The Scherrer Lab is driving the development of nonaddictive painkillers by identifying and regulating nerve cells that are responsible for the pain!

Dr. Roth’s lab is on the cutting edge of researching the interaction between brain cell receptors and compounds like LSD and psilocybin. Their findings have the potential to revolutionize the treatment of psychiatric disorders, potentially creating new forms of psychedelics that offer the therapeutic benefits without hallucinations or other side effects.

Dr. Bryan Roth was featured in Drug Discovery and Development for his lab’s research using non-hallucinatory psychoplastogens for treating mental health disorders and on WCNC Charlotte for his advocacy for its use in clinical settings.

The lab of Juan Song, PhD, and colleagues at the UNC School of Medicine, demonstrated the therapeutic potential of new neurons generated in adulthood for modulating the pathology and functional deficits associated with Alzheimer’s disease using rodent models.

The $165K award will fund five summer researchers annually. Spearheaded by Program Director, Jonathan Schisler, the program aims to inspire undergraduate students toward careers in cardiovascular research. Becky Sanchez is Program Coordinator, Leon Coleman is an advisory board member, and Edward Bahnson’s and Brian Jensen’s labs are partners with the program.

The grant, “Observing Molecules in Context with 4Pi Lattice Light Sheet Nanoscopy,” is part of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s (CZI) Dynamic Imaging projects.

The award will fund her scholarly pursuits over one year. Congratulations, Liz!

Led by graduate student Jeff DiBerto, the UNC School of Medicine lab of Bryan Roth teamed with scientists in China to publish detailed structures of the entire human opioid receptor family to guide the creation of more targeted pain medications.

Congratulations to Tom Kash on being named the new Director of the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies!

The Bryan Roth lab got some nice press for their recent Nature paper, revealing structural details of his chemogenetic technology called DREADD – designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs – that recognize drug-like but physiologically inert compounds. Postdoc Shicheng Zhang, PhD, led this research published in Nature.