Biomedical Sciences Blog

Campbell University Pharmaceutical Industry Fellowships in Clinical Research - RTP, NC

Recruiting for Candidates Interested in the Following Career Opportunities:
- Academia: Research or Teaching Faculty
- Pharmaceutical Industry: Scientist, Manager (Drug Development, Project Management, Regulatory Science, Pharmacosurveillance)
- Government: FDA Reviewing Scientist, Project Manager

Overview: The clinical research fellowship emphasizes research training required to take a leadership position as faculty in academia or in the clinical research pharmaceutical industry. The fellow will complete rotations within the Campbell University Clinical Research Center and Industry partner PharmLinkFHI. Industry rotations may include regulatory, safety surveillance, project management and new product development. This joint fellowship is collocated at Campbell University Clinical Research in Morrisville, NC (Raleigh-Durham, RTP). Industry Partners: Novella Clinical (RTP), King Pharmaceuticals (RTP).

Objectives:

- Obtain skills to develop research protocols in the clinical investigation of new drugs and post approval studies.
- Obtain advanced training in biostatistics and methods of trial design.
- Learn scientific writing skills and submit research for publication.
- Collaborate with other team members on conducting and completing regulatory submissions for Phase I- IV trials.
- Publish and give seminars on scholarly activities and drug development issues.
- Integrate the fellow with ongoing clinical research activities to understand case report form design, management of data and statistical analysis.

Duration: One Year Fellowship. Fellowship Start Date: July 1, 2010.

Submit Early Applications (email or regular mail) by March 5, 2010:
1. A letter of interest
2. Resume/Curriculum Vitae
3. Transcripts (student photocopy is acceptable)
4. Names and address of three references.

For Further Information or to apply, contact:

Brenda Jamerson, PharmD
Associate Professor, Director Clinical Research Center
Campbell University School of Pharmacy
808 Aviation Parkway, Suite 1100
Morrisville, NC 27560
Email: jamerson@campbell.edu, Tel: 919-655-1263

Malaria, which is spread by mosquito bites, kills between one million and three million people annually in developing countries. Death results from damage to red blood cells and clogging of the capillaries that feed the brain and other organs.

Two groups of Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) scientists working independently have identified a critical enzyme that allows the malaria-causing parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, to take over and thrive in human red blood cells.

The enzyme plasmepsin V (PMV) is a gatekeeper inside the malaria parasite that allows the parasite to export its own proteins into a human red blood cell. Once PMV opens the gate into the red blood cell, the parasite moves hundreds of the proteins into cell, which remodels it and, eventually, annihilates it. The new observations demonstrate that PMV is critical to survival of the malaria parasite and suggest that drugs targeting PMV may be able to kill the parasite before it develops inside red blood cells. This research was published by HHMI international research scholar Alan Cowman and HHMI investigator Daniel Goldberg in two articles in the February 4, 2010, issue of Nature.

You can watch the cool interactive movies at HHMI website about "The Life cycle of Malaria Part 1: Human Host and Part 2: Mosquito Host".

In the year of 2009, the FDA approved 26 new drugs. The biggest winner is Novatis (4 approvals), followed by Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline ( 2 new drugs added for each company). Below is the list of new drugs.

1. Savella - Forest Labs
2. Uloric - Takeda
3. Afinitor - Novartis
4. Coartem - Novartis
5. Ulesfia - Sciele Pharma
6. Simponi - Johnson & Johnson
7. Dysport - Ipsen, Medicis
8. Fanapt - Vanda Pharma
9. Samsca - Otsuka Pharma
10. Besivance - Bausch & Lomb
11. Ilaris - Novartis
12. Multaq - Sanofi-Aventis
13. Effient - Eli Lilly, Daiichi Sankyo
14. Onglyza - AstraZeneca, BMS
15. Livalo - Kowa Research
16. Saphris - Merck's Organon USA
17. Extavia - Novartis
18. Sabril - Lundbeck
19. Bepreve - Ista Pharma
20. Vibativ - Theravance, Astellas
21. Folotyn - Allos Therapeutics
22. Stelara - Johnson & Johnson
23. Votrient - GSK
24. Arzerra - GSK
25. Istodax - Gloucester Pharma
26. Kalbitor - Dyax Corp.

PENN- Postdoctoral Opportunities in Research and Teaching (PENN-PORT) ,is a NIH sponsored, Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA) postdoctoral fellowship, supported by the NIH division of Minority Opportunities in Research (MORE) at NIGMS awarded August 2007.

The NIH sponsored PENN-PORT program combines a traditional mentored postdoctoral research experience at the University of Pennsylvania with a mentored teaching experience at a partnering institution. The Program is designed to provide an opportunity for postdoctoral appointees to develop their teaching skills. An integral part of the program is formal instruction in pedagogical methods from the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Postdocs will also be able to take advantage of the many research and career success skills training programs provided by Biomedical Postdoctoral Programs (BPP).

The partnering institutions are Delaware County Community College, Lincoln University and Rutgers University Camden Campus. All institutions are minority serving institutions in the Philadelphia locality. The PENN-PORT program is intended to enhance research-oriented teaching at partner institutions, foster collaboration in research and teaching between the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and that of partner minority-serving institutions, and encourage undergraduates to enter a career in biomedical research. Since we wish to provide role models for the undergraduates at our partner institutions, candidates from underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply.

Eligible postdocs must provide proof of a doctoral degree and must be U.S. Citizens or Permanent Residents. We provide health benefits , stipend, support for research and teaching supplies, course development, and travel to attend two professional meetings, one being the IRACDA annual conference. The tenure for each fellowship is three years.

