Pharmacology professor wins national award for pioneering research

Feb 26, 2008

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics will soon honor a KU Medical Center professor with the 2008 Bernard B. Brodie Award in Drug Metabolism, recognizing important research achievements in that field.

Dr. Curtis Klaassen, University Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Therapeutics at the Medical Center, will receive the biennial award for his pioneering work in drug uptake, drug metabolism, and drug excretion by the liver. Dr. Klaassen's work focuses on both the disposition of toxic heavy metals as well as drugs.

“The research we conduct is to understand how the body eliminates drugs and various environmental chemicals from our bodies,” Dr. Klaassen said. “It's very important to drug development because it helps us predict in which tissues the drug will be distributed, and how long the drug will be effective.”

The award recognizes not just Dr. Klaassen's contributions to drug development and its accompanying fields, but also to environmental concerns. If a person is exposed to pesticides or other harmful chemicals, knowing the precise effects of the chemicals is essential to treatment. Knowing how the chemical gets into the liver cell, what it binds to, or whether it is metabolized in the liver cell, and how it effluxes out of the liver cell aids in the treatment of the poisoned patient.

Dr. Klaassen is one of the Medical Center's longest-serving and most recognized professors. He joined the faculty in 1968, has published more than 400 peer-reviewed articles, and is a frequently cited author in his field. The research of Dr. Klaassen and his department is especially relevant to liver-related injury and treatment, because the liver has a major role in the uptake, metabolism, and excretion of chemicals.

“It's key to the future of pharmacology that we understand how chemicals enter and efflux out of cells,” Dr. Klaassen said. “We want the drugs to enter the correct cells to have the desired effect, but eliminated at an appropriate time to decrease the potential for side and toxic effects.”