Marta Filizola, PhD, of the Biophysics and Systems Pharmacology multidisciplinary training area, received a renewal of the NIH/NIDA Independent Scientist Award, for her 2014-2019 work.
This NIH/NIDA award (K02) was founded to foster the development of outstanding scientists and enable them to expand their potential to make significant contributions to their field of research. The K02 award provides three, four, or five years of salary support and “protected time” for newly independent scientists who can demonstrate the need for a period of intensive research focus as a means of enhancing their research careers. Each independent scientist career award program must be tailored to meet the individual needs of the candidate.
Dr. Filizola’s research has focused heavily on G Protein-Coupled Receptors, the targets for nearly 50% of today’s pharmaceuticals. Her lab has devoted special attention to opioid receptors specifically, to develop novel painkillers with fewer side effects and less subject to abuse. Dr. Filizola’s lab is also investigating beta3 integrins to formulate novel therapeutics for renal, hematologic, neoplastic, bone, and/or fibrotic diseases. Dr. Filizola earned her bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD in Naples, Italy before coming to the United States, where she has been blazing trails in computational biophysics, theoretical chemistry in biomedicine, and rational drug design for more than 20 years.