Research

Areas of Research

The Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology offers several areas of specialized interest. These encompass:

• Neuropharmacology, including research on central and peripheral neurotransmission, the effects of drugs on electrophysiological processes, nerve growth factors signal transduction, and neural cytoskeletal elements;
• Psychopharmacology, including the study of psychoactive drugs, behavioral pharmacology and the pharmacology of abused drugs, and drug addiction and alcohol dependence;
• Toxicology, including analyses of environmental and clinical aspects, effects of xenobiotics on metabolism, the toxicity and mechanisms of action of dioxins and other halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons, heavy metals, cyclic ethers and other environmental pollutants, and toxicological effects on development, renal and pulmonary function, neural activity, and immune responses;
• Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, including research of drug-receptor interactions, signal transduction mechanisms, calcium and calmodulin-dependent processes, protein phosphorylation, membrane transport, drug-enzyme interactions, pharmacology of antibiotics and immune responses, regulation of gene expression, and molecular determinants of growth and differentiation of  cells; and
• Clinical Pharmacology, including treatments of neurological, psychiatric, and infectious diseases, and drug effects on oral tissues.