Spotlight on new faculty – Meet Sorin Luca, Ph.D.

Sorin Luca, Ph.D., assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, is among the many new faculty members at UNMC.

Name: Sorin Luca, Ph.D.

Title: Assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences

Sorin Luca, Ph.D.

Interests: Dr. Luca’s research focuses on protein structure determination using solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance. He is especially interested in the study of membrane proteins and amyloid fibrils that are involved in a wide range of diseases such as diabetes, cancer, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s and infectious diseases. Because these proteins are very important drug targets, Dr. Luca’s long-term goal is to provide structural information that will help the design of new therapeutics and imaging markers. He also is interested in fundamental processes of biological membranes, such as the formation of lipid rafts and the budding of vesicles and viruses.

Previous positions: Postdoctoral research associate, National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, Md.) and National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (Tallahassee, Fla.).

Education: Ph.D., Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Goettingen, Germany, 2003.

Honors:

• The Max Planck Society’s Otto-Hahn Medal for Young Scientists, 2003.
  
• The German Chemical Society’s Ernst Award of the Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Group, 2003.

All UNMC departments are encouraged to send information on new faculty members to UNMC Today at today@unmc.edu. Using the above format, please include the person’s title, specialty, previous position(s), doctoral degree, residency, fellowships and memberships. Also include their clinic hours and a phone number for patients interested in making an appointment. Faculty photos are welcome.