David Kroll, Ph.D
Professor and Chair of Pharmaceutical Sciences

• Earned B.S. in Toxicology at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy & Science and Ph.D. at the University of Florida
• Completed postdoctoral fellowship in Medical Oncology and Molecular Endocrinology at University of Colorado School of Medicine
• Spent eight and half years in industry, working for Research Triangle Institute as a Senior Research Pharmacologist and SmithKline and French Laboratories as a Research Associate
• Served as an Assistant Professor (seven years) and an Associate Professor (two years) of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Colorado
• Contact:  dkroll@nccu.edu or 919-530-7013

Pure Flavonolignans from Milk Thistle
This project is designed to explore the activity and mechanism(s) of anticancer action of individual flavonolignan compounds isolated from the botanical medicine, milk thistle (Silybum marianum). Milk thistle extracts, often called silymarin or silibinin in health food stores, contain two to eight active compounds. Our primary research question is whether the compounds act in synergy with distinct mechanisms of anticancer action or whether each have overlapping activities but simply with differential potency. These investigations focus on in vitro and in vivo models of human prostate cancer and are being conducted in collaboration with colleagues at the RTI Natural Products Laboratory and the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy and Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Discovery of Anticancer Natural Products
This NCI program project is designed to determine the anticancer potential of compounds isolated from plants, filamentous fungi and cyanobacteria. The role of the Kroll laboratory is to investigate the activity of compounds specifically derived from culturable filamentous fungi in collaboration with the RTI Natural Products Laboratory and Mycosynthetix. The project is led by investigators at the Ohio State University College of Pharmacy and includes colleagues at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy and Bristol-Myers Squibb.