Spring Break
The Daily OrangeChemical bonds: Rob Doyle's team of students unites in effort to cure cancer, diabetes
By Andy McCullough
Posted: 4/17/07, 10:50 PM EST Section: Pulp
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Then there's the noise, the throb of the different refrigerators and incubators, the whirr of the magnetic stirrers, the little hisses and beeps emitted from the different testing machinery.
Those inside, however, don't seem to notice. It's a hub of activity as Doyle's students buzz around, running tests, carrying coolers, checking computer printouts.
Doyle, assistant professor of chemistry at SU, and his team of students are on the cutting edge of developments in cancer and diabetes treatment. Doyle is new at SU, a native of Ireland who studied at Dublin's Trinity College before coming to Yale University in 2003. He came to SU last year and now has 10 students at his disposal, six graduates and four undergraduates.
The group develops other projects as well, like those dealing with magnetic materials or the study of the environmental uptake of heavy metals such as mercury and lead.
In less than a year, Doyle's group already submitted research that could help revolutionize the treatment of cancer by using transition metals such as folic acid to carry the drug AZT directly into cancer cells. The drug usually combats HIV and generally is considered too harmful for cancer patients.
"It's like a Trojan horse," Doyle said.
They have also developed a patent for oral insulin, so diabetes patients don't have to inject themselves with needles for treatment, he said.
This lab is where it all starts. It's like a second home for the graduate students. They're in the lab more than 40 hours during the week and usually about 10 on the weekends.
"I spend most of my time here because this is what we're here for," said Tayo Ikuton, a second-year graduate student.
They generally teach some sort of introductory course, such as chemistry 107 or chemistry 139, for university stipends, but research is more important, said Amanda Petrus, another second-year graduate student.
"We've got a steep learning curve here," Doyle said. "You've got to learn all the techniques, but you've also got to produce results."
They spend so much time in the lab that they have to like each other, Petrus said. It makes work easier.
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