Balazs Varga: “Targeting the allosteric sodium binding site in delta opioid receptor for treatment of neuropathic pain”
Giri Babu Veerakanellore: “Design and Synthesis of First-in-Class REV-ERB Antagonist for Muscle Regeneration”
Hosted by the University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy in St. Louis (UHSP; formerly STLCOP)
Short bio: Balazs Varga earned a Master’s degree in Chemistry from Dartmouth College, NH, USA and a PhD in Chemistry from Eötvös Loránd University in Biorthogonal Chemistry publishing in top journals like Angewandte Chemie and Nature Materials. For the last four years he has been working in the Majumdar lab as a Postdoctoral fellow involving synthesis of functionally selective opioids. His work at UHSP has already led to four manuscripts in journals like eLife and British Journal of Pharmacology. Today’s talk will cover his efforts to target the sodium binding site at the delta opioid receptor.
Short bio: Giri Babu Veerakanellore received his Ph.D. at University of Miami, under the supervision of Prof. V. Ramamurthy in 2018 for his thesis titled “Photodimerization of cis-Cinnamic Acids and cis-Cinnamides in Crystalline State and Aqueous Solution”. Before joining University of Miami, he received his BSc and MSc degrees from PVKN Government College, Andhra Pradesh and VIT University, Tamil Nadu respectively. His interest at University of Miami focused on the photochemistry of small organic molecules in solution and solid state, and use of supramolecular host systems in stabilizing nanoparticles in aqueous solution. He received one year of postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Professor Jesse D. Carrick (TN Tech University, Tennessee, 2018-19). He is currently a postdoctoral associate in the laboratory of Professor Bahaa Elgendy at University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy, Saint Louis, Missouri where his work focus is development of new chemical probes for REV-ERB.
For inquiries contact Amber Spies.
