Skip to content
Clark University
  • Media Relations
Suggest a Story
ClarkNow logo
  • Topics
  • All Stories
  • In the News
  • Expert Sources
  • Podcasts
      • Info For

        • Media Relations
Suggest a Story

BCMB students meet 2021 Nobel Prize winner

September 15, 2022
By Clark News and Media Relations

Doctoral candidate Ariane Borges and Kim Nguyen ’22, M.S. ’23, who both work in Professor Arundhati Nag’s lab in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Program, recently attended the LEADS Conference of the American Chemical Society in Washington, D.C., where they met David MacMillan, the 2021 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, and other Nobel laureates.

Ariane Borges and David MacMillan
Ariane Borges with Nobel laureate David MacMillan

Borges’ research focuses on protein-protein interactions (PPI) that are essential for cell-signaling pathways. Mutations on proteins involved in PPI are hallmarks of different cancers, hence an increasing interest in inhibiting protein-protein interactions between oncogenic proteins (proteins that can potentially lead to cancer). She is working with Nag to use technologies that inhibit interactions between the SOS protein and the K-Ras protein — which is involved in cell-signaling pathways that control cell growth, proliferation, and apoptosis (cell death) and is often mutated into an oncogenic state.

After completing her Ph.D., Borges plans to start her career in the pharmaceutical industry focusing on chemotherapeutic drug development.

Kim Nguyen and David MacMillian
Kim Nguyen with Nobel laureate David MacMillan

 

Nguyen is developing bifunctional molecules that aim to inhibit the aggregation of Amyloid beta in Alzheimer’s disease and also sequester metal ions that exacerbate the disorder. “This is a promising approach to further understand and design therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s,” she says. Nguyen is applying to Ph.D. programs in chemical biology/chemistry this year with the goal of a career in the pharmaceutical industry.

Science & Technology

Related Stories

More from this topic
Emma Kane
BCMB student earns top honor at Protein Society event
More from this topic
  • Apply Undergrad
  • Apply Grad
  • Give
  • Contact Us
Helpful Links
  • Report a Concern
  • Offices
  • Campus Safety
  • Employment
  • Healthy Clark Dashboard
  • Website Feedback
Follow Us
  • See more of us on Facebook
  • See more of us on Twitter
  • See more of us on Instagram
  • See more of us on TikTok
  • See more of us on YouTube
  • See more of us on LinkedIn
Clark University footer logo Return to Clark University Homepage
Challenge Convention.
Change Our World.
508-793-7711
950 Main Street Worcester, MA 01610
Copyright © 2023 Clark University Public Information | Privacy Policy | Website Accessibility | Nondiscrimination Policy