The Eshelman Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship in Pharmaceutical Sciences
Fellowship Overview and Eligibility
Fellowship Overview and Eligibility
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The Eshelman Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill (UNC) Eshelman School of Pharmacy supports the training of highly motivated and ambitious scholars who have a strong desire to become leaders in academia, industry, or government, and change the healthcare landscape with groundbreaking research, bold ideas, and innovations. This two-year fellowship is open to exceptional graduate students and early postdoctoral scholars with doctoral degrees (PhD, PharmD, MD, etc.), unique capabilities, intellectual curiosity, and the potential to make a significant and sustained commitment and contributions to the pharmaceutical sciences. Interested applicants should be completing their terminal doctoral degree within three months, and early postdoctoral scholars should hold a terminal doctoral degree for three years or less at the time of application. |
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Why choose the Eshelman Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship?
- Salary and Benefits
- Annual stipend of $75,000.
- Full coverage of medical insurance premiums for the individual scholar.
- Vision benefits included in the medical insurance plan.
- $3,000 for relocation and/or other moving expenses, when applicable.
- Bridge to research-intensive careers in academia, industry, or government that will:
- Provide the knowledge, research experience, and professional skills to become a coveted candidate, regionally, nationally and globally, for academic, industry, or government positions (such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, etc.).
- Extraordinary opportunity to engage in cutting-edge research at the #1 School of Pharmacy in the US with global partnerships to prepare for future global leadership roles.
- Multidisciplinary research environment that will prepare the postdoctoral scholar to succeed and attain leadership roles in diverse careers. UNC anchors one corner of North Carolina’s famed Research Triangle Park, which hosts an abundance of pharmaceutical, biotech, and healthcare companies. Additionally, UNC is in close proximity to the Research Triangle Institute, Duke University, North Carolina State University (NC State), North Carolina Central University (NCCU), and the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. UNC is home to the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of 40 National Cancer Institute-designated centers in the US, as well as five Health Affairs Schools, namely, Medicine, Public Health, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Nursing. Furthermore, a US FDA Research Triangle Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (Triangle CERSI) has been established at UNC, in partnership with Duke University, and collaboration with NC State and NCCU, and the UNC Schools of Medicine, Public Health, and Data Science and Society. The CERSI program will facilitate research collaborations between FDA scientists and researchers at academic institutions in the Triangle, to advance regulatory science. This elaborate and extensive multidisciplinary environment, along with outstanding core facilities on campus, offers abundant opportunities for networking and collaboration in research.
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Fellows will have the opportunity to:
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Resources to Support Fellows
- Grant Writing and Grantsmanship Resources to compete for NIH Fellowships and Awards that will facilitate transition to an independent faculty position (e.g., K99/R00, DP5).
- NC TraCS offers seminars and training on grant writing and grantsmanship, and assists with the preparation of NIH K awards/other mentored career development awards.
- Funding Information Portal provides resources to assist in writing grant applications.
- In partnership with the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, the Office of Research Development provides postdoctoral proposal support to help with the preparation of applications to extramural sponsors.
- The Odum Institute assists with proposal development, such as formulating research questions, research design, and data analyses.
- State-of-the-Art Core Facilities that offer advanced technologies, high-end instrumentation, technical support, and assistance with experimental design and data analyses.
- Career and Professional Development Resources
- The Center for Innovative Pharmacy Education and Research (CIPhER) in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy provides those engaged in scholarship and research, including postdoctoral trainees, the training, tools, and support needed to design, implement, publish, and disseminate their work.
- Human Resources Organization and Professional Development offers training opportunities in communication, leadership, and project management skills.
- Office of Postdoctoral Affairs provides career and professional development services, such as individual career coaching, individual development plans, workshops, seminars, career resources, and networking opportunities.
- UNC Office of Technology Commercialization offers professional opportunities for postdoctoral fellows, such as internships and fellowship programs, that provide exposure to technology transfer and commercialization of UNC intellectual property.
- Work/life Balance and Well-being Resources to help postdoctoral scholars manage their physical, emotional, and mental well-being, and achieve a healthy balance between work and personal life.
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Resources to help create and sustain a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming environment for all students, postdoctoral trainees, faculty, staff, and alumni.
