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Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Research

Study Suggests Biological Clock is Key to Reducing Heart Damage from Radiation Therapy

By Judith Van Dongen, WSU Health Sciences Spokane Office of Research

SPOKANE, Wash. – Treatment for breast cancer commonly includes radiation therapy, which offers good chances of success but comes with a serious long-term side effect: toxicity due to radiation that reaches the heart, causing DNA damage in healthy heart cells. Over time, this can lead to heart disease and eventually heart failure.

A new study conducted by researchers in the Washington State University College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences suggests that a preventive solution may lie in the biological clock, the built-in time-keeping mechanism that keeps us on a 24-hour cycle of rest … » More …

Finding the right dosing for children

Prescribe at your own risk. That is the general feeling that most doctors get when prescribing medicine to children. Due to ethical and legal challenges, conducting clinical trials on children has proven to be a major obstacle for drug researchers. In fact, many prescription drugs rarely go through clinical trials using children. As a result, doctors only have two options in pediatric care: 1. Don’t prescribe children drugs shown to be effective in adults, or 2. Prescribe drugs off-label to children at their own risk. That’s where Dr. Bhagwat Prasad, Associate Professor in Pharmaceutical Sciences at WSU, is transforming pediatric precision medicine so that drugs … » More …

New technology promises improved treatment of inflammatory diseases

By Judith Van Dongen, Office of Research, WSU Health Sciences Spokane

SPOKANE, Wash. – A study led by researchers at Washington State University has uncovered a potential new treatment approach for diseases associated with inflammation, including sepsis, stroke, rheumatoid arthritis, acute lung injury, and atherosclerosis.

Published in the open-access journal Science Advances, their paper describes a novel, patent-pending technology that uses nanosized particles to transport cell-killing drugs directly to activated neutrophils, the cells that drive the exaggerated immune response involved in inflammatory diseases. They also demonstrated the technology’s feasibility at selectively killing activated neutrophils without harming other cell types or compromising the immune system.

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WSU study identifies new target for treatment of gout

Pharmaceutical Sciences researchers have identified a new therapeutic target for the treatment of gout, a common type of arthritis that causes episodes of painful and stiff joints. The research lays the foundation for the development of potential new treatment strategies that could significantly improve the quality of life of millions of people around the world who suffer from the condition. » More ...

Pharmacy’s TIPed Institute focuses on changes to healthcare and education

Original post by Addy Hatch, WSU News

Big changes are coming to healthcare.

That was the message behind three days of speakers and workshops at the TIPed Institute on the Washington State University Health Sciences campus.

The institute is sponsored by the WSU College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; TIPed means Transformation and Innovation in Pharmacy Education. But many of the technologies and teaching methods discussed will affect all aspects of healthcare.

For example, Steve Riddle, director of clinical development for Pharmacy OneSource/Wolters Kluwer, said the complexity and cost of the current healthcare system, as well as its failure to … » More …

WSU discovery could aid in battle of debilitative and deadly inflammation

By Charlie Powell, College of Veterinary Medicine

PULLMAN, Wash.—Most, if not all, infections and diseases in animals and people are met with some level of the body’s own inflammatory response.  Sometimes this inflammatory response crosses a line from being protective and useful to becoming debilitative or even deadly.

Scientists in Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals Sciences (CPPS) have discovered an important step in the progression of the body’s inflammatory response that may soon lead to effective management and treatments. The team’s paper was published Monday in the prestigious journal, Nature Communications.

“Inflammation is vital for life, without it … » More …

Worldwide rare disease study led by WSU researchers

By Judith Van Dongen, WSU Spokane Office of Research

Scientists at Washington State University are leading a new study that will take them one step closer to making treatment options available to patients with a rare inherited disease.

Researchers Jean-Baptiste Roullet and Mike Gibson of the WSU College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences are conducting a natural history study of patients with succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiency (SSADHD).

SSADHD is a genetic disorder that is most commonly diagnosed in young children; it disrupts the metabolism of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)—a neurotransmitter that serves to inhibit the activity of nerve cells in the brain—and causes a wide … » More …

Making radiation therapy less toxic to the heart is focus of this graduate fellowship award

SPOKANE, Wash.—Panshak Dakup, a graduate student at Washington State University in Spokane, received a Pre-doctoral Fellowship from the American Heart Association (AHA). The fellowship comes with $53,688 over two years to support his research, which he is conducting in the laboratory of Shobhan Gaddameedhi at the WSU College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (CPPS).

“We are interested in pursuing this study because heart failure is a major concern with radiation treatment that target the chest region in breast cancer patients.” Dakup said. “Fortunately, we discovered that the AHA has a way to fund graduate students with … » More …

New nanoparticles wait to release drugs, target infection

Washington State University researchers have found a new way to fight sepsis, a systemic inflammatory response that can cause organ failure.

In a research study published in the journal Advanced Materials, scientists at WSU’s College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences built a new nanoparticle and coated it with the molecules that blood vessels have been found to release in response to infections. This dressing makes the nanoparticle sensitive to the signature acidity of infection sites, and upon arrival at the site of an infection the bacterial enzymes present act as a trigger for the drugs to be released.

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