PENN-PORT Program Eligibility:

All postdocs must provide proof of a doctoral degree having a qualified Ph.D., M.D. or equivalent, and must be a U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident. Preference is given to final year Ph.D. candidates and recent Ph.D. graduates with no previous postdoc experience.

Benefits and Stipend:
Fellowship stipends will be competitive with federal guidelines as set by the National Institute of Health (NIH), with annual increases as allowed by these guidelines. All medical benefits provided by the following insurance policies for all postdoctoral fellows http://www.garnett-powers.com/upenn/

Finding a Mentor:
Applicants do not need a mentor at the time of completing the PENN-PORT application. PENN-PORT applicants can identfiy potential research labs based on their graduate training, research interests and specific career goals, as traditional postdocs do. However, all applicants should include three faculty of interest on their application. To find research faculty and review their research interests please visit: http://www.med.upenn.edu/bgs/

All application documents can be submitted electronically to:
Dr. Yvonne Paterson, Director, PENN-PORT Program
yvonne@mail.med.upenn.edu

A complete PENN-PORT application packet includes:

• PENN-PORT IRACDA application form (including three faculty of interest)
• A copy of your curriculum vitae
• A personal statement (describing career goals and experiences,highlighting your interest in a career in academia, and working with undereprsented minorities)
• Three letters of reference (most circumstances one letter should be from your Ph.D. mentor)

We are currently accepting applications for Fall 2010.

Click the link below to retreive the application:

IRACDA Application Form

All letters of reference should be addressed to:

Yvonne Paterson, Ph.D.
Director,PENN-PORT Program
Department of Microbiology
323A Johnson Pavilion, 3610 Hamilton Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6076

PENN-PORT Interview Process:

Upon the receipt of all documents, individuals of interest will be contacted to arrange an interview. During your interview you will meet with faculty of interest, current postdocs, and our program director. In addition, you will be asked to give a short seminar on your current research.

For more information please contact the PENN-PORT office directly at 215-573-4332

1/22/2010 -By combining the tools of medicinal chemistry and zebrafish biology, a team of Vanderbilt investigators has identified compounds that may offer therapeutic leads for bone-related diseases and cancer.

The findings, reported in ACS Chemical Biology, support using zebrafish as a novel platform for drug development.

In 2007, Charles Hong, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues described using fish embryos to screen for compounds that interfere with signaling pathways involved in early development — pathways known to play roles in a variety of disease processes.

They discovered the compound “dorsomorphin” and demonstrated that it blocked BMP (bone morphogenetic protein) signaling, which has been implicated in anemia, inflammatory responses and bone-related disorders.

But in examining dorsomorphin further, the investigators found that it had other “off-target” effects — it also blocked the VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) receptor and disrupted zebrafish blood vessel development, a process called angiogenesis.

“Off-target effects contribute to side effects and limit the therapeutic potential of small molecule signaling inhibitors,” said Hong, assistant professor of Medicine and Pharmacology.

To find compounds that were more selective BMP inhibitors (didn't have the off-target effects), Hong and colleagues opted to use their zebrafish drug discovery screen as a drug development/optimization tool.

Craig Lindsley, Ph.D., director of Medicinal Chemistry for the Vanderbilt Program in Drug Discovery, Corey Hopkins, Ph.D., associate director, and their colleagues used the dorsomorphin “backbone” as a starting point to synthesize many different analogs — subtly different dorsomorphin-like compounds.

Then Hong and his team tested these compounds for their effects on zebrafish embryonic development.

“We quickly discovered that the two effects of dorsomorphin could be separated — some analogs only affected patterning and some only affected angiogenesis,” Hong said. The investigators biochemically characterized compounds of both types and found very selective and potent BMP inhibitors and selective VEGF inhibitors.

The zebrafish embryo, Hong said, is very good at assessing a compound's selectivity for a certain signaling pathway.

Mixed signals from compounds that are not selective (they hit multiple targets) are toxic to the embryo — it “shuts down development.”

The team identified a VEGF inhibitor, for example, that outperformed an existing VEGF inhibitor that was being developed for cancer therapy (blocking angiogenesis cuts off the “supply lines” for a growing tumor) but was pulled from development during a Phase III trial.

“If they (the pharmaceutical company) had tested that compound in zebrafish, they would have quickly learned that it wasn't potent or selective,” Hong said.

“Using zebrafish is a novel way to do a structure-activity relationship study” — a study that examines a series of analog compounds to determine which is the most selective and most potent, he added.

Traditionally, pharmaceutical companies perform these types of studies in vitro, with isolated proteins or cells. But Hong points out that in vitro studies assess only “one dimension” of the biology. Compounds that have great activity in vitro often fail later because they have poor selectivity or because they do not have chemical properties that make them good drugs (they are not “bioavailable”).

“The zebrafish assesses selectivity and bioavailability all at the same time,” Hong says. “What the traditional approach takes months to do, the zebrafish does in a day.”

Because BMP and VEGF inhibitors have therapeutic potential for a variety of diseases, the investigators will begin to test the drug candidates in mouse models.

Hong praised Vanderbilt leaders for putting into place the drug discovery infrastructure that made the work possible.

“Having medicinal chemists and zebrafish biologists together in the same building really fostered our collaboration,” he said. “This kind of collaboration would not be likely at the majority of medical institutions.”

The research was supported by the Veterans Administration, the Center for Research in Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva and Related Disorders, the National Institutes of Health and the GSK Cardiovascular Research and Education Foundation.

BY: LEIGH MACMILLAN from VANDERBILT MEDICAL CENTER