About Us >> Faculty >> Tan

Chalet Tan, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Contact Information:
3001 Mercer University Drive, DV-114
Atlanta, GA 30341
(678) 547-6240
Fax: (678) 547-6423
e-mail: tan_c@mercer.edu

Research Background and Interests

_____Cancer remains one of the world’s most devastating diseases, with more than 10 million new cases every year. Over the past few decades, our knowledge on the etiology of cancer has increased exponentially. The improved understanding of the processes that are at central to the malignant transformation and tumor genesis has resulted in the development of several new classes of antitumor therapeutics. In addition to classical chemotherapeutic agents (such as doxorubicin, cisplatin and paclitaxel), these so called ‘molecularly targeted therapeutics’ have augmented the therapeutic armory with their ability to more selectively interfere with certain ‘hallmarks of cancer’. An important, but often neglected property that such second-generation agents (such as rapamycin and 17-AAG) share with the conventional chemotherapeutic drugs, however, is their unfavorable biodistribution upon intravenous administration: the agents are generally rapidly cleared from the circulation, and only a very small faction reaches the tumor site. In addition, serious toxicities may be associated with the organic solvents/surfactants that are used to dissolve the highly lipophilic drug molecules, which include hypersensitivity reactions, nephrotoxicity, neurotoxicity and cardiotoxicity. The discovery of novel targeted anticancer drugs must therefore progress in tandem with the development of appropriate drug delivery systems to ensure the ultimate success of targeted cancer therapy.

_____The use of nanoparticles (10-100 nm in diameter) for drug delivery and targeting is one of the most exciting and clinically propitious areas in nanotechnology. To address the challenges of targeting tumors with nanotechnology, it is essential to combine the rational design of nanocarriers with the fundamental understanding of tumor biology. The primary research interest in Dr. Tan’s laboratory focuses on the devise and evaluation of novel long-circulating micellar nanocarriers for the delivery of molecularly targeted therapeutics. We are particularly interested in ligand-functionalized micelles that preferentially extravasate into the tumor tissue and actively target tumor cells via receptor-mediated endocytosis. By combining approaches in pharmaceutical sciences and cancer biology, we aim to identify highly effective nano-sized drug delivery systems with broad applicability to improve the efficacy of anticancer drugs.

Selected Publications

Tan C, Waldmann TA. Proteasome inhibitor PS-341, a potential therapeutic agent for adult T-cell leukemia (ATL). Cancer Res 62, 1083-1086 (2002).

Tan C, de Noronha RG, Roecker AJ, Pyrzynska B, Khwaja F, Zhang Z, Zhang H, Teng Q, Nicholson AC, Giannakakou P, Zhou W, Olson JJ, Pereira MM, Nicolaou KC, Van Meir EG. Identification of a novel small-molecule inhibitor of the hypoxia-inducible factor 1 pathway. Cancer Res 65, 605-12 (2005).

Roforth MM, Tan C. Combination of rapamycin and 17-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin abrogates Akt activation and potentiates mTOR blockade in breast cancer cells. Anti-Cancer Drugs 19, 681-8 (2008).

Teng Q, Huang W, Collette TW, Ekman DR, Tan C. A direct cell quenching method for cell-culture based metabolomics. Metabolomics, 5, 199-208 (2009).

Courses

PHA 320 Biochemistry
PHA 440 General Principles of Pharmacotherapy
PHA 557 Hematology and Oncology Disorders
PHA 808 Pharmacokinetics
PHA 833 Advanced Pharmacokinetics
PHA 899 Doctoral Research