with Ompi of America, Inc. formally Stevanato.

Congratulations to Dmitri Simberg, PhD, on the publication of his paper in Nature Nanotechnology.

Announcing R01 funding:

• Melanie Joy, PharmD, PhD; Preclinical and clinical models of drug induced kidney injury; National Cancer Institute.
• Shaodong Dai, PhD; Characterization of disulfide modified diabetogenic neoepitopes; National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases.
• Thomas DeLong, Dr. rer. nat; Characterize the landscape and origin of hybrid peptides in beta cells; National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases.

August 2023 Announcements:

Jed Lampe, PhD, received a 6%-tile on his most recent R01-A1 submission, so this proposal is likely to be funded by NIAID, hopefully starting in December. 

Alison Bauer, PhD, and Nichole Reisdorph, PhD, received funding from the Institute of Cannabis Research for their research “Investigation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons resulting from vaped or dabbed cannabis/cannabis-derived products with known adverse health effects.”

Kristina Brooks, PharmD, has her most recent finding published in The Lancet HIV.

July 2023 Announcements:

Manisha Patel, PhD, was awarded an ABNexus Award – a collaboration with Jerry Stitzel at CU Boulder – for the project “Multi-generation Impact of Developmental Nicotine Exposure on Mitochondrial Function.”

Jared Brown, PhD, received an invitation to serve as a member of the Environmental Health Sciences Review Committee from the NIH Director.

May 2023 Announcements:

Dr. Kris Fritz was awarded an R41 with Mitotherapeutics.

Grad student Courtney McGinnis received the NOA for an F31. She is one of the first students to receive both and F31 and TL1. Another student, Daniel Foster, will also get an F31.

Dr. Raj Agarwal won an Intramural DOD/DTRA award.

April 2023 Announcements:

Krishna Mallela has received an Industry Award with Cipla for Characterization of Protein Biologics.

March 2023 Announcements:

James Roede received the NOA for his R01 entitled “Altered Hippocampal Neurogenesis and Cognition via Maneb-mediated Changes in the Thiol Redox Proteome.”

Kris Fritz was awarded a new R01 from NIAAA “Alcohol Metabolism Disrupts Hepatic Thiol Redox Signaling and Control.”

September 2022 Announcements:

Dr. Simberg has received a new NIH R01 for his project entitled, “Fluorescent Indocarbocyanine PEGylated Lipid Nanoparticles for Understanding and Overcoming Barriers to Drug Delivery in Invasive Glioblastoma”

July 2022 Announcements:

Carlos Catalano received an ABNexus award for a project with CU Boulder faculty Theodore Randolph, PhD, (Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering), for their project entitled: “Novel Antimicrobials for Multi-Drug Resistant Osteomyelitis: Bacteriophage Stabilized for Extended Release by Atomic Layer Deposition Processes”

Jen Kiser received an R01 from NIH for Alcohol biomarker PeTH and HIV prevention for her project entitled “Predictive Power of PeTH for HIV Prevention in the Long-Acting Era”

Pete Anderson received a 4-year R01 for a project entitled “Long-acting multi prevention implant for 2-year contraception and HIV PrEP”. This is to develop a POC assay for drug concentrations for an at-home test .

May 2022 Announcements:

Manisha Patel received the NINDS Javits Award. The Javits Award (R37) is a conditional, seven-year research grant given to scientists for their superior competence and outstanding productivity. Congratulations to Manisha, we are so proud of your accomplishment.

Congratulations to Courtney McGinnis, a graduate student in Kris Fritz’s lab. Courtney was selected to receive a TOTTS TL1 Pre-doctoral Award through CCTSI.

Annagabriela Figueroa, a graduate student working with Manisha Patel, received the 2022 AFPE Underrepresented Minority Gateway to Research Award. Congratulations Annagabriela.

Dan LaBarbera received a Cancer League of Colorado research grant with Dr. Reema Wahdan (SOM-Pathology) to fund a collaborative project, “Targeting Thyroid Hormone-Mediated Cancer Stem Cell Expansion and Treatment Resistance in ER+ Breast Cancer Cells.”

Dan LaBarbera received an AB Nexus grant with Karolin Luger (CU Boulder).

Dan LaBarbera received additional funding from the Abigail Foundation for his project, “The Development of CHD1Li Drug and Nanoparticle Therapy for the Treatment of Cancer”.

Dan LaBarbera is Co-I on a CCTSI award with Xiaoli Yu (SOM Neurology) studying multiple sclerosis.

