PHARMACOLOGY FACULTY
Selected Publications
  • Risinger AL, Jackson EM, Polin LA, Helms GL, LeBoeuf DA, Joe PA, Hopper-Borge E, Ludueña RF, Kruh GD, and Mooberry SL. (2008) The Taccalonolides: Microtubule Stabilizers that Circumvent Clinically Relevant Taxane Resistance Mechanisms. Cancer Res, 68:8881-8888.
  • Mooberry SL, Hilinski MK, Clark EA, and Wender PA. (2008) Function oriented synthesis: Biological Evaluation of Laulimalide Analogs Derived from a Last Step Cross Metathesis Diversification Stragegy. Mol Pharmaceutics, 5:829-838.
  • Tripathi A, Fornabaio M, Kellogg GE, Gupton JT, Gewirtz DA, Yeudall WA, Vega NE, and Mooberry SL. (2008) Docking and Hydropathic Scoring of Polysubstituted Pyrrole Compounds with Anti-Tubulin Activity. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, 16:2235-2242.
  • Mooberry SL, Weiderhold KN, Dakshanamurthy S, Hamel E, Banner EJ, Kharlamova A, Hempel J, Gupton JT, and Brown ML. (2007) Identification and Characterization of a New Tubulin-Binding Disubstituted Brominated Pyrroles. Mol Pharmacol, 72:132-140.
NAME
 

Susan Mooberry

Professor of Pharmacology

Co-leader of Experimental  and Developmental Therapeutics, CTRC at UTHSCSA

Ph.D., Medical University of South Carolina

Office: 210-567-4788
Email: MOOBERRY@UTHSCSA.EDU

http://saci.uthscsa.edu/research

 

Keywords

drug discovery, breast cancer, anti-mitotic agents, natural products

 

Research Summary

Our research is dedicated to the discovery of more effective therapies for the treatment of cancer, primarily breast cancer. There are several aspects to our work including drug discovery, identification of the mechanisms of drug action, the nature of drug resistance, identifying rational drug combinations and elucidation of the signaling pathways by which anti-mitotic agents initiate mitotic arrest and apoptosis.


We conduct a drug discovery program to identify new anticancer agents from natural products and from small molecule chemical libraries. With collaborators all over the world we evaluate extracts and compounds from marine organisms and plants to identify new drug leads. We have an extensive library of plant extracts that have been evaluated for a variety of biological activities including cytotoxic actions against breast and prostate cancer cell lines. The active compounds are being isolated using bioassay-guided fractionation.


After discovering new agents we identify their molecular mechanisms of action. This includes identifying the cellular binding site and how they work to impact cancer cell survival. We are currently investigating new microtubule stabilizers, anti-angiogenics and vascular disrupting agents.


Antimitotic drugs are some of the most effective used in cancer therapy, but the signaling pathways that lead from inhibition of mitotic spindle dynamics to initiation of apoptosis is not yet known. We are elucidating these pathways to identify new drug targets that can yield the efficacy of microtubule disrupting drugs without tubulin-related limiting toxicities.