College of Biomedical and Translational Sciences

MIEN1 signaling, Anticancer peptides, Structural motifs in peptides, Immunomodulation, Antimicrobial peptides, Protein-protein interactions, Translational cancer research

Dr. Amit Kumar Tripathi specializes in identifying short peptides as small molecule inhibitors, offering novel therapeutic approaches for cancer treatment. He has identified first-in-class peptide molecules targeting the MIEN1 cancer signaling pathway.  Besides MIEN1, he has been actively involved in identifying short peptides derived from other naturally occurring proteins, such as Myeloid Differentiation Factor 2 (MD2), the TLR4 co-receptor, and MyD88, which directly bind to LPS and have been shown to rescue mice from LPS-induced sepsis. Dr. Tripathi also has expertise in identifying structural motifs in naturally occurring anticancer peptides. He was the first to demonstrate that the GXXXXG motif in the naturally occurring anticancer peptide Chryophsin-I is responsible for its cytotoxicity. By modulating this motif, he successfully reduced the cytotoxicity to normal cells while retaining its antimicrobial and immunomodulatory activities. Additionally, he has shown that phenylalanine zippers can be employed to design peptides with antimicrobial and anticancer activities.

Molecular and Cellular Biology Techniques: ELISA assays for immune-oncology cytokines, MTT assays for cytotoxicity and cell viability, Hemolytic assays for cytotoxicity, BCA protein assay for protein quantification, SDS-PAGE Electrophoresis and Western Blot for protein analysis, RNA isolation, DNA isolation from cells/clinical samples, DNA synthesis and qPCR for gene expression analysis, Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and ChIP-qPCR.

Cancer Research Techniques

Cancer cell line maintenance, transfection, cryopreservation, and passage Cancer Cell Migration assays and Invasion assays, Tumor Immunology and Immuno-oncology studies, Orthotopic Tumor Implantation and Tumor size morphometry, Animal Handling and in vivo Techniques, Mouse models for cancer and sepsis research, Blood isolation, serum isolation, and visceral organ collection from mice, Intraperitoneal (IP), Subcutaneous (SC), Intravenous (IV), and Intratumoral injections, Animal anesthesia and euthanasia techniques

Peptide Design and Drug Development

Peptide design against multidrug-resistant bacterial strains and cancer cell lines, Anti-cancer peptide identification from naturally occurring proteins

Biochemical Analysis

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) operation, Fluorescence experiments using a fluorimeter

Tissue Culture Techniques

Primary cell culture from bone marrow, Pathogenic bacterial strain maintenance, Media preparation and sterility/biosafety practices