Developing resistance to apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is a hallmark of cancer. In addition to being necessary for cancer development, apoptosis resistance can also be responsible for the development of drug resistance. Targeting specific components of the apoptosis pathway is therefore a potential therapeutic strategy, particularly in pancreatic cancer where resistance to chemotherapy is in part responsible for the low survival rates in this devastating disease. MCL-1 is a member of the pro-survival BCL2 family of proteins that inhibits apoptosis. MCL-1 is highly expressed in pancreatic cancer cells, therefore proposed to develop a photochemical approach to novel benzothiophenes by extending a known thermal ring synthesis protocol. Alternative pathways will be considered for investigation to allow access to novel indoles Further analysis to demonstrate mechanistic specificity are possible if promising compounds are identified following initial screening. For example, binding assays to determine specificity for MCL1 over the related BCL2 and BCL-XL proteins, and quantitative fluorescent imaging of active BAX to demonstrate specificity for activation of mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis.
Always been interested in science background hence after my graduation in B pharmacy came to pursue masters from Kingston university, achieving merit grade and then got an opportunity for PhD research in developing novel heterocyclic drugs for pancreatic cancer. Definitely I will research many new methodologies for developing anticancer drugs.