FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                               

For more information, contact:

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Sheila Champlin – (901) 448-4957, schampli@uthsc.edu

 

Professor John K. Buolamwini of

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

 Receives $1.1 Million Grant for Viral Disease Research

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Memphis, Tenn. (May 15, 2012) – John K. Buolamwini, PhD, professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), has received a grant totaling $1,107,890 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, a subsidiary of the National Institutes of Health.  The award will fund Dr. Buolamwini and his team’s viral disease research efforts.  The study titled, “A Targeted Preemptive Approach to Addressing Mitochondrial Toxicity of Nucleoside,” will be conducted over a four-year period.

“We are very excited,” said Dr. Buolamwini.  “This award will enable us to develop a novel targeted pro-drug approach to protecting mitochondria -- the powerhouses of cells -- from DNA-damaging effects of nucleoside drugs.”  Nucleoside drugs attack enzymes involved with DNA or RNA synthesis and interfere with cancer cell growth or viral replication.

A major focus of Dr. Buolamwini’s research is the design, synthesis and evaluation of new molecules as inhibitors or probes of nucleoside transporters.  Nucleoside transporters are membrane proteins that mainly carry nucleosides and nucleoside drugs into cells.  They are significant for the roles they play in the salvage synthesis of DNA and RNA building blocks, in abrogating the tissue protective effects of the physiological nucleoside adenosine; and their importance for successful treatment with antiviral and anticancer nucleoside drugs.  Without sufficient expression of nucleoside transporters, cancer cells are resistant to chemotherapy with drugs like gemcitabine, which is used in the treatment of pancreatic cancer.  Nucleoside transporters are also beneficial in treating viral diseases such as HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, heart disease and stroke.  This research has the potential to expand strategies for decreasing the toxicities associated with nucleoside drug therapies.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases.  For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

As the flagship statewide academic health system, the mission of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) is to bring the benefits of the health sciences to the achievement and maintenance of human health, with a focus on the citizens of Tennessee and the region, by pursuing an integrated program of education, research, clinical care, and public service.  In 2011, UT Health Science Center celebrated its centennial: 100 years advancing the future of health care.  Offering a broad range of postgraduate training opportunities, the main UTHSC campus is located in Memphis and includes six colleges: Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy.  The UTHSC campus in Knoxville includes a College of Medicine, College of Pharmacy, and an Allied Health Sciences unit.  In addition, the UTHSC Chattanooga campus includes a College of Medicine and an Allied Health Sciences unit.  Since its founding in 1911, UTHSC has educated and trained more than 53,000 health care professionals on campuses and in health care facilities across the state.  For more information, visit www.uthsc.edu.

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