Opening the mysteries of drug actions, discovering new therapies, and developing new medicinal products

Cardiovascular regulation, cell signaling, structural and cancer biology, and environmental toxicology are just a few interests of the faculty at the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Vermont.

Students interested in the interaction of chemical substance with biological systems will benefit from direct contact with faculty researchers. Studies in Pharmacology at the College of Medicine serve medical and graduate students, post-doctoral trainees and undergraduates.

Learn more about Pharmacology as a Career sponsored by the American Society for Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET).

Learn more about careers for scientists from the Science Careers Site sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

 

 


Graduate students and poster

Graduate Studies

The Pharmacology Department has joined the Cellular and Molecular Biology Graduate Program for those Graduates interested in pursuing a Ph.D. The Pharmacology Department offers both a Thesis Research based Masters in Pharmacology and a Non-Thesis Masters  in Pharmacology. Exclusively for UVM students we offer an Accelerated Masters Program. We also offer an undergraduate 15-credit minor, course offerings include Toxicology, Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, Pharmacological Techniques and Medicinal Chemistry.

Researcher in a lab

Pharmacology Research

  • Brain and cerebral vascular studying the blood flow to the brain.
  • Cardiovascular Pharmacology and Physiology
  • Signal transduction
  • Medicinal chemistry/cancer chemotherapy

Faculty giving presentation

Seminars

As the host of the weekly Seminar Series and the annual trustees visit and retreat, the Pharmacology department has an active schedule of seminars and events.

 

Recent News

Inside Precision Medicine Reports on Nelson Research into Vascular Dementia

August 8, 2023 by Lucy Gardner Carson

(AUGUST 8, 2023) Research by Mark Nelson, Ph.D., chair and University Distinguished Professor of pharmacology and professor of molecular physiology and biophysics, and colleagues shines a light on the mechanism behind vascular dementia in a mouse model, which the investigators hope will lead to better treatments being developed for the neurodegenerative condition, according to Inside Precision Medicine.

Mark Nelson, Ph.D., chair and University Distinguished Professor of pharmacology and professor of molecular physiology and biophysics

(AUGUST 8, 2023) Research by Mark Nelson, Ph.D., chair and University Distinguished Professor of pharmacology and professor of molecular physiology and biophysics, and colleagues at the University of Manchester in the U.K. shines a light on the mechanism behind vascular dementia in a mouse model, which the investigators hope will lead to better treatments being developed for the neurodegenerative condition, according to Inside Precision Medicine.

As reported in the journal PNAS, reduced blood flow to the brain is known to be a key factor in the hypertension-induced vascular dementia disease process, but the mechanism behind this was unclear, making it difficult to design therapies to improve blood flow. The researchers used a mouse model of hypertension and vascular dementia to study the physiological mechanism behind the condition and found that the reduced cerebral blood flow was caused by a part of the smooth muscle cells becoming separated from the plasma membrane, leading to a breakdown in cell signaling that would under normal circumstances lead to the blood vessels relaxing.

“By uncovering how high blood pressure causes arteries in the brain to remain constricted, our research reveals a new avenue for drug discovery that may help to find the first treatment for vascular dementia. Allowing blood to return as normal to damaged areas of the brain will be crucial to stopping this devastating condition in its tracks,” said Adam Greenstein, a professor and clinician scientist at the University of Manchester and one of the leaders of the research, in a press statement.

Read full story at Inside Precision Medicine