Q&A with Masuda Akther: Combining Strategies to Stop Cancer Growth
April 20, 2026Masuda Akther, a PhD candidate at Rutgers University, is developing a combination therapy designed to target two vulnerabilities of cancer cells.
For Masuda Akther, the drive to improve cancer treatment is deeply personal. A graduate student at Rutgers University, Akther is motivated by the loss of a close family member to cancer and a desire to find better options for patients facing the disease.
Akther received a 2026 PhRMA Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship in Drug Discovery for her research developing a combination therapy designed to target two vulnerabilities of cancer cells. She explains her research using a simple metaphor: Cancer cells are like a fast-growing city, and she wants to stop construction.
She will do this by disrupting the supply of key building materials, called nucleotides, which cancer cells need to copy their DNA and grow. However, cancer cells can also activate internal “maintenance” systems to repair damage, so Akther is working to shut down that recovery process as well. By targeting both mechanisms at once, Akther hopes to create a more efficacious therapy that prevents cancer tumors from regrowing and improves outcomes for patients.
Watch the video to learn more about Akther and her research.
