Collaborators in the Department of Biophysics – Balaraman Kalyanaraman, PhD, Harry R. & Angeline E. Quadracci Professor in Parkinson’s Research and chair; Jacek Zielonka, PhD, DSc, assistant professor; and Gang Cheng, PhD, assistant professor – as well as Micael Hardy, PhD, and Olivier Ouari, PhD, of Aix-Marseille Université, France, are inventors on MCW’s recently awarded US Patent 11,083,739 for Mito-Magnolol Compounds and Methods of Synthesis and Use Thereof.
This patent pertains to mitochondria-targeting cationic drugs, specifically mito-magnolol compounds, and methods of using these compounds to overcome drug resistance including kinase resistance in melanoma, one of the most aggressive forms of skin cancers, for which there are no effective drugs for prolonged treatment.