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Research Areas

Stimuli-responsive Fluorogenic and Non-fluorogenic Donors of Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S)
Targeted Delivery of Anti-cancer and Anti-inflammatory Drugs using Fluorescence OFF-ON Strategy
Anti-cancer and Antioxidative Properties of Synthetic Organochalcogen Compounds
Design and Synthesis of Potential Bio-active Organic Compounds
Understanding the Behavior of Synthesized Compounds in the Cellular Environment

Development of Potential Cancer Chemopreventive Agents

It is well-known that majority of anti-cancer/chemotherapeutic drugs that are used for the treatment of cancer induce many unwanted side effects leading to undesired disease states. Furthermore, it has been well-documented that prolonged administration of most of the anti-cancer drugs in high-doses generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) resulting in inflammatory states. Few antioxidants namely some vitamins, synthetic organochalcogen compounds are shown to have protective effects towards the anti-cancer drug-induced side effects (chemopreventive action). Therefore, our objective is to develop potent synthetic antioxidant to understand the underlying structural and mechanistic insights into chemopreventive action towards the anti-cancer activities of commonly used drugs.

Apoptotic Organochalcogen Compounds

Organic polysulfides have attracted significant reseach interest during past years because of their interesting biophysical properties and potentials for synthetic and biological utilities. Along with around 30 sulfur compounds, allyl sulfides such as diallyl monosulfide (DAS), diallyl disulfide (DADS) and diallyl trisulfide (DATS) are characteristic flavour components of garlic (Allium sativum) as shown in below. Garlic is widely served around the world and it has been reported that allyl sulfides present in garlic, inhibit both the initiation and promotion of tumorigenesis in experimental carcinogenesis models for various types of cancer. While DAS and DADS were found to be almost inactive, the corresponding trisulfide analogue DATS has been shown to induce apoptosis. Therefore, studies are in progress to understand the molecular mechasim underlying the apoptotic properties of organosulfur compounds in the presence of fluorescently-labeled dyes.

Stimuli-responsive Targeted Delivery of Anticancer and Anti-inflammatory Drugs with Turn-on Fluorescence

Although numerous chemotherapeutic and anti-inflammatory drugs are marketed presently, many of them are associated with significant side-effects and toxicities. These issues arise mainly due to non-targeted delivery of such compounds in general. Therefore, we took the initiative to develop suitable prodrugs to selectively deliver anticancer and anti-inflammatory drugs to the cancerous cells or the inflammatory sites with turn-on fluorescence with reduced off-target side-effects. The targeted delivery of the drugs would be achieved by the selective activation of the prodrugs in the targeted tissue environment in the presence of an elevated level of the specific stimulus. Moreover, the turn-on fluorogenic event would help non-invasive monitoring the drug delivery process in the real-time. Therefore, our recent research goals are oriented towards the development of suitable stimuli-responsive prodrugs of anticancer and anti-inflammatory drugs.