The College of Pharmacy, Gulf Medical University, had its 2nd joint symposium with the College of Pharmacy, University of Arizona. The joint symposium was conducted over two days on Wednesday and Thursday, June 2nd and 3rd, 2021. Faculty members and students from both colleges were among the attendees, with six research presentations by faculty members from both institutions. The purpose of the symposium was to initiate a scientific dialogue between both Colleges with the intention of identifying possible areas of mutual interest and potential research collaborations. Such collaborations would serve to internationalize and strengthen existing graduate programs such as GMU’s Master of Science in Drug Discovery & Development. Master’s students could eventually move freely between research labs in both campuses to enrich their research experience and enhance exposure to research scientists from both institutions.
The symposium had several talks in different areas related to drug design and medicinal chemistry of natural compounds and drug discovery of novel agents to treat COVID-19 infections, formulation and drug delivery, and the use of animal models in various areas of drug discovery.
Speakers of the mini-symposium and titles of the talks:
- Dr. Xinxin Ding, Department Head and Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, University of Arizona
“UTILITY OF KNOCKOUT AND HUMANIZED MOUSE MODELS IN PRECLINICAL DMPK/TOX RESEARCH” - Dr. Muhammad Al-Shorbagy, Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Gulf Medical University
“THE UTILIZATION OF ANIMAL MODELS FOR DRUG REPURPOSING, NUTRACEUTICALS ORTHOGONAL STABILTY TESTING, AND THERAPEUTIC VACCINE TESTING” - Dr. Eman El-Labbad, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Gulf Medical University
“APPLICATION OF RATIONAL COMPUTER-AIDED-DRUG DESIGN STRATEGIES IN LEAD IDENTIFICATIONS FROM NATURE” - Dr. Jun Wang, Associate Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology Track Director, Drug Discovery & Development, College of Pharmacy, University of Arizona
“COVID-19 DRUG DISCOVERY” - Dr. Heidi Mansour, Associate Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Medicine, Clinical Translational Sciences, Bio5 Research institute track director, Pharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics, College of Pharmacy, University of Arizona
“INNOVATION IN THERAPEUTIC INHALATION AEROSOLS” - Dr. Shery Jacob, Professor of Pharmaceutics, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Gulf Medical University
“FORMULATION APPROACHES TO TOPICAL DELIVERY”