Welcome to the Meibohm Lab!
Dr. Bernd Meibohm is a Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs at the College of Pharmacy, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee. He received his pharmacy degree and doctorate in pharmaceutics from Technical University Carolo-Wilhelmina, Braunschweig, Germany. After completion of a clinical pharmacology research fellowship at the University of Florida in 1997, he joined the faculty of the University of South Carolina, and in 1999 the University of Tennessee.
Dr. Meibohm is a Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) and the American College of Clinical Pharmacology (ACCP). He was the President for the American College of Clinical Pharmacology 2014-2016, served on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists 2016-2019, and was the chair for the ‘Pharmacokinetics, Pharmacodynamics and Drug Metabolism’ (PPDM) section of AAPS 2009-2010. Dr. Meibohm is also serving as associate editor for The AAPS Journal, and is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, Clinical Pharmacokinetics, Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Journal of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics, Frontiers in Obstetric and Pediatric Pharmacology, Current Pharmacology Reports, European Journal of Oncology Pharmacy, and Die Pharmazie.
Areas of Research/Scholarship Focus
Dr. Meibohm’s research is focused on the investigation of the pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of drugs with special emphasis on PK/PD-correlations.
Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD)-modeling bridges the gap between dynamic dose-concentration relationships and static concentration-effect relationships of drugs. By combining information provided by pharmacokinetics and by pharmacodynamics, it facilitates the description and prediction of the time course of drug effects that are resulting from a certain dosing regimen. The application of these PK/PD-modeling concepts has been identified as beneficial in all phases of preclinical and clinical drug development as well as in applied clinical pharmacotherapy, where it provides a more rational basis for patient-specific dosage individualization.
Thus, the ultimate goal of the research in Dr. Meibohm’s lab is to contribute to the optimization of dosing regimens for increased efficacy and reduced toxicity and to modulate pharmacotherapy according to the needs of the individual patient.
Special areas of interest are:
Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of small molecule drugs and biologics in pediatric patients and their dependency on developmental changes. Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of antibiotics with specific focus on the development of therapies against tuberculosis. Application of pharmacometrics and quantitative pharmacology concepts in preclinical and clinical drug development, with specific focus on therapeutic proteins.
This includes the application of the following research techniques:
- Evaluation of the pharmacokinetic properties of investigational as well as marketed drugs or dosage forms in animal models, healthy volunteers or various patient subpopulations.
- Participation in the planning, conduct, and analysis of clinical trials.
- Development and validation of bioanalytical assays to quantify drug concentrations in biological fluids.
- Identification and validation of surrogate endpoints as a measure for the pharmacologic activity of drugs.
- Computer-based mathematical modeling and simulation of the correlation between the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs (PK/PD-modeling).
- Application of population approaches in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data analysis.
Dr. Meibohm’s research group is actively collaborating with researchers and clinicians at the University of Tennessee Colleges of Pharmacy and Medicine, LeBonheur Children’s Medical Center, Memphis, TN, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, the University of Louisville, KY, the University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, and in the pharmaceutical industry.
Current collaborative research projects include:
Pediatric Pharmacotherapy
Evaluation of the effect of developmental changes on the disposition of and response to investigational and clinically used drugs in pediatric patients, with specific focus on hepatic drug transporters.
Investigation of the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of medications used in neonatal and pediatric pharmacotherapy, including population PK/PD modeling and simulation to optimize dosing strategies and trial designs.
Evaluation of the ontogeny of drug disposition mechanisms relevant for therapeutic proteins.
Anti-infective Pharmacotherapy
Preclinical pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic evaluation and optimization of novel anti-infectives against mycobacteria, alphaviruses and other infectious agents.
Pharmacometric approaches to predict in vivo efficacy of novel anti-infectives.
Drug Development
Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic characterization including PK/PD-modeling of the investigational drugs, especially biotechnologically derived drug products.
Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic evaluation of therapeutic proteins and their mechanisms of disposition and elimination.
Other Interests
Training on Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Protein Therapeutics
Dr. Meibohm holds annually in collaboration with Dr. Johan Gabrielsson from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden a week-long hands-on pharmacometric training course at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis on the Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Therapeutic Proteins.
