Dr. David Kinder

Dr. Kinder has interests in anticancer agent design and discovery. One area that he is actively pursuing is the development of celecoxib analogs with more potent anticancer activity than the parent celecoxib itself. This represents a collaborative effort with Molecular Modeler Dr. Tarek Mahfouz, also a faculty member in Pharmacy. For this work, Dr. Kinder has two chemistry research students.

Dr. Kinder also has a strong interest in Medicinal Plants of the Southwest. His research in that area includes discovery of medicinal plants which have anticancer activity, as well as plants that would have been cultivated by the Ancestral Puebloans. Those plants include the potato (Solanum jamesii), and the Pale Wolfberry (Lycium pallidum). Here the line between medicinal and food plants is blurred significantly, as both have chemical components that are biologically active and can be found in modern day medicines. They are also clearly foods used by Ancestral Puebloans, and areas of cultivation are evident even today.