RESEARCH  

                                                                                         Bereket Mochona, Ph.D.                                                                                               

                                                                                  Associate Professor of Chemistry

                                                                                  College of Science & Technology

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                                                          Florida-California Cancer Research, Education & Engagement (CaRE2) Center,

                                                                              FAMU Research Education Core (REC) Leader 

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                                                          FAMU Faculty Advisor & Coordinator for UF-FAMU Research Training 

                                                             Opportunities for Outstanding Leaders (ReTOOL) Program

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                                                               Laboratory: Science Research Facilities 507 - 508

                                                                                         Telephone: (850) 561-3284

                                                                Office: Science Research Facilities 510

                                                                                           Telephone: (850) 561-2545

                                                                              e-mail: bereket.mochona@famu

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Our research program primarily focuses on developing and synergistically combining diverse sets of approaches to discover and develop small molecules as new therapeutic leads that address significant unmet medical needs such as drugs for castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and triple negative breast cancer(TNBC). Students in our group receive training at the interface of chemistry and biology using a combination of synthetic organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, chemical biology and pharmacological approaches. Currently, we are working on design, synthesis and structure−activity relationships study of a new series of AR antagonists with dual mechanistic actions as potential selective non-ligand binding and/or ligand binding pocket AR antagonists. Their biological activity as antiandrogens in the context of the development of treatments for castration resistant prostate cancer and/or triple negative breast cancer will be evaluated using in-vitro time resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer and fluorescence polarization on target assays.  Additionally, a theoretical study combining docking and molecular dynamics methods will be performed to provide insight into their mechanism of action as a basis for further lead optimization studies

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Research Related Professional Developments

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• ACS Short Course in “Drug-like Properties (ADME) and Toxicity” March 2010, San Francisco, Ca.                                                        ACS Short Course in “Structure Based Drug Design” March 2011, San Anaheim, CA.  

• 2016-Partnership to Advance Cancer Health Equity (PACHE), Communication and Evaluation for a Stronger Partnership. NCI Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities, Investigators Meeting, June 11-12, 2016, Maryland, USA.                                                                

• 2016-Florida Health Disparities Summit, Strengthening Research Collaboration in Personalized Medicine, Social Determinants and Community Engagement, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL. Feb. 5-6, 2016.                                                                                                                                                                                                

Research Related Awards

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• 2018-2023, FAMU Core Leader for U54-Florida-California Cancer Research Education & Engagement Equity Center.

• 2016 HERI Florida Research Leadership Scholar Program Travel Award.

• 2016 FAMU-UF NCI P20 Planning Grant Award – UF-FAMU Minority Cancer Research Training.

• 2012 - 2017 FAMU Research Center for Minority Institutions

• 2013  FRAP- FAMU School of Graduate Studies.

• 2013 Faculty Travel Award – FAMU Academic Affairs.

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Facilities

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Research Laboratory:- The Bio-organic medicinal chemistry laboratory on the fifth floor (Room 508 & 507) of Fredrick S. Humphries Science Research facility has been organized for basic drug discovery research and organic synthesis for the last 10 years.  During the years Dr. Mochona equipped this laboratory with all modern facilities for Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry research.  Four large fume hoods, large scale distillation facilities, four deluxe type Buchi Rotavapors, preparative chromatography equipment, refrigerators, solvent cabinets and small and large scale glassware.

 

FAMU RCMI Shared Instrumentation Laboratory:- Dr. Mochona has a long established collaboration with investigators from the College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, Research Center for Minority Investigators (RCMI), Drug Discovery Core.

 

• The RCMI-Molecular Modeling Facility provides the modern modeling software suites on Windows and Linux platforms and technical assistance in performing QSAR, Protein receptor ligand docking, Virtual screening, Cheminformatics, Molecular Dynamics and other functions as required for drug discovery.

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• The RCMI-NMR Facility provides instrumentation and technical assistance for obtaining NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) spectra for liquid samples. This facility supports the drug discovery research and other chemical, biochemical researches to monitor chemical reactions, identify / elucidate chemical structures, and to determine purity of synthetic products.

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• The RCMI Flow Cytometry / Imaging Facility will provide resources for image data acquisition and analysis for radioactive, fluorescent, and photographic samples as well as digital imaging and document production. The facility also offers FACS acquisition and analysis for detecting cell surface or intracellular proteins, measuring apoptosis, cell cycle analysis and progression, and cellular physiology that have both biomedical and clinical applications.  The recently purchased SONY SH800 cell sorter will build upon the current technologies within this facility by allowing us to sort select cell populations from heterogeneous cell populations for subsequent analysis. Technical assistance for experimental design, interpretation and troubleshooting are provided for users that wish to learn the full operation of the instrumentation for self-service analysis, or full service.

                                                                                                                                                          (**)    adapted from BMC

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