Achievement

Adaris Rodríguez-Cortés (ICE IGERT trainee, MCB) has been collaborating with Prof. Peyton (ICE IGERT faculty, chemical engineering), Prof. Alfandari (ICE IGERT faculty, veterinary and animal sciences), and members of the Lee lab in the Chemical Biology and Therapeutics Department at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to assess the effects of Rhodiola crenulata on cellular substrate adhesion and migration. Prof. Peyton assisted Adaris with design of a new mold to test directional movement using live imaging, while members of the Lee lab assisted with purification of the active component of the Rhodiola extract. This work facilitated isolation of a fraction from Rhodiola crenulata that demonstrates anti-migratory activity in human invasive breast cancer cells and in amphibian embryonic neural crest cells. The fraction contains three distinct peaks corresponding to three unidentified compounds that may exert a synergistic effect to inhibit cellular migration.