Department of Pharmacology

Faculty of Medicine

Eileen Denovan-Wright

Professor

Pharmacology_Eileen_Denovan-Wright
Department of Pharmacology

Email: emdenova@dal.ca
Mailing Address: 
Room 6E, 6th Floor, Sir Charles Tupper Medical Building, Dalhousie University, 5850 College Street, PO Box 15000, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 4R2
 
Research Topics:
  • Neuropharmacology
  • Neurodegeneration
  • Neuroinflammation
  • Huntington's disease
  • Cannabinoids

Education

  • BSc (Dalhousie)
  • PhD (Biology, Dalhousie University)
  • PDF (Pharmacology, Dalhousie University)

Research interests

Professor Denovan-Wright and her students are exploring the mechanisms of action of cannabinoids as modulators of neuronal function, neuroinflammation and as treatment for neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s disease. Lately, the group has been very interested in unique pharmacology of the endocannabinoids, allosteric modulators of cannabinoid receptors and the interplay between these compounds, intracellular signaling and gene expression.

Selected publications

  • McElroy, DL, Roebuck, AJ, Scott, GA, Greba, Q, Garai, W., Denovan-Wright, EM, Thakur, GA, Laprairie, RB, and Howland, JG (2021) Antipsychotic potential of the type 1 cannabinoid receptor positive allosteric modulator GAT211: preclinical in vitro and in vivo studies. Psychopharmacology. Jan 13. doi: 10.1007/s00213-020-05755-x. Online ahead of print.PMID: 33442771

  • Bagher, AM, Young, AP, Laprairie, RB, Toguri,JT, Kelly, MEM and Denovan-Wright, EM. (2020) Heteromer formation between cannabinoid type 1 and dopamine type 2 receptors is altered by combination cannabinoid and antipsychotic treatments.  .J Neurosci Res. 2020 Dec;98(12):2496-2509. doi: 10.1002/jnr.24716. Epub 2020 Sep 2.PMID: 32881145

  • Laprairie RB, Mohamed KA, Zagzoog A, Kelly MEM, Stevenson LA, Pertwee R, Denovan-Wright EM, Thakur GA. (2019) Indomethacin Enhances Type 1 Cannabinoid Receptor Signaling. Frontiers in Molecular  Neuroscience 12:257. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2019.00257

  • Bagher, A.M., Kelly, M.E.M, and Denovan-Wright, E.M. (2019) Combining SRET2 and BiFC to study GPCR Heteromerization and Protein-Protein Interactions.  Methods in Molecular Biology 1947:199-215. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9121-1_11.

  • Laprairie, R.B., Bagher, A.M., Rourke, J.L., Zrein, A., Cairns, E.A., Kelly, M.E.M.,  Sinal, C.J., Kulkarni, P.M., Thakur, G.A,  and Denovan-Wright, E.M. (2019) Positive allosteric modulation of the type 1 cannabinoid receptor reduces the signs and symptoms of Huntingon’s disease is the R6/2 mouse model. Neuropharmacology 151:1-12 doi: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2019.03.033.

Selected awards and honours

  • Rosemary Gill Award 2014
  • Dalhousie Award of Excellence for Graduate Teaching 2021

Memberships

  • Canadian Consortium for the Investigation of Cannabinoids
  • International Cannabinoid Research Society
  • Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology