PhD project

We are looking for a PhD student.

Project:

The efficiency and efficacy of metallodrugs in medicinal chemistry is frequently halted by the difficulty of reaching the desired target. Very often, a significant part of drug reacts or decomposes during this pathway. One possible strategy to overcome this problem is to develop novel strategies that warrant delivery while keeping the drug intact and able to interact with its target. Methodologies for drug encapsulation are known and have proven efficient in the controlled drug release. Yet, for metallodrugs encapsulation strategies are still scarce, despite the widespread use of metallodrugs and the well-known side effects associated with a number of them, in particular platinum based anti-cancer agents.

In this project we aim to tackle this problem by developing novel strategies for anticancer-drug development and encapsulation. We will exploit the synthesis of metal complexes based on anticancer-active nucleosides (e.g. gemcitabine) to promote a dual modus operandi within the metallodrug. Recent work from Petronilho’s Lab has demonstrated that nucleoside-based complexes of platinum and palladium are active compounds against a number of cell lines (ACS OMEGA, 2018) while being non-toxic for healthy cells. These complexes are also able to promote molecular recognition via base pairing (Chem. Comm. 2020). With these effective compounds, we will explore methods for encapsulation and delivery to specific targets, on encapsulation and targeted drug delivery of nanoparticles.