Two professors in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (CPHS) have been awarded a $15,000 research grant through NASA’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). This collaborative project between Abebe Mengesha, assistant professor of pharmaceutics and Pramod Mahajan, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences, is a continuation of an earlier project also made possible through a grant from NASA’s EPSCoR program.
Mengesha and Mahajan, along with two CPHS students, Hannah Stonewall and Michael Buege, are studying the effects of triggerable drug delivery systems on living cells and analyzing if and how nanoparticles damage human cell DNA in culture.
This system is of particular interest to NASA for potential use on manned space missions, where drugs can be delivered in a controlled and on-demand technique with minimal intervention and skill requirement by the crew during space travel and exploration. The EPSCoR program requires Mengesha and Mahajan to work in close collaboration with NASA scientists.
For more information, contact Abebe Mengesha at 515-271-2485 or abebe.mengesha@drake.edu.