Structural biology of proteins involved in cancer
- Research Opportunity
- PhD students, Masters by Research
- Department / Centre
- Medicine
- Location
- St Vincent's Institute of Medical Research
Primary Supervisor | Number | Webpage | |
---|---|---|---|
Dr Craig Morton | craig.morton@unimelb.edu.au | Personal web page |
Co-supervisor | Number | Webpage | |
---|---|---|---|
Prof Michael Parker | mparker@svi.edu.au | Personal web page |
Summary We are investigating, though structural and biochemical means, how a range of ruthenium, arsenic and osmium-based drugs and drug-like compounds interact with Glutathione S-Transferase (GST) family of proteins.
Project Details
Conventional cancer chemotherapy kills rapidly growing cells indiscriminately, causing significant side-effects and can lead to disease re-occurrence and resistance to the drugs. One of our interests is the Glutathione S-Transferase (GST) family of proteins that function by recognising foreign small molecule toxins in the body, causing them to be eliminated from the cell. Unfortunately, commonly used anti-cancer drugs are also recognised as toxic by GST, which is often overexpressed in cancer tissues and is associated with transformation to malignancy and the adaptive resistance to anti-cancer drugs. There is thus an urgent need for the design of new anti-cancer drugs that circumvent the development of GST-mediated resistance to treatment. Very recently, there has been an increasing interest in the development of metal-based drugs as effective and potent protein targeted chemotherapies. We are investigating, though structural and biochemical means, how a range of ruthenium, arsenic and osmium-based drugs and drug-like compounds interact with GSTs. Students will investigate how these compounds work, as well as any drug-like molecules we develop, using X-ray crystallography and a range of biophysical techniques.
This project is conducted in St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research, Structural Biology Unit.
Faculty Research Themes
School Research Themes
Research Opportunities
PhD students, Masters by Research
Students who are interested in joining this project will need to consider their elegibility as well as other requirements before contacting the supervisor of this research
Key Contact
For further information about this research, please contact a supervisor.
Department / Centre
Research Group / Unit / Centre
Research Node
St Vincent's Institute of Medical ResearchMDHS Research library
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