Basic HTML Version
22
Maria Contel,
Associate Professor, Inorganic/Organometallic Chemistry
Brooklyn College
Presently, a large percentage of compounds that have been explored in chemotherapeutics
are platinum based, but one major drawback in using chemotherapeutics is acquired resis-
tance. Inspired by her grandmother who encouraged her to study cancer before dying of
cancer, Professor Contel studies the synthesis of gold compounds as a potential treatment
for cancer therapy in her three-year, $471,000 NIH grant,
Organogold Phosphorus-Containing
Compounds as Antitumor Agents.
Since antiquity, gold has been used for medicinal purposes, but the use of metals in research
is limited in the US. Professor Contel’s investigation involves incorporating metals with
antitumor properties, mainly titanium gold and iron gold derivatives. “Ideally, the long-term
goal would be to design a chemotherapeutic, but along the way we want to acquire knowl-
edge that could be applied to other diseases.”
40–80%
of compounds explored in chemotherapeutics
contain a platinum base
Pt
78
195.084