| RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP ACTIVITIES: COLLEGES, CENTERS, AND INSTITUTES |
The College of Pharmacy is comprised of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Department of Pharmacy Practice. The college has experienced explosive growth in research activities and associated external funding in the past decade. Recent renovations and faculty additions have enhanced the research core and strengthened the college's reputation as a center for conducting cutting edge biomedical research and producing well-trained graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.
Research areas in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences address fundamental issues in the biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences regarding the discovery, mechanism of action, cellular effects and disbursement of therapeutic agents. The main research areas are Pharmacology, Pharmaceutics, and Medicinal and Natural Products Chemistry.
Research in pharmacology aims to provide a mechanistic understanding of drug action at the cellular level. Members of the faculty at OSU are using biochemical, and cellular and molecular biological techniques to investigate signal transduction pathways mediated by phospholipids, neurotransmitters and hormones; electrophysiological approaches to studying ion channel function; and biochemical and genetic means of studying transcriptional regulatory proteins.
The pharmaceutics discipline deals with a variety of topics pertaining to the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of drugs and xenobiotics. Faculty in the OSU Pharmaceutics group are involved in biochemical toxicology and drug metabolism studies; the design and development of new drug delivery and dosage forms; studies on the clinical efficacy and distribution of drugs through the body as a function of dosing regimen or dosage form; and vaccine development.
Medicinal and natural products chemistry is an interdisciplinary area concerned with the discovery of new therapeutic agents. At OSU, this field combines the disciplines of organic chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology to characterize the structure and biosynthetic pathways of biologically active compounds from natural sources; the design and synthesis of small molecules able to affect specific cellular functions; and the chemical features of enzymes and biochemical pathways that are of therapeutic importance.
The research activities of the Department of Pharmacy Practice range from basic science investigation to practice and health outcomes. Faculty conduct research in the areas of health economics, pharmacoeconomics, the impact of pharmacists on health and health care costs, and drug policy in collaboration with hospitals, health maintenance organizations, insurance companies, self-insured employers, community pharmacies and clinical researchers. Novel statistical methods for analyzing health research information are being developed. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic clinical research activities are conducted in collaboration with researchers at Oregon Health and Science University. Infectious disease research ranges from the elucidation of mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance to use of antibiotics in special populations. Educational outcomes are an area of increasing emphasis.
Oregon State University Research Office
312 Kerr Administration Building, Corvallis, OR 97331
Phone 541-737-3467 Fax 541-737-9041
researchsupport@oregonstate.edu
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