Meenakshi Upreti, Ph.D.

Nov. 26, 2008 | A scientist at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) is the first in Arkansas to receive a postdoctoral fellowship award from the American Cancer Society.

Meenakshi Upreti, Ph.D., research assistant professor in the UAMS Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, received the award that carries with it $50,000 to further Upreti’s research of a particular class of anticancer drugs known as microtubule inhibitors. These drugs cause very specific changes in Bcl-2 proteins, a certain group of proteins present in all cells that are important in controlling the programmed cell death known as apoptosis that occurs during chemotherapy. 

“Our long-term goal is to induce cell death specifically in tumor cells, while sparing normal cells. This will make chemotherapy much more tolerable and effective in the treatment of cancer,” she said.

Upreti will pursue this study under the guidance of Timothy Chambers, Ph.D., professor and vice chairman of the UAMS Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She was promoted from postdoctoral fellow to her current position in July 2008.

“The effectiveness of these drugs as anti-tumor agents depends on their ability to damage certain key molecules in the cancer cell that leads the cell to self-destruct and die,” Upreti said. “In many cases, failures in cancer therapy are due to defects in these apoptotic pathways.”

The main objective of her research is to define the role of Bcl-2 proteins in the mechanism of action of microtubule inhibitors, which could lead to new insights into drug resistance and identify new molecular targets for the development of more specific cancer therapies.