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NIH Supplemental Award Builds on Ongoing Endocannabinoid Research

Alexandros Makriyannis, Behrakis Trustee Chair and Director of the Center for Drug Discovery (CDD), has received a five-year $175,000 grant to supplement a current $5 million multi-year NIH funded project focusing on the integration of chemical, biochemical, and molecular approaches for discovering new medications that modulate endocannabinoid signaling for therapeutic benefit.

The new grant funds a collaboration between the Center for Drug Discovery and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest for the study of signaling systems involved in addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder. Although anxiety and substance abuse often accompany one another, these serious disorders are still poorly understood and respond only weakly and variably to currently available treatments. The joint research effort between CDD and the Hungarian Academy will involve obtaining detailed information concerning cannabinoid receptor structure and function.

NCI Award to Fund NU Research on Cancer Risk and Early Detection

In awarding $15.5 million to NU and six other institutions, NCI has created an alliance of glycobiologists that it hopes will accelerate the pace of biomarker development and discovery. William Hancock, Bradstreet Chair in Analytical Chemistry in the Barnett Institute, will co-chair the alliance and lead NU?s research team. NU?s research will focus on discovering glycan markers for early detection of breast cancer. NU's partners in this endeavor are Indiana University and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

>> Read an article.

Barnett Institute to Hold Biogenerics 2008 Conference

On March 2 - 4, 2008, the Barnett Institute of Chemical and Biological Analysis will hold Biogenerics 2008, an open forum on the scientific and regulatory issues in the approval of biosimilar protein therapeutics. Following an opening address by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), plenary sessions will be presented by policy-makers from the FDA and its European counterpart EMEA. Speakers from the biotechnology and generics industry senior management and academic laboratories will interact with each other and attendees through panel discussions on bioanalytical, biomanufacturing, immunogenicity, and regulatory issues.

For more information, visit www.barnett.neu.edu or e-mail biogenerics2008@neu.edu.

NIH Award Supports Ph.D. Student?s Drug Discovery Research

Sherrica Tai, a pharmaceutical sciences Ph.D. student, is the recipient of a diversity grant awarded by the NIH to Alexandros Makriyannis to supplement research he is currently performing in the Center for Drug Discovery. The grant will support Ms. Tai?s interdisciplinary research aimed at identifying and testing novel drug candidates that combat methamphetamine addiction. Dr. Makriyannis and Dr. Torbjorn Jarbe will serve as Ms. Tai?s co-mentors.

Of Note

Barry Karger, Director of the Barnett Institute and James L. Waters Chair in Analytical Chemistry, has recently received two high honors. Dr. Karger has been selected to receive the 2008 Torbern Bergman Medal from the analytical division of the Swedish Chemical Society. This prestigious international award is presented once every two years for outstanding work in the field of chemical analysis. Dr. Karger will receive the medal in Gothenburg, Sweden next June. Dr. Karger was also recently elected an honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, an honor rarely extended to non-Hungarian citizens.

?Design Life Now: National Design Triennial?, the art show on innovative American design featuring Associate Professor of Biology Joseph Ayers? robolobster has come to Boston?s Institute of Contemporary Art. Visit the exhibit through January 6, 2008.

>> For more information.

Upcoming Campus Events

The Barnett Lectureship will take place on October 18. Dr. Benjamin F. Cravatt, III of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at the Scripps Research Institute will present "Mapping Biochemical Pathways in Human Disease by Integrated Proteomics and Metabolomics" from 3:00 to 5:30 p.m. in the Raytheon Amphitheater, Egan Research Center, NU.

The Dieter and Inge Hoehn Lectures in Bioanalytical Chemistry will take place on November 27 and 28. Dr. Neil Kelleher, Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois, and Dr. Rob Garnick, Divisional Sr. V.P. at Genentech, Inc., will present an analysis of biogeneric pharmaceuticals on November 27, from 2:00 to 5:30 p.m. in the Raytheon Amphitheater, Egan Center. Dr. Kelleher will present a technical lecture on November 28, from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. in 450 Dodge Hall, NU.

For more information, see Upcoming Events.