Cynthia R.D. Selassie
Professor of Chemistry
Office: Chemistry Dept. Seaver North, Rm. 219
Phone: (909) 621-8446
E-mail: cselassie@pomona.edu
Research Interests:
Medicinal chemistry; Application of principles of computer assisted molecular design to the study of antifolates, multidrug resistance and free radical mediated toxicity of phenolic compounds.
DR. CYNTHIA R. DIAS SELASSIE:
Research in my laboratory focuses on the application of the Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship (QSAR) paradigm to three specific phenomena. These include the modulation of multidrug resistance by hydrophobic 4,6-diamino-1,2-dihydro-2,2-dimethyl-1-(3-X-phenyl)-s-triazines and the design of selective antifolates of the 2,4-diamino-5(X-benzyl) pyrimidines type. Toxicities are usually assessed versus dihydrofolate reductase from mammalian, bacterial and protozoal sources. Another project under study involves the free radical mediated reactivities of various electron-releasing and hydrophobic substituted phenols in different cell lines and versus different enzymatic targets such as tyrosinase.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
"The History of Quantitative Structure Activity Relationships" C.D. Selassie. In, Burger's Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery, Volume 1, 6th Edition, D.J. Abraham (ed.), John Wiley and Sons Publishers, New York, New York. (2003).
"A Mechanism based QSAR Approach to the Study of the Toxicity of Endocrine Active Substances." C.D. Selassie, R. Garg and S.B. Mekapati. Pure and Applied Chemistry, 75:2363-2373 (2003).
"QSAR: Then and Now" C.D. Selassie, S.B. Mekapati, R.P. Verma. Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry, 2:1357-1379 (2002).
"Mechanism of Toxicity of Esters of Caffeic and Dihydrocaffeic Acids." B. Etzenhouser, C. Hansch, S. Kapur, C.D. Selassie. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, 9: 199-209 (2001).
"On The Toxicity Of Benzyl Alcohols To L1210 Leukemia Cells. A QSAR Analysis" S. Kapur, R.P. Verma, C. Hansch and C.D. Selassie. Chemosphere 41: 1627-1643 (2000).
"On the Toxicity of Phenols to Fast Growing Cells. A QSAR Model for a Radical-Based Toxicity" C.D. Selassie, A.J. Shusterman, S. Kapur, R.P. Verma, L. Zhang and C. Hansch. Perkin Transactions 2 2729-2733 (1999).
"Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships of 2,4-Diamino-5 (2-X-benzyl) Pyrimidines versus Bacterial and Avian Dihydrofolate Reductase" C. Dias Selassie, W.X. Gan, L.S. Kallander* and T.E. Klein. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 41: 4261-4272 (1998).
"Molecular Orbital Parameters and Comparative QSAR in the Analysis of Phenol Toxicity to Leukemia Cells" L. Zhang, C.D. Selassie, H. Gao and C. Hansch. Journal of the Chemical Society, Perkin Transactions 2. 2553-2556 (1998).
"Phenol Toxicity in Cells: A Radical Process" C. Dias Selassie, T. De Soyza, M. Rosario*, H. Gao and C. Hansch. Chemico-Biological Interactions 113: 175-190 (1998).
Awards and Honors:
Pomona College, Wig Distinguished Professorship Award for Excellence in Teaching, 1993 & 2000
Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships Journal, Member of the Editorial Board, 1997-present.
National Institute of Health/National Institute of Environmental Health, Science Grants, "Toward a Predictive Toxicology," 1995-2001
National Science Foundation, Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement Program Grant, MRI & ARI, 1995-1997
Council on Undergraduate Education, CURSOR Award, "Structure-Activity Relationships of Multidrug Resistance," 1994