Jefferson School of Pharmacy Faculty Member Douglas G. Tilley, PhD Wins NIH Grant

PHILADELPHIA, PA (02/25/2011)(readMedia)-- Douglas G. Tilley, PhD, Bryn Mawr resident and Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Thomas Jefferson University's Jefferson School of Pharmacy, won a National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grant for nearly $2 million to study molecular mechanisms that may preserve cardiac function and survival during the development of heart failure.

"This is Dr. Tilley's first major award as a project investigator and we are extremely pleased with his progress as a scholar and educator," shares Rebecca S. Finley, PharmD, MS, Dean of Jefferson School of Pharmacy.

In the five-year research program, Molecular Mechanisms of Cardiac beta1AR-EGFR Association and Signaling, Tilley will study the interaction of two receptors involved in regulating cardiac function: beta1-adrenergic receptor (?1AR) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). "My goal is to understand and identify the mechanisms of interaction between these receptors," he explains. "We want to understand if this interaction produces beneficial effects during heart failure, which may be something that we can augment, or if there are detrimental signaling events that we want to prevent. This knowledge could potentially lead us to develop some tools to manipulate that interaction."

The research follows up on work that Tilley did as a postdoctoral scholar at Duke University, where he studied beta adrenergic receptor signaling. "That's where I discovered that there was an interaction with the EGF receptor," he says. "In one project that I worked on we found that the pathway between ?1AR and EGFR was beneficial in a mouse model of heart failure: it helped to preserve cell number and survival. Now I'm taking this research to the next step to find out how ?1AR-EGFR signaling achieves this effect and if it is beneficial in other models of heart failure."

Tilley expects that his research findings will enable peers to develop new therapeutic strategies to help someone suffering from heart failure. "The beauty is that since the interaction between ?1AR and EGFR in the heart is a new concept, any information achieved through this research will be useful, whether the various signaling pathways activated are beneficial or not," he says. "But I suspect that we will see a number of positive benefits that we can look at further."

Jefferson School of Pharmacy is part of Thomas Jefferson University, an academic health center in Philadelphia, Pa. The School offers a 4-year Doctor of Pharmacy degree and shares a campus with Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Jefferson Medical College, Jefferson College of Graduate Studies and Jefferson Schools of Nursing, Health Professions and Population Health. For more information visit www.jefferson.edu/pharmacy.