Current Members

Veera Venkata Ramesh E received his MSc degree in Chemistry from Acharya Nagarjuna University, Andhra Pradesh, India. He then moved to the division of organic chemistry, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India, in 2006, and is currently pursuing his PhD studies. A major part of his graduate research involves the design, synthesis and structural investigations of a novel class of conformationally restricted α, β- hybrid synthetic oligomers (also called foldamers). He is also working in the development of novel constrained Hydroxyethylamine (HEA) isosteres (E-mail: vv.ramesh@ncl.res.in).

Arup Roy received his BSc and MSc degrees in Chemistry from Tripura University, Tripura, India. He then moved to the division of organic chemistry, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India, in 2006, and is currently pursuing his PhD studies under the mentorship of Dr G. J. Sanjayan. A major part of his graduate research involves the design, synthesis and structural investigations of a novel class of conformationally ordered synthetic oligomers (also called foldamers), and conformationally restricted peptidomimetics. He is also currently working in the area of medicinal chemistry, involving the development of novel combretastatin-based anticancer agents that preferentially inhibit tubulin polymerization. (E-mail: aa.roy@ncl.res.in).

Gowri Priya did her BSc and MSc degrees in chemistry from Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Andhra Pradesh. Later she joined Dr Sanjayan's research group, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India for her doctoral studies in 2007. Her work is mainly focused on syntheses and conformational investigation of hybrid oligomers, syntheses of small peptide molecules exhibiting anti-cancer activity via tubulin binding mechanism-their bioactivity studies. She is also interested in Molecular modeling studies of the peptides. (E-mail: sp.gowri@ncl.res.in).

Sangram S. Kale completed M.Sc. Organic Chemistry from the Pune University, Pune in June 2007. After qualifying the CSIR-JRF exam conducted by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, he joined Dr Sanjayan's research group at National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India, in 2007 for his PhD studies. His research area focuses on foldamers wherein he is exploring hybrid strategy in structural design of ordered Ant-Pro oligomers and its analogues. He is also currently working in the area of medicinal chemistry, involving the development of novel hybrid nocadazole and combretastatin-based anticancer agents. (E-mail: ss.kale@ncl.res.in).

Roshna V received her M.Sc. Organic Chemistry from department of chemistry, University of Pune. While pursuing masters, she successfully qualified NET exam conducted by Council of Scientific and Industrial research with CSIR- JRF grade, in Dec-2006. She joined Dr. G. J. Sanjayan's group, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, in 2007 to pursue her doctoral studies. Her research focuses on design, synthesis and investigations of novel hetero-foldamers involving α β conjugated aliphatic aromatic building blocks and in-corporation of such structural units in bioactive peptides. She has also been working in the field of medicinal chemistry involving design, synthesis of novel constrained hydroxyethylamine isosteres as protease inhibitors in treatment of human immunodeficiency virus caused disease. (E-mail: rv.nair@ncl.res.in).

K. N. Vijayadas received his BSc in Chemistry from Mahatma Gandhi University and MSc in Applied Chemistry from Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), Kerala, India. He then moved to the division of organic chemistry, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India, in 2007 and is currently pursuing his PhD studies under the mentorship of Dr G. J. Sanjayan. A major part of his graduate research involves the investigations of various aspects around the fundamental understanding of how minute structural modifications can be done effectively to enhance the peptide folding, using conformationally ordered synthetic oligomers (also called foldamers), and conformationally restricted peptidomimetics. (E-mail: kn.vijayadas@ncl.res.in).

Mr. Tukaram S. Ingole received M.Sc. degree in organic chemistry from Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded in 2007 and joined the GJS group in June 2008. His research focuses on conformational preferences of peptides containing reverse-turn mimetic. He is also working on syntheses of novel hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene(HBC) derivatives and their applications in the organic electronics and optoelectronic devices. (E-mail: ts.ingole@ncl.res.in).

Ganesh Jedhe has completed his Masters in Organic Chemistry from Department of Chemistry, University of Pune in 2008. While pursuing his M.Sc, he successfully qualified NET exam of Council of Scientific and Industrial research with CSIR- JRF grade, conducted in Dec-2007. He joined National Chemical Laboratory under the guidance of Dr. G. J. Sanjayan for his doctoral research. In his doctoral research he is working on one of the frontier research areas in medicinal chemistry such as design, synthesis and SAR profiling of novel Combretastatin and Dolastatin derivatives as anti-cancer agents. His current research also includes incorporation of Ant-Pro motif (rigid pseudo β turn mimic) into bioactive peptides by solid-phase synthesis and it SAR profiling. Also he is gaining expertise in drug designing with aid of Schrodinger software. (E-mail: gs.jedhe@ncl.res.in).

Sanjeev Kheria, completed his M.Sc from Kalyani University, West Bengal, India in 2008. He then joined for the doctoral program under the supervision of Dr. G.J.Sanjayan in 2010 after qualifying Council of Scientific &Industrial Research (NET) exam at National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India. He is currently working in the field of foldamers involving Ant and Pro residues. His current areas of research also involve the syntheses of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds which show optoelectronic properties and their various applications. Award: Prof.Asima Chatterjee Award for Ist class Ist in B.Sc E- mail: sb.kheria@ncl.res.in, kheriasmailbox@gmail.com.

Sachin Baravkar has completed his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Pune University. He then joined Innovasynth Technologies Ltd as a Research Associate. After qualifying the UGC – NET exam he joined Dr. G. J. Sanjayan's group at National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. His research area includes design, synthesis and structural investigation of heterogeneous foldamers. (E-mail: sb.baravkar@ncl.res.in).

