Chiara BRUSTENGA, Télévie FNRS researcher at the Louvain Drug Research Institute, CMFA research group, won the competition for the best thesis in medicinal chemistry organised by the Royal Belgian Chemical Society.
Chiara Brustenga's research, supported by Télévie, the FNRS and a Concerted Research Action (ARC-FWB), focuses on the discovery of molecules capable of disrupting the structure of a protein (lactate dehydrogenase, LDH) that plays a central role in tumour metabolism and allows tumours to survive and even proliferate in a very hostile environment.
Having already identified and characterised two molecules, Chiara Brustenga is now trying to identify other molecules that could reinforce this LDH disrupting action. An important target for a possible future anti-cancer therapy! It is this aspect that she presented at the competition and which will soon be the subject of a publication.