Cancer is among the leading causes of mortality around the globe. The success of the current cancer therapeutics is often limited by the development of multidrug resistance and overall toxicity. The most common mechanism of drug resistance is the over-expression of P-glycoprotein (PGP) efflux pumps.

In the current work, Sharon has worked on the discovery of the next generation cancer therapeutics. She discovered and synthesized a library of chalcones, whose biological evaluation revealed potency against not only normal cancer cells but also cancer cells that are resistant to current therapeutics due to the PGP efflux pumps. Sharon's PhD work has been published in Bioorganic Chemistry (Vol. 87, Page 123, 2019)  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0045206819300264?via%3Dihub .

The work is completed under the supervision of Dr. Rahman Saleem from the Department of Chemistry.