The Department of Pharmacology is a leading center for research and training in the discipline of pharmacology, and is renowned for its strength in defining basic cellular and molecular mechanisms of signal transduction, elucidating molecular structure and function, and using computational science to translate basic knowledge into drug discovery relevant to treatment of cancer, cardiovascular and neurological diseases.

Drug Discovery

Disease Models

Cell Signaling

Announcements

U.S. News & World Report
ranked UC San Diego's
Department of Pharmacology
Second in Best Global Universities for Pharmacology and Toxicology in 2018

Department of Pharmacology
Ranked second in Total NIH Funding for 2018

_________________________

Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences is proud to announce the launch of their new M.S. in Drug Development & Product Management degree program. The first class of students will commence September 2018.

Seminars

Cutting-edge seminars are hosted almost every Tuesday in the UC San Diego Department of Pharmacology.

Upcoming Seminars:

Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Cancelled
Adrienne Cox, Ph.D.
UNC - Chapel Hill
“Leveraging RAS biology for cancer treatment”
12:00 pm, Leichtag Building, Room 107

In response to COVID-19 concerns and University policies, we will be suspending the Spring Department of Pharmacology seminar series.

2019-2020 Pharmacology Research Discussions Schedule

In the News

July 2020

Congratulations to JoAnn Trejo, PhD who was selected as a Fellow by the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB). Election as a Fellow of ASCB is an honor bestowed upon members by their peers in recognition for their meritorious efforts to advance cell biology and/or its applications and for their service to ASCB.

June 2020

Congratulations to Chair Joan Heller Brown, PhD who was elected as a Distinguished Scientist of the American Heart Association for 2020, a designation which honors those who have made extraordinary contributions to cardiovascular and stroke research.

Congratulations to Michael Karin, PhD who was selected for the 2020 AACR-G.H.A. Clowes Award for Outstanding Basic Cancer Research.

May 2020

Krishna Sriram, postdoc fellow and Paul Insel, MD are featured in "What is the ACE2 receptor, how is it connected to coronavirus and why might it be key to treating COVID-19? The experts explain."

April 2020

Congratulations to David Gonzalez, PhD for being selected as a Chan Zuckerberg Initiative awardee to support the study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease along with UC San Diego colleagues Hiutung Chu and Mamata Sivagnanam.

February 2020

Michael Karin, PhD is featured in "Too Much of a Good Thing May Lead to Too Much of a Liver As Well."

January, 2020

Congratulations to Chair Joan Heller Brown, PhD who was selected for the 2020 Robert R. Ruffolo Career Achievement Award in Pharmacology from ASPET for her scientific achievements and significant contributions to the field of pharmacology.

All News

Events

April 2019
Pharmacology faculty attend the Experimental Biology meeting in Orlando, Florida.

Pictured are (L-R) Drs. K. Brandl, P. Taylor, S. Gutkind, T. Handel, P. Insel, J. Trejo, J. Zhang, J. Heller Brown and A. Newton.

February 2019
Nobel Laureate Dr. Robert J. Lefkowitz (Duke) presents the 46th MilliporeSigma Lectureship Series at UC San Diego.

Pictured are (L-R) Drs. J. Zhang, E. Dennis, T. Handel, P. Taylor, P. Insel, A. Newton, J. Trejo, S. Taylor, L. Brunton, J.H. Brown, R. Lefkowitz, J-P. Changeux and R. Sunahara.