UAlbany’s School of Public Health has joined Albany College of Pharmacy and Omnicare Clinical Research, Inc., in forming the Pharmaceutical Development Consortium (PDC). In addition to reinforcing the University’s commitment to health education and community outreach, PDC will enhance academic degree programs for clinical research physicians, nurses, research associates, and a host of public health and medical practitioners, and other science professionals.

The consortium complements the pharmaceutical and biotechnology work already undertaken at the East Campus, according to Professor Lloyd Lininger, a faculty member working on the PDC initiative. “Biostatistics and epidemiology, the basic tools of public health, enable health practitioners to assess and identify disease trends within populations,” he explained. “They are also essential to the design of successful clinical trials. By bringing together community-based health practice and academic theory, the consortium will benefit health care professionals and the people they serve.”

The consortium’s eventual goal is to form an Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technology (IPST). Program director Katarina Holbrook, M.P.H., who conceptualized the IPST and PDC initiatives, said: “Such an institute would provide the consortium with the operational framework in which to design and implement ‘Plug and Play’ modules - state-of-the-art instructional technologies that can be used for interdisciplinary training, certificate, and degree programs. Those modules would allow for customization of pharmaceutical certificate programs and reduction of workforce training costs, while enriching students’ academic experiences.”

“The IPST will help pharmaceutical industry professionals to develop the expertise to excel in achieving their goal: bringing better health care options to the public without undue delays in the development process,” added Islah Ahmed, M.D., project director for Omnicare Clinical Research.

The PDC partners represent a wide range of education and health care expertise. Omnicare Clinical Research (OCR), a subsidiary of Omnicare, is the nation’s largest geriatric pharmaceutical services company. An expert in the conduct of large clinical trials, OCR is also well versed in the federal regulations required to prepare new medications for human consumption.

Albany College of Pharmacy (ACP) is the oldest continuously operating college of pharmacy in New York State. At ACP, professionals are prepared to work with the rapidly expanding base of new medications and to oversee complex drug therapies.

UAlbany’s School of Public Health is one of only 29 accredited public health schools in the United States. A joint venture of the University and the New York State Department of Health, the school offers master’s and doctoral programs in epidemiology, health policy, management, behavior, biomedical sciences, environmental health, and statistics.

UAlbany Wins NIH Grant for Planned Life Sciences Building
By Greta Petry
The University’s highly-regarded strength in biology and genomics, coupled with an interdisciplinary vision of the future of biomedicine, has led to a major new grant from the National Institutes of Health. It also demonstrates the importance of continued public-private partnerships for funding.

The $619,855 grant will provide part of the funds needed to build a high-tech facility, with three new laboratories attached, to grow and study yeast in significant quantities. The yeast fermentation facility is slated to be part of the new 194,000-square-foot Life Sciences Build-ing to be constructed between the east end of the podium and Perimeter Road. This state-of-the-art building, the largest new constuction at any SUNY campus under the current Master Plan, will provide lab and research space for biology, chemistry and bio-psychology. Funding for the $67 million Life Sciences Building, which will be completed in 2004, will come from the SUNY Construction Fund and private donations.

The NIH grant will help construct a facility in which scientists will grow the large amounts of yeast and bacterial cells that are needed to do large-scale biochemical purification of individual enyzmes and protein complexes. The need for such a microbial facility is based on strong University interdisciplinary and state-of-the-art research programs supported by the National Institutes of Health, and on strong campus graduate training programs in biological sciences. This new facility is essential for studies requiring large amounts of protein. Working with the Center for Compa-rative Functional Genomics, the facility will assist in the goal of crossing species boundaries to analyze cellular functions.

“Comparative functional genomics, a major University initiative, uses the similarities among species to determine how genes encode various functions and how those functions are carried out in the cell. Many functions a human cell might carry out are done in a similar way in yeast cells,” said Richard Zitomer, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. “By learning how various proteins function in yeast, we can draw the analogy that they function in a similar way in humans. As we understand the function of human genes, we will understand more about human diseases, which may lead to better treatments and a more rational approach to the design of new pharmaceuticals.”

Applying for the grant “was a group effort,” Zitomer added. “I, along with a number of my colleagues, wrote the scientific justification.” The second part of the grant application dealt with actual construction requirements, and was completed by the office of Don Delmanzo, Jr.

Richard Hoffmann, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, is principal investigator on the grant. Hoffmann said that he and Randy Olocki of Facilities Management attended an NIH workshop in Bethesda, Md., for those applying for construction grants.

“The NIH was as interested in knowing that we knew how to plan a building and execute its construction as it was in the research itself. Here, Randy played a critical role,” said Hoffmann. “I was principally involved because in my position I have the authority to allocate the space. The real brain power came from the Department of Biological Sciences and from Richard Zitomer, as well as from Department Chair David Shub.”

At the Life Sciences Building, graduate students and some undergraduates will be trained to conduct biochemical research in the labs.

“We are training the scientists of the future,” said Hoffmann. “Some of the students are likely to end up in industry.”

The proposed fermentation facility will include research labs for faculty members who have the most immediate needs for frequent fermentor runs. Many other faculty will use the facility, as well.

Zitomer explained how a fermentation facility is used: “In order to understand the function of proteins and enzyme structures in the cell, we can do a genetic analysis to find the genes that encode these structures. To understand how they function, we need to purify individual components and study them in a purified state in the test tube. In many cases, one needs large amounts of material to study the properties of individual proteins and enzymes. More and more of our interest has focused on large multi-protein structures - like DNA polymerase, which replicate the DNA in the cell and are essential for cell division, and RNA polymerase, which are necessary to the expression of information carried by the genes. Both of these are very large complexes that can’t be expressed as individual proteins. It is a very difficult process to study these in human cells, but in many cases they can be expressed in micro-organisms like bacteria or yeast, where we can grow large amounts of material and carry out the purifications. So, the ultimate goal of the fermentation facility is to obtain enough material to do test tube chemistry.”

The University is in the process of awarding a contract for the construction of the Life Sciences Building, which is expected to be completed by 2004.

Thanksgiving Dinner is Cooking for UAlbany’s International Students
By Lisa James Goldsberry
Holiday time can be stressful for many people. Those who are away from their homes and families can find this time particularly difficult. However, thanks to the University’s Office of International Student Services, students in this situation don’t have to be alone.

The office will be hosting its eighth Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday, Nov. 23, from 2-4 p.m. at the New Covenant Presbyterian Church, 916 Western Ave. In the past, approximately 130 students have attended. Those interested in attending this year must make reservations before Nov. 20 by calling the office at 442-5495.

“In cooperation with the Graduate Student Organization, we host a catered buffet dinner for international students and others who don’t have a place to go for the holiday,” said Steve Thomson, interim director of the Office for International Education. He added that a grant from University Auxiliary Services helps pay for the meal, which will be catered by Marquis Caterers of Albany.

According to Thomson, the dinner used to be held at Chapel House, but so many students attended that they needed two seatings. Now they have enough room to seat everyone at once. “For these students, although it may not be their typical holiday, it is a chance for them to get together with other students for a holiday meal,” said Carlos Santiago, interim provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, who will attend the dinner as well.

Ganesh Ramesh, a Ph.D. student in computer science from Madras, India, has been attending the dinner for three years and has also volunteered to help this year. “All my relatives are back at home, and getting to celebrate Thanksgiving with students and the staff from the Office of International Student Services means a lot to me as someone who is far from home,” he said. “Many international students, when they come to this country, take time to get acclimated with the environment and culture. A Thanksgiving dinner is a great way to help international students get a feel for the occasion.”

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