Heidi Wicks

How does clinical research and pharmaceutical science research mean anything to our citizens who walk our streets and hike our hills?

Snap up a nugget of some of the exciting research being conducted by graduate students in the School of Pharmacy as they practice their academic, presentation, and research communication skills.

Using props, (amateur) actors, and slides, seven graduate students will get creative in their quest to present their work in street language.

Snappy Synopsis: Pharmacy Graduate Research in a Nutshell, gives each contestant five minutes, one slide, and how ever many props or actors as they like, to illustrate how their work will make a difference. As long as they can communicate the impact of their research to any Tom, Dick or Harriet in five minutes or less.

Meet the contenders:

Michelle Debnath

Blueberries: They ain’t just for smoothies or muffins anymore

Blueberry fruits and leaves are gaining attention, not only in health and wellness magazines, but also in pharmaceutical research. Locals crouch in the fields every summer to gather, unknowingly, snacks that could someday save their lives.  ‘Antioxidants’ in blueberries and are considered a ‘brain-food’, but what are these antioxidants and how are they actually helping the brain at all? My research will help determine the extent to which antioxidants in blueberries can enter the brain and whether they can inhibit the development of diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and dementia.

Jennifer Donnan

Today’s Special: Choosing the best menu item for type 2 diabetes

Deciding among treatments for individuals with type 2 diabetes can be as confusing as choosing what to order at a new restaurant. The vast amount of drug information available and the sheer number of diabetes medications available in Canada is like deciding whether to go with the bisque or roasted red pepper soup. Decision-making is getting more complex all the time. Information on diabetes medications is often presented without context, making it very difficult to weigh all of the potential harms and benefits. When making a recommendation for drug therapy it is important to carefully consider what the patient prefers and what are the trade-offs they make in managing their own medications. My research will lead to a greater understanding of decisions patients with type 2 diabetes make regarding medications and we hope this will ultimately lead to improved short and long-term health benefits.

Matthew Lamont

How much control does D’Angelo the drunk rat lose?

This isn’t an opener to a joke. The goal of my research is to gain a better understanding of how mutations and alcohol can affect an area of the brain called the cerebellum, which is important for controlling and fine-tuning movement. To achieve this I use a combination of behavioral experiments and measurements in cells in a genetically altered mouse model and in rodents treated with alcohol in the adolescent period. By better understanding how the cerebellum and the cells that make it up function, I hope to move towards new treatment options for people with cerebellar based movement disorders, either caused by specific mutations or by alcohol abuse. 

Killol Chokshi

The mystery of the blocked artery

Arteries in the brain lose their functioning capacity during development of haemorrhagic stroke. This mysterious loss in function might be due to the changes occurring at much deeper level, cellular level. These changes might hold an important clue to the mystery of development of stroke.

Meshari Alwashmi

Mobile devices: not just for scanning social media

In Newfoundland and Labrador, 14-16 people die each week from a tobacco-related illness. One of the most prevalent illnesses is Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Although COPD is a preventable and treatable condition, it is the fourth leading cause of death in Canada. Mobile health (mHealth) strategies, which are ways of practicing public health through mobile devices such as cell phones, hold great promise in enhancing treatment outcomes while  mitigating health care costs. They allow health care providers to tailor treatments to each individual based on their lifestule. My research will further investigate how mobile health can be integrated in the management of COPD.

Waseem Abu-Ashou

Are diabetics more prone to infection?

In particular, what are the specific types of infections that are different between people with diabetes and people without? If there is a difference, what might be the reasons for that? My detailed research into this field has helped uncover some answers to these questions. 

Zixian Li

Fighting cancer: from weapon to bulls eye

Vinblastine is a well known anti-cancer drug. This drug targets microtubules, which are proteins that are significant for cell division. By disrupting the normal function of these proteins it leads to death of cancerous cells. Carbon nanotubes, with nanometer scale size and large surface area, are very small structures that have been used as carriers for transporting drugs to target sites. Our unprecedented studies on drug-target and drug-carrier interactions at an atomistic level give insight into developing novel therapeutic strategies and effective drug delivery systems in the fight against cancer.

Judges will award two winners with 100-dollar Sobey’s gift cards.

Snappy Synopsis is part of the second annual Pharmacy Research Innovation Day, which is part of Pharmacists Awareness Month (PAM) 2016. The event is also part of an awareness effort to promote the types of research happening in the School of Pharmacy’s graduate program. In February, the School held a Pharmacy Research Matchmaking Game.

 Snappy Synopsis: Pharmacy Research in a Nutshell, takes place on Wednesday, Mar. 23 from 11:00 – 12:00 p.m. in Lecture Theatre A, Health Sciences Centre.