Scott E. Hemby PhD

1999-2001                     Director, Emory Health Sciences Center Microarray Facility

1999-2004                     Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta,    GA

2001-2004                     Assistant Professor of Hematology and Oncology, Emory        University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA

2004-2007                     Adjunct Appointment in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences,              Emory University School of Medicine

2004-2007                     Affiliate Scientist, Yerkes National Primate Research Facility, Atlanta, GA

2004-2008                     Associate Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine

2006-2008                     Associate Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine,   Wake Forest University School of Medicine

2008-2014                     Professor with Tenure, Dept. of Physiology and Pharmacology, Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine

2009-2014                     Professor in the Translational Science Institute, Novel Clinical and Translational Methodologies Program

2010-2013                     Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, University of Virginia School of Medicine

2014-2015                     Health Research Scientist, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, W.G. Hefner VA Medical Center, Salisbury, NC

2014-present                Founding Chair and Professor with Tenure, Basic Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, High Point University, High Point, NC

Substance Use Disorders

Substance use disorders permeate our society and are among the most prominent leading health crises facing the nation. Today, we are in the midst of an opioid crisis that has strained the health care infrastructure and brought into sharp focus the need for more effective pharmacotherapies to treat substance use disorders. Investigating the neurobiology of addiction, craving and relapse is fundamental step for understanding the cause and consequences of this brain disease. To this end, our lab uses numerous techniques (analytical, biochemical and biological) and models (cell, rodent, monkey and human) to develop a more comprehensive knowledge of the disease process. Based on our studies, we are exploring the utility of compounds from botanical (kratom and ibogaine) and semi-synthetic sources to treat specific aspects of the addiction process.

Schizophrenia and Depression

Schizophrenia and depression are serious mental health disease that affect approximately 1% and 3% of the world’s population, respectively. Currently available medications for treating these disorders are effective in some individuals for certain aspects of the diseases. The clinical complexity of schizophrenia and depression is paralleled by the complexity neurobiological, genetic and epigenetic contributions underlying these diseases. Utilizing human post-mortem brain tissue from world renowned human brain banks, non-human primate and rodent models we use biochemical and molecular approaches to understand the aberrant neurobiology associated with these diseases and the positive and negative implications of chronic antipsychotic and antidepressant medications on brain function.

Link to publications

Grant History:

Funded:

R01 (Sames PI – Columbia University; Hemby Co-I) 04/01/20-3/31/25 NIH/NIDA: Chemistry and Pharmacology of Iboga AlkaloidsHemby will undertake the following for assessment of noribogaine and related analogs: Intravenous self-administration, in vivoneurochemical analysis, biochemical assessment of neurotrophic factor expression in brain.

Past:

U01MH103392 (Akbarian PI – Mt. Sinai; Hemby subcontract) 06/15/14-05/31/17 NIH/NIMH: Cis-regulatory epigenome mappings in schizophrenia. Provide expertise on non-human primate neuroanatomy, tissue from collection of antipsychotic treated monkeys

P50 DA06634 (Childers, PI; Hemby, Project 3 Leader) 04/01/10 – 03/31/14 NIH/NIDA Center for the Neurobiological Investigation of Drug Abuse Biochemical Mechanisms of Effective Treatments. Oversight of project and integration with other projects and cores in the Center. Direct investigations into alterations and restoration of synaptic plasticity in primate and rodent models.

Pilot Award   (Hemby, PI) 12/01/13 – 11/30/14 Center for Comparative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine Model of Developmental Psychiatric Disorders by Gestational Infection.

Yale/NIDA Proteomics Center  (Hemby, Project leader). 06/01/10 – 05/30/14. NIDA.

R01  DA012498  (Hemby PI) 03/01/07-11/29/13 NIH/NIDA: Neurobiology of Speedball Self-Administration. Investigate the mechanisms for the potentiation by heroin of cocaine’s neurochemical and reinforcing effects using microdialysis, protein and mRNA assessments.

R01 AA016177-A2 (Lynch, UVA, PI; Hemby subcontract) 07/15/08 – 06/30/13 Hemby – collaborator. Rat Models of Alcohol Dependence for Evaluating Combined Medication Effects. Provide assistance and consultation for microdialysis, HPLC and infrared Western blot analysis.

