Bastow Lab
Leveraging Natural Chemical Diversity to Stimulate and Advance Scientific Inquiry and Scholarship
The Bastow laboratory is a collaborative research and training enterprise. Work in the lab encompasses:
- discovery of novel anti-herpes and anti-tumor experimental drugs, largely from plant sources
- strategic studies using new bioactive compounds and derivatives as tools to investigate contemporary bio-medicinal questions
The principal approach for nontraditional anti-herpes compounds involves cell-based screening coupled with established ligand-based medicinal chemistry around the acridone scaffold.
The lab continues to contribute in the anti-tumor drug discovery arena, in large part through a close working relationship with the Natural Product Laboratories Consortium directed by K. H. Lee, PhD, at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. This productive 18-year partnership, supported by several cycles of NIH-NCI support and private-foundation funding, has produced on average eight peer-reviewed publications per year as well as fourteen US Patents to date. Critical involvements of the Bastow laboratory include responsibility for
- the development, validation, and application of target-based discovery methods
- rational cell-based screening to identify novel actives
Preclinical development and hypothesis testing around compounds of joint interest are currently focused in-part on TSWu Sy-5-derivatives and collateral sensitivity of MDR-1 cell lines respectively.
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DASYTRICHONE Kills MDR-1 cell lines via P-gp; perhaps a new treatment approach for drug resistant cancers? How does it work? |
TSWu Sy-5, AKA Neo-tanshinlactone Discovered in 2001 from the TCM, “Tanshen” continues to inspire new drug exploration/inquiry. |
