Quantification and prediction of human fetal brain (-)-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) exposure, combined with fetal brain transcriptomic and proteomic studies, to inform THC fetal neurodevelopmental toxicity

Xin Chen, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Translational Medicine, School of Pharmacy, University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Basic Pharmacy from China Pharmaceutical University (CPU) in 2019 and his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the University of Washington (UW) in 2025. Dr. Chen’s research focuses on pregnancy pharmacology, drug transporters, cannabinoids, and quantitative modeling and simulation. He has authored nine peer-reviewed publications, including five as first author, and has received several fellowships and awards during his graduate training.

Aditya (Adi) R. Kumar, Ph.D., is a Principal Scientist at Genentech. He earned his B.S. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from the University of Washington in 2017 and his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the University of Washington in 2023, under the mentorship of Dr. Jashvant Unadkat. His research expertise lies in DMPK, specifically in leading IND-enabling strategies and translational modeling to inform drug discovery and development. His work focuses on uncovering mechanistic drivers of pharmacokinetic processes, including the use of PBPK modeling to predict human efficacious doses and assess clinical liabilities. He has also conducted extensive research into pregnancy pharmacokinetics, cannabinoid disposition, and tumor microenvironment modeling. He has authored nine publications in journals such as Nature Communications and Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics.

Jashvant (Jash) Unadkat, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Dept. of Pharmaceutics at the School of Pharmacy, University of Washington, Seattle.   He received his Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy (B.Pharm.) from the University of London (1977), his Ph.D. from the University of Manchester and his postdoctoral training at the University of California at San Francisco.  He held the Milo Gibaldi Endowed Professorship in the Department from 2016-21. Dr. Unadkat’s research interests are on mechanisms of transport and metabolism of drugs during pregnancy, and transport of drugs across the placental, hepatic, intestinal and blood-brain barrier.  Dr. Unadkat has published more than 250 peer-reviewed research papers.  He is a fellow of AAAS, AAPS, JSSX, and the founding co-chair (1999-2001) of the focus group of AAPS on Drug Transport and Uptake.  Dr. Unadkat received the AAPS Research Achievement Award in 2012 and the ISSX Scientific Achievement Award in 2023.  Dr.  Unadkat created and led the UW Research Affiliates Program on Transporters (UWRAPT), a cooperative effort between the UW School of Pharmacy and pharmaceutical companies, for 10 years. He also leads UWPKDAP, a NIDA funded Program Project grant (P01) on drug disposition during pregnancy and co-leads UW Transporter Elucidation Center (https://depts.washington.edu/uwtec/) funded by NICHD to identify and characterize novel transporters in the placenta and the developing intestine.  Dr. Unadkat has been an Associate Editor for the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, an Editor of AAPS Journal, and a member of the NIH Pharmacology study section (2000-3).  Dr. Unadkat has organized or co-organized numerous national and international conferences on the role of transporters and pregnancy in the disposition of drugs.