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ACP News
ACP student participates in prestigious summer fellowship
ALBANY
, N.Y. (July 18, 2007) - Lisa Murphy, a
junior Pharmaceutical Sciences major at Albany College of Pharmacy, has been
selected to participate in the prestigious and competitive Summer Fellowship
Program at the Masonic Medical Research Laboratory (MMRL) in Utica .
This program, initiated in 1960, provides an opportunity for undergraduate students of biology, physiology, biochemistry, medicine and other life sciences to participate in research under staff guidance.
Lisa will be involved for 10 weeks in hands-on, cellular electrophysiology research this summer. More specifically, she will be studying acidosis and its effect on sodium channels in the heart under the mentorship of Jon Cordeiro, Ph.D.
Acidosis occurs in the heart during conditions of ischemia induced by insufficient oxygen supply to the heart. This irregularity also may cause cardiac arrhythmias. Lisa's studies will involve patch clamping, which is designed to detect the electrical current moving in and out of cells. During the fellowship, Lisa will gain a better understanding of disease examination, in addition to experiencing the functions of a state-of-the-art research laboratory.
The MMRL is internationally renowned medical research and educational institute dedicated to studies of the electrical activity of the heart. In recent years, the MMRL also has become a central hub for genetic screening of inherited arrhythmic diseases in the United States .
MMRL scientists have uncovered the mechanisms responsible for many forms of life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias as well as the mechanisms by which some drugs act to precipitate arrhythmias. In recent years, they have delineated the genetic basis for several inherited sudden cardiac death syndromes.
Prominent among their most recent achievements is the identification of a novel strategy for the pharmacologic treatment of atrial fibrillation, one of the greatest unmet medical needs facing our society.
Founded in 1881, Albany College of Pharmacy is the oldest pharmacy school in New York state and one of the only private, independent pharmacy schools in the United States . The college has a long history of serving its students and health care professionals as one of the premier pharmacy colleges in the nation. The college now enters a new era in health care with a focus not only on pharmacy, but also on pharmaceutical sciences, biomedical technology and research.