Avinash Persaud received a Pelotonia Fellowship in fall 2019 for studying the role of CNTs in nucleoside analog drug disposition in mice.
Persaud’s research is focused on determining how concentrative nucleoside transporters impact the disposition and efficacy of anticancer drugs used in the treatment of pancreatic cancer.
“The concentration of transporters on the surface of tumors and healthy tissues influence drug efficacy and toxicity,” Persaud said. “Our goal is to characterize the transporters responsible for the delivery of frontline pancreatic cancer drugs and devise novel treatment strategies to improve the delivery of these drugs to cancer cells through modulating transporter function and expression. In doing so, we hope to improve both drug efficacy and safety in pancreatic cancer treatments.”
Rajgopal Govindarajan, DVM, PhD, professor of Pharmaceutics and Pharmacology at the college, oversees Persaud’s research. Persaud has also collaborated with Drs. Craig McElroy and Mitch Phelps.
Persaud has been able to take his cancer research to the next level and explore areas of research that he loves through this fellowship.
“I am passionate about cancer research because I have witnessed firsthand the detrimental impact cancer has had on my loved ones, and I have made it my mission to use my skills as a scientist to develop safer and more effective cancer treatments,” Persaud said.