In the Spotlight: Sept. 23, 2010

Faculty
Serrine Lau, PhD, professor and director of the Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center, received a five-year, $1.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for her study “Retinoid Mediated Protection Against Reactive Oxygen Species Induced Cytotoxicity.” Lau also received a three-year, $150,000 grant from the Arizona Biomedical Research Commission to study “The Effect of Glyco-oxidative Modifications on Plasma Fibrinogen Function in Diabetes.”

Students
Two COP graduate students were honored Sept. 10 at the Mountain West Society of Toxicology meeting held in Tucson at the Ritz Carlton, Dove Mountain Resort. Sarah Lamore won second place, outstanding predoctoral student platform presentation, for her presentation “Cathepsin B and Nucleophosmin as Novel Targets in Solar Skin Damage.” Nicole Villeneuve received outstanding student poster presentation - third place for "Deubiquitination of Keap1 by USP15 Negatively Regulates the Nrf2-Keap1 Antioxidant Response Pathway."

The Arizona Pharmacy Alliance-Student Pharmacist Academy, a new organization, held its first meeting of the school year Sept. 16. The 2010-11 officers are Kerry Redman, UA AzPA co-chair; Jessica Dileo, UA AzPA co-chair elect; Janssen Puracan, continuing education committee representative; Matt Andrews, communications committee representative; Natalee Tanner, membership committee representative; Danielle Nguyen, membership committee representative; May Li, AzPA annual meeting committee representative; Michaela Johnson-Clague, SPA leadership conference committee representative; Tracy Post, legislative committee representative; and Newsha Sarmadnia, Arizona Pharmacy Foundation patient services committee representative.

Alumni
Al Scorsatto, BSPharm 1970, was elected an at-large member of the UA Alumni Association’s Alumni Council for fiscal year 2011.

Bill Jones, BSPharm 1972, MSPharm 1979, has been appointed chair of the college representatives’ forum and vice chair of the awards committee of the UA Alumni Association for fiscal year 2011.