Primary areas of research interest include studying cell behavioral responses to natural, synthetic, and semisynthetic compound candidates for cancer chemotherapy, including investigating the role of the physical microenvironment in mechanotransduction and chemotherapeutic action using three-dimensional in vitro culture systems. Recent projects are focused on exploring the interplay between microenvironmental compliance, the expression of certain C2H2 zinc finger transcriptional regulators, and their modulation by mevalonate pathway inhibitors. Collaborative studies have included using two-photon fluorescence polarization anisotropy of NADH to study cell metabolic responses to novel perturbants of glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation (Drs. A. Heikal and V. Mereddy, Univ. of MN Duluth), and the actions of natural and semi-synthetic mitochondrial-targeting compounds on various tumor cell lines (Dr. P. Krasutsky, NRRI, and the MitoXT research group of the CNC led by Dr. P. Oliveira, Univ. Coimbra, Portugal).
