Michael J. Kuhar

Michael J. Kuhar
Born (1944-03-10)March 10, 1944
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Alma mater [The University of Scranton], Johns Hopkins University, and Yale University
Known for Candler Professor of Neuropharmacology at The Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory University
Spouse Joan Barenburg
Children 2

Michael J Kuhar (born 1944), a neuroscientist, professor, and author, is currently Candler Professor of Neuropharmacology at The Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory University. Kuhar is also a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, and a Senior Fellow in the Center for Ethics at Emory. He was previously Professor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Branch Chief at the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Over his career, he has made discoveries in studies of drugs and the brain for, which he has received a number of awards. He has many publications as well. He has contributed as consultant to the government and industry, and as expert witness in forensic cases.

Biography

Kuhar was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania on March 10, 1944 and attended local schools. He obtained his BS degree in Physics and Philosophy from the University of Scranton in 1965. After spending a year at Harvard University in Applied Physics, he transferred to the Johns Hopkins University to study biophysics and pharmacology. He obtained his PhD in 1970, and did a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale in the Department of Psychiatry. His focus was on how the brain works and on the mechanism of action of therapeutic drugs that are used to treat psychiatric illness. He then took a faculty position in the Department of Pharmacology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1972, becoming Professor in 1981. In 1969, he married Joan Barenburg (1945-2008) and has two children.[1][2] According to his university, Emory, he has more literary citations than any other Emory scientist and he is often an expert witness in both patent and medical malpractice legal cases.[3]

Academic career

The focus of Kuhar’s research has been on how the brain works by using chemical signaling (neurotransmission) and how drugs act in the brain.[4][5] Early in his career at Johns Hopkins, he studied the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is important for the treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. He showed that the synthesis of acetylcholine was controlled by transpporting substances into the nerve cell.[6][7] He developed microscopic methods which are in current widespread use to identify and locate drug receptors in the brain. These involved autoradiography at first[8][9] and then PET scanning later, including the first PET scans of receptors in the human brain.[10][11]

He then moved to the National Institute on drug Abuse (NIDA) in 1985 as head of the new Neuroscience Branch. His laboratory identified the molecular site in the brain responsible for the addicting properties of cocaine.[12][13] This work explained the basic action of cocaine in the brain and suggested a target for developing medications for cocaine users.[14] After ten years at NIDA, Kuhar moved to the Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory University as head of the Neuroscience Division, and as Candler Professor of Neuropharmacology. Much of his work there focused on cocaine and on CART peptides. The peptides at least partly regulate the actions of cocaine in the brain as well as feeding and body weight.[15] Other areas of research and publications include developing medications for cocaine addicts,[16] studying the effects of early life stress on drug use in adulthood, and ethics.[17]

Recognition

Kuhar has been the President of College on Problems of drug Dependence as well as the International Drug Abuse Research society.[18][19] Recognition he has received includes the 1984 Efron Award for outstanding basic research contributions by a young research scientist,[20] the 1992 Otto Krayer Award for outstanding research by the American Society Of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics,[21] and the 2011 Nathan B Eddy Award for lifetime achievement from the College on Problems of Drug Dependence.[22]

References

  1. ↑ https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=Michael+J.+Kuhar+Joan+Barenburg&tbm=bks
  2. ↑ http://maryland.sites.acs.org/Chesapeake%20Chemist/Archives/1990/apr-1990.pdf
  3. ↑ "The Laboratory of Dr. Michael J. Kuhar". Emory University. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  4. ↑ Journal Editor Conversation with Michael Kuhar. Addiction (Mar 10, 2010) 105:593-600, 2010.
  5. ↑ Campbel ND. Discovering Addiction: The Science and Politics of Substance Abuse Research. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor. 2007. pp 200-215.
  6. ↑ Okuda, T. Haga, T. Kanai, Y. Endou H. Ishihara T. and Katsura I. (2000) "Identification and characterization of the high affinity choline transporter". Nature Neuroscience 3(120).
  7. ↑ Iversen, L, Iverson SD, Bloom FE, Roth RH. Introduction to Neuropsychopharmacology Oxford University Press. 2009 p 130.
  8. ↑ Frey, KA and Albin RL (2001), "Receptor Binding Techn iques" Current protocols in Neuroscience, may1, Chapter 1, Unit 1.4. DOI: 10.1002/0471142301.ns0104s00. Accessed June 2, 2014
  9. ↑ Snyder, Solomon. Drugs and the Brain. Scientific American Library, Division of HPHLP, 1986, p 43.
  10. ↑ Push, S (1984) "PET scans are now being used to study the distribution of dopamine receptors inpatients with schizophrenia and other psychiatric and neurologic disorders". Hopkins Medical News 8(12).
  11. ↑ Sehlstedt, Al (1983) "Scientists observe living brain’s receptors". The Sun (Baltimore, MD) Tuesday, September 20.
  12. ↑ Pierce R. C., Kumaresana, V. (2006). "The mesolimbic dopamine system: The final common pathway for the reinforcing effect of drugs of abuse?" Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. 30:215–238.
  13. ↑ Deborah Mesce. (1991) "Cocaine addiction linked to brain protein." AP (associated Press) news archive. Oct 25. http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1991/Cocaine-Addition-Linked-To-Brain-Protein/id-54af58665b0ae803b8a01b31372fa4ea, accessed on July 3, 2014.
  14. ↑ Runyon, SP. and Carroll, FI. Dopamine transporter ligands: recent developments and therapeutic potential. Curr Topics Med Chem. 6(17): 1825-1843.2006.
  15. ↑ http://www.Yerkes.emory.edu/research/divions/behavioral_neuroscience/kuhar_michael.html
  16. ↑ Runyon S. P. and Carroll F. I. Dopamine transporter ligands: recent developments and therapeutic potential. Curr Top Med Chem. 6(17):1825-1843. 2006.
  17. ↑ Parvin, PP. Michael Kuhar on Getting Collegial, in EMORY magazine Spring 2014, p 16.
  18. ↑ http://www.idars.org/newsletters/vol1%20num1.pdf
  19. ↑ http://www.cpdd.vcu.edu/Pages/AboutUs/PastOfficers.html
  20. ↑ http://www.acnp.org/programs/Detail.aspx?cid=6c029175-fd64-4078-83bb-c4161b8ab8a6
  21. ↑ http://www.aspet.org/ASPET_Award_Archives/
  22. ↑ http://www.cpdd.vcu.edu/Pages/Index/Awards/AwardPreviousByName.html
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