Members

Dr. Ronning has focused on mycobacterial drug discovery since 1997 with emphasis on targets involved in mycobacterial cell wall and capsule biosynthesis. As a part of these studies, he has played a major role in defining the mechanism-of-action of two different anti-Tuberculosis drugs. Continuing work in TB drug discovery is highly collaborative and includes efforts with multiple external collaborators.

In addition, Dr. Ronning’s lab investigates local MRSA, anti-viral, and anti-cancer drug discovery efforts since joining UNMC in 2020. In addition to the academic drug discovery efforts, Ronning is the founder of Sevivo, which has focused on the development of in-vitro drug screening platforms targeting mRNA stability and epigenetic targets. More recently, Sevivo is expanding its drug discovery platforms by employing peptide-based probes.

Dr. Wang is a tenured professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, UNMC. His research primarily focuses on prodrug and nanomedicine development for inflammatory, autoimmune, musculoskeletal and craniofacial diseases. Dr. Wang obtained his PhD in polymer chemistry and physics under Professor Xin-De Feng from Peking University, China.  He then received 3-year postdoctoral training in pharmaceutical chemistry under Prof. Jindřich Kopeček at University of Utah. He joined UNMC in early 2005 as a tenure-track assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2008. In 2014, he was promoted to the rank of full professor. Dr. Wang has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers and numerous conference proceedings.

Dr. Wang’s research is multidisciplinary and translational in nature. At UNMC, he has established long-term collaborations with scientists and clinicians from orthopaedics, rheumatology, physiology, microbiology, immunology, dentistry and oncology. Nationally and internationally, he collaborates with researchers from Creighton University, Hospital for Special Surgery, University of Utah, RWTH Aachen University, etc. Dr. Wang’s research has been continuously funded by federal agencies (NIH, DoD) and the pharmaceutical industry (Johnson & Johnson, Amgen, GSK, etc.). 

Dr. Wang is also a prolific inventor. He has over 110 patents and patent applications, some of which have been licensed to the industry for pre-clinical development and commercialization. He has co-founded three start-up companies (i.e. Bohe Biotechnology, Shannon Pharmaceuticals, Ensign Pharmaceutical) focusing on clinical translation and commercialization of drug candidates originated from his laboratory.

Dr. Murry is a Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Science in the College of Pharmacy. His research focuses on the application of clinical pharmacology principles to speed drug development and optimize drug therapy in children and adults.  He has over 30 years of experience in the design, conduct and reporting of pre-clinical and clinical studies evaluating drug properties and strategies for personalized therapeutics.

His group conducts studies evaluating in vitro and in vivo properties, metabolism, disposition and pharmacodynamics of new compounds to help prioritize and expedite the drug development process. A major focus of the Murry lab is on the translation of novel therapies to the clinic and individualization of drug therapy by incorporating pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic endpoints and biomarker validation into the drug discovery and development process. Dr. Murry has active collaborations locally, nationally and internationally with the pharmaceutical industry and multiple academic research groups focused on bringing new compounds to the clinic and identifying improved drug therapy regimens.

Dr. Mohs is the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Pharmacy and an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UNMC. Dr. Mohs is also a member of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center and holds courtesy appointments in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Department of Chemistry (UNO). He received his B.A. in Chemistry from St. John’s University/College of St. Benedict (Collegeville, MN) and received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Utah under Dr. Zheng-Rong Lu. Dr. Mohs then completed his postdoctoral fellowship in the joint Emory-Georgia Tech Department of Biomedical Engineering, as an Emory-Georgia Tech Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence Distinguished Fellow with Dr. Shuming Nie.

Dr. Mohs leads an active research program focused on the development of fluorescent probes to guide the surgical resection of tumors, fluorescent sensor array technology that can rapidly detect and identify bacterial pathogens and drug delivery systems to target multiple myeloma. Dr. Mohs is the immediate past-President of the UNMC Faculty Senate. Dr. Mohs is a recipient of the 2017 UNMC New Investigator award, 2019 UNMC Distinguished Scientist award, and, most recently, selected as a Fellow of the National Strategic Research Institute at the University of Nebraska. 

Dr. Michael Dixon is president and CEO of the UNeMed Corporation, a company that works with faculty, students and staff of UNMC and the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) to help commercialize innovative, new ideas that have the potential to improve public health for Nebraska residents and beyond. Dr. Dixon and the UNeMed staff work to match industry, entrepreneurs and investors with university researchers to foster partnerships for the commercial development of new technology.

As president and CEO of UNeMed, Dr. Dixon is responsible for setting UNeMed’s strategic path and directing UNeMed’s activities; including efforts to protect, market, and license new technology. Under his leadership, UNeMed has significantly grown its technology portfolio, processing more than 100 new inventions each year. In addition, the University has established a strong culture of entrepreneurship, helping to establish 19 new startup companies in the past 5 years. 

Dr. Dixon has served on the search committees for various University leadership positions including the Vice Chancellor for Research and the Vice Chancellor for Business, Finance and Business Development.  In addition, Dr. Dixon is part of the leadership team that is working to develop the Saddle Creek Innovation District and UNeMed will be one of the anchor tenants in the UNMC Innovation Hub at Catalyst. 

