Marshall University was the Site of 8th Annual Summer Research Symposium

The 8th Annual WV-INBRE Summer Research Symposium was held on the campus of Marshall University, July 30th, 2009. The program consisted of oral presentations in the morning session by two student interns and two faculty members-a project investigator and a faculty research development award recipient, a luncheon for participants, and a poster session in the afternoon. Poster presentations were made by summer interns who conducted research at WVU and Marshall University during the 9-week program. Faculty and students conducting research at their home institutions during the year also present the results of their projects.

The keynote speaker for the symposium was Dr. Darryle D. Schoepp, Senior Vice President and Franchise Head at Merck Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Schoepp, who received his Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology from West Virginia University, served three years as a faculty member at Marshall University before going to Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals, his employer prior to moving to Merck. Dr. Schoepp's presentation, "New Drug Therapies for CNS Diseases: What is on the Horizon?" described the challenges facing investigators in this field. Following a discussion of what neuroscience encompasses, Dr. Schoepp provided three examples of emerging success stories in this field; calcitonin-related gene peptide in the treatment of migraine, orexins in the treatment of sleep and arousal and glutamate in the treatment of schizophrenia. He related that a new framework for neuroscience drug discovery is underway that emphasizes a disease and target proof-of-concept approach that should lead to greater success in drug discovery and development.

Photos From the 2009 Summer Research Symposium