Communicating Scientific Discoveries For A Greater Cause With Chemical Biologist Dr. Nageswari Yarravarapu

Written by: James Carnell

Chemical biology is a broad and relatively new field that gained more attention in the recent 20 years. Chemists became interested in applying chemistry to enable the study of biological systems. The discipline includes the usage of chemical techniques, analytical methods, and often small molecule probes produced through synthetic chemistry, to the study and manipulation of biological systems. The field has become significant and has experienced a lot of growth over a short period of time. The pursuit is to better understand and more efficiently promote biological research and development. The goal is to find better drugs and treatment options as well as better biomarkers and diagnostic strategies.

One of the great experts and leading researchers in the field of chemical biology is Dr. Nageswari Yarravarapu. She says that understanding drug targets and mechanisms can become healing. Her work helps to develop anticancer therapeutics, drugs for epilepsy, neuropathic pain, addiction, and mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, etc. Her research and teaching roles have given back to society in more ways than one can imagine.

She was critical in the drug development of anticancer therapeutics by investigating the WNT/beta-catenin pathway. This discovery was a critical contribution to the field of chemical biology as it demonstrated a viable pathway for the development of novel cancer therapeutics as well as paved a path for potential regenerative medicines by modulating the Wnt signaling pathway.

Nageswari is a chemical biologist specializing in chemical probe design and synthesis, molecular and cell biology, and high throughput screening technologies with a proven track record for scientific discovery and communicating these discoveries to a broad audience. She has a strong background in medicinal chemistry with over 6 years of experience in organic synthesis. Her rewarding interactions in the last decade with team members from diverse scientific disciplines have inspired her to gain a broader understanding of the drug development process, particularly as it relates to anti-cancer therapeutics.

Her first postdoctoral fellowship was in Dr. Lawrence Lum’s lab (Cell Biology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA, where she developed therapeutic agents for cancer management. She contributed to the development of a novel class of small molecules that disable the Wnt signaling pathway, specifically Porcupine inhibitors. Porcupine enzyme is essential for the production of all Wnt molecules, thus representing a major point of intervention for Wnt-related cancers. Simultaneously, she developed a multi-targeting agent, named IHR-SAHA that is a dual inhibitor of the Hedgehog pathway and histone deacetylase (HDAC). She also worked on developing a library of patient-derived liver cancer organoids to develop personalized cancer therapeutics.

It is because of her education and background that she is able to work on new discoveries and make the world a better place. She has done a Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry from the Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA. She holds a Dual Bachelor of Pharmacy with Honors and Bachelor of Chemical Engineering with Honors from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, India.

What’s next?

Currently, she is a postdoctoral fellow in Kohler lab (Biochemistry Department, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA)) where she works in the interface of chemistry and biology contributing to an upcoming field of glycobiology. She is working on the discovery of small-molecule inhibitors of GalNAc-type O-linked glycosylation. She is also busy with developing chemoenzymatic methods to map glycan-mediated interactions.

Passionate and fearless chemical biologists and their pursuits to bridge the gap between chemistry and biology bring contributions that hold great importance, as is in the case of Dr. Nageswari Yarravarapu. Her perspective comes from the knowledge of both the subjects of chemistry and biology. She is truly devoted to understanding drugs and their targets so that she can help in designing and developing better drugs. Her current work is in a more complex setting of glycobiology for discovering drugs for more complicated targets, to begin with, will eventually lead to healing. She and her colleagues are developing tools to understand these complex biological drug targets, which will lead to the discovery of drugs treating complex diseases.

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