Dr. Sari (far left) in the lab with students. Photo by Daniel Miller
Dr. Youssef Sari, assistant professor of Pharmacology, has had an excellent year in terms of publications and presentations. In addition to publications in Neuroscience, the Journal of Molecular Neuroscience, and the Journal of Psychopharmacology, Dr. Sari is co-chairing a session at the International Conference on Drug Discovery and Therapy (ICDDT). The ICDDT was organized by Nobel-laureate Dr. Ferid Murad and Dr. Atta-ur-Rahma, editor of Current Medicinal Chemistry. Dr. Sari will give two lectures at the conference involving compounds for the treatment of alcohol dependence. Dr. Sari’s lectures will focus in the identification of three compounds for the treatment of alcohol dependence.
Dr. Sari identified an FDA-approved drug, ceftriaxone, which is a β-lactam antibiotic that has the potential to reduce alcohol intake and attenuates relapse-like behavior in his established animal model. Dr. Sari has recently identified and patented another drug, termed GPI-1046, that has the potential to increase the level of glutamate transporter 1 in the brain and consequently reduce alcohol consumption in rat models.
Dr. Sari was featured on the PharmaJo website and on Jordanian television as a consequence of his presentation of novel compounds for the treatment of alcohol addiction at the International Conference in Jordan, which was co-sponsored by the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Dr. Sari’s Neuroprotection and Drug Abuse Research Lab is also studying neurotrophic peptides and other neuroprotective compounds in the treatment of diseases involving oxidative stress. His goal is to identify compounds or drugs that may have the potential to slow or attenuate the progression of Huntington’s disease. Dr. Sari has published discussions about these compounds in Recent Patents on CNS Drug Discovery. As recognition for the outstanding contributions to The University of Toledo, Dr. Sari was the recipient of the Research/Scholarship Award for 2012.