Coronavirus Series – Part 2:
Therapeutic Research for COVID-19:  Challenges and Accomplishments
Wednesday, August 19, 2020, 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm ET

The clinical evaluation of potential therapeutic options against COVID-19 has largely been conducted within the context of limited bandwidth and an escalating world-wide health-care crisis.  To date, many studies of clinical interventions are anecdotal reports of effects in small numbers of patients or larger observational cohort studies that also contain uncontrolled confounders.

Dr. H. Clifford Lane is the NIAID Deputy Director for Clinical Research and Special Projects.  His talk will provide an overview of several potential antiviral and immunomodulatory COVID-19 interventions that have been studied in large-scale randomized clinical trials including mechanistic rationale, clinical trials designs and endpoints, and emerging benefit/risk profiles.  Given the ongoing societal and economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic world-wide, this seminar will be of great interest to all ASPET members.

Speaker:

H. Clifford Lane, MD
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH

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Young Scientist Research Series – Part 2: Behavioral Pharmacology Postdoctoral Award Competition 
Thursday, August 27, 2020, 2:00 pm – 3:15 pm ET

This session will showcase the work of four postdoctoral fellows who are engaged in cutting-edge research in behavioral pharmacology. They were selected based on abstracts submitted for the ASPET Annual Meeting at EB 2020.  This session will provide a virtual venue to introduce these promising young scientists to the greater ASPET community, and to allow them to compete for a spot on the Division for Behavioral Pharmacology’s executive committee.

Each speaker will have 10 minutes to present their work, with audience participation encouraged during 5 minute Q&A periods following each talk, as well as continued general or individual discussion via ASPETConnect. Members of the Division for Behavioral Pharmacology Executive Committee will judge the presentations, with a single Behavioral Pharmacology Postdoctoral Award presented at the culmination of the session.    

Moderators:

Greg Collins, PhD - University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Vanessa Minervini, PhD - Creighton University

Speakers:

Ewa Galaj, PhD - National Institute on Drug Abuse
“Beta-caryophyllene, a Volatile Phytocannabinoid, Attenuates Cocaine Self-administration and Relapse in Rats”

Fernando de Moura, PhD - Harvard Medical School/McLean Hospital
“Receptor Mechanisms in Nicotinic Enhancement of Opioid Antinociception”

Meghan Hibicke, PhD - LSU Health Sciences Center
“One Dose of Psilocybin in Late Adolescence Mitigates Deleterious Effects of Developmental Stress on Cognition and Behavioral Despair in Adult Female Rats”

Laura Erwin, PhD - McLean Hospital / Harvard Medical School
“Discriminative Stimulus Effects of (R)(-)-DOI and AM8936, a Synthetic Cannabinoid”

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Coronavirus Series – Part 1:
Antiviral Measures Targeting Coronavirus Entry
Thursday, July 30, 2020, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm ET

COVID-19 first began in late 2019 and as of July 2020 approximately 12 million people have been infected with a mortality rate of over 4% globally.  The SARS-CoV-2 virus is differentiated from the many common coronavirus variants, including those associated with the common cold, by its cross-species infectivity, rapid spread, and lethality.  Rapid advances in the identification of this new coronavirus,  and its putative host susceptibility factor, angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as the SARS-CoV-2 cell surface receptor, have led to the proliferation of clinical drug repurposing and preclinical rational drug design efforts to combat this devastating pandemic. 

Dr. Thomas Gallagher is a leading expert on the virology of coronaviruses.  His talk will provide an overview of the virology of coronaviruses, the current understanding of SARS-CoV-2 viral entry and provide critical insights regarding various interventional strategies to limit infectivity.  Given the ongoing societal and economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic world-wide, this seminar will be of great interest to all ASPET members.

Moderators:

Michael F. Jarvis, PhD, FBPhS - AbbVie
Qing Ma, PharmD, PhD – University at Buffalo

Speaker:

Thomas Gallagher, PhD
Loyola University Chicago, Department of Microbiology and Immunology

Session details
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Young Scientist Research Series – Part 1:
Molecular Pharmacology Postdoctoral Award Competition
Tuesday, August 11, 2020, 2:00 pm – 3:15 pm ET

Hear cutting-edge presentations that report new insights into the regulation of 7-transmembrane receptor cellular signaling that regulate novel pathways in health and disease. Pharmacologists interested in neuropharmacology, cancer pharmacotherapeutics, and drug design and development will have the opportunity to learn about new strategies and opportunities in translational pharmacology, precision medicine, and systems physiology and pharmacology.

This blue ribbon award-winning research is from several post-doctoral fellows from the ASPET Division for Molecular Pharmacology who will compete for a spot on the division’s executive committee.

Audience participation is encouraged via questions submitted to the Q&A before and during the talk, as well as continued general or individual discussion via ASPETConnect. The Postdoctoral Award Competition will be judged by Molecular Pharmacology Executive Committee members and serves as a venue to introduce promising young scientists to the greater ASPET community.

Moderators:

Angeline M. Lyon, PhD – Purdue University
Allyn C. Howlett, PhD - Wake Forest School of Medicine

Speakers:

Wen-An Pan, PhD - University of California, San Diego 
“a-arrestin ARRDC3 is a Multifunctional Adaptor That Regulates G Protein-Coupled Receptor Signaling and Breast Cancer Invasion”

Hannah M. Stoveken, PhD - Scripps Research Institute
“GPR139 Signals Through Gq/11 to Oppose Mu Opioid Receptor Signaling”

Ya Zhuo, PhD - Medical College of Wisconsin
“Identifying β-arrestin1 Conformational States by a Non-GPCR Binding Partner”



Session details
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Sponsored by

The ASPET 2020 Focus on Pharmacology Series is brought to you with the generous support of Burroughs Wellcome Fund. Learn more about their Innovation in Regulatory Science Awards.