Pharmacology
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Nissar A. Darmani, PhD Associate Dean for Basic Sciences and Research Chair, Basic Medical Sciences COMP-Pomona ndarmani@westernu.edu Office#: (909) 469-5654 – Lab#: (909) 469-5218 |
Research Interests:
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Robert N. Pechnick, PhD Professor of Pharmacology COMP-Pomona rpechnick@westernu.edu Office#: (909) 469-8669 |
Research Interests: The research in my laboratory has been focused on three aspects of neuropsychopharmacology: using animal models to understand the causes of and to develop new potential treatments for various forms of mental illness; utilizing both in vivo and in vitro approaches to study the neuropharmacology of drugs of abuse; and defining the role of adult hippocampal neurogenesis in health and disease states. Primary goals include: characterizing the role of developmental insults (prenatal, neonatal and adolescence) in producing neuropsychiatric disorders; defining the involvement of cytokines and stress in adult hippocampal neurogenesis and depression; understanding the role of neurogenesis in post-chemotherapy-induced cognitive function, and determining the neurochemical mechanisms underlying the effects and the pathophysiological and neurochemical consequences of the repeated administration of drugs of abuse. Experimental approaches involve studying the effects of the systemic and central administration of selective agonists, antagonists, using transgenic animal models, utilizing viral-mediated gene delivery and characterizing functional responses as well as changes in receptor subunit gene expression after acute and chronic drug administration. |