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Jeffrey Neighbors, PhD

Jeffrey Neighbors, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine
Penn State Neuroscience Institute
Center for Cannabis and Natural Product Pharmaceuticals (CCNPP)
Scientific Program:Mechanisms of Carcinogenesis
JDN188@psu.edu

Research Interests

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Dr. Jeffrey Neighbors’ lab is focused on drug development. One current research project is centered on the development of novel agents which inhibit steps in the mevalonate (cholesterol synthesis) pathway to reduce transcription of genes targeted by the Hippo pathway transcription factor TAZ as potential treatments for osteosarcoma.

Additionally, the lab is studying the potential for statin drugs that inhibit this same pathway as treatment for neuroblastoma and other cancers.

A completely different project looks at a family of natural products, pawhuskins, isolated from a prairie plant, that have antagonist activity at several opioid receptors and are under investigation for the potential to increase wound healing by inhibiting opioid growth factor activity.

Before coming to Penn State, Dr. Neighbors worked for a small biotech company driving the drug development efforts and has experience integrating development activity across disciplines from chemical synthesis to pharmacokinetics and ADME/DMPK studies.

  • Neoplasms
  • Biological Products
  • Cell Line
  • Diphosphonates
  • Stilbenes
  • Terpenes
  • Growth
  • Bone and Bones
  • Narcotic Antagonists
  • Glioblastoma
  • Osteomyelitis
  • Prenylation
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Recent Publications

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2023

Ren, Y, Weeks, J, Xue, T, Rainbolt, J, de Mesy Bentley, KL, Shu, Y, Liu, Y, Masters, E, Cherian, P, McKenna, CE, Neighbors, J, Ebetino, FH, Schwarz, EM, Sun, S & Xie, C 2023, 'Evidence of bisphosphonate-conjugated sitafloxacin eradication of established methicillin-resistant S. aureus infection with osseointegration in murine models of implant-associated osteomyelitis', Bone Research, vol. 11, no. 1, 51. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41413-023-00287-4
Sedghizadeh, PP, Cherian, P, Roshandel, S, Tjokro, N, Chen, C, Junka, AF, Hu, E, Neighbors, J, Pawlak, J, Russell, RGG, McKenna, CE, Ebetino, FH, Sun, S & Sodagar, E 2023, 'Real-Time Impedance-Based Monitoring of the Growth and Inhibition of Osteomyelitis Biofilm Pathogen Staphylococcus aureus Treated with Novel Bisphosphonate-Fluoroquinolone Antimicrobial Conjugates', International journal of molecular sciences, vol. 24, no. 3, 1985. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24031985

2022

Ebetino, FH, Sun, S, Cherian, P, Roshandel, S, Neighbors, JD, Hu, E, Dunford, JE, Sedghizadeh, PP, McKenna, CE, Srinivasan, V, Boeckman, RK & Russell, RGG 2022, 'Bisphosphonates: The role of chemistry in understanding their biological actions and structure-activity relationships, and new directions for their therapeutic use', Bone, vol. 156, 116289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bone.2021.116289
Manfredi, B, Neighbors, JD & Hohl, RJ 2022, 'Cytotoxic Effects of the Schweinfurthin Analog 5'-Methylschweinfurthin G in Malignant Plasma Cells', Pharmacology, vol. 107, no. 9-10, pp. 510-523. https://doi.org/10.1159/000525299
Ren, Y, Xue, T, Rainbolt, J, Bentley, KLDM, Galloway, CA, Liu, Y, Cherian, P, Neighbors, J, Hofstee, MI, Ebetino, FH, Moriarty, TF, Sun, S, Schwarz, EM & Xie, C 2022, 'Efficacy of Bisphosphonate-Conjugated Sitafloxacin in a Murine Model of S. aureus Osteomyelitis: Evidence of “Target & Release” Kinetics and Killing of Bacteria Within Canaliculi', Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, vol. 12, 910970. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2022.910970
Bhanja, D, Neighbors, J, Connor, J, Zadeh, G & Mansouri, A 2022, 'Neuropharmacological Study of Posaconazole for Glioblastoma: A Phase 0 Clinical Trial Protocol', Neurosurgery, vol. 91, no. 4, pp. 658-665. https://doi.org/10.1227/neu.0000000000002071
Weissenrieder, JS, Weissenkampen, JD, Reed, JL, Green, MV, Zheng, C, Neighbors, JD, Liu, DJ & Hohl, RJ 2022, 'RNAseq reveals extensive metabolic disruptions in the sensitive SF-295 cell line treated with schweinfurthins', Scientific reports, vol. 12, no. 1, 359. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04117-7
Zhang, R, Neighbors, JD, Schell, TD & Hohl, RJ 2022, 'Schweinfurthin induces ICD without ER stress and caspase activation', OncoImmunology, vol. 11, no. 1, 2104551. https://doi.org/10.1080/2162402X.2022.2104551
Koubek, EJ, Weissenrieder, JS, Ortiz, LE, Nwogu, N, Pham, AM, Weissenkampen, JD, Reed, JL, Neighbors, JD, Hohl, RJ & Kwun, HJ 2022, 'Therapeutic Potential of 5′-Methylschweinfurthin G in Merkel Cell Polyomavirus-Positive Merkel Cell Carcinoma', Viruses, vol. 14, no. 9, 1848. https://doi.org/10.3390/v14091848

2021

Weissenrieder, JS, Reed, JL, Moldovan, GL, Johnson, MT, Trebak, M, Neighbors, JD, Mailman, RB & Hohl, RJ 2021, 'Antipsychotic drugs elicit cytotoxicity in glioblastoma multiforme in a calcium-dependent, non-D2 receptor-dependent, manner', Pharmacology Research and Perspectives, vol. 9, no. 3, e00689. https://doi.org/10.1002/prp2.689
Sun, S, Tao, J, Sedghizadeh, PP, Cherian, P, Junka, AF, Sodagar, E, Xing, L, Boeckman, RK, Srinivasan, V, Yao, Z, Boyce, BF, Lipe, B, Neighbors, JD, Russell, RGG, McKenna, CE & Ebetino, FH 2021, 'Bisphosphonates for delivering drugs to bone', British Journal of Pharmacology, vol. 178, no. 9, pp. 2008-2025. https://doi.org/10.1111/bph.15251
Sedghizadeh, PP, Sun, S, Jones, AC, Sodagar, E, Cherian, P, Chen, C, Junka, AF, Neighbors, JD, McKenna, CE, Russell, RGG & Ebetino, FH 2021, 'Bisphosphonates in dentistry: Historical perspectives, adverse effects, and novel applications', Bone, vol. 147, 115933. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bone.2021.115933
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