Research / Clinical Summary

Tadeusz Molinski, PhD Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry Tumor Growth, Invasion & Metastasis Program Contact by Email

Marine natural products are sources of diverse small-molecule inhibitors of cell signal transduction, kinases and other receptors relevant to cancer and progression of tumor growth. Compounds derived from marine sponges show extraordinary chemodiversity of molecular structures, and are desirable ‘natural libraries’ for medium- and high-throughput screening.

Dr. Molinski's program concentrates on discovery of natural products from marine sponges and cyanobacteria as leads for antitumor agents. Group members carry out isolation, structure elucidation and synthesis of compounds with activity in cancer cell models, including in vivo cell lines (HCT-116, MCF-7 and PC-3). Since natural products from rare organisms are often isolated in vanishingly small amounts, we are particularly interested in methods that allow structure elucidation of amounts of compound that approaches 1 nanomole. Past discoveries include phorboxazoles A and B-compounds that induce cell-cycle arrest at ~100 picomolar and apoptosis in various cell lines- and trachycladine A, a chloroadenosine analog with in vitro antiproliferative activity.

Current work carried in the Department of Chemistry at UCSD focuses on pro-apoptotic agents and detection of the earliest events in apoptosis, the synthesis of analogs of antitumor compounds and isolation of novel alkaloids with antitumor properties. Recently, Molinski and his colleagues have engaged in collaboration with members of the Moores Cancer Center on identification of compounds that target survival pathways.

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