Researchers study interactions between food, medications

The health sciences field is rapidly evolving, and there’s a need for more research about how the food we eat and the medications we take impact our wellbeing.

Victor Martinez ’18 and Gabie Campbell ’18 are taking on the challenge with Professor of Chemistry Jai Shanata.

“We are interested in how what we eat and the drugs that we might be prescribed interact,” Shanata said.

Professor Shanata’s research team’s long-term goal is to collect enough data to help doctors better understand how diet can impact the desired effect or side effects of a drug. To find these answers, it takes a lot of detailed work using the department’s electrophysiological equipment.

“We are looking at the effect of drugs on cell membranes, but more specifically the ion channels in cell membranes, which is basically a little protein that will come together,” Campbell said.

This team is looking to see if a drug can impact that movement of proteins.

“The proteins come together to allow the flow of ions,” Martinez said. “We are trying to see whether or not adding a drug could almost force it to come together and allow this to occur more easily.”

As part of the research, they’re examining new drug interactions all the time.

“I found out that a pharmaceutical drug that is used to treat Alzheimer’s disease could bind to a protein that it wasn’t supposed to and it actually induces or causes a greater effect than the one that was supposed to bind to that protein,” Martinez said. “I’m trying to expand this research with Jai.”

While Campbell and Martinez are spending a lot of time in the lab thinking about medicinal chemistry and pharmacology for CSRI, they’re also taking time to learn how to achieve their career goals.

“We had the ‘Selling Your Skills’ workshop with the Berry Career Institute where we learned how to use these opportunities,” Campbell said. “It’s teaching you how to be an adult in the real world and how to use the skills you have.”

To learn more, watch their video story: