Enrique Meléndez
My research work entails the design of metal-based drugs and biosensors. On the first project, new metallocene drugs for target specific tumors are developed as tools for treating hormone dependent cancers such as breast, ovarian and prostate. To achieve this, steroidal hormones (estrogen, androgen, and progesterone derivatives) are attached as pendant (functional) groups to the corresponding metallocenes aimed at being recognized by the hormone receptors. The new species are characterized by IR, Raman, NMR spectroscopy, electrochemistry, and X-ray diffraction. The mechanistic aspects of these species are studied by spectroscopic methods such as NMR, UV-Vis, Fluorescence spectroscopy, Raman, and Molecular Modeling techniques.
The second project involves the development of electrochemical biosensors. The principal objective of this work is to develop an electrochemical biosensor based on gold nanostructure electrode functionalized with aptamers to detect substrate such as glucose, metal ions, food and soil contaminants. The characterization of the surface of these electrodes is performed Atomic Force Microscopy, STEM, Raman, electrochemistry, and Confocal Microscopy.
The third project involves the design of Gold Nanoparticles (Au-NPs) with applications in photothermal therapy as potential drugs in cancer research. Gold Nanoparticles of different shapes are conjugated to molecules that can recognize cancer cells and potentiate the intrinsic anti-cancer activity of Au-NPs.
Abstracts this author is presenting: