Yale Bulletin and Calendar

January 12, 2007|Volume 35, Number 14|Two-Week Issue


BULLETIN HOME

VISITING ON CAMPUS

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

IN THE NEWS

BULLETIN BOARD

CLASSIFIED ADS


SEARCH ARCHIVES

DEADLINES

DOWNLOAD FORMS

BULLETIN STAFF


PUBLIC AFFAIRS HOME

NEWS RELEASES

E-MAIL US


YALE HOME PAGE


Coca-Prados gets inside-view of
pharmaceutical industry at Pfizer

Glaucoma researcher Miguel Coca-Prados, professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at Yale School of Medicine, recently completed a term at Pfizer's Groton Laboratories as the 2006 Yale-Pfizer Global Discovery Visiting Professor.

Now in its third year, the Visiting Professor Program is a 12-week sabbatical for an outstanding Yale faculty member to consult and do research on site at Pfizer Global Research and Development in Groton/New London. Not only is this program designed to strengthen the working institutional relationship between the University and Pfizer, it provides Yale faculty an insider understanding of the pharmaceutical industry and generates new collaborations for future research.

Coca-Prados studies how mutations causing glaucoma alter the normal function of the cells in the eye where it is expressed. His laboratory has identified a number of genes relevant to the cell and molecular function of ciliary epithelium, a tissue that regulates intraocular pressure. In glaucoma, an abnormal elevation of intraocular pressure is one of the strongest known risk factors for developing the disease, which affects about 67 million people worldwide.

The Yale scientist's work is creating a better understanding of the molecular and cellular changes of glaucoma and producing new strategies to revert the abnormal function of the protein myocilin when it is mutated.

During his stay at Pfizer, Coca-Prados delivered four lectures and visited many different Pfizer sites, including the Clinical Research Unit in New Haven; the Research Technology Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts; the Proteomics Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan; and the Ophthalmology Research Laboratories in La Jolla, California.

"One of my goals was to learn innovative techniques in proteomics and systems biology," says Coca-Prados, who sought to develop long-term collaborations for his research. "As a result of our new collaboration with Pfizer researchers at the ophthalmology area in La Jolla we will begin studies on predictable biomarkers and targets in glaucoma."

The Yale-Pfizer Global Discovery Visiting Professor Program was developed and sponsored by the Discovery Laboratories at Pfizer Global Research and Development, the Women's Leadership Network at Pfizer and the Office for Women in Medicine at Yale.

"Over the past three years, our scientists have brought three distinct areas of research to the collaboration. Each has had a unique first-hand experience in the challenges of the pharmaceutical industry, and each has returned to their students and fellows with new insights for their research," says Merle Waxman, associate dean and director of the Office for Women in Medicine at the School of Medicine.

Karen Houseknecht, associate research fellow and past-president of the Women's Leadership Network at Pfizer, said: "The 2006 Visiting Professor Program expanded the breadth and depth of interactions between our Yale visiting professor and the global Pfizer organization. Dr. Coca-Prados not only had the opportunity to build relationships with Pfizer scientists at five of our U.S. research/clinical sites, but he also interfaced with leaders throughout the organization including clinicians, sales and marketing colleagues. This unique program gave him the opportunity to learn about, and give his input on, the myriad complexities and challenges of discovering, developing and marketing new and innovative medicines for patients."


T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Study reveals more effective approach to curbing HIV spread

DeVane Lectures to ask: Are sustainability and capitalism compatible?

Celebrating the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

Former deputy secretary of U.N. to be visiting fellow this spring

ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS

Streamlined office . . . aims to enhance postdoctoral experience

Global Village Shelters to be on exhibit at the Divinity School

Play shows 'humanity behind the statistics' of AIDS epidemic

Beinecke Library exhibit explores impact of world fairs

SCHOOL OF MEDICINE NEWS

'Marat/Sade' offers audiences 'a full-scale theatrical assault . . .'

Rudd Center awards Golden Apples for innovative ideas to battle obesity

New exhibit at Jonathan Edwards College features portraits, drawings . . .

Memorial in honor of Ellen Hudson Graham

Conductor to present series on 'Reflections on Bach'

Yale trustee's Vietnam memorial wins award

Yale Books in Brief

Campus Notes


Bulletin Home|Visiting on Campus|Calendar of Events|In the News

Bulletin Board|Classified Ads|Search Archives|Deadlines

Bulletin Staff|Public Affairs|News Releases| E-Mail Us|Yale Home