All seminars are open to the public.

Seminar schedule for will be posted as dates become confirmed.  Seminar enquiries should be directed to seminar coordinator Dr. Herman Holt.

The eleventh annual S. Dexter Squibb Lecture series will take place on October 30-31, 2008.  The speaker will be Milton Brown, director of the Drug Discovery Program of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Georgetown University Medical Center.

Read Dr. Brown's biography at the Georgetown University Medical Center site, and see why they call him "Dr. Drug Discovery".

Community Lecture

Thursday October 30,  7:30 pm
RBH 125

"Drug Discovery and the Evolving Role for Academic Research"

Drug discovery research is emerging as a viable research program in academic research by providing a vehicle to translate basic research into new medical therapies.  We will discuss the role of drug discovery programs in the context of amplifying faculty production while maintaining the academic mission.  We will provide strategies and new models for integrating drug discovery into academic centers and provide examples of current drug discovery models that benefit several academic communities.  Finally we will discuss the impact that drug discovery can have on developing new science, training students, academic partnerships and emerging biotechnology.

General Chemistry Lecture

Friday October 31, 1:30 pm
KH 038

"Targeting Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels as a Treatment for Prostate Cancer"

Prostate Cancer is the #1 cancer diagnosis for men in the United States, accounting for 29% of all new diagnosis and nearly 30,000 deaths yearly. Current therapies have tremendous side effects (such as hormonal, impotence, and transient incontinence) and there is an urgent need for new therapeutics.

Voltage Gated Sodium Channels (VGSC or Nav), previously known targets in the Central Nervous System, are also present in human prostate cancer, as demonstrated by mRNA expression and immunohistochemistry.   In this seminar we will present the design and synthesis of Nav blocker and evaluation against the Nav proteins.  We will present studies on the effects of select Nav blockers on human prostate cancer cells and in tumors. 

Retrospective studies on the incidence of prostate cancer in epileptic men (these are patients that have been exposed to non-selective Nav blockers) suggest that there is a significant risk reduction.  Finally we will present clinical research on the potential use of this target as a biomarker for disease.  All these studies point to the potential of Nav proteins as a therapeutic target for treating and detecting prostate cancer.

All lectures are free and open to the public