The Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research provides classroom and clinical instruction for pharmacy students and trains graduate students in clinical translational research.
The Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research is proud of its national reputation as a leader in the areas of pharmacy practice, education and clinical translational research. Faculty members in the department are successful in obtaining research funding from numerous sources, including the National Institutes of Health. The Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research offers a variety of excellent clinical residencies and research fellowships and offers a PhD program in Clinical Pharmaceutical Science.
The Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research is located in the University of Florida J. Hillis Miller Health Science Center complex, which includes colleges of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health and Health Professions and Veterinary Medicine. The UF & Shands system also encompasses six research institutes: the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, the McKnight Brain Institute, the Genetics Institute, the UF & Shands Cancer Center, the Institute on Aging and the Emerging Pathogens Institute. The location of the College of Pharmacy in this complex offers a broad variety of opportunities for learning and research collaboration.
Clinical Pharmaceutical Sciences
There is a strong need for clinically-trained individuals who also have rigorous research training to facilitate bench-to-bedside or translational research. Indeed, the need for clinicians trained to work in interdisciplinary, team-oriented research environments has been highlighted by the National Institutes of Health. The University of Florida College of Pharmacy has established a Clinical Pharmaceutical Sciences training program with a goal to prepare motivated individuals to pursue independent research careers in academia, industry, or government. The current research focus of the program is on understanding genetic and non-genetic factors that contribute to variability in drug response.
Areas of research include:
- Cardiology
- Clinical pharmacology/drug metabolism
- Infectious diseases
- Oncology
- Pharmacogenomics/personalized medicine
- Psychiatry
Jatinder Lamba Lab
Dr. Lamba has around 20 years of expertise, training and knowledge skills in the field of pharmacogenomics. Dr Lamba’s research is focused on identification, characterization and clinical validation of genomic/epigenomic markers predictive of therapeutic outcome in cancer patients. This research spans from preclinical basic research comprising the discovery phase utilizing cell line model systems to translational/clinical phase in patient populations from multi-institute clinical trials. Research in her lab on pharmacogenomics/epigenomics in pediatric AML is focused on identification, characterization and clinical validation of predictive genetic markers of response to multiple anticancer agents used in AML treatment and has been funded by NCI since 2008. Her group is working on developing algorithms to incorporate pharmacogenomics/epigenomic markers with other prognostic factors to advance precision medicine in oncology. Identification of such patients upfront will provide opportunity to tailor the initial chemotherapy to achieve maximum benefit. As one aspect of this study her group have developed a novel method (PROMISE) for simultaneous and directional evaluation of multiple endpoints in patients. Dr. Lamba’s lab is the first one to identify genetic polymorphisms in CD33 gene that are predictive of response to CD33 targeted agents in AML. These results hold promise in utilizing preemptive genotype to select patients most likely to benefit from CD33 targeted therapy such as gemtuzumab ozogamicin. Recent work in Dr. Lamba’s group is focused on Metabolomics in AML, there are a significant gap in our understanding of metabolomics in pediatric AML and Dr. Lamba’s recent work is focused towards understanding the metabolomics differences and biomarkers of prognostic significance in AMlL. Dr. Lamba is currently Associate Professor in College of Pharmacy and is also Graduate Program coordinator; she has served as a grant reviewer for numerous NIH study sections and is currently regular member of XNDA study section. Dr. Lamba is very committed towards training of future generation of scientist.
Major Research Themes in Lamba Lab are:
- Pharmacogenomics of Antibody targeted therapy in AML
- Pathway based Pharmacogenomics of anticancer nucleoside analogs in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
- Genome-wide integrated genomics/epigenomics approaches to identify biomarkers of response in AML
- Metabolomics in pediatric AML