Faculty mentors in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy who are seeking to hire postdoctoral fellows through this fellowship have posted a description of their research programs and current research projects, including their contact information below.
| Interested applicants must submit an application with a description of their research in 200 words or less (uploaded as the “Research Statement” document in the application portal), and the names of up to two potential faculty mentors (from the faculty list below) in whose labs they are interested in conducting postdoctoral training. A CV and personal statement (uploaded as the “Cover Letter” document in the application portal) should also be uploaded via the online application portal. The CV should include evidence of productivity in scholarship (publications [particularly first author and/or senior author], presentations at conferences, etc.), and evidence of regional or national recognition (e.g., pre-doctoral fellowships, pilot grants, and research and/or travel awards). The personal statement should address how the applicant’s prior research experience will be enhanced by the postdoctoral training in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, and the role of this training in the applicant’s career aspirations. The personal statement should be no longer than one page, with 11-point Arial font, single-spaced, and 1-inch margins. Incomplete applications and/or non-compliant personal statements will not be considered. |  |
https://unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/277406The application deadline is April 30, 2024. |
Applications will be reviewed first by the selected faculty mentor(s) to assess the applicant’s research background and skills, productivity, career ambition, communication skills, and alignment with the relevant research program. Selected applicants will be contacted by the faculty mentor for an interview to discuss the postdoctoral position. Following the interview, applicants who are short listed will be asked to provide three letters of recommendation. A selection committee will make the final award to one applicant each year.
For inquiries concerning this fellowship, please contact: Dr. Robert McGinty (rmcginty@email.unc.edu) or Dr. Ruth Everett (everettr@email.unc.edu).
Faculty Accepting Fellows
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Kim Brouwer, Pharm.D., Ph.D.Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education Research in the Brouwer laboratory is focused on elucidating mechanisms of hepatic transport, and further developing strategies to assess and predict the impact of altered hepatic transporter function on drug disposition to improve therapeutic outcomes. My laboratory has pioneered the development of in vitro tools to quantify hepatic drug disposition and biliary excretion, devised novel strategies to address key scientific questions regarding hepatic drug transport, and investigated the interplay between bile acids and hepatic transporters. Supported by an NIGMS MIRA grant, we seek to discover novel regulatory mechanisms of hepatic transporters, elucidate the role of cholangiocyte transporters in hepatic drug disposition and transporter-mediated drug interactions, and advance transporter science by developing novel approaches and tools to improve transporter function assessment and predict hepatic drug disposition in vivo. We seek an exceptional, highly motivated postdoctoral scholar to investigate the utility of in vitro models (e.g., hepatic organoid 3D cell models, sandwich-cultured hepatocytes, HuH-7 cells) to (1) examine hepatic transporter trafficking and regulatory mechanisms, and (2) predict the impact of drug- and disease-mediated alterations in transporter function on the hepatic disposition of drugs and metabolites. Requirements: PhD in cell/molecular biology, biochemistry, pharmacology, pharmaceutics, engineering or related discipline, and expertise in cell culture and advanced molecular biology/biochemistry techniques. Preference will be given to applicants with experience studying protein function/regulation, western blotting, cloning and mutagenesis, immunohistochemical imaging, and live cell imaging. Excellent communication skills and ability to work independently as well as a member of an interdisciplinary team are essential.
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Yanguang Cao, Ph.D.Associate Professor Research in the Cao lab is broadly focused on quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP), pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics (PK/PD), as well as systems biology. The lab combines molecular imaging, computational modeling, and statistical inference tools to study the pharmacologic actions of therapeutic antibodies. Specifically, the Cao lab develops and employs mathematical and experimental approaches to unravel the mechanistic complexities of antibody PK/PD, disease progression, and evolution. This work addresses fundamental challenges associated with the development and clinical application of therapeutic antibodies. Project description for this fellowship As of 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved over 110 antibody therapeutics. A majority of these approved antibodies are based on IgG framework, which comprises two main structural regions: Fab and Fc. Among the diverse IgG subclasses (IgG1, 2, 3, and 4) utilized in these therapeutics, each subclass exhibits unique properties in terms of its Fc functions. Despite the approval of antibodies with either silent or active Fc regions, the optimal design of the Fc domain—whether silent or functional—remains a significant challenge for many disease targets. For example, there is ongoing debate about whether anti-PD1 antibodies should possess a silent or functional Fc region. Addressing this issue necessitates a thorough understanding of the specific disease contexts and the environmental factors that may influence the pharmacological actions of these antibodies. Furthermore, the extent to which effector functions, elicited by the antibody, contribute to its pharmacological effects, and the strategies for designing and optimizing the Fc region for specific disease contexts and target properties are still unclear. To tackle these questions, our research will develop experimental and computational approaches to understand the Fc functions in disease-specific contexts. Specifically, this project will focus on
This project demands a foundational understanding of immunology and pharmacology, as well as proficiency in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics modeling and simulation.
