Molecular Therapeutics Program
The program consists of 41 members from 12 departments and three schools within the University and brings together chemists, biologists, statisticians and translational and clinical researchers with a common interest in the development of new cancer therapies and molecular diagnostics.
Our Program has five major components:
•Target identification and validation
•Drug discovery and delivery
•Mechanisms of drug action
•Molecular diagnostics
•Clinical translational research.
Examples of research by program members include:
•The identification of a a novel synthetic chemistry approach to overcome taxol drug resistance;
•Utilization of a carbon nanotechnology for the development of targeted delivery of Taxol (paclitaxel) or Doxorubicin;
•The discovery that the inhibition of alpha PKC protects against breast cancer metastasis;
definition of genetic mechanisms for regulation of the MDR1/ABCB1 gene;
•The development of a new technology for the nanoscale measurement of proteins for molecular diagnostics;
•The application of high-throughput technologies to identify new agents that target the hedgehog pathway; and
•The construction of novel adenoviral based vectors for gene delivery to the liver.
The Program is highly interactive through annual retreats, monthly research meetings, bi-annual faculty meetings, bi-annual student-sponsored symposia and invited speakers and symposia with pharmaceutical companies.
Program Directors
Dean W. Felsher, MD, PhD
Branimir I. Sikic, MD
Trial Administration