Question: hello,can you please send me a link to find out more about your job and the cancer research you do?

Jessica Chu answered on 21 Jun 2011:

hi prict101,

Hmm I would love to send you more information about my job but unfortunately I don’t have a link for that. So I will have to type it out if you don’t mind reading it! – or you can check out my profile page on this website.. I have uploaded a few pictures of some of the cells and plants I am working with.
My research is a 3 year funded degree. My area is drug discovery in natural products.

I screen (basic testing) many plants (it can be from anywhere but I collaborate with the Nottingham Malaysia group so my plants are from the rainforest there). After I find a good plant from screening against some cancer cells – I will try and identify if the plant samples are triggering cell death. If the cancer cells are dying due to being treated with my plant samples then I will want to figure out which mechanisms and signalling pathways are involved.

It is also a good idea to isolate the active chemical(s) in the plant sample (chemistry bit)
Once the isolation is done and the chemical is still really active on its own then we can hand it to the chemists and they will try making the active chemical- so more tests can be done. The chemists will also try to modify the chemical to see if they can improve the structure and activity to make it a better drug candidate 🙂

This process can take a decade or more!

this is a generic link to my department:
http://pgstudy.nottingham.ac.uk/postgraduate-research/school-of-pharmacy_69.aspx

There are loads of different projects going on – drug delivery, tissue engineering, stem cell research etc. If you want me to get you in contact with any of these areas – I will try and find the best person to answer your questions!

Feel free to ask more! I am not sure if what I have written is good enough?