Ph.D. Supervisor
Ajaikumar B Kunnumakkara, Ph.D.
Professor
Cancer Biology Laboratory
Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG)
Guwahati, Assam-781039, INDIA.
Email: kunnumakkara@iitg.ac.in; ajai78@gmail.com
Phone: +91 361 258 2231/3220 (Office/Lab); +91 789 600 5326 (mobile)
Courses taught under PMRF scheme
BSC Zoology-Third Year
Evolutionary Biology, Computational Biology
(Department of Zoology, Arya Vidyapeeth College, Guwahati, Assam)
BSC Zoology-Second Year
Metabolic Processes, Cell Biology and Immunology
(Department of Zoology, Arya Vidyapeeth College, Guwahati, Assam)
My research
Repurposing of FDA approved drugs targeting SLC1A2 for the treatment of Glioblastoma
According to the recent global cancer estimate the incidence of brain and central nervous system cancer is reported to be 321,476 cases, with a total of 248,305 deaths. Glioblastoma (GBM) represents the most aggressive and prevalent form of brain cancer, primarily affecting elderly individuals. Despite therapeutic advancements and FDA-approved agents, GBM prognosis remains grim, with the longest median survival of 25 months, achieved through radiolabelled antibody therapy. The established Temozolomide regimen faces challenges including resistance, blood-brain barrier issues, and heterogeneity. Therefore, understanding GBM biology for novel drug development becomes crucial. Reprofiling FDA-approved drugs expedites discovery with safety benefits. We observed SLC1A2 downregulation in GBM and hypothesizing SLC1A2 to be a tumor suppressor, inducing the expression of this protein may potentially help in the therapeutic management of GBM. Therefore, my research focuses on studying the role of SLC1A2 in GBM and reprofiling drugs to target it, aiming on advancing GBM treatment.
Objectives of the work
1. Delineating the role of SLC1A2 in GBM through in silico approaches.
2. Exploring the functional role of SLC1A2 in regulating various cancer hallmarks via in vitro approaches.
3. Repurposing of FDA approved drugs that target SLC1A2 through in silico methods and examining their effect on GBM cell lines by in vitro methods.
4. Evaluating the potential of the repurposed drug targeting SLC1A2 by in vivo models.
Workflow
