Shanaz M. Tejani-Butt

Associate Professor, Pharmacology/Toxicology

Education:

Ph.D, pharmaceutical chemistry, Medical College of Virginia

M.S., organic chemistry, University of Bombay

B.S., chemistry, University of Bombay

Expertise:

Neuropharmacology, neuroimmunology, affective disorder, alcohol and substance abuse, neuroendocrinology.

Background:

Dr. Tejani-Butt has conducted numerous research projects that have focused on the general area of Neuropsychopharmacology and include, among others: Role of Central Monoaminergic Systems in Psychiatric Disorders, Thyroid Axis Hormones, Animal Models of Depressive Behavior, Role of Immune Function in Psychiatric Disorders, Neurodegenerative Diseases and Substance Abuse. She is currently working on two interrelated projects: (1) her laboratory is probing the link between depressive behavior and diminished brain supplies of norepinephrine and serotonin. Her hypothesis says that, since low levels of norepinephrine and serotonin lead to depressive episodes, then treatment with antidepressent drugs that target these chemicals should not only decrease depressive behavior but also "normalize" levels of these neurotransmitters in the brain. This project has direct application to human depression because it provides an animal model for studying stress induced behavioral depression and its reversal by antidepressant drug treatments. (2) her laboratory is also investigating the effects of stress and drug treatments on central and peripheral immune parameters in order to determine the mechanism by which depressive behavior modulates immune function.

In 1992, her laboratory at University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Psychiatry developed a radioactive compound, 3H-Nisoxetine, which helps to study the role of norepinephrine transporter sites in psychiatric diseases and neurodegenerative maladies such as Alzheimer’s disease in which norepinephrine is implicated. She has published extensively in peer reviewed publications, including Brain Research, Synapse, Biological Psychiatry, Neuroendocrinology, Molecular Brain Research and Journal of Pharmacology and experimental Therapeutics.

Dr. Tejani-Butt teaches courses in central nervous system physiology, central nervous system pharmacology, advanced pharmacology, endocrine physiology, endocrine pharmacology and drug-receptor interactions. She is a member of many national and local organizations, including the Society for Neuroscience, Women in Neuroscience, American Chemical Society, The Endocrine Society and the Mid-Atlantic Pharmacology Society.