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Kevin Frankowski, Ph.D.Assistant Professor The Frankowski Research Group is a medicinal and synthetic organic chemistry laboratory focusing on hit-to-lead and preclinical optimization of small molecule therapeutics and chemical probes. We harness our chemical synthesis expertise to solve emerging challenges facing modern medicine. This has led to ongoing collaborative projects for metastatic cancer and neuroscience targets. Selective anti-metastasis agents. Of particular interest is the development of next generation anti-metastasis agents that build on the development of our first-in-class phase I human clinical trial candidate, metarrestin (NCT04222413). We are concurrently exploring three different approaches to improved compounds. Such next generation agents could expand the target patient population beyond drug-resistant/late-stage patients and provide chemical tools to elucidate metarrestin’s mechanism of action. Allosteric dopamine receptor modulators. In addition to highly conserved orthosteric sites, many GPCRs, including dopamine receptors, possess distinct and non-conserved allosteric sites. Thus, compounds that modulate receptors through the interaction with an allosteric site have the potential to be exceptionally selective. Our lab is interested in the discovery and optimization of highly selective dopamine receptor modulators, which may be useful in the treatment of schizophrenia, substance use disorder and the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease. Aquaporin channel modulation. Inhibition of aquaporin-4 (AQ4) channel function is a promising approach for preventing the damage resulting from stroke and traumatic brain injury. Such damage can lead to prolonged recovery or permanent disability following injury. In a rat model of traumatic CNS injury, inhibition of AQ4 function led to rapid, full recovery compared to permanent disability in untreated animals. This early-stage collaboration will optimize several small molecule hit scaffolds and evaluate their suitability for preclinical development. Nonopioid pain therapeutics. Prescription opioid drugs remain the prevailing treatment for chronic pain, contributing to opioid dependence and the opioid-related health crisis, underscoring the urgent need for new approaches in pain management. This project will develop our novel sigma receptor ligand classes for pain management as an alternative to opioid drugs.
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Erin Heinzen, Pharm.D., Ph.D.Associate Professor The Heinzen Lab focuses on identifying genetic mutations that cause neurodevelopmental diseases, determining how the mutations cause disease, and translating the gene discoveries into novel treatment approaches for patients suffering from epilepsy, autism, and beyond. We use a variety of approaches in our research including short- and long-read next-generation sequencing, single-cell RNAseq, 2D and 3D induced pluripotent derived neuronal models of neurodevelopmental disorders, electrophysiology, live-cell imaging, and microscopy. Current and planned research projects include:
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Lindsey James, Ph.D.Assistant Professor The goal of my lab is to undertake and lead innovative and novel projects focused on the chemical biology of chromatin regulation, with an emphasis on the development of small molecule chemical probes. Providing such tool compounds to the scientific community has the potential to open new avenues of research in various disease relevant fields, and translate to compounds of therapeutic value. Our work in this area has pioneered the biochemical assays and medicinal chemistry strategies for high-quality probe development for the methyl-lysine reader target class, as well as the means by which to evaluate probe selectivity, mechanism of action, and cellular activity. Using a variety of approaches, we utilize such chemical tools to improve our understanding of their molecular targets and the broader biological consequences of modulating these targets in disease, particularly cancer. We are also developing novel methods and screening platforms to discover hit compounds to accelerate methyl-lysine reader probe discovery, such as affinity-based combinatorial strategies, as well as novel ligand-based tools such as protein degradation reagents, or PROTACs, as potential therapeutic modalities. Examples of targets that we are currently pursuing include NSD2, CDYL2, PHF19, and MPP8, among others. My laboratory has partnered with and/or received funding from various companies including Deerfield Management Company, HitGen, OpenBench, and Sphaera Pharma to pursue translational research and assist in progressing our findings to the clinic.
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Alexander Kabanov, Ph.D., Dr.Sci.Mescal Swain Ferguson Distinguished Professor My research program focuses on:
We are looking for a highly interdisciplinary researcher who can design and test new polymer-nucleic acid formulations and model their pharmacokinetics and immunomodulatory effects. |
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Rihe Liu, Ph.D.Professor The Liu lab uses a combination of cutting-edge technologies including directed molecular evolution and mRNA/yeast surface display, protein and mRNA design and engineering, lipid nanoparticle and targeted delivery, syngeneic and humanized mouse models for the development of novel immunotherapeutic, radiopharmaceutical, and chemically modified biomolecules (proteins/peptides, mRNAs, and drug conjugates). Current projects include the development of first-in-class biologics for the treatment of TNBC, GI cancers and their liver metastasis, obesity, and substance addictions.
