Faculty Mentors
One of the goals of the Pharmaceutical Sciences program is to help you learn how to generate new knowledge by performing research. In our program, students work in the lab of a mentor who guides them through research projects. Students join the mentor's lab in the first year of the program, after performing three 8-week rotations in three different labs. The decision to join a lab is made by mutual agreement of the student and mentor.
Choosing a mentor is perhaps the most important decision you will make in graduate school. Our mentors pride themselves on helping students to become productive and independent members of the scientific community. Given below are mentors who are aligned with each of our concentrations. This list is given as a guide to help you find potential mentors, but you may join the lab of any mentor in the department, as long as both mentor and student agree that there is a good match in research interests.
Mentors are organized below according to each program concentration:
- Chemistry in Drug Discovery
- Forensics
- Molecular Mechanisms and Therapeutics
- Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery
- Pharmacognosy
Chemistry in Drug Discovery Heading link
Karol Bruzik
Research Interests
Bioorganic chemistry. Development of new GABAA receptor ligands.
Paul Carlier
Research Interests
The Carlier Group applies modern organic synthetic techniques to develop new therapeutics for multi-drug-resistant malaria and bacterial infections. Dr. Carlier is also the director of UICentre, UIC’s interdisciplinary, campus-wide center for drug development.
Scott Franzblau
Research Interests
New drug discovery from natural and synthetic sources for tuberculosis
Yu (Tom) Gao
Research Interests
Development of novel chemical and informatics tools to investigate the proteome and complex biological system. By combining chemical screening, mass spectroscopy-based proteomics/metabolomics, and informatics. This research aims to interrogate the proteome and to elucidate protein interactions.
Terry Moore
Research Interests
The work in our lab uses the tools of synthetic medicinal chemistry and chemical biology to develop new tools for studying therapeutically important molecular interactions, with a focus on protein-protein interactions. Our work currently focuses on several different therapeutic targets.
Brian Murphy
Research Interests
Discovery and development of biologically active natural products from aquatic micro-organisms; natural product drug discovery process.
Jimmy Orjala
Research Interests
Discover bioactive secondary metabolites from freshwater cyanobacteria using bioassay-guided isolation. Enhance drug discovery from cyanobacteria using comparative and untargeted metabolomics. Apply genomic tools to assess the genetic diversity and biosynthetic potential of a vast microbial strain library.
Guido Pauli
Research Interests
Trans-disciplinary integration and innovation of natural products chemistry and pharmaceutical analysis in drug discovery, dietary supplements, and traditional medicine research.
Pavel Petukhov
Research Interests
Development of new methods and biologically orthogonal chemical tools for chemical biology and translation of this knowledge to discovery of novel therapeutically relevant compounds; structure-, ligand-, and fragment-based drug design using a mix of medicinal chemistry, computer-aided drug design, and bioinformatics.
Andrew Riley
Research Interests
Applying the techniques of modern synthetic and medicinal chemistry to access natural products and their structural derivatives for several disease areas related to chronic pain, addiction, and other CNS disorders
José Villegas
Research Interests
Discovering molecules with therapeutic potential by combining computational and experimental approaches. Creating workflows that make use of state-of-the-art modelling software. Building custom algorithms to tackle design challenges
Forensics Heading link
Karl Larsen
Research Interests
Detection and quantitation of new drugs which may be abused in dosage forms and in body fluids. Detection of proscribed substances in equine samples and controlled substances in human samples.
Molecular Mechanisms and Therapeutics Heading link
Maria Barbolina
Research Interests
Microenvironmental Regulation of Ovarian Carcinoma Metastasis. Signal Transduction Pathways. Mechanisms of Chemoresistance.
Joanna Burdette
Research Interests
Integrate drug discovery, and basic biology to try and understand how and where ovarian cancers originate. Natural products research to uncover new anti-cancer molecules.
Alessandra Eustaquio
Research Interests
Natural product discovery, synthetic biology, and biosynthesis of bacterial metabolites.
Michael Federle
Research Interests
Intercellular Communication pathways in Bacterial Pathogens
Scott Franzblau
Research Interests
New drug discovery from natural and synthetic sources for tuberculosis
Nancy Freitag
Research Interests
Dr. Freitag’s research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms by which pathogenic bacteria cause disease as well as the host immune responses that limit infection.
Yu (Tom) Gao
Research Interests
Development of novel chemical and informatics tools to investigate the proteome and complex biological system. By combining chemical screening, mass spectroscopy-based proteomics/metabolomics, and informatics. This research aims to interrogate the proteome and to elucidate protein interactions.
Leslyn Hanakahi
Research Interests
Molecular mechanisms of formation and repair of DNA double-strand breaks during processes such as Cas9-mediated gene editing and stress. Molecular mechanism of DNA double-strand break repair by non-homologous end joining.
Matthew Henke
Research Interests
The Henke lab is looking for the molecules that human-associated microbes produce that drive human health and disease. We use mass spectrometry, natural products chemistry, microbiology, and cell and animal models to find bioactive molecules produced by our symbiotic microbes. Our main areas of focus are inflammatory bowel disease, microbial competition and host homeostasis.
