Welcome to Molecular Sensors and Therapeutics Laboratory
Our research focus is in the area of Supramolecular and Medicinal Inorganic Chemistry. We are interested in developing new organic and inorganic hybrid materials for sensors and therapeutic applications. The research involves the preparation and characterization of Inorganic materials and metal complexes, and exploring their applicability in biological samples.
We are looking for highly motivated students at all levels (masters, doctoral and postdoctoral) to carry out research work in the group. Interested candidates can contact Dr. Jugun Prakash Chinta at jugun@nitw.ac.in
LATEST RESEARCH
In recent times, there is an upsurge in the development of metal-based compounds as anticancer agents. Among the metal complexes developed so far, copper complexes showed encouraging perspectives due to their lower toxicity, a novel mechanism of action and a different spectrum of activity. Although many Cu(II) complexes as anticancer agents are available, still there is a scope to develop Cu(II) based metal complexes with improved activity. Therefore, in the present studies, antioxidant, i.e., lipoic acid conjugated terpyridine (LATP) was synthesized and their Cu(II) (1) and Zn(II) (2) metal complexes were prepared. The metal ion binding characteristics with LATP were analyzed using 1H NMR and EPR studies. The binding modes of these two complexes with CT-DNA was evaluated using absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. Both these complexes displayed significant DNA binding ability and interact through multiple binding modes. The complex 1 exhibited significant chemical nuclease property as studied using plasmid DNA (pBR322) without using any external stimulant. Further, the cytotoxicity of these complexes in the breast (MCF-7) and cervical (HeLa) cancer cell lines and T-cells were examined. The copper complex showed a comparable antiproliferative activity with cisplatin and found to be more effective than some of the terpyridine based copper complexes. Mechanistic studies revealed that the 1 inhibits the cell growth by apoptotic cell death. Overall, in the present study, a hybrid compound containing antioxidant and transition metal complex with comparable activity to cisplatin is reported.
Arginine play numerous roles in several biological processes, and also act as a precursor for many biomolecules. Arginine derived biomolecules were found to involve in many of the events that lead to diseases and therefore selective detection of Arg in biological fluids has an enormous impact on disease diagnosis and in the drug development. Although number of methods were developed for the selective detection of Arg, the colorimetric method has an advantage over these methods due to their operational simplicity, high selectivity, and speediness. Herein, silver nanoparticles ensemble with Zn(II) complex of α-liopoic acid conjugated terpyridine (ZnLATP-AgNPs) were developed for the selective colorimetric detection of Arg. The new ZnLATP-AgNPs assay allows detection of Arg down to 200 nM, provides an easy and sensitive method to detect Arg visually. The current approach was further validated by the quantificationof Arg in supplement tablets.