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Eugene Muratov, Ph.D.Associate Professor The main areas of my research combine the development of data science methodologies and tools, and practical applications of these tools for various fields of science. Theoretical areas include the development of descriptors for compound mixtures, new workflows for biomolecular data curation and analysis, development and application of knowledge graphs, approaches for QSAR model validation, and merging ligand- and structure-based approaches for drug discovery and computational toxicology into a solid pipeline. There are several ongoing applied projects including antiviral and antimicrobial research, identification of compounds with desired polypharmacological profiles, modeling of all skin-related (sensitization, penetration, irritation, and corrosion) and acute (oral, respiratory, etc.) toxicities, modeling and optimization of ADMET properties, and computer-aided molecular design of compounds with the desired characteristics (antiviral activity, selectivity to certain receptors, etc.). As can be gleaned from my list of publications (more than 150), my research has had a major impact in the area of computational drug discovery and toxicology where we employ QSAR modeling and other cheminformatics approaches to discover novel compounds with desired properties. In recent years, I have also expanded my research interest towards the exploration of biomedical knowledge graphs to discover functional connections between important biomedical entities. As an academic educator, I have provided mentorship to 25 undergraduate and graduate students in the USA, Ukraine, Moldova, and Brazil. In 2019, I co-founded Predictive, LLC, a specialized company developing computational toxicity assessment tools.
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Juliane Nguyen, Ph.D.Vice Chair and Professor The Nguyen lab is dedicated to translating cutting-edge research into life-changing therapies for patients suffering from cancer, myocardial infarction, colitis, and other diseases. Our interdisciplinary team combines the power of molecular engineering, pharmaceutical sciences, and bioinformatics to develop genetically and molecularly engineered biotherapeutics that are safe, effective, and tailored to each patient’s individual needs.
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Zhenwei Song, Ph.D.Assistant Professor To develop safer AAV vectors for gene therapy, my lab is adopting 3D spheroid models to evaluate liver toxicity in diverse genetic backgrounds. We are looking for a postdoctoral fellow to work on the new vector design, and the development of cell models for the next generation of AAV gene therapy, as well as a new mechanism to block AAV-induced liver toxicity. This position will have close collaboration with the UNC Gene Therapy Center and the Institute for Drug Safety Sciences.
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Kathleen Thomas, Ph.D., MPHAssociate Professor and Vice Chair for Research and Graduate Studies Our work uses behavioral economics to frame mental health services research. We seek to improve mental health, focusing on disparities in access to care, health insurance policy, and patient self-efficacy. All three areas require patient-engaged work with multidisciplinary research teams and creative data complication to accomplish scientific breakthroughs. We are funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to compare strategies to build parent self-efficacy among parents of transition-age youth with intellectual and developmental disability who face significant unmet care needs upon transition to adult services. We use multiple sources of data (surveys, audio-recordings, medical records, claims) to understand trends in psychotropic medication use and factors that support high quality care and health. We are funded by NIDA to develop metrics for quality of care in substance abuse services and describe intersectional factors associated with access to high quality services. We work in a multidisciplinary team with faculty from Schools of Medicine, Publish Health, and Social Work. We seek a collaborative and independently motivated postdoctoral scholar to expand our work in mental health services research, including 1) participate in research examining the quality of substance abuse services by intersectional status based on age, race, gender, comorbidities and contextual factors, such as rurality and social determinants of health; and 2) explore factors associated with access to psychotropic medications and factors associated with high quality or high risk patterns of use. Requirements: PhD in pharmaceutical outcomes and policy, public health or a related discipline focused on mental health services research with extensive experience in data management and analysis with claims, medical records and survey data using SAS and Stata. Experience developing longitudinal surveys with Redcap is preferred. Preference will be given to applicants with experience studying health insurance design, novel measurement of individual and service use characteristics, and neighborhood and workforce contextual factors that impact mental health service use. Excellent communication skills and the ability to work independently, as well as a member of an interdisciplinary team, are essential.
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Alexander Tropsha, Ph.D.K.H. Lee Distinguished Professor Research in the Tropsha lab focuses on computational drug discovery, cheminformatics, computational toxicology, structural bioinformatics and health informatics, with an emphasis on methodology development and experimentally testable hypothesis generation. Our studies have had a major impact on computational drug discovery and computational toxicology, where we employ cheminformatics approaches such as QSAR modeling to predict various types of biological activity, drug-like properties, and adverse events for new chemicals. Current projects for a postdoctoral fellow include the development of novel computational methods for structure-based drug discovery, using inventive pharmacophore mapping methods as well as the development and use of generative chemical modeling in drug discovery. This project will make use of the novel workflow for structure-based virtual screening of ultra-large (~40B compounds) chemical libraries to identify high-confidence hit compounds (dubbed HIDDENGEM), which we continue to develop and employ in several applied drug discovery studies. Another exciting active project involves the development and application of biomedical knowledge graphs, a special type of data integration solution where facts or knowledge are captured as connected semantic triples, and each triple is comprised of a Subject node, Predicate edge, and Object node. The current version of the knowledge graph dubbed ROBOKOP (Reasoning Over Biological Objects Organized in Knowledge Oriented Pathways) includes more than 9M nodes and over 136M edges. |
