Research Projects

Cancer remains one of the most pressing health issues globally, with lung cancer accounting for the leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Even though treatments like chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy have advanced significantly, many patients still face limited success, mainly due to drug resistance, reduced efficacy in the latter stages, and severe side effects. Thus, there is an urgent need for new therapeutic agents with novel modes of action and enhanced safety profiles. Fungi have long been a valuable source of therapeutic compounds and have provided iconic drugs like penicillin, lovastatin, cyclosporin, griseofulvin, and paclitaxel that revolutionized modern medicine. However, majority of these compounds came from terrestrial species, while the marine fungal biosphere is largely unexplored. Emerging research indicates, shaped by specific ecological pressures, marine fungi have evolved to develop distinct metabolic pathways, which enable them to generate structurally unique bioactive compounds of promising therapeutic potential. The vast coastline of India represents a significant yet untapped reservoir of marine fungal diversity but this rich habitat has received limited attention in drug discovery efforts, particularly for anticancer applications. This project seeks to address this crucial gap by methodically isolating and identifying marine fungal strains from selected Indian coastal areas. Extracts from these isolates will be evaluated for their cytotoxic efficacy against lung cancer cell lines. Active fungal strains will be characterized through molecular identification. Subsequently, the chemical structures of the key bioactive compounds that are responsible for the observed anticancer activity will be rigorously elucidated using advanced spectroscopic techniques. The project will also investigate the cellular mechanisms underlying the anticancer effects of the most potent compound. This will include evaluating the compounds effect on critical cancer-related processes like apoptosis and cell cycle regulation, as well as conducting transcriptomic analysis to find out the impacted genes and pathways. In silico methodologies, including network pharmacology, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics simulations, will facilitate the identification and mapping of key cellular targets of the compound. These will then be confirmed using experimental molecular approaches. Overall, this project will integrate traditional natural product discovery methods with modern systems biology approaches. It aims not only to enrich the repertoire of anticancer metabolites from marine fungi but also to provide deeper insights into their molecular mechanisms of action. In doing so, it will advance both marine fungal bioprospecting and the early-stage discovery of potential anticancer therapeutics.