Congratulations to Lilla Nur Firli, Matthew Erlik, and Tope A. Ibisanmi on the successful completion of their research reviews! Passing this milestone reflects months of hard work, thoughtful progress, and dedication to their projects. The Kumar Research Group is proud of each of you and looks forward to what comes next.
Their Research
Lilla Nur Firli is discovering antibacterial compounds from marine sponges, combining natural product isolation and structural analysis with target identification approaches such as biotin-tagging and phage display. Her project builds on the group's interest in marine natural products as a source of structurally unique antibacterial leads, work she has already shared at international conferences with great success.
Matthew Erlik is advancing work on Targeting MYCN with New Scaffolds for Anticancer Discovery. Neuroblastoma and glioblastoma are aggressive cancers often driven by MYCN overexpression, yet MYCN itself is difficult to target directly. Matthew's project focuses on designing and synthesising novel scaffolds to inhibit USP5, a de-ubiquitinating enzyme that stabilises MYCN, with the aim of restoring p53-mediated cell cycle control and evaluating anticancer efficacy in neuroblastoma and glioblastoma models. It is exciting work at the intersection of medicinal chemistry and childhood cancer therapeutics.
Tope A. Ibisanmi works on antimicrobial resistance through computational and experimental drug design, developing novel peptidomimetics and quorum sensing inhibitors against multidrug-resistant bacteria. His recent publications and conference presentations have strengthened the group's multidisciplinary approach to tackling AMR, and this review marks another step forward in his PhD journey.