Author: Mia Alshami               Major: Chemistry, Biochemistry Concentration, and Psychology

Mia in the Research Lab

When I first came to the University of Arkansas, I immediately knew I wanted to get involved in research. I had some previous research experience in high school, and I knew that I needed to continue this passion of mine when coming to Fayetteville. Although I did not have a specific research interest in mind, I knew I wanted to gain research experience pertaining to chemistry and medicine. I went through the faculty page of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and I really enjoyed the research topics on Dr. Hudson Beyzavi’s website. I immediately connected with him to ask about research opportunities in his lab. Dr. Beyzavi was fascinated by my passion for research only being a freshman and my previous research experiences. I soon began working in his lab as a freshman, excited to start learning about something so new and exciting to me.

I began to work on the synthesis and characterization of organometallic compounds to be used as anticancer therapy. I did not have experience in medicinal chemistry, so I learned a lot about the synthesis process from watching and taking notes. From these experiences, I became more knowledgeable of the topic, and I began to hypothesize my own compounds that could be efficient in treating cancer.

After two years of working on this project and trying several metals, I wanted to try rhodium and iridium complexes to use as anticancer therapy. I had a lot of help through the process of hypothesizing these complexes, and the synthesis process was not easy. There was still some aspects I did not know about making these complexes, and there was a lot of trial and error in the process. From getting a low yield of the complexes to not seeing the necessary peaks on an NMR spectroscopy, there were a lot of failed attempts. However, through multiple trials, we were able to obtain the hypothesized complexes.

Testing these compounds against cancer cell lines was exciting. Since there is a high resistance to the current chemotherapy drugs that are currently available, making new anticancer compounds is necessary to continue treating cancer. Some of the compounds we synthesized were found to be even more effective than cisplatin, which is the most widely used chemotherapy drug. The field of developing new metallic compounds for anticancer therapy is extremely new, and it is thrilling to be at the forefront of this research.

This research has inspired me to continue learning about medicinal chemistry. Although I have not been able to see the benefits of these compounds for actual patients yet, I am excited to see what can come out of research in this field. In my path to becoming a physician, I want to be involved in pharmaceutical development of new drugs that can drastically improve quality of life for my future patients. This is ultimately the goal of a physician, and the thought of being able to do this using my knowledge of research inspires me to continue innovating and striving towards a career in healthcare.