Understanding Drug Resistance by Tuning Metal-based Anticancer Therapeutics

Principal Investigator: 
Prof. Dr. Peter Broekmann, Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bern. For more information, please visit the website.

Co-Investigator: 
Prof. Dr. Julien Furrer, Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bern. For more information, please visit the website.

Co-Investigator: 
Dr. Nico Ruprecht, Department of Diagnostic, Interventional and Pediatric Radiology, Bern University Hospital. 

Co-Investigator: 
Prof. Dr. Hendrik von Tengg-Kobligk, Department of Diagnostic, Interventional and Pediatric Radiology, Bern University Hospital. 

Platinum-based drugs continue to play an important role to treat cancer. The emergence of resistance to these drugs is a major obstacle for a positive long-term outcome in cancer treatment. Within the present project, drugs based on Ruthenium and combined Ruthenium-Platinum compounds as alternatives will be studied. Furthermore, their possible resistance formation and its mechanism will be assessed. For this purpose, modern methods such as RNAseq analysis and single-cell-ICP-MS will be applied. This research project using transcriptomics, biochemical and biophysical analysis, will contribute to the understanding of resistance development and will eventually reveal new biomarkers to drug resistance.