Distinguished Professors carry out cancer research

Oakland University is blessed with two Distinguished Professors who are active biomedical researchers: the two Mikes, Michael Sevilla of the Department of Chemistry and Micahel Chopp of the Department of Physics. Both have recent publications reporting new research results related to cancer treatment. One of the secrets of success for these Distinguished Professors is that they have created world-class teams of researchers under their direction.

Sevilla’s paper “Formation of Aminyl Radicals on Electron Attachment to AZT: Abstraction from the Sugar Phosphate Backbone versus One-Electron Oxidation of Guanine” was published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry B (Volume 114, Pages 9289-9299, 2010). 3’-azido-3’-deoxythymidine (AZT) is well known as a treatment for AIDS. However, it also makes tumor cells more sensitive to radiation, and therefore it may become a valuable tool in the fight against cancer. Specifically, they examine which bases in DNA are most susceptible to radiation. First author on the paper is Sevilla’s colleague, award-winning researcher Amitava Adhikary. One of the coauthors is Venkata Pottiboyina, a Chemistry graduate student.

Chopp’s report, “Gallic acid suppresses cell viability, proliferation, invasion and angiogenesis in human glioma cells,” appears in the September issue of the European Journal of Pharmacology (Volume 641, Pages 102-107). They found that the chemical gallic acid can suppress the spread of brain tumor (glioma) cells, and they analyzed the mechanism of this action. Chopp and this collegues at Henry Ford Hospital (where Chopp has his laboratory) collaborated with researchers from the University of Hong Kong. One coauthor, Mark Katakowski, is an alumnus of the Biomedical Sciences: Medical Physics PhD program.

Both Mikes support their laboratories with grants from the National Institutes of Health.