Congratulations to Michael Wempe. Michael is Co-I on an R21 with Curtis Coughlin (SOM PEDS) for their project, “Newborn Screening and Treatment Monitoring for Patients with Pyridoxine-Dependent Epilepsy”.

Manisha Patel received a DEI summer research internship grant for from the American Epilepsy Society.

Publications

• Am J Respir Crit Care Med. Lung Microbiota and Metabolites Collectively Associate with Clinical Outcomes in Milder Stage COPD. Cruickshank-Quinn C.
  
• Biochemistry. Convergent Evolution of Multiple Mutations Improves the Viral Fitness of SARS-CoV-2 Variants by Balancing Positive and Negative Selection.  Upadhyay V, Patrick C, Lucas A, Mallela KMG.
• Bioorg Med Chem Lett. Identification of Aloe-derived natural products as prospective lead scaffolds for SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M^pro) inhibitors.  Hicks EG, Kandel SE, Lampe JN.
• Cannabis Cannabinoid Res. An Approach to Biomarker Discovery of Cannabis Use Utilizing Proteomic, Metabolomic, and Lipidomic Analyses. Saba L.
• Chem Biol Interact. Liver metabolomics identifies bile acid profile changes at early stages of alcoholic liver disease in mice. Thompson DC.
• Drug Deliv Transl Res. An evaluation of a novel nanoformulation of imatinib mesylate in a mouse model of lupus nephritis. Fogueri U, Charkoftaki G, Roda G, Tuey S, Ibrahim M, Persaud I, Wempe MF, Brown JM, Anchordoquy TJ, Joy MS.
• FASEB J. Utilization of CYP3A-Specific Inhibitors to Study Cytochrome P450 CYP3A7 Activity in Neonatal Human Liver Microsomes.  Work HM, Kandel SE, Lampe JN.
  
• Free Radic Biol Med. Oxidative stress as a candidate mechanism for accelerated neuroectodermal differentiation due to trisomy 21.  Prutton KM, Marentette JO, Leifheit BA, Esquer H, LaBarbera DV, Anderson CC, Roede JR.
• Front Mol Biosci. Small Heat Shock Proteins in Retinal Diseases. Nagaraj RH.
• Hepatol Commun. Lipidomics and Redox Lipidomics Indicate Early Stage Alcohol-Induced Liver Damage. Thompson DC.
• J Allergy Clin Immunol. Discovering metabolite quantitative trait loci in asthma using an isolated population. Quinn K, Doenges K, 
• J Biol Chem. Deglutarylation of glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase by deacylating enzyme SIRT5 promotes lysine oxidation in mice. Backos DS
• J Mol Biol. Biophysical fitness landscape of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant receptor binding domain.  Patrick C, Upadhyay V, Lucas A, Mallela KMG.
• J Tradit Complement Med. Transcriptome and metabolome changes induced by bitter melon (Momordica charantia)- intake in a high-fat diet induced obesity model. Reed D, Kumar D, Kumar S, Raina K, Punia R, Kant R, Saba L, Cruickshank-Quinn C, Tabakoff B, Reisdorph N, Wempe M, Agarwal C, Agarwal R.
  
• Mol Ther. Pro-inflammatory concerns with lipid nanoparticles. Simberg D.
• NanoImpact. Transformation in band energetics of CuO nanoparticles as a function of solubility and its impact on cellular response. Brown JM.
• Nat Commun. Statin therapy inhibits fatty acid synthase via dynamic protein modifications.  Backos DS.
• NPJ Vaccines Phage-like particle vaccines are highly immunogenic and protect against pathogenic coronavirus infection and disease.  Catalano CE.
• Pharmacogenomics. Patients' perspectives of a pharmacist-provided clinical pharmacogenomics service.  Martin JL, Lee YM, Aquilante CL.
  
• Trends Cancer. Multifunctional role of thymidine phosphorylase in cancer. Warfield BM, Reigan P.

April 2022 Announcements:

Publications

• ACS Nano PEGylated Liposomes Accumulate in the Areas Relevant to Skin Toxicities via Passive Extravasation across “Leaky” Endothelium. Simberg D
• Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry Miniature mass spectrometer-based point-of-care assay for cabotegravir and rilpivirine in whole blood. Bushman LR, Anderson PL
  
• Clinical and Translational Science Pharmacogenetic testing among patients with depression in a US managed care population. Anderson HD, Aquilante CL
• Current Protocols A Quantitative Method for Determining Uptake of Silica Nanoparticles in Macrophages by Single Particle Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry. Rogers KL, Cruz-Hernandez A, Brown JM
  
