RESEARCH
1. Design and Synthesis of G-quadruplex ligands
Development of quadruplex ligands with special focus on the phenanthroline family.
In addition to the chemical synthesis of the compounds, computational tools are also applied to study the interaction with the target.
2. Biophysical characterization of non-canonical nucleic acids structures
Study of non-canonical structures in telomeres, oncogene promoters and miRNA as a therapeutic target for cancer therapy.
The study is carried out using a wide range of computational, biophysical and biochemical techniques.
3. Oligonucleotide-based therapeutics
- Evaluation of therapeutic oligonucleotides for cancer therapy
- Development and characterization of aptamer functionalized nanocarriers (micelles, liposomes, dendrimers and gold nanoparticles) for targeted delivery
- Biological evaluation in in vitro and in vivo models.
4. Screening of miRNAs as novel cancer biomarkers
The main aim is to validate those miRNAs as novel biomarkers for cancer detection.
The profiling of miRNAs is performed in biological samples such as plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells as well cancer cell lines.