Kumaranalloor: A woman from Chekkodu has made her mark as being part of the team behind a promising breakthrough in skin cancer treatment using melanine exrated from pigments of marine bacteria.

VP Shilpa, a native of Anakkara Chekkodu and associate professor at Jamia Salafiya Pharmacy College in Malappuram, is also a research scholar at Annamalai University. She led a team of scientists that discovered the potential of melanin, extracted from pigments of marine bacteria, as an agent with huge potential in treating skin cancer.

The team’s research found that organic melanin pigments derived from oceanic bacteria exhibit strong interaction with key proteins associated with skin cancer, making them a potential bioactive compound for targeted therapy. The findings were recently published in the Scientific Reports, a Nature Journal

The research was conducted with the collaborative support of Jamia Salafiya Pharmacy College, Annamalai University in Tamil Nadu, King Khalid University (Saudi Arabia), and Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University (Saudi Arabia).

In addition to Shilpa, the international research team included Dr. Janakiraman Kunjithapadam (Head, Annamalai University), Dr. Mudhukrishnayya Kottakonda (Professor and Research Head, Jamia Salafiya Pharmacy College), Dr. Kamal Younis and Dr. Sadh Ali (Professors, King Khalid University), and Dr. Muhammed Mukhdar Ahammed (Professor, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University).