Group Members
We are located in the 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 research projects are mainly directed towards the discovery of anti-cancer and anti-infective agents. There are also a few other drug discovery projects that we are currently working on. Ongoing research projects are listed below:
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Discovery and Development of Anti-Breast Cancer Agents from Marine Alkaloids
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Discovery of Inhibitors of Staphylococcus aureus Sortase A
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Structure Based Design of inhibitors of Trypanosoma Cruzi Dihydrofolate Reductase
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Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel Blockers for Preventing Cancer Metastasis
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Synthesis of Novel Mitochondrially Targeted Antioxidant Therapeutics
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
Lab: CHEM-143
Phone: (205) 996 4194
Email: rdada@uab.edu
Project: MBD2 inhibitors.
Graduate Students
Bobby O Garrett, MS
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Lab: CHEM-143
Phone: (205) 996 4194
Email: ogarrett@uab.edu
Project: Development of S. mutans AgI/II inhibitors.
Oviya Uthamarayan, MS
MS in Organic Chemistry from University of Madras, Chennai, India
Lab: CHEM-143
Phone: (205) 996 4194
Email: ou2@uab.edu
Project: Dental Biofilm Inhibitor development
Parvathy Babu, MS
MS in Organic Chemistry from University of Madras, Chennai, India
Lab: CHEM-143
Phone: (205) 996 4194
Email: parma@uab.edu
Project: Development of therapeutic agents for dental caries.
Soniya Joseph, MS
Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India
Lab: CHEM-137
Phone: (205) 996 4194
Email: josephs@uab.edu
Project: MBD2 inhibitors.
Abhishek Govindan, MS
MS in Organic Chemistry from University of Madras, Chennai, India
Lab: CHEM-143
Phone: (205) 996 4194
Email: aga@uab.edu
Project: S. mutans AgI/II inhibitors.
Dinesh Chandran, MS
MS in Organic Chemistry from Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, India
Lab: CHEM-137
Phone: (205) 996 4194
Email: dkchandr@uab.edu
Project: Antibacterial agents for Salmonella Typhimurium
Vignesh Venkatesan, MS
MS in Organic Chemistry from University of Madras, Chennai, India
Lab: CHEM-143
Phone: (205) 996 4194
Email: vvenkat2@uab.edu
Project: S. mutans BrpA inhibitors.
Former Graduate Students
Edwin Rojas, DMD/PhD
Graduated in 2025
PhD Thesis: “Targeting streptococcus mutans diadenylate cyclase for the prevention of dental caries”.
Current Position: To be updated.
Piyasuda Pukkanasut, PhD
Graduated in 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 in 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 in 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
(Co-directed with Dr. Wayne Brouillette)
Graduated in 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 in 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 in 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 in 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
MS: Graduated , May 2021
Geethika Prasannakumar, MS
MS: Graduated, May 2020
Jeffrey McDonald, MS
MS: Graduated, May 2017
Su Xu, MS
MS: Graduated, May 2016
Travis Hicks, MS
MS: Graduated, May 2011
Sam Tanner, MS
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 Pictures
