Faculty Profile
Hoang Le
Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry in the Department of BioMolecular Sciences
Phone Number: (662)915-2555
Email: hle@olemiss.edu
http://hlelab.com
Key Words: Medicinal chemistry, organic chemistry, organic synthesis, enzymology
Research Description: Our research goal is to develop new drugs for the treatment of cancer, including both common types of cancer such as lung, liver, stomach, breast, and prostate cancer and rare types of cancer such as leukemia and gliomas. According to the World Cancer Report 2014, cancer accounted for 14.6% of all human deaths, equaling to 8.2 million lives in 2012. If considered as a single entity, cancer has become the biggest cause of mortality worldwide. Metabolic enzymes have recently become the focus of intensive efforts in the discovery of new therapeutic targets and new cancer drugs, particularly kidney-type glutaminase (GLS1), mutant isocitrate dehydrogenases (IDH1 and IDH2), succinate dehydrogenase, and fumarate hydratase. Currently, we are focusing on the development of inhibitors and inactivators of several metabolic enzymes for the treatment of cancer and for the discovery of new antibiotic agents. Our strategies for the development of effective and selective inhibitors of these enzymes utilize a wide range of modern drug development tools and methods to guide the drug design process. The research in our group covers the full range of in vitro drug development, including computational design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of potential medicinal agents and investigation of their molecular mechanisms of action.
Honors Theses:
Trivedi, Riya (2021) Studies on synthesis of pyrazole from dibromo and hydrazine compounds. (full text)
Le, My (2021) Applications of Sodium Azide in the Synthesis of Tetrazines and Hydrolysis Reactions (full text)
Keane, Madeline (2020) Studies of Salvinorin-Based Antagonists to Elucidate Pertinent Interactions for Kappa Opioid Receptor Antagonism (full text)
Neilson, Tanner (2019) Design and Development of Chemically and Biologically Stable Salvinorin-Based Ligands for Opioid Receptors (full text)
Available Research Projects:
Development of Inhibitors and Inactivators of Several Metabolic Enzymes for the Treatment of Cancer
Project Description: Our group is interested in the development of inhibitors and inactivators of several metabolic enzymes for the treatment of cancer and for the discovery of new antibiotic agents. We employ molecular modeling to design inactivators that target specific residues in the active sites of these enzymes to enhance potency and selectivity. We then synthesize these compounds, evaluate their activity, and investigate their molecular mechanisms of action. Students will learn how to perform all of these steps. Keywords: Medicinal chemistry, organic chemistry, organic synthesis, biochemistry, enzymology
Desired Student Qualifications: Completion of one year of organic chemistry and lab (Chem 221, 225 and 222, 226) is encouraged, but they can be taken concurrently while working on the projects.
Project Timeline: Projects should be between 1-2 years.
Duties of Student Researcher: Follow existing experimental protocols and procedures, perform chemical reactions to synthesize organic compounds, apply knowledge of analytical tools such as NMR, IR, and mass spectrometry, willing to learn how to perform molecular modeling and biological evaluation of organic compounds
Last Updated on 2016-08-20 10:28:55