Current treatments for ovarian cancer are largely toxic, and ultimately, ineffective for many patients. A current collaboration between Professor Bhargava (Science) and Professor Plebanski (Health & Biomedical Sciences, SHBS) seeks to enable clinical progression for their novel class of gold-based drugs that show superior selectivity and activity for otherwise drug-resistant cancer cells, for the treatment of ovarian cancer (Mirzadeh et al., 2021, DOI: 10.1093/mtomcs/mfab039).
As part of Professor Bhargava’s team, the PhD candidate will contribute to building structure-activity relationships (SARs) based around targeted modifications of their patented gold-based drug candidate using innovative in vitro protocols to refine lead drug candidate(s). This will involve a novel comprehensive approach, including analyses of cellular fate such as reduction/oxidation in diverse biological fluids, tumour cells and tissues, the transport into and within cells, the main leaving ligands and the major site of action, using for the first time, synchrotron μ-XAS and XFM and vibrational spectroscopic (VS) microscopy in the lead laboratory of Prof. Lay (USyd) in Australia. The candidate will further be co-supervised by Distinguished professor Magdalena Plebanski on specific aspects to the project related to interaction with biological materials at SHBS.
Desirable criteria:
- Interest in and ability to work in an interdisciplinary setting, including with scientists and/or engineers.
- Experience in metallo-compound, cancer or immunotherapy research.
