The Dynlacht Lab has been interested in studying the effects of agents (physical or chemical) that modulate the response of cancer cells and normal tissue to the radiation response, particularly hyperthermia and various chemotherapeutic agents
The current major focus of the Dynlacht Lab is to characterize novel chemotherapeutic agents that are not toxic at 37° C when given systemically, but which can become activated to become cytotoxic by local hyperthermia treatment, thereby potentially limiting lethal effects of the compounds solely to tumor cells within the heated tissue volume in patients. The Dynlacht group has also been studying the mechanism of heat-radiosensitization and the inhibition of repair of radiation-induced double strand breaks by hyperthermia.
Dr. Dynlacht's research interests include:
- Elucidating the mechanisms of radiation-induced and heat-induced cell killing. Development of radiation countermeasures that may be useful for treatment of mass casualties following a radiological terrorism incident or criticality accident. Development of novel compounds that can be used as adjuvants to radiotherapy and thermal therapy (hyperthermia and thermal ablation). Development of agents that mitigate the side effects of radiotherapy.
