The Department of Pharmacology engages in the development of therapeutic strategies for the prevention and/or amelioration of the damages induced following exposure to different toxicants.

 We perform multi-system research toward the development of treatments that can significantly decrease acute and chronic damages following exposure, in a variety of exposure models. The selection of the potential treatments is performed in a rational way, based on the results of investigations that characterized the injuries sustained by the different body systems.

 We also engage in R&D in the development of treatments using induced pluripotent stem cells as a local treatment to prevent damage and/or for the rehabilitation of pathologies in specific organs following focused exposure, or against multi-system damage following whole body exposure.

The following are a few of the treatment solutions that were developed in our department:

1. Localin (benoxinate HCL 0.4%) treatment following sulfur mustard exposure, was found to relieve pain, enabling eye opening and therefore allowing self-evacuation.

2. Topical treatment with the steroid dexamycin (dexamethasone) following sulfur mustard ocular exposure, significantly reduced the acute as well as long-term pathologies.

3. Combined treatment with an auto-injector, TAB, containing TMB4, atropine and benactizine was found as an effective counter-measure against organophosphate intoxication.

4. Topical treatment with a combination of the steroid betacorten (betamethasone cream 0.1%) and the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory voltaren (diclofenac 1%) significantly reduced acute skin injury following dermal exposure to sulfur mustard in vapor or liquid form.​