Riyaz M. Basha, PhD Associate Professor Associate Director, Center for Cancer Research Tel: (817) 735-0302 (Office); (817) 735-0310 (Lab) Fax: (817) 735-2563 E mail: Riyaz.Basha@unthsc.edu

Credentials/Graduating Organization/Training:

• M.Sc: Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, India
• PhD: Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, India
• Post-doc: University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI

Primary/secondary Center affiliations:

• Pediatrics, TCOM
• Institute for Molecular Medicine, GSBS

Awards/Recognition:

• Fellow, Association of Biotechnology and Pharmacy.
• Research presentation awards, Society of Toxicology (2001, 2002, 2003 & 2006).
• Research Presentation award (1st place), International Conference on Drug Discovery & Therapy.

Research Interests:

• Experimental Therapeutics: Exploring the strategies to induce the response of standard therapeutic options for cancer treatment.
• Drug design/discovery: Designing/testing small molecule-derivatives for anti-cancer activity.

Current research projects:

• 2017-2022: Osteopathic Scholars in cancer Research, CPRIT (Role: Co-PI & Program Coordinator)
• 2015-2017: Mithramycin and chemotherapy combination for Ewing sarcoma, HyundaiHopeOnWheels. (Role: Institutional PI).
• 2015-2018: Curcumin and Tolfenamic acid combination for pancreatic cancer, Shirley E. Noland
  Foundation (Role: PI).
• 2014-2018: Combination Treatment for medulloblastoma, Orlando Health, Orlando, FL (Role: PI)

Current courses taught:

• PSPT 6400: Drug Discovery & Development
• MOMG 6250: Molecular & Cellular Biology of Cancer
• BMSC 5310 Scientific Communication
• MEDE 7120 Honors Elective

Potential lab openings: Currently no openings.

Team members:

• Sagar Shelake: Graduate Student
• Myrna Hurtado: Graduate Student
• Shruti Patil: Graduate Student

Selected Publications:

1. Eslin D, Lee C, Sankpal UT, Maliakal P, Sutphin RM, Abraham L, Basha R. Anticancer activity of tolfenamic acid in medulloblastoma: a preclinical study. Tumour Biol. 2013 Oct;34(5):2781-9. PMID: 23686785.
2. Basha R, Connelly SF, Sankpal UT, Nagaraju GP, Patel H, Vishwanatha JK, Shelake S, Tabor-Simecka L, Shoji M, Simecka JW, El-Rayes B. Small molecule tolfenamic acid and dietary spice curcumin treatment enhances antiproliferative effect in pancreatic cancer cells via suppressing Sp1, disrupting NF-kB translocation to nucleus and cell cycle phase distribution. J Nutr Biochem. 2016
   May;31:77-87. PMID: 27133426.
3. Shelake S, Sankpal UT, Paul Bowman W, Wise M, Ray A, Basha R. Targeting specificity protein 1 transcription factor and survivin using tolfenamic acid for inhibiting Ewing sarcoma cell growth. Invest New Drugs. 2016 Dec 26. [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 28025760.
4. Sankpal UT, Goodison S, Jones-Pauley M, Hurtado M, Zhang F, Basha R. Tolfenamic acid-induced alterations in genes and pathways in pancreatic cancer cells. Oncotarget. 2017 Jan 14. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28099934.