IN SEARCH OF A CURE
Coates Memorial Fund aiding chemistry doctoral student in search for cancer-fighting compounds

Understanding diseases can take years, even centuries of research. Likewise, treatments for diseases can take just as long to be discovered and developed. According to the American Cancer Society, the oldest description of cancer was discovered in Egypt and dates back to 1600 B.C. Oncology, the study of tumors, did not begin until the 19th century with the discovery of the microscope, yet humans have been trying to comprehend diseases such as cancer for thousands of years.

Chemistry doctoral student Celinah Mwakwari is quite familiar with the intricate, lengthy process of scientific research. Since coming from Kenya to LSU to work on her Ph.D., she has been working to develop different types of drugs for cancer treatment. Mwakwari’s research is assisted by the LSU Charles E. Coates Memorial Fund, established in memory of one of LSU’s first professors in chemistry. Grants from the fund are given to LSU doctoral students in chemical engineering, chemistry, and physics in support of their research and travel activities.

Specifically, Mwakwari is identifying drug compounds for a method of cancer treatment called photodynamic therapy (PDT). PDT uses light to activate a drug at the location of the tumor; therefore, it doesn’t harm healthy tissue as conventional chemotherapy can do. The search for the best drug compound occupies Mwakwari’s time. Under the direction of her major professor, LSU Foundation Bolton Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Kevin Smith, Mwakwari works with a specific group of highly-colored, light-sensitive compounds called porphyrins. Because compounds are essentially groups of elements, she examines the bonds that keep porphyrins together and finds ways to break these bonds down.

Based on what she learns from her examination, she develops a plan to dismantle the compound. Once broken down, she learns under what conditions the porphyrin’s bonds formed and rebuilds a similar compound with the goal that it will have the same properties, but be more stable—for use in humans—once it is complete. Temperature, materials, and time all affect the recipe for synthesizing the best drug.

“This process takes so much time. Sometimes it takes years to get all of the factors just right to create the drug compound you need,” says Mwakwari. “It teaches you lots of patience.”
In PDT, once porphyrins localize in a tumor cell and are activated by light, they become excited and use this energy to convert normal, healthy oxygen that tumor cells feed on into a toxic form. This toxic oxygen destroys the cancer cell.

Coates came to LSU in 1893 after earning a Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University. Respected for his teaching and leadership, he became known as a driving force in chemical engineering education and sugar chemistry research in the U.S.

No doubt, as Coates and countless other scientists have done throughout history, Mwakwari will keep synthesizing her drug compounds until she finds the right treatment for those afflicted with cancer. Maybe she will even find “the magic bullet.”

ON THE WEB:
LSU Department of Chemistry

from Winter 2006 Issue