Departmental History

In 1967 the late Professor Takeru Higuchi established the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at The University of Kansas. Professor Higuchi is considered by many to be the "father of physical pharmacy". Before his entry into the field, the development of dosage forms was governed largely by tradition and trial and error. Professor Higuchi was among the first pharmaceutical scientists to recognize, and to teach, that drug substances are chemicals and their properties in vitro and in vitro are governed by well-established physico-chemical principles.

The educational and research programs in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at The University of Kansas continue to embrace Higuchi’s philosophy that success in understanding drug action, in controlling drug delivery across biological membranes and to a drug receptor site, in the development of stable formulations, and in the design of sophisticated analytical and bioanalytical methods requires scientific depth in the basic principles of analytical, biophysical, organic and physical chemistry as well as scientific breadth in relevant areas of biology. Thus, multidisciplinary training is a core value of the department’s educational philosophy. These principles are equally important for the development of traditional small molecule drugs and for emerging biotechnology products such as peptides, proteins, polynuclecotides and oglionucleotides. Pharmaceutical chemistry at The University of Kansas embodies those areas of research and instruction referred to variously as pharmaceutics, physical pharmacy, preformulation, formulation, biopharmaceutics, pharmaceutical analysis and bioanalytical chemistry. All of these areas are represented in the research and teaching activities of the department’s faculty members, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows.

Over the past 40 years, the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry has hired full-time, tenure-track faculty members who embraced the educational and research philosophy articulated above and whose research and teaching interests strengthened the department’s various areas of educational and research focus. To further strengthen its educational and research programs, the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry has worked with other departments at The University of Kansas to hire full-time, tenure-track faculty having partial appointments in two departments, one of which is Pharmaceutical Chemistry. The Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry has also strengthened its educational and research programs by granting Courtesy Professor appointments to scientists holding full-time research positions or full-time, tenure-track faculty positions in other departments at The University of Kansas.

In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s the department hired Professors Howard Rytting and Valentino Stella who have each contributed significantly to building the department’s reputation for excellence in the areas of pharmaceutics, physical pharmacy, preformulation and formulation. Professor Rytting’s research interests have included: solution thermodynamics and its applications to drug design and delivery; physical chemistry of biologically active agents; solid state characterization of proteins, effects of pressure and temperature on biologicals and pharmaceuticals; and intra-oral, rectal, intestinal, and transdermal drug absorption. Professor Stella's research interests focus on the application of physical/organic chemistry to the study of factors affecting drug delivery. He is recognized world-wide for his work on improving drug stability and solubility especially as these relate to the preformulation of anti-cancer and anti-AIDS drugs and for the use of prodrugs to overcome poor physicochemical properties (solubility and stability) of drugs. Emeritus Professor Richard L. Schowen has also contributed significantly to building the department’s reputation for excellence in the areas of pharmaceutics, physical pharmacy, preformulation and formulation

From the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, the department made the strategic decision to hire faculty in the areas of biopharmaceutics (with emphasis on cellular and molecular), pharmaceutics, physical pharmacy, preformulation and formulation (with emphasis on macromolecules), and pharmaceutical analysis and bioanalytical chemistry.

In the area of biopharmaceutics, the department recruited Professors Ronald T. Borchardt, Kenneth L. Audus and Teruna J. Siahaan. Over the past 20 years, each of these individuals has contributed significantly to building the department’s reputation for excellence in the areas of cellular and molecular biopharmaceutics. Professor Audus' research interests are focused on the application of endothelial and epithelial cell and tissue culture systems to study mechanisms of drug transport, metabolism, and tissue permeability regulation. His research has included establishment of tissue culture systems comprised of brain microvessel endothelium (i.e., the blood-brain barrier) and trophoblasts (i.e., the placental barrier). Dr. Audus' research group conducts investigations that are directed at developing a basic understanding of drug, tissue, disease, and environmental factors and mechanisms that regulate the distribution of drugs across epithelial and endothelial tissue interfaces into either the systemic circulation or specific tissue compartments from the vasculature. Professor Borchardt’s research interests include: the development and utilization of epithelial (e.g., intestinal mucosa) cell culture systems for studying drug transport and metabolism; elucidation of the structural features of peptidomimetics (e.g., HIV protease inhibitors) that influence their ability to permeate across cell membranes; and the development of prodrug strategies for enhancing the cell membrane permeation of peptides (e.g., opioid peptides). Professor Siahaan's research interests are in the area of modulation of proteins that are involved in cell-matrix and cell-cell adhesion. Modulation of cell adhesion can be done using small peptides and peptidomimetics. One application of these cell adhesion peptides is in improving delivery of drugs by modulating the porosity of the intercellular junctions of the biological barriers. Professor Siahaan’s group is also utilizing the recycling mechanisms of cell adhesion receptors for improving the delivery of drugs into intracellular space of a particular cell type (i.e., leukocytes).

