Richard Weinshilboum, M.D. (Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology)
Liewei Wang, M.D., Ph.D., Assoc. Director (Assistant Professor of Pharmacology)
Christine Formea, Pharm.D., Assoc. Director
Pharmacogenomics is the study of the role of inheritance in individual variation in drug response – variation that can extend from potentially life-threatening adverse drug reactions at one end of the spectrum to lack of the desired therapeutic effect of the drug at the other. Although many factors, including age, sex, underlying disease or other drugs (drug interactions) can contribute to variation in drug response phenotypes, it is increasingly clear that genetic factors play an important role.
The goal of the Pharmacogenomics Core is to advise and assist investigators who are designing drug trials or who are studying adverse drug reactions with regard to research strategies that employ the latest genomic science to study the contribution of inheritance to variable drug response.
Core Director Dr. Richard Weinshilboum is a pioneer in pharmacogenetics-pharmacogenomics who also directs the Mayo-NIH Pharmacogenetics Research Network (PGRN) Center – a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional component of a nationwide NIH-supported pharmacogenomics research effort.
Associate Director Dr. Liewei Wang trained in both medicine and laboratory-based pharmacologic science – but always with a focus on pharmacogenomics. Dr. Wang will advise on the use of genomic techniques and on functional genomic aspects of pharmacogenomic studies – an area within which she has extensive background and experience.
Associate Director Dr. Christine Formea has extensive training, background and expertise in the pharmacokinetic aspects of pharmacogenomic studies. She will advise on drug metabolite assays and pharmacokinetic analyses within pharmacogenomic studies.
The team of Drs. Weinshilboum, Wang and Formea will advise investigators who are designing drug trials or studies of adverse drug reactions with regard to pharmacogenomic research strategies. Specific laboratory-based techniques (e.g., blood drug assays, functional genomic experiments) will also be performed for selected studies. The goal of this core will be to assist with the incorporation of pharmacogenomic components into drug trials in which pharmacogenomics might enhance our understanding of variation in drug response phenotypes.