Alexander (Shura) Mankin
Research Interests
Mechanisms of protein synthesis; structure, function and evolution of ribosome and ribosomal RNA; mechanisms of action of ribosome-targeted antibiotics
John Nitiss
Research Interests
DNA topoisomerases as targets for cancer chemotherapy. Mechanisms of DNA repair by non-homologous end-joining. Using yeast to study the action of therapeutic agents. Roles of topoisomerases and other replication proteins in chromosme segregation and genome stability.
Shilpa Sant
Research Interests
The Sant Lab engineers three-dimensional disease microenvironments and organoids by developing novel biomaterials- and micro-/nanotechnology-based approaches. Their disease focus include breast cancer, ectopic calcifications and infectious diseases. Major goals are to elucidate molecular mechanisms by which microenvironmental factors drive disease progression as well as tissue repair/regeneration; and to design therapeutic strategies to halt or promote such processes.
Douglas Thomas
Research Interests
Epigenetic signaling in cancer, redox biology and metabolism, elucidating novel therapeutic mechanisms to treat aggressive cancers
Debra Tonetti
Research Interests
Pharmacology and biology of breast cancer including mechanisms of endocrine-resistance including protein kinase C (PKC) signaling as a mechanism of tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer; breast cancer and lung cancer patient-derived xenografts (PDXs); development of the selective human estrogen receptor agonists (ShERPAs) TTC-352 in Phase I clinical trial for metastatic breast cancer.
José Villegas
Research Interests
Discovering molecules with therapeutic potential by combining computational and experimental approaches. Creating workflows that make use of state-of-the-art modelling software. Building custom algorithms to tackle design challenges.
Zaijie (Jim) Wang
Research Interests
1) Understanding mechanisms of chronic pain and drug addiction, and 2) developing new pharmacological treatments for these conditions. The research applies the power of molecular pharmacology, neurobiology pharmacogenetics, targeted delivery, and others
Zongmin Zhao
Research Interests
1) Engineering living cells as the next-generation platforms to tackle biological barriers for drug delivery, gene editing. 2) Genetic engineering of immune cells for cell therapy. 3) Biomimetic and material-driven engineering of the immune system/cells for vaccination and immunomodulation.
Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery Heading link
Richard Gemeinhart
Research Interests
Using polymers to control the local release of therapeutic molecules and the influence of polymers on cellular phenotype, particularly macrophage polarization
Seung-Young (Steve) Lee
Research Interests
Develop novel bioengineering tools and methods for pharmaceutical science research investigating cancer, vascular and inflammatory diseases. To better understand and improve pharmaco-kinetics and dynamics of therapeutic agents, the research focuses on developing: 1) Integrated molecular assay platforms; 2) High-throughput computational data analysis systems; and, 3) Combination drug delivery strategies
Shilpa Sant
Research Interests
The Sant Lab engineers three-dimensional disease microenvironments and organoids by developing novel biomaterials- and micro-/nanotechnology-based approaches. Their disease focus include breast cancer, ectopic calcifications and infectious diseases. Major goals are to elucidate molecular mechanisms by which microenvironmental factors drive disease progression as well as tissue repair/regeneration; and to design therapeutic strategies to halt or promote such processes.
Zaijie (Jim) Wang
Research Interests
1) Understanding mechanisms of chronic pain and drug addiction, and 2) developing new pharmacological treatments for these conditions. The research applies the power of molecular pharmacology, neurobiology pharmacogenetics, targeted delivery, and others
Zongmin Zhao
Research Interests
1) Engineering living cells as the next-generation platforms to tackle biological barriers for drug delivery, gene editing. 2) Genetic engineering of immune cells for cell therapy. 3) Biomimetic and material-driven engineering of the immune system/cells for vaccination and immunomodulation
Pharmacognosy Heading link
Chun-Tao Che
Research Interests
Isolation, structural elucidation, and modification of biologically active secondary plant metabolites, as well as the analysis, quality assurance and standardization of botanical supplements.
Alessandra Eustaquio
Research Interests
Drug Discovery and biosynthesis of bacterial metabolites
Scott Franzblau
Research Interests
New drug discovery from natural and synthetic sources for tuberculosis.
Matthew Henke
Research Interests
The Henke lab is looking for the molecules that human-associated microbes produce that drive human health and disease. We use mass spectrometry, natural products chemistry, microbiology, and cell and animal models to find bioactive molecules produced by our symbiotic microbes. Our main areas of focus are inflammatory bowel disease, microbial competition and host homeostasis.
Brian Murphy
Research Interests
Discovery and development of biologically active natural products from aquatic micro-organisms. Innovating the natural product discovery process.
Jimmy Orjala
Research Interests
Discovery of pharmacological active natural products from cultured cyanobacteria. Chemical Communication between microorganisms and its role in the phenomenon of ‘uncultivable’ micro-organisms. Novel antineoplastic agents from higher plants. Our research tools are modern chromate-graphic methods coupled with sensitive analytical techniques, such as microcoil NMR techniques, and molecular target assays
Guido Pauli
Research Interests
Trans-disciplinary integration and innovation of natural products chemistry and pharmaceutical analysis in drug discovery, dietary supplements, and traditional medicine research.