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Blaise M Costa, MPharm, PhD

Blaise Costa
Blaise Costa, MPharm, PhD
Professor for Pharmacology
Discipline Chair for Pharmacology
Department/Discipline: Pharmacology
Campus: Virginia
Office: CMMID 102
Email: Contact
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After receiving a Pharmacy degree Blaise Costa pursued a theoretical biophysics research to study the structure, function and pharmacology of NMDA receptors that play a crucial role in learning and memory. For this work, he earned a PhD Degree in Psychopharmacology from The National Institute of Mental Health And Neurosciences, Bangalore India. To work out the theoretical findings, he undertook a molecular neuroscience training at the University of London. He won the Royal Society International award to fund this training. Subsequently, as a postdoc at Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, he further studied NMDA receptor function using electrophysiology techniques. To translate this knowledge into identification of novel therapeutic agents for brain disorders, he moved to the University of Nebraska Medical Center to work on a NIH funded project, for which he served as key personnel. During this work, his team discovered a novel family of negative and positive allosteric NMDA receptor modulators. These compounds are novel in their chemical structure, mechanism of action and binding sites. Currently, Costa lab is interested in identifying and developing NMDA receptor based therapeutic strategy for neurodegenerative disorders with a special focus on Alzheimer’s disease.

 

Visit lab website for more information: www.costalabs.com

 

Education

Year University Degree
2009 University of Nebraska Medical Center Postdoc
2007 Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt, Germany Postdoc
2006 School of Pharmacy, University of London, UK International Research Fellow
2005 National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, India PhD - Psychopharmacology
2001 MGR Medical University, Chennai, India MS - Pharmacology
1999 MGR Medical University, Chennai, India BPharm

Research Interests

Mental disorders affect everyone in four human beings. Abnormalities in glutamate mediated communication between brain cells cause most of the neuropsychiatric disorders. We are working to identify, design and screen novel compounds with the goal of developing new treatment strategies for refractory brain disorders.

Awards

  • American Heart Association, Scientist Development Grant, 2016-2020
  • American Osteopathic Association Grant, 2019-2021
  • Sigma Sigma Phi VCOM Chapter, Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2015, 2018 & 2019.

Activities

  • Member, Society for Neuroscience
  • Member, American Heart Association and American Stroke Association
  • Member, American Society for Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ASPET)
  • Medical Pharmacology teacher, Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine- VA Campus

Selected Publications

Year Faculty Citation PMID
2022 Ramu Anandakrishnan, A Tobey, Blaise Costa

Anandakrishnan R, Tobey H, Nguyen S, Sandoval O, Klein BG, Costa BM. Cranial manipulation affects cholinergic pathway gene expression in aged rats. J Osteopath Med. 2022 Jan 10;122(2):95-103. doi: 10.1515/jom-2021-0183. PMID: 34995434.

34995434
2020 Blaise Costa, A Tobey, Per Brolinson

Tobey H, Lucas T, Paul S, Berr SS, Mehrkens B, Brolinson PG, Klein BG, Costa BM. Mechanoceutics Alters Alzheimer's Disease Phenotypes in Transgenic Rats: A Pilot Study. J Alzheimers Dis. 2020 Feb 5;. doi: 10.3233/JAD-191071. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 32039851.

32039851
2019 Blaise Costa, A Tobey, Per Brolinson

Tobey H, Lucas T, Bledsoe D, Mykins M, Campbell C, Berr SS, Sasser T, Helm R, Brolinson PG, Klein BG, Costa BM. Effect of Osteopathic Cranial Manipulative Medicine on an Aged Rat Model of Alzheimer Disease. J Am Osteopath Assoc. 2019 Oct 15. doi: 10.7556/jaoa.2019.121. [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 31613309.

31613309
2019 Blaise Costa

Bledsoe D, Vacca B, Laube B, Klein BG, Costa B. Ligand binding domain interface: A tipping point for pharmacological agents binding with GluN1/2A subunit containing NMDA receptors. European journal of pharmacology. 2019 Feb 5;844:216-224. PMID: 30553788.

