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Anti-Proliferative Effects Of Garcinia Fruits In Breast Cancer Cells, Harini Anandhi Senthilkumar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Breast cancer continues to be the second leading cause of death in women, even with the recent advances in research that has led to an improved understanding of molecular pathways and targets. Increasing mortality due to recurrence and lack of targeted drugs, especially in aggressive breast cancer subtypes such as triple negative breast cancer, has gained attention from the research community. With nearly 50% of the commonly used cancer drugs being sourced from plants, bioactive small molecules derived from a natural origin have immense potential as therapeutics. This study focuses on the anti-proliferative activities of benzophenones isolated from the edible …

Killing Cancer With Light, Kaitlyn Thomas

Honors Theses

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a relatively new treatment option in medicine including treating some types of cancers. PDT utilizes light to activate small molecules for treatment. Some of these molecules used as PDT agents are porphyrin derivatives. While PDT is currently being used in the fight against cancer, it has several limitations and is currently being used in conjunction with chemotherapy and/or radiation in order to be effective. This research focused on synthesizing a new zinc (II) porphyrin and incorporating a fluorescent sulfocycline and testing the compound on the MB 231 breast cancer cell line.

Once the metallated porphyrin was …