Blaise Costa, MPharm, PhD

AFFILIATE MEMBER • PROFESSOR

Pharmacology, Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine

Website

bcosta@vt.vcom.edu

Blaise Costa is a Pharmacology Professor at Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine. His office and laboratory are located at Virginia Tech Center for One Health Research facility. Costa lab is interested in developing novel treatment strategies for neurological and psychiatric disorders that affect human beings and other animals. With this aim, they are studying a family of glutamate and glycine gated excitatory neurotransmitter receptor expressed throughout the mammalian central nervous system. This N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) binding protein is known as NMDA receptor. Normal activation of NMDA receptor is essential for higher order brain functions including cognition, decision making, simulating future events by consolidating memories from present and past experiences. Dysfunction of NMDA receptor is implicated in several neurological and psychiatric disorders. Costa and colleagues work to identify drug-like compounds to modulate NMDA receptors. As a remarkable outcome of continued effort, they recently discovered a novel family of agonist concentration dependent NMDA receptor modulators. To translate these compounds into clinically useful drug candidates, Costa lab is currently studying them on in-vitro and in-vivo models of neurological and other disorders that affect human lives.