CPS Grad Spotlight - Nabanita Nawar
Name: Nabanita Nawar
MSc or PhD Candidate: PhD Candidate
Location of Undergraduate Education: University of Toronto Mississauga
Name of the Lab at CPS: Gunning Lab
Selected Awards:
UTM Graduate Student Leadership Award
Huguette J. Cohen Award
UTE Startup Prize Pitch Competition – 1st Place Winner (later stage company)
Pitch with a Twist by iCUBE – 1st Place Winner
2022 Synapse Life Science Competition Quick Pitch winner (Innovation Factory Hamilton)
Sweet Pharma Day Winner
1st Prize Health Innovation Hub Pitch Perfect
Top 10 for Delta Kappa Gamma International World Fellowships
1st Prize Oral Research Presentation - Graduate Research Colloquium, UTM
Gordon Cressy Leadership Award
Principal’s Involvement Award
Selected Research Contributions: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=g88wtjMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nabanitanawar/
Nabanita, please tell us about yourself and your journey as a PhD Candidate!
How did you come to UTM? What interested you to join a lab here?
I came to UTM in 2013 as an undergraduate international student. I took two organic and medicinal chemistry courses with Professor Patrick Gunning, and instantaneously fell in love with drug discovery and therapeutics development. This prompted me to join the Gunning Group as an ROP student where I focused on the synthesis of inhibitors of disease driver proteins. I eventually continued the research work as a 4th year undergrad thesis student, and then a direct-entry PhD candidate.
When did you realize that you wanted to pursue a graduate study?
I’ve wanted to pursue a PhD from an early teenage age, but it was only through my exposure to medicinal chemistry and drug design in my undergrad that I realized where my true passion lies, and what branch of science excites me to take this leap towards doctoral studies. When I was concurrently doing a research project and medicinal chemistry course in my last two years of undergraduate, I enjoyed designing small molecule inhibitors and evaluating them for potential therapeutic applications. I tried a few other research programs during my undergrad as well, but medicinal chemistry resonated with my interests so the transition to graduate school was quite a natural transition!
What are your research interests? Tell us few exciting things about your research.
My research focuses on the design and pre-clinical investigation of small molecule inhibitors of HDAC6, a cytoplasmic deacetylase that has disease implications in a range of human disorders. A multi-disciplinary drug discovery approach was taken to explore therapeutic intervention through HDAC6 inhibitors. Our drug discovery framework takes a rational, iterative and collaborative approach to elucidate the relevance of the biological target HDAC6, to explain its numerous and often contrasting roles in diseases, and design small molecules that can reversibly inhibit HDAC6 activity, thereby alleviating the disease phenotype. Several generations of HDAC6 inhibitors have been developed to improve potency, selectivity, ADME/PK profiles, and disease modifying capacity. The lead candidates have been able to achieve single digit nanomolar inhibitory activity, exquisite selectivity (>100- fold) for HDAC6 over all other HDAC isoforms, and promising in vivo PK profiles. The most advanced analogues were resolved via X-ray co-crystal structures, which revealed a novel H-bond interaction in the HDAC6 catalytic pocket. Preclinical efficacy and therapeutic index evaluations were performed for a handful of rare, aggressive and often incurable diseases including (but not limited to) acute myeloid leukemia, multiple myeloma, T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia, γδ T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas, T/NK cell lymphomas and Group 3 Medulloblastoma. Finally, advancements were made in animal studies where the final generation HDAC6 inhibitor was able to exhibit strong tumor reduction, high tolerability/zero safety concerns, and commendable brain exposure. Collectively, the research highlights the wide potential of HDAC6 inhibitors and lays the foundation for the development of possible HDAC6-targeting drugs for therapeutic applications.
What is your goal when you finish your degree?
I thoroughly enjoy the translational science research we do at the Gunning Group and I have always been drawn towards advancing academic inventions for therapeutic applications in real patients. In that quest, we have built a preclinical stage biotechnology startup from our scientific research, to further advance the lead candidates towards IND-enabling studies and first-in-human trials. I am a co-founder of our startup, and my PI and I are working with scientists and industry experts to take our intellectual property to the next stage, and make impactful contributions to science and society. I plan to continue building on the science that I am doing in my PhD, and accelerate the business development to eventually treat diseases that still suffer from an absence of rationally designed therapeutics.
What are some of your achievements you'd like to share?
I have actively tried to build my skillsets and broaden my horizon beyond the scientific research we do at the academic lab. My involvement in the Canadian Science Policy Centre, the Journal of Science Policy and Governance, UTM Graduate Student Association, UNICEF, HDAX Therapeutics and as CHM243 course instructor, all during my graduate studies, have helped me grow professionally, and also develop skills that compliment my research skills. These diverse experiences have also allowed me to better understand myself, and understand the type of roles that fit well with my interests and my personality following graduate studies.
Do you have any advice for students considering to pursue graduate studies in research?
Research can be the most rewarding and the most stressful experience, all at the same time! It’s important that you pursue graduate studies in a field that you’re passionate about, because research can be a huge test of your patience and resilience! If the work does not feel fulfilling or doesn’t excite you, it gets a tad bit difficult to go through endless cycles of failed experiments and hurdles. Graduate school can be quite a roller coaster ride, but do celebrate every success, every publication, every recognition, while ensuring that you are constantly learning from the failures.