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Contact Details

Phone
+64 3 479 8524
Email
michelle.glass@otago.ac.nz

University Links

Position
Professor
Department
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
Qualifications
PhD BSc
Research summary
Cannabinoids, neurodegenerative diseases, Huntington’s disease, G-protein coupled receptors

Research

Michelle Glass is a molecular pharmacologist who joined the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Otago as Head of Department in 2018, moving here from the University of Auckland where she worked for 18 years.

She returned to the department where her working career began 23 years ago. Professor Glass’ first role after graduating with a PhD from the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Auckland in 1995 was as an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Otago.

Her initial stint at Otago was brief as she took up a fellowship in the United States the following year. She worked as a postdoctoral Fellow in the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Regulation at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland for 18 months before moving on to work as a Visiting Fellow in the Laboratory of Cell Biology at the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communications Disorders in Rockville, Maryland. She returned to New Zealand in 2000 and took up a role as a Lecturer within the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Auckland.

Professor Glass’ research focuses on the expression, function and molecular pharmacology of the cannabinoid receptors and their potential role in treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Her recent research interests have extended to identifying the mechanism by which synthetic cannabinoids are resulting in high levels of toxicity in the community and advising on the development of clinical trials for medicinal cannabis products.

Currently, Professor Glass is a member of the Medical Cannabis Research Collaborative (NZ), which aims to ensure robust clinical research of medical cannabis products in New Zealand is undertaken. It will also set informal standards for the development and testing of medical cannabis products, as well as increasing understanding and the base of evidence for or against the use of medical cannabis products in specific clinical conditions. Her contributions to the field have been acknowledged by an early career award from the International Cannabinoid Research Society in 2009 and by election to President of this society.

She acknowledges it is an interesting time with change potentially in the wind with so many countries legalising cannabis.

“I think it’s important that the science keeps up with the public debate.”

Read more in Otago Bulletin:
Synthetic cannabis under spotlight for new Pharmacology head

Publications

Yang, L., Finlay, D., Glass, M., & Duffull, S. (2025). Development of a heuristic machine analogy method for model simplification with an application to a large-scale model of Gi/Gs signaling. CPT: Pharmacometrics & Systems Pharmacology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1002/psp4.70029 Journal - Research Article

Ehrlich, B., Patel, M., Zheng, X., & Glass, M. (2025). Canonical cannabinoid receptors. In Current topics in behavioral neurosciences. Berlin, Germany: Springer. doi: 10.1007/7854_2024_556 Chapter in Book - Research

Komal, K., Shah, R. M., Glass, M., & Das, S. (2024, November). Leucine enhances the aerosolization of inhalable cannabidiol dry powder developed by spray freeze drying. Verbal presentation at the School of Pharmacy Research Symposium, Dunedin, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Komal, K., Glass, M., & Das, S. C. (2024). Kaempferol can increase aerosolization and decrease the cytotoxicity of inhaled cannabidiol. Proceedings of the 35th Drug Delivery to the Lungs (DDL) Conference. 35, (pp. 185-188). doi: 10.60565/cjpx-1k63 Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper

Komal, K., Glass, M., & Das, S. C. (2024, August-September). Impact of amino acids on aerosolization and cytotoxicity of inhalable cannabidiol. Poster session presented at the 18th New Zealand Medical Sciences Congress (MedSci), Queenstown, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Poster Presentation (not in published proceedings)

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