30553788
2018 Blaise Costa

Irvine MW, Fang G, Sapkota K, Burnell ES, Volianskis A, Costa BM, Culley G, Collingridge GL, Monaghan DT, Jane DE. Investigation of the structural requirements for N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor positive and negative allosteric modulators based on 2-naphthoic acid. European journal of medicinal chemistry. 2018 Dec 28;164:471-498. PMID: 30622023.

30622023
2017 Blaise Costa

Bledsoe D, Tamer C, Mesic I, Madry C, Klein BG, Laube B, Costa BM. Positive Modulatory Interactions of NMDA Receptor GluN1/2B Ligand Binding Domains Attenuate Antagonists Activity. Front Pharmacol. 2017 May 9;8:229. PMID: 28536523.

28536523
2015 Blaise Costa

Irvine MW, Fang G, Eaves R, Mayo-Martin MB, Costa BM, Culley GR, Volianskis A, Collingridge GL, Monaghan DT, Jane DE. Synthesis of a Series of Novel 3,9-Disubstituted Phenanthrenes as Analogues of Known N-Methyl-D-aspartate Receptor Allosteric Modulators. Synthesis. 2015 Jun 1;47(11):1593-1610.

26568642
2015 Blaise Costa

Kane LT, Costa BM. Identification of novel allosteric modulator binding sites in NMDA receptors: A molecular modeling study. J Mol Graph Model. 2015 Sep;61:204-213.

26280688
2013 Blaise Costa

Collingridge GL, Volianskis A, Bannister N, France G, Hanna L, Mercier M, Tidball P, Fang G, Irvine MW, Costa BM, Monaghan DT, Bortolotto ZA, Molnár E, Lodge D, Jane DE. The NMDA receptor as a target for cognitive enhancement. Neuropharmacology. 2013 Jan; 64:13-26. PMID: 22796429.

22796429
2013 Blaise Costa

Costa BM, Yao H, Yang L, Buch S. Role of Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) stress in cocaine-induced microglial cell death. J Neuroimmune Pharmacol. 2013 June; 8(3):704-14. PMID: 23404095.

23404095
2013 Blaise Costa

Gautam V, Trinidad JC, Rimerman RA, Costa BM, Burlingame AL, Monaghan DT. Nedd4 is a specific E3 ubiquitin ligase for the NMDA receptor subunit GluN2D. Neuropharmacology. 2013 Nov; 74:96-107. PMID: 23639431.

23639431
2012 Blaise Costa

Irvine MW, Costa BM, Dlaboga D, Culley GR, Hulse R, Scholefield CL, Atlason P, Fang G, Eaves R, Morley R, Mayo-Martin MB, Amici M, Bortolotto ZA, Donaldson L, Collingridge GL, Molnár E, Monaghan DT, Jane DE. Piperazine-2,3-dicarboxylic acid derivatives as dual antagonists of NMDA and GluK1-containing kainate receptors. J Med Chem. 2012 Jan 12;55(1):327-41. PMID: 22111545.

22111545
2012 Blaise Costa

Costa BM, Irvine MW, Fang G, Eaves RJ, Mayo-Martin MB, Laube B, Jane DE, Monaghan DT. Structure-activity relationships for allosteric NMDA receptor inhibitors based on 2-naphthoic acid. Neuropharmacology. 2012 Mar;62(4):1730-6. PMID: 22155206.

22155206
2012 Blaise Costa

Buch S1, Yao H, Guo M, Mori T, Mathias-Costa B, Singh V, Seth P, Wang J, Su TP. Cocaine and HIV-1 interplay in CNS: cellular and molecular mechanisms. Curr HIV Res. 2012 Jul;10(5):425-8. PMID: 22591366.

22591366
2012 Blaise Costa

Monaghan DT, Irvine MW, Costa BM, Fang G, Jane DE. Pharmacological modulation of NMDA receptor activity and the advent of negative and positive allosteric modulators. Neurochem Int. 2012 Sep;61(4):581-92. PMID: 22269804.

22269804
2012 Blaise Costa

Irvine MW, Costa BM, Volianskis A, Fang G, Ceolin L, Collingridge GL, Monaghan DT, Jane DE. Coumarin-3-carboxylic acid derivatives as potentiators and inhibitors of recombinant and native N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors. Neurochem Int. 2012 Sep;61(4):593-600. PMID: 22265875.

22265875

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