Contact
Biography
My name is Carver and I am a PhD Pharmacy Student at the University of Nottingham, as well as the postgraduate (PGR) student representative for the School of Pharmacy. I am with Dr Zheying Zhu's lab group in the Molecular Therapeutics and Formulation division, and co-supervised by Dr Marios Georgiou and Dr Rian Griffiths. My project is focused on evaluating the pre-clinical efficacy of a novel dual-target agent using an in vivo D.melanogaster tumour model coupled with mass spectrometry approaches. As a PGR representative and LCF member, I am always looking out for PGR student feedback and aiming to enrich the experience of current and prospective students at the School of Pharmacy. You can find me in the Boots Science Building or Queen's Medical Centre and please don't hesitate to contact me through my email: kei.wong@nottingham.ac.uk.
Expertise Summary
Confocal microscopy; Mass spectrometry - AP-MALDI; in vivo D.melanogaster disease models; Biochemical protein assay optimization; High-throughput screens; Drug discovery pipeline development; HTRF/FRET fluorescence analysis; Lipid extraction and processing - chemical derivatization; qPCR and Illumina HiSeq preparation; SDS-PAGE and Western blot.
Research Summary
Project Title: Evaluating the pre-clinical efficacy of a novel dual-target anticancer agent using an in vivo D.melanogaster tumour model and mass spectrometry approaches.
Supervisors:
Dr Zheying Zhu - School of Pharmacy
Dr Marios Georgiou - School of Life Sciences
Dr Rian L. Griffiths - School of Pharmacy
This project aims to evaluate the pre-clinical effectiveness of a novel tubulin-HDAC inhibitor on tumorigenesis, elucidate its mechanism of action, and determine whether a synergistic interaction is involved. To achieve this, we will be using an in vivo D.melanogaster tumour model to simulate a hyperproliferative cancer phenotype to screen for the general drug efficacy, through confocal imaging. After drug screening, we will use mass spectrometry approaches, such as AP-MALDI, to probe for proteomic and metabolomic changes to infer the drug's mechanism, as well as carry out MS drug imaging to localize the drug in our tissue sample. Future work will involve cell experiments and the 3D OrbiSIMS to validate our findings.