Professor, Pharmacogenomics,
Director, Pharmacogenomics
Holsclaw Endowed Professorship, Pharmacogenomics

Dr.

Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Associate Professor, BIO5 Institute
Member, Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center

Research

Dr. Chen’s laboratory utilizes cutting-edge technologies (e.g. single cell RNAseq, CRISPR, gene-targeting mouse models, etc.) to understand molecular pathogenesis of various lung diseases. The goal is to identify novel targets for therapy and drug development. Dr. Chen’s research has been continuously funded by the National Institute of Health as well as foundations and state departments for over 18 years.

Associate Dean, Research
Director, Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center
Director, Center for Toxicology
Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
1885 Society Distinguished Scholar

Nathan Cherrington, PhD, ATS, associate dean for research and professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology—directs the NIEHS P30 Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center and the NIEHS T32 Training in Environmental Toxicology of Human Disease. He also serves as interim director for the College's Center for Toxicology, and holds joint appointments as professor, Clinical Translation Services and in the Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona.

Assistant Professor, Translational Pharmacogenomics

Hongxu Ding is the new assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice & Science. He finished his undergrad at Tsinghua University in 2013, where he was initially trained as a physicist later and switched to the field of life sciences. He finished his PhD at Columbia University under the instruction of Dr. Andrea Califano in 2018, where he worked on single-cell systems biology. After that, he joined UCSC Genomics Institute as a postdoctoral scholar. Under the supervision of Dr. Joshua Stuart and Dr.

Department Head, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Professor, Pharmacology & Toxicology
Professor, BIO5 Institute Professor
Cancer Biology Program Member, University of Arizona Cancer Center
Member, Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center
R. Ken and Donna Coit Professorship in Drug Discovery

Xinxin Ding, PhD, department head, Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy—studies enzyme function, regulation and genetics as applied to translational research for drug safety and efficacy and genetic and environmental risks for chemical toxicity.

Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Assistant Research Scientist, UA Cancer Center

The Futscher lab’s primary research focus is cancer epigenetics. We use comprehensive genomic approaches to investigate the epigenomic dysfunction that drives human cancer. The use of genome-wide approaches guarantees the capture of all of the information regarding epigenetic change in human cancer.

Associate Professor

James Galligan, PhD, associate professor, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology—studies the link between cellular metabolism, environmental genetics and disease etiology. Keenly interested in post-translational modifications, his research focuses on reactive metabolites deleterious cell health. Current work centers on histone modifications derived from cell metabolism in diabetes and cancer.

Interim Department Head, Pharmacy Practice and Science
Associate Professor, Pharmacy Practice and Science
​​​​​​​Track Director, PharmD/PhD Dual Degree Program
Assistant Professor, Sarver Heart Center, University of Arizona College of Medicine
Assistant Professor, Division of Pharmacogenomics, Center for Applied Genetics and Genomic Medicine (TCAG2M)
Director of Scientific Programs, AllofUs Research Program, University of Arizona - Banner Health

Dr. Karnes' primary area of research interest is cardiovascular pharmacogenomics, specifically investigating the utility of genetic polymorphisms to predict toxicities of cardiovascular drugs. He employs a translational approach to investigate pharmacogenomic associations using observational studies, functional genomics techniques, and eventually prospective clinical trials. His ultimate career goal is to facilitate personalized cardiovascular medicine and genotype-guided prescribing to avoid serious cardiovascular drug toxicities.

Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
R. Ken and Donna Coit Endowed Chair in Aging and Neurodegenerative Diseases

Bernardo Lemos earned a PhD in 2007 from Harvard University studying evolutionary and population genomics of the Y-chromosome and the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) arrays. He then led the laboratory of environmental epigenetics at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and now serves as Professor and Coit Endowed Chair in Aging and Neurodegeneration at the College of Pharmacy at the University of Arizona. His lab currently collaborates in projects examining human populations in China, Bangladesh, and the USA, as well as experimental studies in cell systems and model organisms.

Associate Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology

The transcriptional and the metabolic programs of a cell are two fundamental sets of instructions that dictate the behavior of the cell, the functions performed by the cell, and how the cell responds to various stimuli. These two programs interact with one another and change in response to physiochemical stimuli, enabling the cell to restore cellular homeostasis. Permanent alteration to these cellular programs contributes to the development of various pathologic conditions. Our research focuses on characterizing the mechanisms by which these pathologic alterations arise.

Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology

G-protein coupled receptors (GPCR) are integral membrane proteins that transduce extracellular hormonal signals from the plasma membrane to the interior of the cell. This large family of receptors is related both structurally and functionally. Structurally, GPCRs share a characteristic "seven transmembrane motif" which means that there are seven regions of the receptor that cross the plasma membrane. Functionally, GPCRs share the ability to interact with so-called ‘G-proteins’ following stimulation of the receptor by a hormonal signal.

Associate Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology

Sun's research activities are directed toward discovering new agents that are more selective for cancer cells than normal cells with novel mechanisms of action, elucidating the mechanisms of action of novel natural products with antineoplastic activity, and understanding drug resistance mechanisms in human cancer cells to anticancer drugs.  His laboratory's research projects focus on three specific areas, as described below.

Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
R. Ken and Donna Coit Endowed Chair in Drug Discovery

Greg Thatcher, PhD, joined the University of Arizona in 2020 from the University of Illinois College of Pharmacy. In his career, he has graduated over 50 students with PhD’s and a dozen with MSc’s and mentored 40 undergraduate researchers, the majority while on faculty in the Chemistry Department at Queen's University in Canada from 1988 until 2002. These trainees have proceeded to positions in biotech, pharma, business, education, and academia in the USA, Canada, Europe, India, and China.

Assistant Research Professor

Dr. Wang is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, University of Arizona. He works in the field of cancer biology, molecular biology, toxicology, pharmacology and drug discovery. He is interested in RNA binding proteins under physiological and pathological conditions.

Areas of Research
RNA binding proteins and RNA metabolism
RNA binding proteins in cancer
Environmental factor related carcinogenesis

Associate Research Professor, Pharmacology

Dr. Watts is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and managing Co-Director of the Genomics lab within the SWEHSC Omics Facility Core. Dr. Watts facilitates genomics research by SWEHSC members through consultation on experimental design and technology choice. He has over 20 years of experience in research on the environmental effects of epigenetics, genomics, and the microbiome. Dr. Watts has been collaborating with SWEHSC investigators for over 20 years on genomics projects resulting in over 20 collaborative authorships.

Musil Family Endowed Chair in Drug Discovery
Associate Director of Superfund Research Program
Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology

The key scientific questions Dr. Zhang's lab is addressing include:

Professor, Pharmacology & Toxicology

Qing-Yu Zhang, PhD and professor, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology—studies the function of intestinal P450 enzymes in drug metabolism and safety. Her research investigates the effects of physiological, pathological and environmental factors on drug bioavailability and chemical toxicity, providing strategies to improve therapeutics and prevent diseases. She is a member of the Southwest Envirnomental Health Sciences Center.

Professor, Pharmacology & Toxicology
R. Ken and Donna Coit Endowed Chair in Aging and Neurodegenerative Diseases
Co-Director, Coit Center for Longevity & Neurotherapeutics
Professor, BIO5 Institute
Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry

The Zhu laboratory studies RNA binding proteins and RNA metabolism including protein translation and stress granules under physiological and pathological conditions. We are also interested in protein phase separation and aggregation in vitro and in vivo and their relevance in human diseases. We strive to better understand the molecular mechanisms for neurodegenerative diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and other diseases such as cancer.