Marine natural products have gained significant momentum due to the vast biodiversity of marine organisms, which produce a variety of bioactive compounds with potential therapeutic applications including antibacterial, antiviral, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory effects. Surpassing the synthetic libraries, marine natural products are noted for their unique molecular scaffolds. They have distinctive mechanisms of action that can target specific biological pathways potentially improving their safety profiles. At CD3, we work on characterization of marine-derived compounds from various sources, understanding their chemistry, exploring their therapeutic applications followed by underlying mechanisms of action specifically in cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. We use in silico,  in vitro and omics approaches in order to accelerate this search of lead molecules and their further development into drugs.

At CD3, we focus on the identification and therapeutic intervention of target molecules for the treatment or prevention of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies. We are interested in the protective effects of potent molecules (synthetic and natural) in shielding neuronal death caused by oxidative stress and neuroinflammation.

Diet is another major area we are focusing on to prevent downstream neurological damage since it can affect the self-perpetuating oxidative stress and neuroinflammation. Our lab conducts in silico and in vitro studies to study the binding of potent molecules with various proteins involved in pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases and associated inflammatory pathways.

As per WHO, globally there were an estimated 20 million new cases of cancer and 9.7 million deaths from cancer in 2022, this burden will increase by about 77% by 2050. Cancer Research is leading in understanding the fundamental mechanisms of cancer biology with the eventual goal of harnessing the potential to develop effective management strategies for cancer. Our group is working on a discovery of small molecule inhibitors, one of the primary targeted therapies for cancer. Due to their advantages in a wide range of targets, convenient medication, and the ability to penetrate into the central nervous system, many efforts have been devoted to developing more small molecule inhibitors.

Most small molecule inhibitors belong to protein kinase inhibitors. In addition, drugs involved in DNA repair, epigenetics, apoptosis, tumor metabolism, and beyond are also being discovered. However, the cellular events responsible for constitutively active signaling and modulation of its downstream cellular effects remained to be understood and demanded a better understanding of its effective therapeutic targeting. We aim to learn more about the several positive and negative protein regulators that control the expression and activity of signaling pathways. Currently, we are working to identify novel small molecules as drug candidates through in silico and/or in-vitro drug screening, and validation in cell culture.