Learn more about this group by contacting Dr. Eugene Douglass (Eugene.Douglass@uga.edu) or visiting the Center for Drug Discovery website.
Drug discovery and development involves identifying new drug targets, synthesis of new chemical or biological entities, preclinical evaluations, and formulation development to maximize therapeutic potential. Members of this multidisciplinary group cover the full spectrum of the drug discovery and development process including areas such as pharmacology, medicinal chemistry, pharmacokinetics (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion), biopharmaceutics (drug transporters), drug analysis, toxicology, and novel drug formulations and delivery (e.g. liposomes, nanoparticles, and gene delivery).
ADME of drugs and environmental toxicants; impact of compounds on memory,
cognition, and neuropathic pain; oligonucleotide therapeutics and biomarkers.
High throughput genetics to better understand evolution of fungal pathogens and drive antifungal drug discovery.
Post-translational modification including protein acylation, fatty acid metabolism,
prostate stem cell, Src family kinases, prostate cancer, small molecular inhibitor.
Organic and medicinal chemistry; carbohydrate chemistry; glycomimetics; drug design and development with emphasis on multi-drug resistant infectious diseases
Cellular and molecular biology of acidocalcisomes; the role of polyphosphate in trypanosomatids.
Multi-drug resistance(MDR) causes most cancer deaths(Nat. Rev. Cancer 2018, 18, 452). We use organic chemistry, cell biology and data-science to overcome MDR.
Molecular and cellular mechanisms of brain tumors; oncohistone mutations; human ES cell-based tumor modeling; tumor heterogeneity and evolution
Inhibition of glycation and LDL oxidation by natural products and nutraceuticals.
Defining the spatiotemporal regulation of kinase pathways and the regulation of GPCR induced
inflammation and proangiogenic signaling, for the development of therapeutic agents.
Translational research in biomaterials (antifouling, antiplatelet, antibacterial, and antiviral) for tissue engineering and medical device applications
Mechanistic analysis of parasite induced immune suppression. Translational research
on immuno-modulation pertaining to inflammation based diseases.
Vaccine development and trials.
Nutrient Regulation of Signaling and Transcription: Mechanisms Underlying Diabetes, Neurodegeneration and Cancer
Research focuses on cellular and molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration, identifying novel druggable targets, discovering prodromal biomarkers and novel reengineered gut microbiome based therapeutics for treatment of neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases and related dementia.
Research focuses on cellular and molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration, identifying novel immunomodulatory drugs, discovering biomarkers for diabetes, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases related dementia.
Chemical biology, kinase signaling, cancer, signal transduction, drug discovery.
The discovery and development of new drugs to prevent or treat malaria and diseases
caused by brain-eating amoebae. Elucidating mechanism(s) of resistance
and discovering new drug treatment regimens, combinations, or strategies to overcome resistance.
Gene therapy, obesity, drug delivery, gene drug discovery.
X-ray crystallography of macromolecules, prokaryotic transcriptional regulators.
Metabolism and drug development against protozoan parasites.
Calcium signaling and storage in Toxoplasma gondii.
Transmission and pathogenicity of zoonotic influenza virus infection and development
of vaccination and the prevention and treatment of viral infections.
Characterizing the assembly of bacterial surface structures, Development of vaccines for viral
and bacterial pathogens, Systems approaches to understanding microbial diseases
Our lab seeks to uncover novel regulatory mechanisms of biofilm formation to undermine bacterial survival in chronic infections.
Investigating the regulatory mechanisms of glycosylation using genomic, chemical, and genetic approaches with particular focus on the discovery of novel drugs and targets to treat human diseases.
The influence of gender on the disposition of drugs and drug carriers,
and their subsequent therapeutic or toxic outcomes, and the physiological-based
pharmacokinetic modeling for utilization in predicting toxicity and exposures.
Nanoparticle-based imaging and drug delivery; radiation therapy and photodynamic therapy
Computational drug discovery, simulation model, new computational tools for drug design
Biomaterial-based systems in the area of iron chelation therapy, biological metal sensors,
overcoming antibiotic drug resistance in Gram-negative bacteria,
and chelation of transfusional iron overload.
Stem cell biology, brown fat development and induction, non-coding
RNA, development of novel therapies for human obesity and type 2 diabetes
Transport, micronutrient, hypoxia, cancer.
Effects of pathological stress on cells of the peripheral nervous system and the adrenal gland. In vitro disease modeling using human pluripotent stem cells.
Drug Development, Chemical Biology, Cancer Disease Mechanism, Epigenetics and Genetics, Histone Modifications, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Enzymology, and Biophysics.