A significant population of women suffer from chronic, debilitating pain due to endometriosis. Endometriosis can also lead to infertility, metastasis of lesions throughout the body, and increase the risk for patients to develop gynecological cancers. However, diagnosis remains a critical challenge with an on average diagnosis taking nearly a decade.

This project analyzes unique sugar patterns in patient serum, working towards the first rapid, effective, and non-invasive diagnostic, allowing early intervention and improved quality of life.

Essential therapeutics against influenza, cancer, and genetic disorders all come from a class of sugar mimicking molecules known as glycomimetics. A particular class of glycomimetics, iminosugars, continuously remain high value drug targets in the development of new pharmaceuticals. However, drug discovery has stagnated for decades, largely due to the lack of access to these important compounds.

I have developed a synthetic technique to create a diverse range of bioactive iminosugars that effectively reduces the time and resources to make them, including previously intractable structures. This work increases the access to, and therapeutic viability of, potentially life saving compounds.

This work presents a first-of-its-kind class of immunotherapeutics with proven in vivo efficacy against cancer and a unique activating mechanism that improves tumor targeting and reduces detrimental immune effects. These compounds have been dubbed as Tumor-Immune Cell Targeteing Chimeras: TICTACs. 

Gen II TICTACs are currently in the development to patient pipeline, designed for improved tumor penetration and drug delivery. Their anti-cancer targets are expanding to shape immunotherapies as a personalized, holistic treatment, to activate the immune system against cancer while simultaneously reducing off-target immune effects.