The overall objective of this research is to synthesize new analogs of tryprostatins A and B to be evaluated for use as anticancer agents. Tryprostatins A and B are natural products that have been shown to have anticancer potential. Tryprostatin A exhibits cytotoxicity in cancer cells via microtubule inhibition. Tryprostatin B is more potent, but its mechanism of action has not been studied. However, the potency of these compounds is too low to make them valuable clinical trial candidates. Therefore, we are in the process of creating novel tryprostatin analogs to find a lead compound with increased potency. The design of these analogs is based on the results of previous studies including structure activity relationship studies and computational studies. The synthesis of these analogs will be done using a route that we are working on publishing. This route is shorter and therefore more efficient than our published 2019 tryprostatin A synthesis. Additionally, our new route provides two sets of two diastereomers which will allow us to synthesize more analogs in the same amount of time. The synthesized analogs will then be evaluated to determine their potency.
Connected Systems Institute – Advanced Manufacturing Use Case Research
Develop technical foundation and build an operational prototype demonstrating an advanced manufacturing use-case solution to a known industry-informed improvement opportunity. The student researcher will be part of our team at Connected Systems Institute (CSI). This assignment will be a "learn by doing" research opportunity for the student researcher - they will work with the CSI team to study deployment of advanced manufacturing technologies (e.g. vision system, automation, AI, ML) to solve known industry problems.
Evaluating the Effects of Architectural Interventions on Student Mental Health
This project is an investigation into quantifying the effects of architecture on mental health. It uses as a test case an ongoing design project for a private high school in Northern Illinois that is pursuing an extensive renovation and new addition to their facility centered explicitly around fostering socialization and encouraging disengagement from digital devices and social media as a way to promote student mental health. The question of whether buildings shape our behavior has been around for millennia. For many architects, the belief that their work makes a difference in the lives of others is at the core of their commitment to the profession, but within the scientific community, architectural/environmental determinism is questioned. Cognizant of this theoretical context, the project will move between these broader questions and the twin realities of design and construction in order to identify the terms through which the design process and its outcomes should be framed, establish a taxonomy of proposed spatial interventions (and the transitions between them), and develop techniques by which their effectiveness should be evaluated.