In the areas of pharmaceutics, physical pharmacy, preformulation and formulation as they are applied to macromolecules, the department recruited in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s Professors Elizabeth M. Topp, Christian Schoneich, and C. Russell Middaugh. Over the past 15-20 years, each of these individuals has contributed significantly to building the department’s reputation for excellence in the area of pharmaceutical biotechnology. Professor Topp’s research interests involve the application of mass transport principles to problems related to controlled release and drug delivery. Her current research addresses the stability of peptides and proteins in polymer matrices, and the characterization of these systems as a reactive environment. Professor Schöneich's research focuses on the oxidative post-translational modification of proteins in vitro. These are generally carried out by reactive oxygen species and/or reactive nitrogen species. In vivo, such oxidative modifications accompany physiological disorders associated with biological aging or disease. In vitro, i.e. in pharmaceutical formulations, protein oxidation presents an important stability problem. Professor Middaugh’s research focuses on the pharmaceutics of macromolecular systems including vaccines, recombinant proteins and gene delivery vehicles, protein stabilization, bacterial Type III secretion systems and the role of polyanions in cellular structure and function. Professors Borchardt and Schowen have also contributed to the area of pharmaceutical biotechnology through their research on the chemical pathways by which peptides and proteins degrade in aqueous and in polymeric delivery systems.

In the area of pharmaceutical analysis and bioanalytical chemistry, the department recruited in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s Professors John F. Stobaugh, George S. Wilson and Sue M. Lunte. Professors Wilson and Lunte also hold joint appointments in the Department of Chemistry. Over the past 15-20 years, each of these individuals has contributed significantly to building the department’s reputation for excellence in the areas of pharmaceutical analysis and bioanalytical chemistry. Professor Stobaugh's research emphasizes liquid phase capillary column separation techniques (capillary electrochromatography, capillary liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis) and various chemistries for the enhancement of separation and detection. Application of these technologies is directed towards the in vitro analysis of anticancer agents, drugs, and peptides and rapid high efficiency separations of bio-macromolecules.

Professor Wilson’s research includes applications of electrochemistry to biochemical systems, especially development of biosensors for real-time in-vivo monitoring, studies of immobilized proteins, development of analytical methods for establishing protein stability and conformation, and development of clinical and immunochemical methods. Professor Lunte’s research is focused on the development of sensitive and selective analytical methods for the detection of peptides, amino acids, neurotransmitters, and drugs in biological fluids. Release, transport and metabolism of these substances are then investigated in vitro using a cell culture model or in vitro using microdialysis sampling.

In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, the department made the strategic decision to hire two new faculty members in the areas of pharmaceutics, physical pharmacy, preformulation, and formulation with expertise in small molecules and macromolecules. Professors Eric J. Munson and Jennifer S. Laurence were subsequently recruited into the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Professor Laurence also holds a joint appointment in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. Professor Munson’s research interests include: the application of analytical techniques, especially solid-state NMR spectrometry, to the characterization of pharmaceutical solids; investigation of the structure and reactivity of pharmaceutical agents in polymer matrices; correlation of solid-state NMR chemical shifts with molecular structure; investigation of the transformations between crystalline and amorphous forms of pharmaceutical solids; effect of processing upon drug structure and stability; investigation of peptide and protein stability in formulations; and effects of freeze drying upon drug stability. Professor Laurence’s research interests include: the use of biophysical techniques including high-field multidimensional solution NMR to determine structures and analyze dynamics of peripheral membrane proteins under various solution and environmental conditions; and examining the stability and dynamic motions of proteins and correlating these properties with efficiency of enzymatic function.

The department also decided to add a new faculty member in the area of biopharmaceutics with emphasis on cellular and molecular phenomena resulting in the recruitment of Professor Jeff Krise. Professor Krise’s research interests are focused on understanding driving forces important in the transport and/or distribution of small molecule type drugs within the array of intracellular compartments contained within mammalian cells. Drug targets are typically confined to a single organelle population within a cell; likewise many drugs have been shown to preferentially accumulate within specific organelles. The long-term goal of Professor Krise’s research is to use this understanding to rationally develop novel drug delivery strategies to maximize the interaction of the drug with its target in the context of a single cell.

More recently, the department made the strategic decision to hire new faculty members in the areas of drug delivery, bioinformatics, and pharmaceutical analysis and bioanalytical chemistry. To date, Professors Cory Berkland, Laird Forrest and Gennady M. Verkhivker have been recruited as faculty members in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Professor Berkland also holds a joint appointment in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering and Professor Verkhivker holds a joint appointment in the Bioinformatics and Computational Life Sciences Laboratory. Professor Berkland’s research interests are focused on developing precision engineering technologies at the macro- to molecular scale for novel or improved biomedical and drug delivery devices. Professor Forrest’s research interests are focused on applying polymeric materials, such as micelle nanocarriers, to the treatment of diseases. Professor Verkhivker’s research interests are focused on developing a quantitative understanding of structure, dynamics, and binding in complex biomolecular networks and developing integrated computational approaches and tools for predicting molecular signatures of human disease and translational research. The department is currently completing the search for a new member in the area of pharmaceutical analysis and bioanalytical chemistry.

In addition to the seventeen full-time and part-time, tenure-track faculty members listed above, the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry has six Courtesy Professors including: Professor Craig Lunte from the Department of Chemistry; Professors Stevin Gehrke and Marylee Southard from the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering; Professor Vandervelde from the Structural Biology; and Professor Scott Weir from the Cancer Center.