Research Interests:
My research focuses on both understanding the chemical basis of molecular recognition in protein-protein and protein-ligand complexes and translating such basic knowledge into the discovery of new drugs. By integrating the tools of structure-based drug design, synthetic chemistry, biophysical and biochemical analysis, and molecular and cellular biology, my primary interest is to generate novel chemical modulators of protein biological function and use them as small molecular probes to explore the structure-function relationship and molecular mechanism of biological processes involved in immunology and cancer cell biology. The second goal of my research is to further develop these molecular probes into new therapeutic agents for the treatment of cancer. One example is our focus on Bcl-2. Bcl-2 family proteins are key regulators of apoptosis or programmed cell death which is implicated in many human diseases including cancer and neurodegenerative disorder. My lab has shown that synthetic cell permeable Bcl-2 binding peptides can induce apoptosis of tumor cells and suppress the growth of tumor in mice. In addition, my group discovered, using computer screening techniques, organic compounds that mimic the tumor-killing effect of Bcl-2 binding peptides. These findings have demonstrated a novel approach of using chemical modulation of Bcl-2 function as an anti-cancer strategy. Our laboratory is planning further studies to advance these Bcl-2 inhibitors to human clinical trials as a new class of anti-cancer drugs.
Track(s):
Molecular Pathology
BMS Focus Areas:
Cancer Biology
Structural Chemical Biology
Stem Cells
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