HU SCHOOL OF PHARMACY AWARDED $2.1 MILLION FROM NIH

Hampton, VA - Hampton, Va. - The Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the Hampton University School of Pharmacy was recently awarded $2.1 million from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, one of the National Institutes of Health.

The grant will be used to establish the Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS) Program at Hampton University and will consist of three research projects.

These projects will focus on the following areas:

• the development of potent yet safer anti-inflammatory steroids;
   

• the development of a model to study long-term effects of opiates on neuroglia development;
   

• further explanation of the effects of Ginko Biloba and Panax Ginseng, and combinations thereof, on apoptosis and necrosis in cultured fibroblasts from Alzheimer's patients and aged matched controls.

The underlying goal of this program is the development of vigorous and sustainable biomedical research on the campus of Hampton University. The acquisition of this grant will facilitate the completion of a state-of-the-art cell culture laboratory. The cell culture laboratory will foster interdisciplinary research collaboration with faculty members and students in the departments of pharmaceutical sciences, biology, chemistry, and psychology.

"This program will help to create a critical mass of biomedical research scientists on the campus of Hampton University, such that the Institution will be better poised to successfully compete for research grants in the biomedical research arena," said Dr. Hugh McLean, the MBRS program director, and chair of the HU Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.