School of Pharmacy Professor Creates Student Research Hub Investigating Drug Effects on Stem Cells

BALTIMORE – A School of Pharmacy professor has created a research hub for both doctoral-level pharmacy students and undergraduates at Notre Dame of Maryland University, where students explore the effects of medication on stem cells. By acquiring donated high-powered equipment to examine the heart’s electrical activity, Dr. Rosy Joshi-Mukherjee has transformed an underutilized campus laboratory into a place where students are uncovering the latest discoveries in stem cell research.

An assistant professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dr. Joshi-Mukherjee has dedicated her career to stem cell and heart cell research. Recently, she outfitted the campus lab with state-of-the-art electrophysiology equipment, valued at over $200,000, that she secured from her previous employer, Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin. At Aurora, Dr. Joshi-Mukherjee’s research focused on how drugs affect the health of heart cells derived from stem cells.

This past year, students at NDMU conducted stem cell research to investigate how prescription drugs may affect heart muscle cells known as cardiomyocytes. Led by Dr. Joshi-Mukherjee, four pharmacy students – Hazel Gonzalez Vargas D’25, Iris Lopez-Perez D’25, Jahanvi Patel D’25, and Tania Toussaint D’25 – investigated how a common anticancer drug, doxorubicin, affects stem cells and cardiomyocytes. The students presented their findings at NDMU’s annual Nancy Kreiter Research Day in April.

“In a clinic, you see a medication improve a patient’s condition, but the how remains a mystery,” Dr. Joshi-Mukherjee explained. “Here in the lab, we can delve deeper. We can study the drug in controlled settings to understand the fundamental mechanisms by which they target and alter cell function.”

“This experience was very eye-opening for me,” said Lopez-Perez. “It’s one thing to learn about drugs and medications in a classroom setting, but it’s another to come into a lab, work with them directly, and see how everything comes together.”

Dr. Joshi-Mukherjee’s research elective course provided students with invaluable hands-on experience in diverse stem cell research techniques, enabling students to delve into various stem cell research techniques for their elective research project. The School of Pharmacy has two primary labs in Bunting Hall – one focuses on cell biology, pharmacology, and electrophysiology, while the other specializes in biochemistry research.