Under the supervision of Prof. Eddy Sotelo, Ana Mallo Abreu has recently defended her thesis entitled "New Ligands and Pharmacological Tools for the Study of G Protein Protein-Coupled Receptors using Multicomponent Reactions". We took the chance to ask her to tell us about his time as a doctoral student at CiQUS
What is your research about?
My research is based on the synthesis and development of drugs for the treatment of pathologies such as cancer and schizophrenia. In particular, my research focuses on the optimization of A2B adenosine receptor antagonists. This receptor has been validated as a promising target for the immunotherapy of cancer. In fact, my compounds are being tested as alternative treatments to antibodies used for cancer therapy.
On the other hand, I have synthesized ligands using as a model the structure of third generation atypical antipsychotics currently on the market, such as aripiprazole or cariprazine. The compounds have been evaluated for dopamine receptors and showing to be partial agonists specific for the dopamine D2 receptor and biased through the β-arrestin or G-protein pathway. These compounds could be used in future in vivo studies as tools for a better understanding of diseases such as schizophrenia. It is important to highlight that all these compounds have been synthesized using multicomponent reactions, a highly efficient synthetic strategy. This strategy allowed me to obtain more than 100 final compounds resulted in three papers published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry during my PhD thesis.
What would you highlight from your experience at CiQUS these years?
I have been part of Professor Eddy Sotelo's laboratory for about 6 years. We have in the lab state of art equipment and techniques used in academy and pharmaceutical companies. I started my research career here, doing my final year project in Pharmacy and I enjoyed the experience so much that I decided to continue doing my PhD.
Both ComBioMed Research Group and CiQUS provided me with the necessary tools to not only grow as a researcher but also to mature on a personal level. I am currently working in the company Oncostellae, which bet on me and hired me right after finishing my PhD, allowing me to work in what I have been trained during these years of thesis.