Nicole Windmon

Society stands today with many untreatable or incurable diseases. Current drug discovery methods are not measuring up to the social demands of treatment. The Broad Institute is committed to developing small-molecule probes to elucidate new treatment for these incurable diseases and making this information available to the public. The goal of Nicole's research project this summer was to create stereochemically and skeletally diverse scaffolds for a future small-molecule library design.

Diversity-oriented synthesis is a synthetic strategy conducive for the creation of small molecule libraries because it incorporates a Build/Couple/Pair strategy to create skeletal diversity. With her Broad colleagues, Nicole exploited the Huisgen 1,3-dipolor cycloaddition to create 1,4-triazoles and 1,5-triazole to the macrocyclic rings formation. Once their library is created each small-molecule will be tested with new biological assays. The molecules that test positive will be developed further into drug therapies for currently untreatable or incurable diseases.

 

PROJECT: Diversifying small molecules for drug discovery

Mentor: Ann Kelly, Chemical Biology

 

Nicole Windmon

My experience this summer at the Broad Institute has been rewarding in two different ways. First, I learned valuable skills in the fume hood and at the bench. Second, I was able to network with scientists in my field of study and make valuable, professional connections with key players.