University of California, San Diego | Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

GRADUATE STUDIES

Dr. Vivian Hook is Director of Graduate Training in ‘Pharmaceutical Sciences and Drug Development’ at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in collaboration with the ‘Biomedical Sciences’ Graduate Program at UC San Diego. Graduate courses in drug discovery and development span pre-clinical to clinical development of novel therapeutics.

 

Neurosciences Graduate Program

The Graduate Program in Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego offers an outstanding opportunity for graduate training in one of the most highly interactive scientific environments available in the United States. Recently, our graduate program was named by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences as the top ranking neuroscience graduate program in the country. The faculty who participate in the Graduate Program in Neurosciences have been brought together from many campus departments, the School of Medicine and from a number of affiliated institutes, including the Salk Institute, the Scripps Research Institute, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the Burnham Institute, and the Veterans Administration Medical Center. There is an enormous breadth of neuroscience research interests represented among the faculty, so that students are able to pursue study in a wide range of neuroscience areas and they often carry out their dissertation research in collaboration with more than one laboratory. The Graduate Program in Neurosciences currently includes more than one-hundred thirty faculty, all of whose research interests are described on the web site. There are approximately seventy graduate students and over sixty postdoctoral fellows. The common purpose of all the participants in the Graduate Program in Neurosciences is to foster and maintain a community of excellence in study and research in neuroscience, and to prepare students to develop creative and innovative scientific research in order to lead productive and successful careers.

 

Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program

The UCSD Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program provides a multidisciplinary approach to modern life sciences, drawing on faculty expertise from several departments and programs in the School of Medicine and affiliated institutions. First year students take a core curriculum that covers both fundamental aspects and current advances in cell and molecular biology, pharmacology, physiology, genetics, microbiology, and immunology and take laboratory rotations in preparation for selecting a thesis laboratory. Advanced training activities to enhance thesis research are provided in elective courses, journal clubs, and research-related events organized through Advanced Training Tracks, Focus Areas, or customized programs of study.

 

Doctor of Pharmacy / Ph.D. Program

The purpose of the Pharm.D. / Ph.D. Program is to prepare students for positions in academia, government and the pharmaceutical industry that will require experience and knowledge in the conduct of original investigation related to the pharmaceutical sciences. Students who complete this program will be uniquely suited to perform basic and clinical research and to translate the results of the research to clinical practice. The course of study will prepare graduates for careers as faculty members in Schools and Colleges of Pharmacy or other health professions where they will engage in academic instruction and research or to serve as leaders in drug discovery and development in the pharmaceutical industry. The program is a joint program between the SSPPS and selected graduate programs on the UCSD campus. A distinction between the Pharm.D./Ph.D. and other joint doctoral programs is that training for the Pharm.D./Ph.D. degree is envisioned to be closely aligned with the drug development process as well as therapeutic practices and outcomes.

 

Copyright © 2007 The Hook Lab. All Rights Reserved.

Recent Publications:

Hook, V., Yoon, M., Mosier, C., Ito, G., Podvin, S., Head, B.P., Rissman, R., O'Donoghue, A.J., Hook, G. (2020) Cathepsin B in neurodegeneration of Alzheimer's disease, traumatic brain injury, and related brain disorders. Biochim Biophys Acta Proteins Proteom. 1868, 140428.

Boutté, A.M., Hook, V., Thangavelu, B., Sarkis, G.A., Abbatiello, B.N., Hook, G., Jacobsen, J.S., Robertson, C.S., Gilsdorf, J., Yang, Z., Wang, K.K.W., Shear, D.A. (2020) Penetrating Traumatic Brain Injury Triggers Dysregulation of Cathepsin B Protein Levels Independent of Cysteine Protease Activity in Brain and Cerebral Spinal Fluid. J Neurotrauma 37(13),1574-1586.

Podvin, S., Jones, A., Liu, Q., Aulston, B., Ransom, L., Ames, J., Shen, G., Lietz, C.B., Jiang, Z., O'Donoghue, A.J., Winston, C., Ikezu, T., Rissman, R.A., Yuan, S., Hook, V. (2020) Dysregulation of Exosome Cargo by Mutant Tau Expressed in Human-induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) Neurons Revealed by Proteomics Analyses. Mol Cell Proteomics 9, 1017-1034.

Yoon, M.C., Solania, A., Jiang, Z., Christy, M.P., Podvin, S., Mosier, C., Lietz, C.B., Ito, G., Gerwick, W.H., Wolan, D.W., Hook, G., O'Donoghue, A.J., Hook, V. (2021) Selective Neutral pH Inhibitor of Cathepsin B Designed Based on Cleavage Preferences at Cytosolic and Lysosomal pH Conditions. ACS Chem Biol. 16, 1628-1643.

Jiang, Z., Lietz, C.B., Podvin, S., Yoon, M.C., Toneff, T., Hook, V., O'Donoghue, A.J. (2021) Differential Neuropeptidomes of Dense Core Secretory Vesicles (DCSV) Produced at Intravesicular and Extracellular pH Conditions by Proteolytic Processing. ACS Chem Neurosci. 12, 2385-2398.

Campeau, A., Mills, R.H., Stevens, T., Rossitto, L.A., Meehan, M., Dorrestein, P., Daly, R., Nguyen, T.T., Gonzalez, D.J., Jeste, D.V., Hook V. (2021) Multi-omics of Human Plasma Reveals Molecular Features of Dysregulated Inflammation and Accelerated Aging in Schizophrenia. Molecular Psychiatry Nature 2021 Nov 5.

Podvin, S., Jones, A., Liu, Q., Aulston, B., Mosier, C., Ames, J., Winston, C., Lietz, C.B., Jiang, Z., O'Donoghue, A.J., Ikezu, T., Rissman, R.A., Yuan, S.H., Hook, V. (2021) Mutant Presenilin 1 Dysregulates Exosomal Proteome Cargo Produced by Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Neurons. ACS Omega 6(20), 13033-13056.

Boyarko, B., Hook, V. (2021) Human tau isoforms and proteolysis for production of toxic tau fragments in neurodegeneration. Frontiers in Neuroscience 15, 1-19.

Ashhurst, A.S., Tang, A.H., Fajtová, P., Yoon, M.C., Aggarwal, A., Bedding, M.J., Stoye, A., Beretta, L., Pwee, D., Drelich, A., Skinner, D., Li, L., Meek, T.D., McKerrow, J.H., Hook, V., Tseng, C.T., Larance, M., Turville, S., Gerwick, W.H., O'Donoghue, A.J., Payne, R.J. (2021) Potent Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Activity by the Natural Product Gallinamide A and Analogues via Inhibition of Cathepsin L. J Med Chem. 2021 Nov 3