• Brain Research Brain injury and inflammation genes common to a number of neurological diseases and the genes involved in the genesis of GABAnergic neurons are altered in monoamine oxidase B knockout mice. Tabakoff B
• NanoImpact Transformation in band energetics of CuO nanoparticles as a function of solubility and its impact on cellular response.  Brown JM 
• Frontiers in Genetics Beyond Genes: Inclusion of Alternative Splicing and Alternative Polyadenylation to Assess the Genetic Architecture of Predisposition to Voluntary Alcohol Consumption in Brain of the HXB/BXH Recombinant Inbred Rat Panel. Lusk R, Mahaffey S, Rosean S, Smith H, Tabakoff B, Saba LM
• Journal of American Society of Mass Spectrometry Spray-Based Application of Matrix to Agar-Based Microbial Samples for Reproducible Sample Adherence in MALDI MSI. Jens JN, Breiner DJ, Phelan VV
  
• Journal of Biological Chemistry Pseudomonas aeruginosa cytochrome P450 CYP168A1 is a fatty acid hydroxylase that metabolizes arachidonic acid to the vasodilator 19-HETE. Lampe JN
• Journal of Medicinal Chemistry Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of the First Inhibitors of Oncogenic CHD1L. Prigaro BJ, Esquer H, Zhou Q, Pike LA, Awolade P, Lai XH, Abraham AD, Abbott JM, Matter B, Kompella UB, LaBarbera DV
  
• Molecular Carcinogenesis, Characterization of stage-specific tumor progression in TMPRSS2-ERG (fusion)-driven and non-fusion-driven prostate cancer in GEM models.  Raina K, Kant R, Prasad RR, Kandhari K, Tomar M, Mishra N, Agarwal C, Agarwal R.
• NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes Dietary fat promotes antibiotic-induced Clostridioides difficile mortality in mice. Armstrong M, Reisdorph N
• Sleep Tonic endocannabinoid signaling supports sleep through development in both sexes. Armstrong ML, Reisdorph N
  
• Toxicology Sciences, Mast Cells Promote Nitrogen Mustard-Mediated Toxicity in the Lung Associated With Proinflammatory Cytokine and Bioactive Lipid Mediator Production Angela Cruz-Hernandez, Ryan P Mendoza, Kathleen Nguyen, Neera Tewari-Singh, Jared M Brown 
• Molecular Carcinogenesis Stage-specific differential expression of zinc transporter SLC30A and SLC39A family proteins during prostate tumorigenesis. Prasad RR, Raina K, Mishra N, Tomar MS, Agarwal R
• Chemical-Biological Interactions Liver metabolomics identifies bile acid profile changes at early stages of alcoholic liver disease in mice. Thompson DC
• Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters Identification of Aloe-derived natural products as prospective lead scaffolds for SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) inhibitors. Lampe JN
  
• Journal of Biochemical and Molecular Toxicology Regulation of renal calbindin expression during cisplatin-induced kidney injury. Joy MS
• Journal of Biological Chemistry Structural insights into the interactions and epigenetic functions of human nucleic acid repair protein ALKBH6. Dai S
  

March 2022 Announcements:

Dr. Simberg got a great score on R01. “NCI program in Cancer in Nanotechnology - Glioma Targeting” with Northwestern.

Pilot funding Cancer center and CSU – Drs. LaBarbera with Dan Gustafson at CSU awarded a Companion Animals in Cancer Research Pilot Award - Inhibitors effective against sarcomas.

Dr. Fritz now Vice President- elect for Mountain West Regional Chapter of the Society of Toxicology

Dr. Reigan is co-PI with Kim Bruce “Targeting Microglial Lipoprotein Lipase in Alzheimer’s Disease” R01 grant.