Dr. Natarajan is the Ruth Branham Professor in the Eppley Institute for Cancer Research, is the co-Leader of the Targets, Modulators and Delivery (TMD) program of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, and has courtesy appointments in the Departments of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at UNMC.

Dr. Natarajan graduated with a master’s in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, India and received his Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Vermont, Burlington VT. Dr. Natarajan completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA and started his independent career as an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX. Dr. Natarajan moved UNMC as an Associate Professor in 2009. Dr. Natarajan has > 20 years of experience in all aspects of drug discovery and his lab is focused on developing target and mechanism specific modulators as potential therapeutics for various diseases. 

Dr. Ng’s lab aims to identify novel antimalarial therapeutics, and to understand current drug resistance mechanisms to further antimalarial therapeutics. Her lab uses in vitro selection and CRISPR/Cas9 based gene editing methods to characterize resistance profiles and identify targets and modes of resistance of candidate antimalarials. They have recently developed a novel algorithm that utilizes machine learning-based functionalities to automatically identify and enumerate parasite stages as well as subcellular structures within. In addition to characterizing potency of novel antimalarial candidates, this algorithm can also identify the stage at which the compound is most active, giving us clues to its mode of action. This algorithm has been used to characterize antimalarial and antiviral candidates in active collaborations with multiple groups within UNMC (Jonathan Vennerstrom, Martin Conda-Sheridan at Dept Pharmaceutical Sciences, Saint Patrick Reid at Dept Pathology and Microbiology) and between institutions (Daniel Flaherty, Purdue University; Purnima Bhanot, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School; David Fidock, Columbia University Irving Medical School). They have evolved resistance in vitro to antimalarial compounds and performed whole genome sequencing to identify targets or resistance mechanisms for multiple collaborative projects (Drs. Conda-Sheridan and Flaherty).

In addition, the Ng lab is also characterizing existing drug resistance mechanisms. The World Health Organization recommends artemisinin-based combination therapies as first-line treatment for uncomplicated falciparum malaria. Artemisinin resistance has emerged, but for now parasites remain responsive to treatment in Africa, where the burden of malaria morbidity and mortality lie. We have shown that chemical inhibition of the parasite proteasome or genetic mutants of the parasite proteasome decrease P. falciparum survival to artemisinin. Thus, targeting the proteasome and related pathways may be a way to overcome artemisinin resistance. 

Dr. Scarsi is a Professor Vice Chair of Pharmacy Practice and Science at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), with appointments in both the College of Pharmacy and College of Medicine. In addition, she is an Associate Director of the UNMC Antiviral Pharmacology Laboratory (APL).

Dr. Scarsi’s research program focuses on optimizing pharmacologic therapies for persons living with HIV, with an emphasis on global health and sex/gender related issues. Her research program is supported by the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG), where she is a scientific member of the Women’s Health Collaborative Science Group. In addition, the UNMC APL is one of three ACTG network supported pharmacology laboratories. She also leads an NIH-supported research program investigating the impact of antiretroviral therapy on the pharmacology of contraceptive hormones.Locally, Dr. Scarsi is a clinical consultant in the UNMC HIV clinic. Nationally she serves as a consultant for the National Institutes of Health COVID treatment guidelines and recently completed a term on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Panel on Antiretroviral Guidelines for Adults and Adolescents and the NIH Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council. 

Dr. Berkowitz is Willa Cather Professor of Chemistry at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he leads an active research group engaged in science at the chemistry/biology interface with a particular interest in studying the mechanism of and developing inhibitors for PLP enzymes. 

Berkowitz also currently serves as Director of the Division of Chemistry at the National Science Foundation in Alexandria, Virginia. Berkowitz co-leads the Nebraska Drug Discovery & Development Pipeline (ND3P) along with Ken Bayles from UNMC.  He is a AAAS Fellow (2015), a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellow (2008) and an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (1997). In 2018, Berkowitz chaired the international Gordon Research Conference on Biocatalysis and he is a member of the Chemical Sciences Roundtable at the National Academy of Sciences. Berkowitz studied at the University of Chicago (S.B.), Harvard/ETH-Zürich (Ph.D.) and Yale (PD). His honoraria include Visiting Professorships at the Université de Rouen (Normandy, France, 2005), the Max Planck Institute (Dortmund, Germany, 2006) and the Université de Paris- Descartes (2016).

Dr. Helikar is the Susan J Rosowski Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dr. Helikar holds courtesy appointments as an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (UNL) and the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience (UNMC). Dr. Helikar’s long-term goal is to identify how to rewire parts of the immune system en masse to elicit higher-order decision-making that still enables the system to remain otherwise “healthy.”

His team develops computational multi-scale, multi-cellular systems models, high-throughput data analysis tools, systems biology modeling software tools, and combines computationally developed insights with molecular and cellular immunology experimental studies. Dr. Helikar’s research program has been funded by various U.S. federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Department of Defense (DoD), as well as private sponsors, including Google, LLC. Dr. Helikar has co-authored 75+ manuscripts.