ASPET

Join us for this live lecture from distinguished scientist, and winner of the 2026 Otto Krayer Award, Joseph Coyle, MD!

His presentation, "The Role of the Glutamatergic Neurons in the
Pathophysiology of Schizophrenia: Pharmacologic Implications,” will be open to both ASPET members and non-members.

Learn more and register: https://ow.ly/8l1450Z4OU3

Interested in learning more about "Advances in GLP-1 Pharmacology: Obesity and Beyond?" Join the Great Lakes Chapter (GLC) of ASPET for their 39th Annual Scientific Meeting on June 12 at Midwestern University in Downers Grove. The GLC annual meeting provides an excellent forum for learning and exchanging of ideas in all fields of the pharmacological sciences, and is a major networking event for biomedical scientists in the Great Lakes region of the Midwest.

Learn more and register! The deadline is Wednesday, June 10: https://ow.ly/xsIG50Z7HMe

Submit your research to JPET's upcoming special collection, “Multi-Systems Pharmacology and Therapeutic Application of Adipokines and Neuropeptides in Obesity.”

The aim of this special collection is to spotlight high-quality, cutting-edge research that (i) advances our fundamental understanding of the pharmacology and pathophysiology of adipokines and neuropeptides in obesity and obesity-related diseases and (ii) describes novel therapeutic strategies targeting adipokine or neuropeptide signaling to manage obesity and related metabolic disorders. Original research articles or minireviews will be considered.

Learn more about this opportunity: https://ow.ly/iQ8X50Z6In7

This work explores how cancer alters drug-metabolizing enzymes by combining clinical, biomarker, and proteomic data with physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling to test competing hypotheses on P450 abundance. And it's the featured article in Drug Metabolism and Disposition's most recent issue! Free to read and share with your colleagues, for a limited time: https://ow.ly/v0Jr50Z7ffe

Executive Officer Dave Jackson discusses ASPET’s plans for the summer following the 2026 Annual Conference, including the Awardee Lecture Series, the Focus on Pharmacology webinars, ASPET’s attendance at the upcoming World Congress of Pharmacology, and more:

A Note from Dave’s Desk - The Pharmacologist Executive Officer Dave Jackson discusses ASPET’s plans for the summer following the 2026 Annual Conference, including the Awardee Lecture Series in June, the Focus on Pharmacology webinars in July and August, ASPET’s attendance at the upcoming World Congress of Pharmacology, and more.

It has long been understood that the immune system, specifically T cells, can fight cancer. In the 1980s, T cells were isolated from patients, expanded, and reintroduced to the patient; CAR T-cell therapy arose from the same principles. Endogenous T cells do not eliminate cancer for multifactorial reasons, including exhaustion. This raises the question: can endogenous T cell activation be extended to better clear tumors?

A team from Arcus Biosciences in California developed diacylglycerol kinase (DGK) inhibitors and demonstrated that simultaneous inhibition of two DGK isoforms (alpha and zeta) prolongs T cell activation and increases tumor killing in human and mouse tumors. Surprisingly, pharmacological inhibition of DGK isoforms led to the degradation of the inhibited kinases, suggesting that DGK inhibition would have a long-term effect due to reduced protein levels. The preclinical data support moving forward to determine if the novel compounds are viable drugs. Moreover, the data give hope that a novel treatment may come to fruition to help our endogenous T cells target cancer.

Read JPET's recent Editor's Choice: https://ow.ly/WoHt50Z6GvQ

This special collection from Molecular Pharmacology will celebrate the world-leading research showcased by attendees of the 5th Transatlantic ECI GPCR Symposium, a free online event organized for early-career investigators by early-career investigators to foster transatlantic knowledge exchange and collaborations within the GPCR community.

The symposium will cover key areas of GPCR research including structural and computational approaches, the cellular organization of GPCR signaling, the roles of GPCRs in health and disease, as well as GPCRs as drug targets and the novel tools and methodologies developed in the field. The Molecular Pharmacology special collection will include original research articles aligned with these topics, a limited number of commentaries and consideration for minireviews.

Learn more and submit your research: https://ow.ly/TjkK50Z6jYn

ASPET was on Capitol Hill today with the Coalition of Health Funding (CHF) speaking with Congress on FY2027 appropriations issues including maintaining a consistent and robust funding stream, having grants funded, and other issues impacting NIH.

Thomas Lamme, a PhD Candidate at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, is the Molecular Pharmacology Highlighted Trainee Author for June 2026. His research focuses on how immune cells are guided towards the gut through a chemical navigation system involving CCL25 and its receptors CCR9 and ACKR4.

"I hope that my research contributes to a better understanding how proteins interact with each other and how these interactions can be modulated, which is important for developing new ways to influence biological processes.”

Read the article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molpha.2026.100129