Cancer currently accounts for approximately 13% of global mortality, with ovarian and breast cancer two of the major causes of cancer-related deaths. In the pharmaceutical industry the structural detail of many important transmembrane ™ proteins, including those involved in cancer treatment, is not known. Accurate prediction of protein structure is of increasing scientific and economic importance as it greatly aids the ‘structure based’ design of new drugs for diseases such as cancer. This is because predicting 3D structure of proteins remains a major technical challenge. In this research proposal, we propose to develop suitable computational methods used in the structure prediction, ligand binding and drug design for cancer treatment. We will also validate results with suitable wet lab experiments.

Supervision: Assoc Prof Madhu Chetty (Principal), Assoc Prof Stuart Berzins (Associate), Prof Nuzhat Ahmed (FECRI) (Associate)

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