R21 DA027512-01 (Hemby, PI) 9/01/09 – 08/31/12 NIH/NIDA: Proteomic biosignatures of withdrawal from cocaine in rhesus monkeys. Identification of plasma protein biomarkers during various stages of cocaine withdrawal and determine their ability to serve as surrogates for CNS pathology.

Astra Zeneca (Hemby PI) 10/01/09-09/30/12 Behavioral and Biochemical Assessment of Quetiapine in a Non-Human Primate Model of Stress-Induced Depression. Biochemical assessment of neurotrophic signaling in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and hippocampus

R01 NS066583-01(Hegde PI, Hemby co-investigator) 07/01/09-06/30/12 Local Mechanisms Underlying Synaptic Plasticity. iTRAQ labeling and proteomic analysis from hippocampal slices.

Alzheimer’s Association (Hegde PI, Hemby co-investigator) 08/01/08 – 07/31/09 Ameliorating Harmful Abeta Effects on Synaptic Plasticity. Oversight of iTRAQ labeling and proteomic analysis from hippocampal slices.

R01 DA003628-19 (Hemby PI) 03/01/06-02/28/09 NIDA/NIH Neurobiological Parameters of Cocaine Reinforcement. Biochemical evaluations of cholinergic transmission during cocaine self-administration.

R01 DA022599 (Martin PI; Hemby Co-I) 09/26/06 – 06/30/10 NIH/NIDA: Role of the Amygdala in Opioid Self-Administration in Rats with Chronic Pain. Provide analytical support for capillary electrophoretic analysis of amino acids.

Research Award  (Hemby PI) 08/01/05-07/31/11 Stanley Medical Research Institute. Non-Human Primate Brain Bank for Antipsychotic Research. Bank of tissue from Macaca mulatta administered haloperidol and clozapine for six months.

R01 MH074313 (Hemby PI) 08/01/05-07/31/12 NIMH/NIH: Entorhinal Transcriptome in Schizophrenia. Provide detailed cellular profiles of human schizophrenic brain tissue from entorhinal cortex and compare profiles of non-human primates with chronic antipsychotic drug administration histories.

Research Award Hemby (PI) 08/01/03-07/31/05 Stanley Foundation Research Programs Institute. Functional genomics and proteomics analysis of rhesus monkeys treated with typical and atypical neuroleptic.

R01 DA013234  Hemby (PI) 09/30/01-07/31/07 NIDA/NIH Accumbens-Pallidal GABA and Morphine Reinforcement. The goal of this project is to elucidate the role of accumbens-pallidal GABAergic medium spiny neurons under chronic morphine self-administration conditions.

R01 DA13772-01   Hemby (PI) 09/15/01-08/30/04 NIDA/NIH Molecular Fingerprint of Cocaine Abuse: Single Cell and Regional Analysis. Elucidate and compare patterns of gene expression in the mesolimbic dopamine pathway in human post-mortem tissue from cocaine overdose victims and age-matched controls.

Research Award  Hemby (PI) 08/01/01-07/31/04 Stanley Foundation Research Programs. Molecular fingerprint of dopamine neurons: Relation to axonal target and effects of schizophrenia and neuroleptic treatment. Gene expression of midbrain dopamine neuronal populations defined by their projection targets and the effects of neuroleptic treatment.

Research Award Hemby (PI) 07/01/00-06/30/02 National Alliance for Autism Research. Gene expression profiling of Autism: Alterations in temporal lobe profiles. Functional genomic analysis of post-mortem brain tissue from individuals diagnosed with autism.

National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (Hemby, PI) 06/01/2007-05/30/2009 Walter Sonneborn Katz Young Investigator Award (1^strecipient). Molecular fingerprinting of schizophrenia.

F32 DA005736 (Hemby PI) 8/1/1996 – 7/31/1999 NIDA/NIH Molecular Characterization of Heroin Self-Administration. Molecular neuroanatomy of opiate reinforcement using single cell gene expression technologies.