Research Areas
We are working on the interface of chemistry and biology by mixing the concept of organic chemistry, biochemistry and computational chemistry, in lines of the current trends of medicinal chemistry.
Probing Endosomal Toll-like Receptors (TLRs)
TLRs are members of the larger family of evolutionary conserved pattern recognition receptors which are critical first line of defense for self-nonself discrimination by the host immune response. Aberrant endosomal TLR activation is implicated in auto-reactive inflammation in different autoimmune diseases. The goal is to rationally design selective inhibitors for the nucleic acid-recognizing TLRs for devising novel therapeutic strategies in relevant clinical contexts.
Epigenetic modifying enzymes as novel therapeutic targets
The main focus is to perform structure-based design and synthesis of small-molecule regulators of epigenetics modifying enzymes such as histone methyltransferases (HMT) as tools to unravel the complex biology of epigenetics and contribute towards epigenetic-based drugs for the treatment of a number of diseases such as cancer, autoimmunity, diabetes, or neurological disorders.
Design of Small molecule Topoisomerase I Poison
Topoisomerases are enzymes that participate in the overwinding or underwinding of DNA. The winding problem of DNA arises due to the intertwined nature of its double-helical structure. DNA becomes overwound ahead of a replication fork. If left unabated, this torsion would eventually stop the ability of DNA or RNA polymerases involved in these processes to continue down the DNA structure.
Due to the presence of topoisomerase this topological problem is solved and cell proliferation runs continuously. So, our structure based designing and synthesis of small molecules is so rational to inhibit the topoisomerase for unwinding the overwound.
Development of new drugs for Leishmaniasis
Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by parasites of the Leishmania type which is spread by the bite of certain types of sandflies. Most prominently it can be observed on under developed area specially in Africa, Brazil, Nepal, Bangladesh. In India Bihar, Jharkhand, UP, West-Bengal are prevalent area for this disease. Skin ulcers, fever, low red blood cells, enlarged liver are the prominent indications occurred due to this. So our lab is focused for curing this traumatic disease by designing the small molecules in a rationalized way.
