Sai Giridhar Sarma Kandanur

Biography

Sai Giridhar Sarma grew up in Hyderabad (South India), prior to attending college at Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (SSSIHL), INDIA. He went onto graduate in Chemistry Hons in 2008 following up with Master’s in 2010 at SSSIHL. In addition to obtaining his degrees, he was a gymnast and a sports enthusiast.

He further pursued advanced master’s degree (M.Phil.) in Chemistry before joining for his Ph.D. program in 2012 at SSSIHL. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Medicinal Chemistry under the guidance of Prof. Nageswara Rao and mentorship of Prof. Srinivas Nanduri in 2016 for the design and synthesis of new andrographolide derivatives as potent anti-cancer agents.

In 2016, he joined the process chemistry research group headed by Dr. Srinivas Oruganti at the Centre of Process Research and Innovation (CPRI), Industry vertical at Dr. Reddy’s Institute of Life Sciences (DRILS), INDIA as a Post-doctoral fellow (Process R&D) under DRILS Post-doctoral fellowship program supported by Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories. He worked on process chemistry projects involving route scouting, process optimization, scale up synthesis and delineating alternate routes for the synthesis of APIs and their intermediates. In 2018, upon

completion of his post-doctoral training he worked as a Scientist (Process R&D) at CPRI, DRILS, where he continued to work in process chemistry related projects. Additionally, he was also responsible for identifying new research markets and pharma products.

In 2019, he joined drug delivery team at the School of Medicine, University of Missouri-Columbia, U.S.A., as a post-doctoral fellow where he worked under the guidance of Prof. Raghuraman Kannan on the Design, Synthesis and development of novel prodrugs of API as targeted nano therapeutic agents for cancer therapy.

In 2022, Sai Giridhar Sarma joined the Pomerantz group. Currently, he is working under the guidance of Prof. William Pomerantz to develop bromodomain inhibitors. In his free time, he enjoys listening to music and motivational talks, exercising and exploring the nature.

Post-doctoral Fellow (Medicinal Chemistry), University of Missouri-Columbia, U.S.A., 2022.

Post-doctoral Fellow (Process R&D), Scientist (Process R&D) & Deputy Manager (Research

Alliances & Projects): Dr. Reddy’s Institute of Life Sciences, INDIA, 2019

Ph.D. Medicinal Chemistry, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, INDIA, 2016

M.Phil. Chemistry, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, INDIA, 2011

M.S. Chemistry, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, INDIA, 2010

B.S. Hons. Chemistry, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, INDIA, 2008

Research Keywords: Bromodomain Inhibitors, Small molecule synthesis & Medicinal chemistry