Bhavana B

Title: Investigating the anticancer activity and molecular mechanisms of Albumin copper diethyldithiocarbamate (AlbCuDDC) in Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the 4th most common malignancy with very dismal prognosis. The findings indicate that PDAC are heterogeneous tumours containing cancer stem cells (CSCs). CSCs are highly metastatic and resistant to conventional chemotherapies becoming the primary source of PDAC relapse. The demand for novel anti-PDAC treatments is urgent while drug development is slow and costly, mainly due to the large risk of toxicity of novel molecules. The repurposing of clinically available drugs into new treatment areas allows for the clinical development of safe drugs for new indications at much reduced time, risk, and cost. Disulfiram (DS), an anti-alcoholism drug used in clinic for over 60 years, demonstrates excellent activity against a wide range of cancers without toxicity to normal cells. DS also potentiates the cytotoxic effect of anticancer drugs and increases the therapeutic index. DS can be promptly converted into diethyldithiocarbamate (DDC) which is a strong divalent metal ion chelator, DS chelates Cu(II) and Zn(II) forming a Cu-DDC or Zn-DDC complex which has been shown to be the active anticancer metabolite of DS. Previous studies have shown that the metal-metabolite complexes of DS are highly effective in targeting CSC's and reverse drug resistance in several other cancers. This study aims on investigating the molecular mechanisms of AlbCuDDC in PDAC in-vitro giving important insights necessary to translate AlbCuDDC to treat PDAC in clinics."

“Microbiological Techniques used in Pharmaceutical Industries” Instrumentation - spectrophotometer, HPLC, GC Environmental microbiology - soil, air and water sampling Microbiological methods - Sterility testing, Total Microbial Count(TMC), Membrane Filtration Method, Bacterial Endotoxin Test, Bioburden Test. Microbial assays - Streptomycin Assay, Gentamicin Assay