Natural Products Chemistry & Research

Biography

Dr. Sarbjit Singh, Research Associate at Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Dallas, USA. I earned my Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from Guru Nanak Dev University, India, which was accomplished under the supervision of Prof. Swapandeep Singh Chimni and the thesis entitled, “Development of Small Organic Molecules as Catalysts for Asymmetric Organic Transformations.” After earning my PhD degree I worked in a pharmaceutical company for one year where I handled important drug discovery projects and synthesized a library of molecules in each project. The focused diseases were multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), type 2 diabetes mellitus (by inhibiting ketohexokinase (KHK)) and Cancer (by inhibiting PI3K/AkT/mTOR pathway). Along with this work I also synthesized some novel analogues of Epicatechin and related polyphenols. I got success to earn one patent from the later work. After working in Pharma Company I moved to Korea and joined Dr. Yongseok Choi’s Lab at Korea University as Research Professor. At Korea University I’ve conducted basic research focused on synthesis of isomeric dioxolane nucleosides using a divergent strategy. In another project, I synthesized a library of oxazolidinone and indole derivatives and evaluated their potential as IL-6 signaling blockers. Interestingly our lead compound potently inhibited IL-6 signaling with IC50 value much better than (+)-Madindoline A, a known inhibitor of IL-6. In Dr. Yongseok Choi’s Lab, I was also team leader of an industrial project under which I designed and synthesized a series of (1S)-(-)-verbenone derivatives and evaluated their insecticidal activities against Plutella xylostella (L.). After working in Dr. Yongseok Choi’s Lab I joined Dongguk University in South Korea as an Assistant Professor (non-tenure track). At Dongguk University I got a chance to work in collaboration with BIOCON Korea in two anti-cancer projects headed by Dr. Kyeong Lee (Director, Open Translational Research Center for Innovative Drug, Dongguk University). In both projects I was responsible for design and synthesis with a team of two PhD and three graduate students. The aim of one project was to control cancer metastasis via inhibition of Lysyl-tRNA synthetase (KRS) and 67 laminin receptors (67-LR) interactions. The drug target in another project was AMIP2-DX-2 which is a splicing variant of tumor suppressor AIMP2. In order to inhibit AMIP-2-DX-2 we synthesized a library of more than 200 molecules and got highly potent leads which displayed excellent potential against chemoresistant epithelial ovarian cancer. Along with industrial work at Dongguk University I also synthesized a series of N-hydroxypyridones derivatives which showed a good potential to protect astrocytes from H2O2 toxicity during the oxidative stress. This work has been published recently. Currently I am working in the department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Dallas. Here I am designing and synthesizing some trisbenazmide having α-helical structure (peptidomimetics) as androgen receptors inhibitors for the treatment of prostate cancer. I am also making a library of hydrazine based compounds which has shown a good potential to inhibit jumonji histone demethylase. Along with this work I am doing solid phase peptide chemistry here. I have synthesized some linear peptides using 2-CTC and rink amide resins.