According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death for women in the United States, and, as a result, the treatment of this terrible disease has become an area of intense research within the scientific and medical communities. To find one of the major fronts in the fight against breast cancer, one needs to look no further than Hamilton College. Amanda Salisburg '08 (Duanesburg, N.Y.) and Katherine Alser '09 (Newport Beach, Calif.), under the advisement of Winslow Professor of Chemistry George Shields and Co-Director of the Center for Molecular Design Karl Kirschner, are working on an ongoing project to design breast cancer drugs derived from alpha-fetoprotein (AFP).
AFP is a natural occurring protein produced by the fetal yolk sac that circulates through the bloodstream of pregnant women. It has been proven to decrease the risk of breast cancer in women who have had their first child before the age of 30. Researchers at the Albany Medical Center have discovered the active site of AFP and are testing the activity of different analogues that resemble the active site of the protein. Salisburg and Alser have taken these analogues as well as others of their own design and have analyzed them through computational methods. Using a program called AMBER, they have studied the conformational details of the analogues to see which part of the analogues are needed for their ability to inhibit breast cancer.
Once they have pieced together what makes the analogues active or inactive, they hope to reverse engineer the hitherto unknown receptor sites of these proteins in the human body. Knowledge of the receptor sites will aid in the design of an anti-breast cancer drug that will mimic the active analogues. A paper detailing their research entitled "Computational Design and Experimental Discovery of an Anti-estrogenic Peptide Derived from Alpha-fetoprotein" was published in the May 16 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Another portion of their research will also be published in an upcoming issue of the International Journal of Quantum Chemistry.
In addition to breast cancer research, Salisburg is also studying certain carbohydrates known to affect arthritis by causing it to go into remission. By analyzing the conformations and crystal structures of these molecules, she hopes to understand how they exert their effects. She says her senior thesis will incorporate both of the projects she is currently working on.
Similarly, Alser has just begun working on a new project that will allow for the utilization of computational chemistry to study the mechanism of formation of amyloid plaques, which are accumulations of hard, insoluble protein fragments formed between nerve cells in the brain. These plaques are thought to contribute to the degradation of nerve cells and the symptoms associated with diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
Salisburg, a chemistry major and comparative literature minor, has been involved in Hamilton's summer research program for the last three summers. She pole vaults and runs hurdles for the track and field team. This is the second summer of research for Alser, who is a member of the curling team and the Capoeira club. She is majoring in chemistry with a minor in math. Both Salisburg and Alser agree that successful research depends on being prepared to work hard and choosing a project that you are interested in. Otherwise, the research process would be "painful." They also think that coming into a project that has already started can be one of the most challenging aspects of research because it involves figuring out what someone else has already done and deciding where to go from there.
-- by Nick Berry '09
AFP is a natural occurring protein produced by the fetal yolk sac that circulates through the bloodstream of pregnant women. It has been proven to decrease the risk of breast cancer in women who have had their first child before the age of 30. Researchers at the Albany Medical Center have discovered the active site of AFP and are testing the activity of different analogues that resemble the active site of the protein. Salisburg and Alser have taken these analogues as well as others of their own design and have analyzed them through computational methods. Using a program called AMBER, they have studied the conformational details of the analogues to see which part of the analogues are needed for their ability to inhibit breast cancer.
Once they have pieced together what makes the analogues active or inactive, they hope to reverse engineer the hitherto unknown receptor sites of these proteins in the human body. Knowledge of the receptor sites will aid in the design of an anti-breast cancer drug that will mimic the active analogues. A paper detailing their research entitled "Computational Design and Experimental Discovery of an Anti-estrogenic Peptide Derived from Alpha-fetoprotein" was published in the May 16 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Another portion of their research will also be published in an upcoming issue of the International Journal of Quantum Chemistry.
In addition to breast cancer research, Salisburg is also studying certain carbohydrates known to affect arthritis by causing it to go into remission. By analyzing the conformations and crystal structures of these molecules, she hopes to understand how they exert their effects. She says her senior thesis will incorporate both of the projects she is currently working on.
Similarly, Alser has just begun working on a new project that will allow for the utilization of computational chemistry to study the mechanism of formation of amyloid plaques, which are accumulations of hard, insoluble protein fragments formed between nerve cells in the brain. These plaques are thought to contribute to the degradation of nerve cells and the symptoms associated with diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
Salisburg, a chemistry major and comparative literature minor, has been involved in Hamilton's summer research program for the last three summers. She pole vaults and runs hurdles for the track and field team. This is the second summer of research for Alser, who is a member of the curling team and the Capoeira club. She is majoring in chemistry with a minor in math. Both Salisburg and Alser agree that successful research depends on being prepared to work hard and choosing a project that you are interested in. Otherwise, the research process would be "painful." They also think that coming into a project that has already started can be one of the most challenging aspects of research because it involves figuring out what someone else has already done and deciding where to go from there.
-- by Nick Berry '09
