PHARMACOLOGY

Research Area 2

Multi-drug regimens are typically employed to combat diseases such as cancer and viral infections. The main advantage of this regimen is that several chemotherapeutic agents are used to simultaneously assault different biological pathways. While effective, this strategy has several serious problems including toxicity and drug-drug interactions that often limit its utility.

To combat these problems, we are developing an alternative strategy to use a single chemotherapeutic agent that can hit multiple targets associated with disease progression. This approach represents a paradigm shift in treatment strategy since it alleviates several disadvantages of multi-drug regimens.

One current project is to test the ability of various non-natural nucleosides to target ATP-dependent enzymes associated with cancer progression and drug resistance. These include cell-cycle-dependent kinases (CDKs) and the p-glycoprotein drug transporter.

Back to Research Interests