News Highlights
Dr. Dionna Williams Named in 10 Scientists to Watch List
Dionna Williams, PhD, Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, has been honored by Science News as one of the 10 top young scientists in the country (“10 Scientists to Watch” list). Dr. Williams joined Pharmacology and Chemical Biology January 2024 from Johns Hopkins University.
New Multi-PI NIH Grant
Congratulations to the Golde lab group on their NIH grant, “Searching for the Goldilocks Zone of Innate Immunity in Alzheimer's Disease,” a multi-PI award with Dr. Yona Levites, Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, and Dr. Matthew Rowan, Assistant Professor of Cell Biology.
Center for New Medicines Forum 2024
The Emory Center for New Medicines (CNM) is thrilled to present the 2024 Unmet Medical Needs Forum on Friday, October 11th in the Claudia Nance Rollins public health building. This event is focused on AI-powered drug discovery to address unmet medical needs and will feature a series of exciting scientific talks, a panel of clinicians discussing unmet medical needs, and a Q&A session + reception to celebrate the launch of the CNM’s first competitive RFP this Fall. See below for event details.
2024 Brodie Award from ASPET
Edward T. Morgan, PhD, Professor Emeritus, received the 2024 Bernard B. Brodie Award in Drug Metabolism and Disposition from ASPET. The Bernard B. Brodie Award in Drug Metabolism and Disposition has been established to honor the fundamental contributions of Bernard B. Brodie in the field of drug metabolism and disposition.
2024 SOM Researcher Appreciation Day
Congratulations to Yong Wan, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, for being recognized for 2024 Emory School of Medicine Researcher Appreciation Day.
Dr. Wan leads a globally recognized research program that investigates the roles of posttranslational modifications (PTMs) in biology and human diseases. Dr. Wan's recent paradigm-shifting discovery of PTM mechanisms that control immune checkpoint proteins will accelerate the development of the next generation of anticancer immunotherapeutic agents.
Drs. Todd Golde and Yona Levites Publish Paper in "Cell Reports Medicine"
New findings out of Emory University are challenging existing theories about the origins of Alzheimer’s, the leading cause of dementia in the elderly worldwide. A team led by researchers at the Goizueta Brain Health Institute has found strong evidence supporting a new understanding of the mechanism behind Alzheimer’s disease.
In a paper published August 9 in Cell Reports Medicine, Todd E. Golde and Yona Levites explain how the amyloid beta deposits long known to build up in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients serve as a kind of scaffold for the accumulation of other proteins. Because many of these proteins have known signaling functions, their presence around the amyloid accumulations, known as plaques, could be the culprit causing brain cell damage rather than the amyloid itself.
Drs. Todd Golde and David Weinshenker Launch T32 Alzheimer's Training Program
Todd E. Golde, MD, PhD (Pharmacology and Chemical Biology and Neurology) and David Weinshenker, PhD (Human Genetics) are MPIs in a new T32 training grant, "AD Big Data to Biology Training Program (ADBDB-TP)".
The training program seeks to recruit and rigorously train highly qualified and motivated postdoctoral fellows (MD, MD/PhD and PhD) and predoctoral candidates in big data” science associated with ADRDs. The training will bidirectionally provide i) big data-focused trainees with more biological insight into ADRDs and ii) more neurobiologically-focused trainees with the ability to access, understand and analyze, and use big data sets.
Learn more about the program and open positions
Emory launches Center for New Medicines to accelerate development of life-saving medications
Emory University’s School of Medicine is embarking on a groundbreaking new initiative to develop a drug discovery pipeline for translating fundamental biological discoveries into the next generation of life-saving treatments.
Announced during the recent 2024 Emory Drug Discovery and Development (3D) Symposium, the Center for New Medicines (CNM) will serve as an integrated one-stop hub of advanced technology, infrastructure and resources where scientists and physicians can work together to identify unmet medical needs and create solutions to improve health outcomes across a number of key disease areas.
Traynelis and Liotta Labs Publish Paper in "Nature"
Congratulations to Drs. Steve Traynelis and Dennis Liotta and all the authors for their new paper in Nature, "Molecular mechanism of ligand gating and opening of NMDA receptor".
Wan Lab Publishes "Advanced Science" Article
Congratulations to the Wan Lab for their publication, "Tuning Immune-Cold Tumor by Suppressing USP10/B7-H4 Proteolytic Axis Reinvigorates Therapeutic Efficacy of ADCs," in Advanced Science, August 2024.
Authors include: Lidan Zeng, Yueming Zhu, Xin Cui, Junlong Chi, Amad Uddin, Zhuan Zhou, Xinxin Song, Mingji Dai, Massimo Cristofanilli, Kevin Kalinsky, and Yong Wan*.
Wan Lab High Impact Publications
Congratulations to Dr. Yong Wan and his team for two recent high impact journal publications in the Journal of Clinical Investigation:
"CD8+ T cells sustain antitumor response by mediating crosstalk between adenosine A2A receptor and glutathione/GPX4," published March 5, 2024
"Pharmacological Suppression of the OTUD4-CD73 Proteolytic Axis Revives Antitumor Immunity against Immune-Cold Breast Cancers," published March 26, 2024.
ASPET President 2024
Randy Hall, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, was recently elected to serve as the next President of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET). Dr. Hall will officially be ASPET’s President-Elect on July 1st, 2024, and his one-year term as ASPET President will begin on July 1st, 2025.
Perspective Published in "Science"
Congratulations to Drs. Todd E. Golde and Allan I. Levey for their recent perspective on immunotherapies for Alzheimer's disease published in Science.