HU PHARMACY SCHOOL ACQUIRES ADVANCED INSTRUMENTS

Hampton, VA - The Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the Hampton University School of Pharmacy has been awarded a $716,557 equipment supplement grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS).
The funds will be used to establish a Biomedical Instrumentation Core Laboratory. This lab will help propel existing research projects on anti-inflammatory steroids, the long-term effects of opiates and effects of Ginko Biloba and Panax Ginseng.

"Collectively, these instruments, in addition to those that we already have, will foster interdisciplinary collaboration between biomedical scientists in the School of Pharmacy, other departments at Hampton University and researchers in the Biology Department at Old Dominion University," said Dr. Hugh McLean, chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

The biomedical lab will house several sophisticated instruments. A 300-MHz nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer and Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer will be used primarily to discern chemical structures. The gas chromatograph and high performance liquid chromatograph will help researchers determine what substances are present and how much of a substance is present. The lab will also house an ultracentrifuge, real time thermal cycler, densitometer, and a gel-documentation system.

In addition to the above instruments, a Q-Trap quadrupole-linear ion trap mass spectrometer, which was purchased from another grant, will be added to the laboratory. The new mass spectrometer will support research studies in drug metabolism, pharmacogenomics, and proteomics. According to the manufacturer, this mass spectrometer is currently the only Q-trap mass spectrometer in the Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina areas. It is capable of identifying and quantitating drug metabolites and proteins in complex biological matrices at very low levels.

This recent award from NIGMS plus approval for an additional $120,000 from the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has increased the amount of research funding in the School of Pharmacy to more than $6 million.

"This level of research funding is rarely seen in professional schools as young as the Hampton University School of Pharmacy," said Dean of the HU School of Pharmacy Dr. Arcelia Johnson-Fannin. "I credit our success to the diligence and dedication of the faculty."