Binghamton University pharmacy student wins award for pancreatic cancer treatment research

Third-year Binghamton Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences PhD student Steven McKay's motivation for enrolling here stemmed from the loss of his grandfather to pancreatic cancer. Now, his research on pancreatic cancer treatment has won him the American Foundation of Pharmacy Education (AFPE) Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Award and $10,000 that will further fund his work.

"When my grandfather passed away from pancreatic cancer, it really hit me and my family hard," McKay explained. "His passing is why I'm here today though. It motivated me to enroll so I could do this type of research and help others battling the same fight my grandfather faced."

McKay's research is focused on a small molecule protein degrader. This class of molecule is called a PROTAC, or a molecule that can remove specific unwanted proteins.

"What I want to do is attach other things to that small molecule inhibitor. So link it via this chemical linker to another small molecule inhibitor and on the other end, it will attach to an E3 ligase," he said. "This involves hijacking the ubiquitin-proteasome system to degrade the targeted protein."

Through this process, McKay believes it can be used to destroy cancer cells, specifically in pancreatic cancer.

"I want to go after a target protein in pancreatic cancer that is overexpressed and the cancer cells depend on its function," he said. "Once I can degrade it, the protein is completely out of the body, ideally leading to the cancer cell self-destructing through apoptosis."

For McKay, this award and the $10,000 prize that will be used to further fund his research, is a sign he is on the right track.

"When I did get it, I was really surprised but very happy," McKay said. "This showed me the positive impact I can have and I appreciate the recognition."

McKay added he celebrated a bit with his family and mentor Tracy Brooks, associate professor and vice chair of pharmaceutical sciences at Binghamton, when he received the news. But after the celebration was over, he made sure to get right back to work.