Alexander “Sasha” Kabanov, Ph.D., Dr.Sc., professor in the UNMC Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, has been awarded the Parke-Davis Endowed Chair in Pharmaceutics in recognition of his outstanding and innovative work in the field of drug delivery.
The recognition also is for the leadership role he has assumed in advancing the College of Pharmacy’s drug research program in the areas of nanomedicine and nanotechnology.
“I am honored and extremely pleased to receive this named professorship,” said Dr. Kabanov, a faculty member in the College of Pharmacy since 1994. “Not only is it recognition for what my research team and I have accomplished in the past, but it’s indicative of the support that we have in trying to develop a center for drug delivery and nanomedicine here at UNMC.”
The Parke-Davis Professorship in Pharmaceutics was established in the late 1980s, following an initial gift of $500,000 from Warner Lambert Co., which has been since acquired by Pfizer.
Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation and the Nebraska Research Initiative, Dr. Kabanov uses nanotechnology to kill cancer cells resistant to chemotherapy. Nanotechnology uses single molecules and atoms about 1/80,000 the diameter of a single human hair. Using this technology, Dr. Kabanov has discovered a polymer that enables medications to pass through cancer cell membranes. The polymer has achieved up to 1,000 times higher efficacy against drug-resistant tumor cells than doxorubicin alone, a widely used chemotherapeutic agent.
“As a result, much more of the drug gets inside the cell, and it kills the cell,” Dr. Kabanov said.
“Dr. Kabanov has been a strong driving force behind the college’s efforts to establish a world-class drug delivery research program at the medical center,” said Clarence Ueda, Pharm.D., Ph.D., dean of the College of Pharmacy. “The endowed chair was intended for a person of Dr. Kabanov’s stature and abilities in mind.”
Dr. Kabanov said that “administration at all levels” has been supportive of the proposed Center for Drug Delivery and Nanomedicine at UNMC. He noted the work of Dr. Ueda and Dennis Robinson, Ph.D., chairman of the department of pharmaceutical sciences.
“This will give our program even more prominence, which is exciting for its future,” Dr. Kabanov said. “Our goal is to build one of the best drug-delivery and nanomedicine programs in the world, and we are excited to do that.”