Fields of Research
Drug Discovery and Precision Medicine
Intracellular Signaling
Molecular Basis of Disease
Research Summary
Targeting the endocannabinoid signaling system for the safe treatment of devastating neurological diseases.
Research Statement
The Stella lab studies the molecular mechanisms and therapeutic values of cannabinoid-based molecules (including of phyto-cannabinoids produced by the plant, synthetic cannabinoids developed in the laboratory and endocannabinoids produced by cells). These cannabinoid-based molecules could help for the treatment of devastating brain diseases, including epilepsies and brain cancers. Our primary areas of interest are to study the prominent endocannabinoid, 2-arachidonylglycerol (2-AG), in the brain, and its degrading enzyme, ABHD6, that controls seizure incidence, the optimization of cannabinoid-based small molecule (ST compounds) for the treatment glioblastomas and brain metastases and the effect of cannabinoid use on adolescent brain development. For these studies, we leverage drug development and preclinical studies, including analytical chemistry (GC-MS and LC-MS), pharmacology (e.g. pharmacodynamics and target validation), biochemistry (e.g. signaling and enzymatic activities), molecular biology (forward and reverse genetics), cell biology (e.g. live cell imaging), histochemistry, in vivo pharmacokinetics, experimental toxicology and behavior analysis.
Awards and Honors
Member of Washington State Academy of Sciences
Nephi Stella
Professor
Affiliations
UW Neurosciences Graduate Program
UW Molecular and Cell Biology Graduate Program
Funding:
NIH/NIDA
NIH/NINDS
Academic Societies:
Society for Neurosciences
Society for Neuro-oncology
Nephi Stella
Professor
Affiliations
UW Neurosciences Graduate Program
UW Molecular and Cell Biology Graduate Program
Funding:
NIH/NIDA
NIH/NINDS
Academic Societies:
Society for Neurosciences
Society for Neuro-oncology
Faculty
- Building:
- Health Sciences Building
- Room:
- F404A
- Box:
- 357280
- Phone:
- 206-221-5220
- Web Link:
- https://depts.washington.edu/stellalb/
Lab
- Building:
- Health Sciences Building
- Room:
- F404-410
- Box:
- 357280
- Phone:
- 206-685-3628
- Web Link:
- https://depts.washington.edu/stellalb/
Nephi Stella
Professor
Affiliations
UW Neurosciences Graduate Program
UW Molecular and Cell Biology Graduate Program
Funding:
NIH/NIDA
NIH/NINDS
Academic Societies:
Society for Neurosciences
Society for Neuro-oncology
Neuropharmacology NBIO 404
Nephi Stella
Professor
Affiliations
UW Neurosciences Graduate Program
UW Molecular and Cell Biology Graduate Program
Funding:
NIH/NIDA
NIH/NINDS
Academic Societies:
Society for Neurosciences
Society for Neuro-oncology
Simar Singh (PhD candidate)
Nephi Stella
Professor
Affiliations
UW Neurosciences Graduate Program
UW Molecular and Cell Biology Graduate Program
Funding:
NIH/NIDA
NIH/NINDS
Academic Societies:
Society for Neurosciences
Society for Neuro-oncology
Select Publications
Marrs WR, Blankman JL, Horne EA, Thomazeau A, Lin YH, Coy J, Bodor AL, Muccioli GG, Hu SS, Woodruff G, Fung S, Lafourcade M, Alexander JP, Long JZ, Li W, Xu C, Moller T, Mackie K, Manzoni OJ, Cravatt BF and Stella N (2010) The serine hydrolase ABHD6 controls the accumulation and efficacy of 2-AG at cannabinoid receptors. Nat Neurosci 13(8): 951-957.
Naydenov AV, Horne EA, Cheah CS, Swinney K, Hsu KL, Cao JK, Marrs WR, Blankman JL, Tu S, Cherry AE, Fung S, Wen A, Li W, Saporito MS, Selley DE, Cravatt BF, Oakley JC and Stella N (2014) ABHD6 blockade exerts antiepileptic activity in PTZ-induced seizures and in spontaneous seizures in R6/2 mice. Neuron 83(2): 361-371
Cherry AE, Haas BR, Naydenov AV, Fung S, Xu C, Swinney K, Wagenbach M, Freeling J, Canton DA, Coy J, Horne EA, Rickman B, Vicente JJ, Scott JD, Ho RJ, Liggitt D, Wordeman L and Stella N (2016) ST-11: a new brain-penetrant microtubule-destabilizing agent with therapeutic potential for glioblastoma multiforme. Mol Cancer Ther 15(19): 2018-2029.
Kaplan JS, Stella N, Catterall WA and Westenbroek RE. Cannabidiol attenuates seizures and social deficits in a mouse model of Dravet syndrome. Proc Natl Acad Sci 114(42):11229-11234.
Kruse LC, Cao JK, Viray K, Stella N, Clark JJ. Voluntary oral consumption of .9-tetrahydrocannabinol by adolescent rats impairs reward-predictive cue behaviors in adulthood. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2019 Jul;44(8):1406-1414
Publications
Nephi Stella
Professor
Affiliations
UW Neurosciences Graduate Program
UW Molecular and Cell Biology Graduate Program
Funding:
NIH/NIDA
NIH/NINDS
Academic Societies:
Society for Neurosciences
Society for Neuro-oncology