Anticancer Drugs

Potent in vitro Cytotoxic Agents

PhD Students

Masters Students

Past Group Members  

(PDF, 21KB)

Aldrich-Wright Group; 

Keywords: anticancer, metallointercalators, biological activity, NMR, platinum

Collaborators (internal): Prof. W.S. Price (SBHS & SoM), Dr S. Myers (SBHS), Dr M. Temple (SBHS), Prof J. Coorssen (SoM)

Collaborators (external): Prof. P. J. Bednarski (Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität, Parmazeutische/Medizinische Chemis, Greifswald,Germany) Dr J. G. Collins (University of New South Wales, ADFA) Dr S. Kelly (Glasgow University)  Prof. A. Rodger (University of Warwick, UK) Dr T. Tanase (Nara Women’s University, Japan) Prof. Y. Tor (University of California, San Diego, USA) Prof. S. B. Wild (Australian National University) Dr M. J. Tilby (Northern Institute for Cancer Research, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K, Dr. A. Bolhuis (University of Bath, UK.) Professor B. Chauffert (Burgundy University, Dijon, France) Dr F Bouyer (Burgundy University, Dijon, France) Associate Professor S. Ralph (University of Wollongong) J. J. Beck (University of Wollongong) Viktor Brabec(Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic) Dr D. Le Pevelenc (Chiralabs Limited Oxford University)

Research: Within our group we have developed new types of metallodrugs, which bind to DNA by various mechanisms such as intercalation, groove binding and coordination. Our range of metallodrugs includes a soluble transplatin analogue with an attached cyclodextrin; groove binding, intercalating and sequence selective compounds, intercalating platinum complexes such as [Pt(5,6-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline)(1S,2S-diaminocyclohexane)]Cl2 (56MESS), homonuclear bisintercalating compounds complexes based on (2,2′:6′,2′′-terpyridine)platinum(II) or [(dpq)2Ru(phen-n-SOS-n-phen)Ru(dpq)2]4+ and trinuclear heteronuclear covalent binding metal complexes. From this group, a lead drug has been identified, 56MESS, which has shown activity better than cisplatin in several cell lines. Each compound has been designed to bind to DNA by different mechanisms and we are assessing the effectiveness of these strategies by measuring the effects on cell proliferation and viability.

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Professor Janice Aldrich-Wright - Group Leader 

B.App.Sc.(Hons) UTS, PhD. (Macquarie University) MRACI 

Research;  Prof. Aldrich-Wright has made significant contributions to the investigation of metal complex-DNA interactions. Her PhD was recognized by the award of the Cornforth Medal by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute in 1994. The medal is awarded annually for the most outstanding PhD thesis submitted in a branch of chemistry, chemical science or chemical technology. The medal is designed to give recognition of outstanding achievement in chemistry and to promote chemical communication. Work initiated in her laboratory at UWS, demonstrated by 1H NMR that ruthenium complexes, delta-[Ru(2,9-Me2phen)2(dpq)]2+ and lamda-[Ru(2,9-Me2phen)2(dpq)]2+ bind to the oligonucleotide d(GTCGAC)2 by intercalation within the minor groove. These were the first octahedral metal complexes reported to exhibit minor-groove intercalation. Research conducted at UWS and in collaboration with Dr R. Fenton (University of Sydney) has resulted in the discovery of a new group of platinum-based compounds. This new group of compounds are water-soluble and in preliminary testing against cancer cells lines show a very high level of activity. As a consequence, these novel compounds are the focus of a Patent. Research based on the synthesis of metallo-polyamides able to target specific base sequences in DNA with high selectivity is the focus of a second International Patent (UWS).In collaboration with A/Prof. S Ralph (UOW), Prof. Aldrich-Wright has been investigating the effectiveness of ESI Mass Spectrometry for studying the interactions of metallointercalators with biomolecules. Prof. Prof. Aldrich-Wright’s has over 80 paper, 3 patents and 7 book chapters with 1000 citations to that work. Her 1998 pedagogical paper on DNA-NMR binding (Inorg. Chem., 37 (13), 3133-3141) has been cited more than 211 times in the literature.

J R Aldrich-Wright Publications (PDF, 119Kb)

J R Aldrich-Wright Curriculum Vitae (PDF, 117Kb)

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PhD Students

Ms Maxine Grant

BSc(Medical Chemistry), BSc (Honours, Class 1)

"Cyclodextrins as drug delivery carriers and solubilising anticancer agents."

