Omar Al Yacoub, PhD, is The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Highlighted Trainee Author for the May 2024 issue. Al Yacoub is a University of Minnesota-AbbVie Post-Doctoral fellow in Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacometrics.

The JPET article that earned him the selection as a Highlighted Trainee Author is titled “Recovery from Traumatic Brain Injury Is Nociceptin/Orphanin FQ Peptide Receptor Genotype-, Sex-, and Injury Severity-Dependent” and is available at https://doi.org/10.1124/jpet.123.001664.

His PhD research on pathophysiology of traumatic brain injury (TBI) expanded his understanding of neuropharmacology. This led him to expand his skills set in the areas of quantitative approaches and clinical pharmacology. His work also showed that recovery from TBI is nociception orphanin FQ peptide (NOP) receptor genotype-, sex-, and injury severity-dependent. The findings strongly support the idea of targeting the NOP/N/OFQ pathway with NOP receptor antagonists or partial agonists to improve neurobehavioral outcomes and quality of life post-TBI. Al Yacoub hopes his research will inspire further investigation and help in designing future preclinical and clinical studies to test potential NOP receptor ligands as therapeutics for TBI and related conditions.