Training in Environmental Toxicology of Human Disease

Associate Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Drug Discovery & Development

The Chapman lab is a chemical biology lab. They are primarily focused on finding synthetic small molecules or natural probes and leads through targeted approaches, on understanding the mechanisms and modes of action of these molecules, and on improving the molecules through medicinal chemistry. We use contemporary molecular biology and protein biochemistry procedures to produce the desired target proteins and then develop assays amenable to moderate to high throughput screening.

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.

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, Medicine
Department Head, Department of Medicine
Deputy Director, UA Health Sciences Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center

Dr. Kraft is an internationally renowned physician-scientist who specializes in translational asthma research is the Chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Tucson, as well as a Professor of Medicine and a Robert and Irene Flinn Endowed Chair in Medicine.  Prior to joining the University of Arizona in 2014, Dr. Monica Kraft, MD, was at Duke University, where she served as chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care, as the Charles C.

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.

Dean, R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy
Howard J. Schaeffer Endowed Chair in Pharmaceutical Sciences
Professor, Pharmacology & Toxicology
National Advisory Board Member

Rick G. Schnellmann, PhD, is dean endowed chair of the University of Arizona R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy and holds the Howard J Schaeffer in Pharmaceutical Sciences Endowed Chair. A leading pharmacologist, researcher and drug discovery entrepreneur, he joined the UA in August 2016 from the Medical University of South Carolina.

Associate Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Track Director, Pharmacology & Toxicology Graduate Program
Member, BIO5 Institute

Dr. Smith's research is focused on epigenetic mechanisms of gene expression, particularly their regulation through signaling pathways and their modulation by anti-cancer drugs.

Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Director of Graduate Studies
Member, University of Arizona Cancer Center

Georg T. Wondrak, PhD, is a professor of pharmacology and toxicology within the R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy. 

Redox Drug Discovery Targeting Skin Cancer and Solar Photodamage

My drug discovery research program examines the pathological role of oxidative and proteotoxic stress in skin carcinogenesis and solar photodamage. The following synergistic research projects are currently pursued in the Wondrak laboratory:

Assistant Professor, Pharmacology & Toxicology

The Xiong lab is focused on the structure-based design of bioactive molecules to modulate disease-causing proteins or genes. We use modern molecular biology tools to develop biochemical, biophysical, and cellular assays to screen and optimize molecules for various therapeutic targets. Our projects also heavily utilize X-ray crystallography and computational modeling to guide molecule design. Two novel molecules developed from this pipeline successfully entered human clinical trials for treating advanced breast cancer (NCT03201913: Xiong R., et al., J Med Chem.

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.