Publications

• Alcohol, Proteomic analysis of alcohol-associated hepatitis reveals glycoprotein NMB (GPNMB) as a novel hepatic and serum biomarker Peter S Harris, Cole R Michel, Youngho Yun, Courtney D McGinnis, James R Roede, Rebecca L McCullough, Kristofer S Fritz
• American Journal of Health Systems Pharmacy, Corrigendum to: Compatibility of medications with intravenous lipid emulsions: Effects of simulated Y-site mixing Cheng Her, John F Carpenter
• American Journal of Physiology, Lower citrate synthase activity, mitochondrial complex expression, and fewer oxidative myofibers characterize skeletal muscle from growth-restricted fetal sheep. Michael L Armstrong, Nichole Reisdorph
• Carcinogenesis, Chemopreventive Efficacy of Silibinin against Basal Cell Carcinoma Growth and Progression in UVB-irradiated Ptch +/- mice Sandeep Paudel, Komal Raina, Vasundhara R Tiku, Akhilendra Maurya, Cindy M Rigby, Gagan Deep, Rama Kant, Bupinder Raina, Chapla Agarwal. Rajesh Agarwal
• Clinical and Translational Science, Applicability of ancestral genotyping in pharmacogenomic research with hormonal contraception. Christina L Aquilante
• Clinical and Translational Sciences, Multisite evaluation of institutional processes and implementation determinants for pharmacogenetic testing to guide antidepressant therapy Christina L Aquilante
• Current Protocols, A Quantitative Method for Determining Uptake of Silica Nanoparticles in Macrophages by Single Particle Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass SpectrometryKeegan L Rogers, Angela Cruz-Hernandez, Jared M Brown
• Disease Models and Mechanisms, Auriculocondylar Syndrome 2 results from dominant negative action of PLCB4 variants Philip Reigan
• Frontiers in Neurology, Evaluation of Plasma Neurofilament Light Chain Levels as a Biomarker of Neuronal Injury in the Active and Chronic Phases of Autoimmune Neurologic Disorders Kavita V Nair
• Genetics in Medicine, Multisite investigation of strategies for the clinical implementation of pre-emptive pharmacogenetic testing Christina L Aquilante
• Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Lipid mediators are detectable in the nasal epithelium and differ by asthma status in females Jonathan Manke, Michael Armstrong, Nichole Reisdorph
• Journal of Heart and Lung, Variants in mycophenolate and CMV antiviral drug pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic genes and leukopenia in heart transplant recipients. Kris Oreschak, Laura M Saba, Kimberly M Deininger, RobertL PageII, Christina L Aquilante
• Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of the First Inhibitors of Oncogenic CHD1LBrett J. Prigaro, Hector Esquer, Qiong Zhou, Laura A. Pike, Paul Awolade, Xin-He Lai, Adedoyin D. Abraham, Joshua M. Abbott, Brock Matter, Uday B. Kompella, Daniel V. LaBarbera
• Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Oxidative Stress Induces a Breakdown of the Cytoskeleton and Tight Junctions of the Corneal Endothelial Cells Uday B Kompella
• Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemical-gas Sterilization of External Surface of Polymer-based Prefilled Syringes and Its Effect on Stability of Model Therapeutic Protein John F Carpenter
• Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology, Near infrared triggered chemo-PTT-PDT effect mediated by glioma directed twin functional-chimeric peptide-decorated gold nanoroses Uday B Kompella
• Journal of Virology, Structure of Rift Valley Fever Virus RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase. Shaodong Dai
• Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids, SPM pathway marker analysis of the brains of obese mice in the absence and presence of eicosapentaenoic acid ethyl esters. Kevin Quinn, Michael Armstrong, Jonathan Manke, Nichole Reisdorph
• Toxicology and Applies Pharmacology, Effect of dexamethasone treatment at variable therapeutic windows in reversing nitrogen mustard-induced corneal injuries in rabbit ocular in vivo model.
• Toxicology Sciences, Mast Cells Promote Nitrogen Mustard-Mediated Toxicity in the Lung Associated With Proinflammatory Cytokine and Bioactive Lipid Mediator Production Angela Cruz-Hernandez, Ryan P Mendoza, Kathleen Nguyen, Neera Tewari-Singh, Jared M Brown

February 2022 Announcements:

