Christy Charles

Research Mentor: Dr.Arun Sreekumar

Research projects: 

- The role of enzyme adenosine deaminase in aggressive African-American prostate cancer

- Identification of potential oncometabolites and elucidating their role in cancer progression

- Study of altered methionine cycle in African-American Vs European-American prostate cancer

- The role of UDP-Glucose 6-Dehydrogenase in breast cancer progression

- The role Kynurenine/alpha-aminoadipate aminotransferase in modulating the breast tumor immune environment

Study of mechanisms behind formation of nanoconduits between cancer and endothelial cells

A Harvard-MIT HST and Department of Biotechnology (Ministry of Science and Technology, India) collaboration project. My work here involved: 

- Study of cancer and endothelial cell interactions 

- Elucidation of pharmacological approaches to inhibit the formation of these interactions 

IDO inhibition in melanoma: A nanoparticle mediated immunotherapy

The research objectives involved:

- Development of novel bio-materials for cancer therapy 

- Studying the pathways in cancer and their responses to the drugs 

- Manipulating immune pathways for favorable anti-tumor responses 

Isolation and production of naringinase from a bacterial source and evaluating its effect on debittering

The research objectives were: 

- Identification and isolation of naringinase producing bacteria 

- Optimizing the microbial growth media for enhanced enzyme production

- Deploying appropriate enzyme separation strategies for efficient enzyme yield 

- Assessing the efficacy of the isolated enzyme

Development of Chitosan magnetic nanomaterials for heavy metal removal from water

The research work involved: 

- Fabricating the nanomaterials with optimum magnetic properties 

- Waste water treatment using magnetic nanoparticles   

Comparative study of silver nanoparticles synthesized by chemical and biological methods

Assisted a group of scientists who were involved in developing nanomedicines for Indian army. My work involved: 

- Developing green ways to synthesize nanoparticles

- Comparing the efficacy of nanomaterials synthesized by different methods