Research Interests

My research interests focus on:

• The development of silver based antimicrobials for nebulization into the lung to combat bacterial lung infections.
• The development of imidazolium cation and metal carbene based antitumor compounds for treatment of a variety of cancers.
• The development of imidazolium cations as exfoliating agents for the treatment of bladder infections.
• Investigation of the mechanism of action of imidazolium based antitumor compounds.

Selected Publications

1. Aweda, Tolulope A.; Ikotun, Oluwatayo; Mastren, Tara; Cannon, Carolyn L.; Wright, Brian; Youngs, Wiley J.; Cutler, Cathy; Guthrie, James; Lapi, Suzanne E. "The use of 111Ag as a tool for studying biological distribution of silver-based antimicrobials" MedChemComm (2013), 4(6), 1015-1017.
2. Shah, Parth N.; Lin, Lily Yun; Smolen, Justin A.; Tagaev, Jasur A.; Gunsten, Sean P.; Han, Daniel S.; Heo, Gyu Seong; Li, Yali; Zhang, Fuwu; Zhang, Shiyi; Wright, Brian D.; Panzner, Matthew J.; Youngs, Wiley J.; Brody, Steven L.; Wooley, Karen L.; Cannon, Carolyn L. "Synthesis, Characterization, and In Vivo Efficacy of Shell Cross-Linked Nanoparticle Formulations Carrying Silver Antimicrobials as Aerosolized Therapeutics" ACS Nano (2013), 7(6), 4977-4987.
3. Stine, A. E.; Nassar, D.; Miller, J. K.; Clemons, C. B.; Wilber, J. P.; Young, G. W.; Yun, Y. H.; Cannon, C. L.; Leid, J. G.; Youngs, W. J. "Modeling the response of a biofilm to silver-based antimicrobial" Mathematical Biosciences (2013), 244(1), 29-39.
4. Wagers, Patrick O.; Shelton, Kerri L.; Panzner, Matthew J.; Tessier, Claire A.; Youngs, Wiley J.  Synthesis and Medicinal Properties of Silver-NHC Complexes and Imidazolium Salts. In N-Heterocyclic Carbenes: Effective Tools for Organometallic Synthesis, Nolan, Steven P. Ed.  Wiley-VCH: Weinheim, Germany, (2014), 151-172.
5. Wright, Brian D.; Deblock, Michael C.; Wagers, Patrick O.; Duah, Ernest; Robishaw, Nikki K.; Shelton, Kerri L.; Southerland, Marie R.; DeBord, Michael A.; Kersten, Kortney M.; McDonald, Lucas J.; Stiel, Jason A.; Panzner, Matthew J.; Tessier, Claire A.; Paruchuri, Sailaja; Youngs, Wiley J. Anti-​tumor activity of lipophilic imidazolium salts on select NSCLC cell lines. Medicinal Chemistry Research (2015), Medicinal Chemistry Research (2015), 24(7), 2838-2861.
6. Wagers, Patrick O.; Tiemann, Kristin M.; Shelton, Kerri L.; Kofron, William G.; Panzner, Matthew J.; Wooley, Karen L.; Youngs, Wiley J.; Hunstad, David A. Imidazolium salts as small-​molecule urinary bladder exfoliants in a murine model. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (2015), 59(9), 5494-5502.