UCSF AAPS student chapter members after a career development seminar with scientists from Genentech.
As the only University of California campus devoted entirely to graduate and professional research, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is dedicated to training future leaders in health sciences, with the ultimate goal of bringing research and patient care closer together. The UCSF AAPS student chapter strives to provide our student members opportunities of scientific-exchange, collaboration, and mentorship from leaders in the pharmaceutical sciences. We also foster collaborations between research and health sciences by recruiting members from the 25+ graduate degree programs, as well as the Schools of Medicine and Pharmacy.
This year, the UCSF AAPS student chapter fostered international relationships by co-organizing the 3rd Annual InSight Symposium: Pharmaceutical Sciences Across Borders. In collaboration with the AAPS student chapter at University of the Pacific (UOP; Stockon, Calif.) and China Pharmaceutical University (CPU; Nanjing, China), this entirely student-planned symposium provided the opportunity for students and faculty from the three participating universities, and the Nanjing Medical University to share their research and encourage collaborations. The symposium was hosted by the students at CPU on May 26–27, 2018, in Nanjing, China, with approximately 125 scientists in attendance. Student and faculty lectures covered a range of topics from target and biomarker identification to clinical translation of novel therapeutics and highlighted recent advancements in the fields of drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics, transporter sciences, clinical pharmacology, formulations, and drug delivery. Specifically, students and faculty presented their research of novel whole-organism drug discovery techniques, improvements for the prediction of hepatic drug clearance, and even the intersection between 3D printing and drug delivery.
Christopher McCurdy, Ph.D., Bonnie Avery, Ph.D., and Su Guo, Ph.D. along with UCSF AAPS student chapter members at the 3rd Annual InSight Symposium in May.
We were very fortunate that current AAPS President Christopher McCurdy, Ph.D., was able to attend and share a talk entitled, Clinical Translation of a Sigma Receptor Antagonist as a Diagnostic Agent for Nerve Damage. Additionally, students benefitted from impactful presentations from Su Guo, Ph.D., from UCSF; Bonnie Avery, Ph.D., from the University of Florida; Xiaoling Li, Ph.D., from UOP; and Hui Ye, Ph.D., and Haiying Sun, Ph.D., from CPU. Students discussed their research either by giving oral research talks (10 students) or by presenting scientific posters. UCSF and UOP students visited CPU’s scientific and clinical laboratories and toured the CPU Pharmacy Museum, which catalogues the history of the study of traditional Chinese medicine at CPU. Additionally, a chartered tour was organized to visit Nanjing Sanhome Pharmaceutical, Co., a pharmaceutical company of 2,000+ employees focused on the discovery and development of both chemical and traditional Chinese medicine. It was a unique opportunity for students to visualize how aspects of their research fit into the drug discovery and development process at a large pharmaceutical company.
Students from UCSF, UOP, and CPU visit Nanjing Sanhome Pharmaceutical, Co.
In addition to organizing the annual Insight Symposium, the UCSF student chapter is highly active in organizing events for student members locally including faculty lectures and professional development seminars, and members regularly attend the AAPS Annual Meeting and Exposition. More recently, our chapter has become increasingly involved with the AAPS Bay Area Discussion Group, where students have the opportunity to hear about cutting-edge research in local pharmaceutical companies as well as network with the Bay Area pharmaceutical sciences community. Our student chapter is looking forward to the second half of 2018 with the wonderful support of our faculty advisor, Leslie Benet, Ph.D., and hopes to interact with other AAPS members at PharmSci 360 in Washington, D.C., this fall!