Maria Contel

Professor Contel is a synthetic inorganic/organometallic chemist. Her laboratory synthesizes compounds based mostly on gold, ruthenium, and titanium to study their potential as anticancer and antimicrobial agents. Her group studies their biological activity in vitro and in vivo, their modes of action and delivery strategies based on nanotechnology. Catalytic studies focus on recyclable and bimetallic catalysts and on sustainable processes. Prof. Contel has been funded by the National Institutes of Health since 2010. She is committed to the incorporation of researchers from underrepresented groups in the physical sciences to her research team.

Selected Publications

• B.T. Elie, K. Hubbard, Y. Pechhenyy, B. Layek, S. Prabha, M. Contel. ‘Preclinical evaluation of an unconventional ruthenium-gold-based chemotherapeutic: RANCE-1, in clear cell renal cell carcinoma’. Cancer Medicine, 2019, in press. https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.2322 (open access). 
• N. Curado, N. Gimenez, K. Miachin, M. Aliaga-Lavrijsen, M.A. Cornejo, A.A. Jarzecki, M. Contel.  ‘Preparation of Titanocene-Gold Compounds Based on Highly Active Gold(I)-N-Heterocyclic Carbene Anticancer Agents: Preliminary in vitro Studies in Renal and Prostate Cancer Cell Lines’. ChemMedChem. 2019, 14, 1086.  
• J. Son, D. Kalafatovic, M. Kumar, B. Yoo, M.A. Cornejo, M. Contel, R.V. Ulijn.  ‘Customizing Morphology, Size, and Response Kinetics of Matrix Metalloproteinase-Responsive Nanostructures by Systematic Peptide Design’. ACS Nano. 2019, 13, 1555. 
• N. Curado, G. Dewaele-Le Roi, S. Poty, J.S. Lewis, M. Contel.  ‘Trastuzumab gold-conjugates: synthetic approach and in vitro evaluation of anticancer activities in breast cancer cell lines’. Chem. Commun. 2019, 55, 1394. 
• N. Curado, M. Contel. ‘Heterometallic Complexes as Anticancer Agents’. In Metal-based Anticancer Agents (Series Metallobiology) A, Casini, S. Meier-Menches, A. Vessieres Eds. Royal Society of Chemistry. 2019. https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/chapter/bk9781788014069-00143/978-1-78801-406-9