Project: Development of drugs that overcome antifungal drug resistance.
Project leader: Jorrit Enserink, MN, Department of Biosciences. CanCell PI.
Project coordinator: Jeanne Corrales, MN, Department of Biosciences, Postdoc in Jorrit Enserink - CanCell research group.
Invasive fungal infections are life-threatening diseases that have been estimated to affect 7 million people every year, and attributable global death is estimated at 2.5 million annually. Moreover, resistance to antifungal therapy is rising at an alarming rate, particularly fungi that are multi-resistant to clinical drugs. There exists a need for new antifungal treatment strategies that can overcome resistance, and the market potential for such treatments is expected to be substantial.
We recently found that one of the compounds we routinely study in our lab, which was originally based on an antibiotic with anticancer activity, also had potent antifungal activity. More importantly, we found that this compound can overcome antifungal drug resistance in important human pathogens. The goal of this project is to develop this compound into new antifungal therapy for treatment of drug-resistant antifungal infections. The funding will be used for experiments, such as medicinal chemistry, for conducting market research, and for mapping of regulatory requirements for new antifungal agents. The project will be coordinated by Jeanne Corrales.
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Project: New anticancer drugs.
Project leader: Nikolina Sekulic, MED, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences. Associate Professor and CanCell Associate member.
Our project aims at developing a new class of anti-cancer compounds that selectively block cell division in tumor cells by targeting a recently identified vulnerability in the mitotic machinery. Using atomic-resolution structural data, we are designing and optimizing small molecules with improved solubility and specificity, in collaboration with experts in medicinal chemistry and cancer cell biology in Denmark. This approach offers a promising alternative to conventional chemotherapy, with the potential to reduce side effects and overcome resistance in aggressive cancers such as glioblastoma and liver cancer.