Kotmale Amol is from Solapur, Maharashtra. He completed M.Sc. Chemistry from Solapur University. He cleared the UGC- JRF exam of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi and joined the group of Dr. G.J. Sanjayan in July 2010. His research is mainly focused on design & syntheses of natural oligopeptides, structural modulation & their biophysics .He likes to play cricket, listen to music and watch movies. Email Id: as.kotmale@ncl.res.in

Suresh Rayavarapu, completed his M.Sc from Andhra University, Andhra Pradesh, India in 2008. After having completed his master's, he worked as a Senior Chemist in pharmaceutical industry. Later, he joined as a PhD student under the guidance of Dr G. J. Sanjayan in 2010 at National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India. He is currently working in the field of foldamers comprising Ant and Pro residues. He also works in the area of material chemistry. Hobbies: listening to music. E- mail: r.suresh@ncl.res.in, suresh.srp478@gmail.com.

Kilingaru I Shivakumar was born and raised in the beautiful countryside in Kodagu (Coorg) district of Karnataka. After having pursued his bachelor's degree in Science Education, from the Regional Institute of Education (NCERT), Mysore, he moved to National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Suratkal, in the mid 2008 to earn his master's degree in Science (General Chemistry). After the short stint of research projects in Dr. M.S.Balakrishna's group, IIT Bombay (Summer 2009) on organophosphorous chemistry and in Dr. Sandeep Kumar's group, RRI Bangalore (Aug-Nov, 2010) on liquid crystals, he joined Dr. G J Sanjayan's group in the late December, 2010 for his PhD with UGC sponsored research fellowship in hand. Since then, he has been working on the supramolecular self assemblies of organic systems possessing greater importance in the optoelectronic field. Apart from the academics, he is fascinated by the theatre works and stage plays. Swimming, playing cricket, table tennis, volleyball and penning down the thoughts are his interests. Email id s.bhat@ncl.res.in; Webpage: https://sites.google.com/site/shivakumarkilingaru/

I'm Suresh, from Tamilnadu, situated in South India. I completed my post graduation in 2008 from Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya college of arts and science affiliated to Bharathiar University, Coimbatore and I did Master of philosophy in 2010 with the title of Synthesis and photophysical studies of blue and green light emitting carbazoles from the same University. Currently, I am working as a junior research fellow in the research group of Dr. G.J. Sanjayan in synthesis of graphene segments, supramolecular organic and organometallic networks and their applications. In my spare time I watch movies; read historical books and some time hang out with my friends. (E-mail: m.suresh@ncl.res.in).

Krishnaprasad Madica is from Udupi, Karnataka. He completed M.Sc. Chemistry from Sahyadri Science College, Kuvempu University, Karnataka. He cleared the CSIR-JRF exam conducted by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi and joined the group of Dr. G.J. Sanjayan in January 2011. He is working in the area of Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons .He likes to play table tennis, cricket. Listening to music and watching movies are also his interests. Email Id: krisprasadm@gmail.com

PAST MEMBERS:

Pranjal Kumar Baruah received his Masters degree (MSc) in Chemistry from Dibrugarh University, Assam, India. In 2003, he joined the group of Dr G. J. Sanjayan at National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India, for his PhD studies that was focused on foldamers, and molecular self-assembly. In 2007, he moved to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA, for his first post-doctoral stint with Prof. Harold Kohn. After receiving the prestigious Marie Curie Fellowship in 2009, he moved on to the University of Oxford, UK, to work with Prof. Martin D. Smith. Currently he is an assistant Professor in Gauhati University, Assam, India. Dr Pranjal's research interests are in the area of foldamers and their applications in catalysis and medicinal chemistry. E-mail: baruah.pranjal@gmail.com

Panchami Prabhakaran received her BSc and MSc degrees in Chemistry from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala, India. She then joined Dr Sanjayan's research group at National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India, in 2003 for her PhD studies which focused on exploring H-bonding interactions in the design of novel molecular architectures. After a short stint of postdoctoral studies with Prof. Heather Maynard, at UCLA, USA, Panchami is currently working as a postdoctoral research associate in the group of Dr Andrew Wilson, University of Leeds, UK. Her current research interests encompass development of small molecule-based inhibition of protein–protein interactions. E-mail: ppy.prabhakaran@gmail.com

Amol M Kendale obtained his Masters degree (MSc) in Chemistry from Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded in the year 2000. In 2003, he joined Dr. G J Sanjayan group. He obtained the PhD degree in the year 2008 for the thesis entitled "Design, Synthesis and Conformational Studies of Foldamers with Novel backbones". He later moved to Institut Européen de Chimie et Biologie (IECB), France and worked as CNRS Research Associate in the Dr. Ivan Huc's group from Nov. 2008-April-2010. Since then, he is working as a Research Associate in the Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, (TU/e) The Netherlands in Dr. APHJ Schinning group. E-mail: kendhale@yahoo.com

Deekonda Srinivas obtained his Masters degree from Kaktiya University, Warangal in the year 1994. He worked as a Senior Chemist-Research Associate in Dr. Reddy's Research Foundation, Hyderabad till 2003 and later joined Dr. Sanjayan group. He obtained his PhD degree in the year 2008 for the thesis entitled "De Novo Designed Foldamers based on Biotic and Abiotic Building Blocks". Currently he his pursuing his post-doctoral research in Dr. Victor Hruby's group, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA. E-mail: vasudeekonda@rediffmail.com