March 2026 News and Publications

Honors:

Mordecai Blaustein, MD, Professor Emeritus, Pharmacology and Physiology, has published 315 articles, which have been cited over 34,000 times with an h-index of 102, reflecting his major and sustained influence in the field of Physiology.

In 2024, Mordecai Blaustein, MD, Professor Emeritus, Pharmacology and Physiology and John Hamlyn, PhD, Professor, Pharmacology and Physiology, published “Sensational site: The sodium pump ouabain binding site and its ligands” in American Journal of Physiology Cell Physiology. The article was designated a Landmark Review, a rare distinction awarded by the journal, and is already among its top cited recent articles. The review synthesizes decades of work on endogenous ligands of the Na⁺/K⁺ ATPase. It builds on Blaustein’s 1977 review in American Journal of Physiology Cell Physiology, in which he first postulated the existence of a previously unrecognized endogenous hormone that regulates the sodium pump. That 1977 article has since been cited nearly 2,000 times.

In 1999, Mordecai Blaustein, MD, Professor Emeritus, Pharmacology and Physiology and W. Jonathan Lederer, MD, PhD, Professor, Pharmacology and Physiology, published “Sodium calcium exchange: its physiological implications” in Physiological Reviews. The article has since been cited over 2,000 times, underscoring its lasting impact on research into the Na⁺/Ca²⁺ exchanger and its role in cellular calcium regulation and cardiovascular physiology.

In 1991, Mordecai Blaustein, MD, Professor Emeritus, Pharmacology and Physiology and John Hamlyn, PhD, Professor, Pharmacology and Physiology, were among the authors of “Identification and characterization of a ouabain-like compound from human plasma” in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. The article has since been cited over 1,000 times.

Publications: 

Wei Li, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology and Institute for Health Computing, was the last author of “An integrated multi-omics and network analysis of neutrophil differentiation from initial- to late-stage,” which was published in Genome Biology on Jan 30, 2026.

Brian N. Mathur, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, and Psychiatry, was senior author on “Perineuronal Net and Inhibitory Synapse Remodeling on Striatal Fast-spiking Interneurons by Chronic Alcohol Exposure,” which was published in Biological Psychiatry on February 17, 2026.