We are pleased to announce the recipients of the National Research Grant Round 2022: Post-Doctoral Fellowships.
Dr. Harikrishnan Kurup
Read about Dr. Harikrishnan Kurup, one of the Fellowship recipients.
Dr. Harikrishnan Kurup (Massey University, Palmerston North)
In this project, Dr. Harikrishan Kurup will be developing drugs to inhibit the enzymes responsible for resistance to cancer treatment. Drug resistance is a major obstacle for many therapies used to treat cancer. One of the ways cancer cells can resist cancer therapies is by using a set of enzymes in the APOBEC3(A3)-family, known as A3A and A3B. These enzymes are good targets for drug development as inhibiting them is unlikely to produce significant side effects, while at the same time improving outcomes for cancer treatment.
In the next step of the project, the drugs developed by Dr Kurup will be tested on breast cancer cells in combination with existing therapies for breast cancer. The idea is that the new drugs will complement existing cancer treatments, making them effective for longer, and leading to higher remission rates.
Harikrishnan says: “This Fellowship means I can continue our efforts of the past five years in developing DNA-based inhibitors for APOBEC3A/B. It is an important milestone in my research career as it provides an avenue for learning different aspects of translational research to produce a practical result and establishing myself as an independent researcher.”