UK Hosts Ashland Inc. Distinguished Lecture & Symposium on Drug Discovery & Development

With nearly 30k students, more than 2,400 faculty members, 16 colleges and professional schools, and more than 200 academic programs, the University of Kentucky is rife with opportunities for collaboration. 

On November 4, 2016, the UK College of Pharmacy and the UK College of Engineering took advantage of this opportunity and joined forces to host the first-annual, combined Ashland Inc. Distinguished Lectures & Symposium on Drug Discovery & Development at the W.T. Young Library.

Ten years ago, the Ashland Inc. Distinguished Lecture Series was established by the UK College of Engineering as a means to inspire research creativity and celebrate and share the successes of leading researchers. The College of Pharmacy established its Symposium on Drug Discovery & Development several years ago with the same goal.  Noting the shared objective, teams at the College of Engineering and the College of Pharmacy chose to combine the two events.

“I believe this partnership reflects an encouraging trend across the University of Kentucky,” said Lawrence Holloway, Interim Dean of the College of Engineering.  “As our world’s problems grow more complex, the solutions demand interdisciplinary collaboration. Engineering and Pharmacy working together can solve problems each college cannot even begin to tackle alone. This is the direction academic research is going, and it is promising—especially when thinking about areas such as drug development and discovery—for eradicating longstanding problems.”

Well over 100 students, faculty members, researchers, and individuals form the greater community were treated to lectures, presentations, posters, and elevator speeches on topics ranging from regenerative medicine to cell isolation techniques. 

Morning and afternoon sessions featured nine presentations, including invited speakers from three of the nation’s premier research institutions.

Paula Hammond, PhD

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nanolayered Drug Release Systems from Regenerative Medicine and Targeted Nanaotherapies

Anthony Hickey, Ph.D.

University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy

Déjà vu – Inhaled Infectious Disease Therapy

Jeffrey Hubbell, Ph.D.

Institute for Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago

Engineering Glycopolymers to Modulate Immunity and Immunological Tolerance

The symposium concluded with a poster session and reception at the Hilary J. Boone Center.  Judging of the elevator speeches and thirty-five graduate student posters proved challenging due to the extraordinary performance of all entrants, but the judges identified three standout offerings for each competition.

Elevator Speech Winners

1st Place (tie)

Cynthia Dickerson (Dr. Rob Lodder’s lab, Pharmaceutical Sciences)

Ville Tiitto (Dr. Rob Lodder’s lab, Pharmaceutical Sciences)

3rd Place

Landon Mott (Dr. Dan Pack’s lab, Chemical Engineering)

Poster Session Winners

1st Place (tie)

Calvin Cahall (Dr. Brad Berron’s lab, Chemical Engineering)

Yu Yue (Dr. Christina Payne’s lab, Chemical Engineering)

3rd Place

Chase Kempinski (Dr. Joe Chappell’s lab, Plant and Soil Sciences)

To learn more about this annual event, please visit pharmacy.uky.edu/DDD and follow facebook.com/UKCOP for announcements about future symposiums.