• Question: What was your best discovery you have made so far

    Asked by anon-199629 to Sumit, Sylvia, Martin, Kate, Bryony, Aryanne on 5 Mar 2019. This question was also asked by anon-199469.
    • Photo: Sumit Konar

      Sumit Konar answered on 5 Mar 2019:

      I recently made a new form of a pharmaceutical drug Galunisertib under pressure. Galunisertib is a TGF-b inhibitor and is in a phase II trial for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. I made new crystal form of this drug inside a cell called diamond anvil cell (DAC) where solids are squeezed between two diamonds. The crystal was grown at 3000 atmospheric pressure, but it survived after the pressure release. My discovery will make pharmaceutical companies a new direction to make drugs under pressure.

    • Photo: Martin McCoustra

      Martin McCoustra answered on 11 Mar 2019:

      For the last couple of years, I’ve been working the colleagues from Denmark on a new class of molecular solids that don’t behave as we think they should. Fundamentally, we don’t know why they do what they do! I like that kind of problem…

    • Photo: Kate McGonagle

      Kate McGonagle answered on 11 Mar 2019:

      Amazing question! New discoveries is what this job is all about. I have made some molecules that do the job of killing disease causing parasites really well – this was amazing to discover! Unfortunately these molecules were not great for other reasons…but, an exciting discovery initially!

    • Photo: Sylvia Soldatou

      Sylvia Soldatou answered on 12 Mar 2019:

      My favourite discovery so far is when I found new molecules produces b yan Irish reda alga. The compounds showed promising activity against pancreatic cell line. This work was one the main projects of my PhD studies and I was so proud that I took it from the very beginning i.e collecting the red alga from the west of Ireland, to isolating new compounds!

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