July 2026 News and Publications

Grants & Contracts:

Robert J. Bloch, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, is finalizing a collaborative Scientific Research Agreement with Sarepta Therapeutics valued at $130,500 in direct costs. The agreement supports the project, “Suppressing DUX4 Expression in Xenografts of FSHD Muscles with siRNA.”

Wei Li, PhD, Associate Professor, Institute for Health Computing and Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, received  the UMB Research Infrastructure Investment Grant (RIIG) for UM-MIND X-Change Genome Engineering Infrastructure.

Presentations, Events, Lectures & Workshops:

Margaret M. McCarthy, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, was the Keynote Speaker at the Dutch Neuroscience Meeting in Tiel, Netherlands on June 25th. Her talk was entitled “Power play: How steroids, endocannabinoids and behavior sculpt neural development.”

Publications:

Robert J. Bloch, Ph.D, Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, was among the co-authors of “Unfurling the role of dysferlin’s C2A domain,” which was published in the Journal of General Physiology. The paper will be featured by The Rockefeller Press in its “Research News” article highlighting the study's findings that the dysferlin C2A domain alone can support normal Ca²⁺ signaling and sarcolemma repair, suggesting that it could be used in gene replacement therapies. The article was also selected as the journal’s Editor’s Pick for the issue.

Brian N. Mathur, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, was co-senior author of "The human claustrum supports cognitive networks for externally and internally driven task demands," which was published in PLOS Biology on June 26, 2026.