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Faculty in Pharmaceutical Analysis Department




Dr. Rajesh Sonti

Assistant Professor & Head - Department of Analysis
E-Mail: rajesh.sonti@niperhyd.ac.in

During his Ph.D. at IISC-Bangalore with Prof. P. Balaram, he has worked on designed and natural peptides that are hybrid beta-sheets, modified alpha-helices, and cyclic disulfide-bonded peptides. He has done the conformational analysis of several peptides and solved 23 structures of peptides by solution NMR. In Biozentrum, Basel-Switzerland, he worked with the protein, Abelson tyrosine kinase involved in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia in the group of Prof. Stephan Grzesiek. He tested the interaction of FDA-approved drugs, e.g., Gleevec (Novartis), Tasigna (Novartis), Sprycel (Bristol-Myers Squibb), Iclusig (ARIAD Pharmaceuticals), and Inlyta (Pfizer) that bind at the ATP binding site in a solution using NMR spectroscopy. These studies lead to the identification mechanism of Abl disassembled state upon binding of certain drugs from the assembled state. He characterized activities of several drug resistant mutants (‘gatekeeper,’ completely activated P242E/P249E), assessed their conformations, probed interdomain dynamics by 15N relaxation studies. At EPFL Laussane-Switzerland in the group of Prof. Rolf Gruetter, worked on the determination of lactate concentrations in the mice plasma and analyzed the fragmental labelling, 13C isotope enrichment by NMR. Furthermore, he worked on determining the concentrations of metabolites in mice cortex, hippocampus, and striatum regions using in vivo 9T MRS magnet. Further, European Centre of Pharmaceutical Medicine (ECPM-DAS) course at the University of Basel enhanced my knowledge and understanding of pharmaceutical medicine. With the best training and world-class experience received, I have started my career at NIPER-Hyderabad.

The scientific goal of my research is the application of analytical techniques such as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), High resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) for the elucidation of structure, and dynamics of peptides with a particular emphasis on understanding conformational diversity of novel conopeptides as a core area. The group is also interested in drug-drug interactions, metabolism of herbal drugs and drug stability studies. We collaborate with several scientists and provide analytical support in NIPER and outside. Further, we actively engage in consultancy projects for the structure elucidation of APIs and higher-order structure determination of biosimilars for pharmaceutical companies.

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Dr. S. Gananadhamu

Assistant Professor
E-Mail: gana.niperhyd@gov.in

His area of research interests are Bioanalytical method development and metabolite profiling; Impurity profiling of drugs; Development of luminescence methods; Development of new analytical methods for controlling counterfeit of drugs and abuse of drugs; Analytical methods development and validation for drugs and their intermediates ; Stability studies of drugs and Drug-excipient compatibility studies; Standardization of herbal drugs.

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Dr. Amol G. Dikundwar

Assistant Professor
E-Mail: amol.dikundwar@niperhyd.ac.in

Dr. Dikundwar is a materials scientist with a PhD in Chemical Crystallography. He has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for over 7 years leading technical teams involved in structure elucidation by single crystal XRD; polymorph/salt screening of API; solid state characterization and IR/Raman process analytical technology (PAT) tools across drug substance, drug product intermediate and drug product; analysis under cGMP environment; knowledge transfer documentation and structure-property (physicochemical) correlation.

His research group specializes in small molecule crystallography and solid-state characterization of pharmaceuticals. Crystallographic research includes structure elucidation using single crystal X-ray diffraction; periodic and gas phase computations; experimental and theoretical charge density analysis to understand fine details of molecular and supramolecular properties; prediction, correlation of physicochemical properties by detailed analysis of crystal structure of API and related molecules from the crystal structure database; structural insights for lead optimization using CADD principles. Pattern indexing, profile fitting, ab initio structure determination using high resolution powder diffraction data and advanced amorphous characterization through total scattering/pair distribution function (TS/PDF) analysis are some of the thrust areas of research for the group.

Major focus areas from Materials Science and Engineering aspects include form screening of APIs with molecular level structure elucidation of polymorphs, salts, cocrystals, eutectics, hydrates, solvates, etc.; determination of relative stabilities of polymorphs; understanding solid-solid phase transformations; process optimization for generation of stable or relevant forms on scale; risk mitigation for occurrence of undesired forms and particle engineering aspects such as controlling particle shape/size. Formulation and biopharmaceutical risk assessment aspects in API form selection e. g. form enablement using SDD/coamorphous approaches; size reduction by milling; monitoring API form during oral solid dosage development; excipient compatibility studies; accelerated solid state stability studies of drug substance, drug product intermediates and drug products are among the key research interests of the group. The group is also actively involved in method development and validation of solid-state analytical methods as per relevant regulatory guidelines and furnishing knowledge transfer documentation.

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