Work Experience;

  • 2010 I am at present employed at ANSTO and completing my PhD Part Time
  • 2006-10 Supervised & demonstrated for Organic Chemistry 2 & 3 practical sessions.
  • 2007-10 Supervised & demonstrated for Chemistry 1 practical sessions.
  • 2007-10 Carried out Tutorials for Chemistry 1 sessions.
  • Assisted with Siemens Science experiments, running practical sessions for High Schools students and promoting USW
  • 2007-10 Tutorials for NMR Spectroscopy.
  • 2007 Supervised & demonstrated for Pharmacological Chemistry practical sessions.

Awards & Scholarships:

  • UWS Postgraduate Award and Top-Up (2006)
  • UWS Innovation Conference Best Presentation (2007)

M P Grant Publication (PDF, 11Kb)

Ms Nikita Orkey

BSc (Medical Chemistry), BSc (Honours, Class 1)

"Seeking Selective DNA Binding Through Synergistic Design of Ruthenium(II) Complexes"

N Orkey Publications (PDF, 18Kb)

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Ms Anwen Krause-Heuer

BSc (Advanced Science), BSc (Honours, Class I)

"Molecular interactions of platinum(II) anticancer agents"

Ever since high school I have really enjoyed chemistry, so it was a natural progression for me to complete a chemistry major in my undergraduate degree. I really enjoyed the work that I completed during my Honours project, I love the challenge of solving some of the puzzles that chemistry can present you with. This really cemented for me that I would like to continue in research. I am now completing my PhD, part-time while employed at ANSTO. The focus of my PhD are molecular interactions of platinum intercalating agents. 

I was lucky enough to work over the summer in both 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 at Ceramisphere, located at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). Here I was working on projects involving the synthesis of silica microparticles, which are tailored for the encapsulation and controlled release of active molecules.

At UWS I participated in undergraduate teaching for a variety of subjects, including: Principles of Chemistry, Introduction to Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacological Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry.

I have also participated in the Siemens Science Experience since 2007, which involves giving high school students a taste of what science is about.  We apply some fundamentals of chemistry to some fun experiments, such as the synthesis of slime, and the chromatography of smarties.

Awards & Scholarships:

  • UWS Vice Chancellor Scholarship
  • ANSTO Scholarship
  • UWS Postgraduate Award and Top-Up (2007)
  • UWS Innovation Conference Best Poster Presentation (2007)

A M Krause-Heuer Publications (PDF, 39Kb)

Mr Benjamin Harper

BSc (Medical Chemistry), BSc (Honours, Class 1)

"The synthesis, characterisation and biological activity of novel platinum(II) intercalators as potential anticancer compounds"

Awards & Scholarships

  • Confocal Bio-Imaging Facility Honours Awards (2008)
  • UWS Postgraduate Award and Top-Up (2009)

B. Harper Publications (PDF, 33Kb)

Mr K Benjamin Garbutcheon-Singh (Ben)

BSc (Medical Chemistry), BSc (Honours, Class 2.1)

"Investigation of novel intercalators for use in platinum (II) anticancer complexes."

Awards & Scholarships

  • Confocal Bio-Imaging Facility Honours Awards (2008)
  • UWS Postgraduate Award and Top-Up (2009)

K.Benjamin Garbutcheon-Singh (PDF, 33Kb)

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Masters Students

Ms Shaghayegh Hossein (Angie)

B MedSc

"Metallointercalators for use as antibacterial agents"

Research Interests: Metallointercalators as anti cancer agents. As Cisplatin is losing its great usefulness due to the resistance that cancerous cells have grown towards it, other drugs are needed to replace Cisplatin. As the previous studies of Prof. Janice Aldrich-Wright has shown, intercalation may be a very useful mode of binding for anticancer drugs. this understanding has lead to the our research critiria on copper based metallointercalators and their role in treatment of mutated DNA.

Mr Neville Ng

BSc(Immunobiology Uni Syd)

"Utilising linear dichroism to investigate the molecular orientation and electronic transition moment directions of intercalators"

Research Interests: 

I took to science in high school as a good source of reason, at least better than the reason used in arguments with my mother (actually it was more due to an opportunity to undertake accelerated HSC Chemistry), pursued every field other than biology (chemistry, physics and cosmology), realised that it would provide a better Meaning of Life than anything I had been studying, switched interests upon leaving high school to Molecular & Cell Biology and Biochemistry and with the help of Janice 'discovered' an interdisciplinary area of applied synthetic chemistry aided by a molecular biology background as a promising means of contributing to the effort in the development of molecular therapeutic agents (probably better known to everyone else as chemistry).

My thesis comprises of two main focal areas; the synthesis of both known and novel metallointercalators ultimately directed for antineoplastic or antibacterial use, and the application of a range of biochemical techniques, namely linear dichroism, to help characterise the binding nature and interaction of the synthesised compounds with their biomacromolecular targets in hopes of using resultant information to suggest improvements on their design. 

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