Publications

• Alcohol, Proteomic analysis of alcohol-associated hepatitis reveals glycoprotein NMB (GPNMB) as a novel hepatic and serum biomarker, Peter S.Harris, Cole R.Michel, YounghoYun, Courtney D.McGinnis, James R.Roede, Rebecca L.McCullough, Kristofer S.Fritz
• Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Effects of transportation of IV bags containing protein formulations via hospital pneumatic tube system: Particle characterization by multiple methods. Vaida Linkuvienė, John F Carpenter
• Journal of Biological Chemistry, Pseudomonas aeruginosa cytochrome P450 CYP168A1 is a fatty acid hydroxylase that metabolizes arachidonic acid to the vasodilator 19-HETE. Brian C Tooker, Sylvie E Kandel, Hannah M Work, Jed N Lampe
• Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Atomic-Layer Deposition Processes Applied to Phage λ and a Phage-Like Particle Platform Yield Thermostable, Single-Shot Vaccines. Wynton McClary, Qin Yang, Carlos Catalano,
• Acta Ophthalmology, Silicone oil-free syringes, siliconized syringes and needles: quantitative assessment of silicone oil release with drugs used for intravitreal injection. Vaida Linkuviene, John F Carpenter
• Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, Effect of dexamethasone treatment at variable therapeutic windows in reversing nitrogen mustard-induced corneal injuries in rabbit ocular in vivo model. Dinesh G Goswami, Neha Mishra, Rama Kant, Chapla Agarwal, J Mark Petrash, Neera Tewari-Singh, Rajesh Agarwal
• AIDS, Tenofovir-diphosphate in peripheral blood mononuclear cells during low, medium and high adherence to emtricitabine/ tenofovir alafenamide vs. emtricitabine/ tenofovir disoproxil fumarate. Jenna L Yager, Kristina M Brooks, Cricket Nemkov, Mustafa Ibrahim, Lane Bushman, Jennifer J Kiser, Peter L Anderson
• Genes, Brain, and Behavior, A long non-coding RNA (Lrap) modulates brain gene expression and levels of alcohol consumption in rats. Laura M Saba, Paula L Hoffman, Spencer Mahaffey, Boris Tabakoff
• Carcinogenesis, Chemopreventive Efficacy of Silibinin against Basal Cell Carcinoma Growth and Progression in UVB-irradiated Ptch +/- mice. Sandeep Paudel^, Komal Raina, Vasundhara R Tiku, Akhilendra Maurya, Cindy M Rigby, Gagan Deep, Rama Kant, Bupinder Raina, Chapla Agarwal, Rajesh Agarwal
• American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy Corrigendum to: Compatibility of medications with intravenous lipid emulsions: Effects of simulated Y-site mixing. Cheng Her, John F Carpenter
• Journal of Heart Lung Transplant, Variants in mycophenolate and CMV antiviral drug pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic genes and leukopenia in heart transplant recipients. Kris Oreschak, Laura M Saba, Kimberly M Deininger, RobertL PageII, Christina L Aquilante
• Clinical Translational Science, Applicability of ancestral genotyping in pharmacogenomic research with hormonal contraception. Christina L Aquilante
• Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, Spray-Based Application of Matrix to Agar-Based Microbial Samples for Reproducible Sample Adherence in MALDI MSI. Justin N Jens, Daniel J Breiner, Vanessa V Phelan
• Biological Trace Element Research, A Single-Step Digestion for the Quantification and Characterization of Trace Particulate Silica Content in Biological Matrices Using Single Particle Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry. Keegan L Rogers, Jared M Brown
• Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, Pharmacokinetics of tenofovir alafenamide with boosted protease inhibitors in pregnant and postpartum women living with HIV: Results from IMPAACT P1026s. Kristina M Brooks
• Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Predictors of 007 triphosphate concentrations in dried blood spots in persons with hepatitis C and active drug or alcohol use. Kristina M Brooks, Ryan Huntley, Lana Salah, Arya Tehrani, Leah C Jimmerson, Laura Roon, Lane R Bushman, Peter L Anderson, Jennifer J Kiser
• Trends in Cancer, Multifunctional role of thymidine phosphorylase in cancer. Becka M Warfield, Philip Reigan
• Journal of Medical Chemotherapy, Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of the First Inhibitors of Oncogenic CHD1L. Brett J Prigaro, Hector Esquer, Qiong Zhou, Laura A Pike, Paul Awolade, Xin-He Lai, Adedoyin D Abraham, Joshua M Abbott, Brock Matter, Uday B Kompella, Daniel V LaBarbera
• Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology Near infrared triggered chemo-PTT-PDT effect mediated by glioma directed twin functional-chimeric peptide-decorated gold nanoroses. Uday B Kompella

January 2022 Announcements:

Publications

• Arch Osteoporos, Stop the denosumab delay! The effect of implementing an automatic reminder in the electronic medical record. Sarah Billups
• Mol Carcinog, Stage-specific differential expression of zinc transporter SLC30A and SLC39A family proteins during prostate tumorigenesis. Ram R Prasad,Rajesh Agarwal
• Journal of Cancer Prevention, Comparative Pre-clinical Efficacy of Chinese and Indian Cultivars of Bitter Melon (Momordica charantia) against Pancreatic Cancer. Kandhari K, Paudel S, Raina K, Agarwal C, Kant R, Wempe MF, O'Bryant C, Agarwal R.
• JAMA Pediatrics, Persistence of Δ-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol in Human Breast Milk. David W A Bourne
• HIV Medicine, Comparative effectiveness of antiretroviral drug classes for the treatment of HIV infection in patients with high viral loads: a multicentre retrospective cohort study. J L Yager