Group Members
We are located in Labs 137 and 143 on the first floor of Chemistry building which is located at 901, 14th street South on UAB campus by the side of UAB Green. The main focus of this lab is Drug Discovery and Development. Lab work force is mainly constituted of Graduate Students working towards their PhD degree, Undergraduate Students carrying out their Senior / Honors Research, Postdoctoral trainees and occasionally Research Assistants.
The students who work on these projects will be trained broadly in the areas of Medicinal Chemistry and Organic Chemistry. More specifically, they will be trained in Organic Synthesis, Compound Purification, Compound Characterization, Spectroscopy (NMR, MS, IR, UV, Fluorescence), Structure Based and Fragment Based Drug discovery, Molecular Modeling, In-Silico Virtual Screening, Lead Identification, Structure Activity Relationship Studies, Lead Optimization, In Vitro Enzymatic Assays and Cell based Assays.
Postdocs
Ravikrishna Dada, PhD
PhD in Organic Chemistry from Central University of Rajasthan, India
Project: MBD2 inhibitors
Graduate Students
Bobby O Garrett, MS
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Project: Development of S. mutans AgI/II inhibitors
Oviya Uthamarayan, MS
MS in Organic Chemistry from University of Madras, Chennai, India
Project: Dental Biofilm Inhibitor development
Parvathy Babu, MS
MS in Organic Chemistry from University of Madras, Chennai, India
Project: Development of therapeutic agents for dental caries
Soniya Joseph, MS
Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India
Project: MBD2 inhibitors
Abhishek Govindan, MS
MS in Organic Chemistry from University of Madras, Chennai, India
Project: S. mutans AgI/II inhibitors
Dinesh Chandran, MS
MS in Organic Chemistry from Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, India
Project: Antibacterial agents for Salmonella Typhimurium
Vignesh Venkatesan, MS
MS in Organic Chemistry from University of Madras, Chennai, India
Project: S. mutans BrpA inhibitors
Former Graduate Students
Edwin Rojas, DMD/PhD
Graduated: 2025
PhD Thesis: "Targeting streptococcus mutans diadenylate cyclase for the prevention of dental caries"
Current Position: To be updated
Piyasuda Pukkanasut, PhD
Graduated: 2024
PhD Thesis: "Voltage-gated sodium channel Nav1.7 subtype: A promising therapeutic target for metastatic medullary thyroid cancer"
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Radiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL
Parmanand Ahirwar, PhD
Graduated: 2023
PhD Thesis: "Streptococcus mutans biofilm inhibiting small molecules with anticariogenic activity"
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Radiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL
Sonia Nijampatnam, PhD
Graduated: 2017
PhD Thesis: "Development of small molecule inhibitors of S. mutans glucosyltransferases for the prevention of dental caries"
Current Position: Research Project Manager, Ely Lilly, Indianapolis, IN
Shilpa Dutta, PhD
Graduated: 2016
PhD Thesis: "Targeting voltage-gated sodium channels for prevention of breast cancer metastasis"
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Southern Research, Birmingham, AL
Thao Nguyen, PhD
Graduated: 2014
PhD Thesis: "Design and syntheses of DHFR inhibitors as potential drugs against Trypanosoma cruzi and Streptococcus mutans"
Current Position: Forensic Scientist, Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences
Bala Chandra Chenna, PhD
Graduated: 2013
PhD Thesis: "Identification of Staphylococcus aureus sortase A inhibitors as potential antibacterial agents"
Current Position: Assistant Research Scientist, Texas A&M University, College station, TX
Dwayaja H Nadkarni, PhD
Graduated: 2011
PhD Thesis: "Syntheses of marine natural products and their analogs as potential anticancer agents"
Current Position: Senior Scientist, Huntsman International Private Limited, Mumbai, India
Jaden Cowan, MS
Graduated: May 2021
Geethika Prasannakumar, MS
Graduated: May 2020
Jeffrey McDonald, MS
Graduated: May 2017
Su Xu, MS
Graduated: May 2016
Travis Hicks, MS
Graduated: May 2011
Sam Tanner, MS
Graduated: May 2010
Former Postdocs
Manikandan Palani, PhD
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Radiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL
Bidhan A. Shinkre, PhD
Current Position: Team Leader, Synthesis Support Group, Syngenta Biosciences Pvt. Ltd., Bangaluru, India
Srinivasan Murugesan, PhD
Current Position: Research Scientist, Syngene International, Bangaluru, India
Syam Gandavaram, PhD
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Sree Vidyanikethan Engineering College, Tirupati, India
Past Group Photos
