个人简介

Rajesh was born in Madras (now Chennai), India. He grew up in Madras and graduated with B. Sc. from New College (University of Madras) in 1997. He then joined the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India for a 2-year M. Sc. program (in Chemistry) graduating in May 1999. He immigrated to the United States to join Indiana University, Bloomington for a Ph. D. degree in Chemistry. His dissertation topic of study during his graduate work involved development of organic synthesis methods for construction of natural products and understanding mechanisms of organic reactions, in particular, radical-mediated transformations. Upon graduating he moved to the University of Utah for further training as a post-doctoral fellow (2005-2008) in bioorganic chemistry and mechanistic enzymology. He developed strategies for modifying proteins site-specifically to immobilize them as biochips. He joined Case Western Reserve University as an assistant professor during fall of 2008.

研究领域

Organic Chemistry/Chemical Biology/Genetically-Encoded Natural Products/Microbial Genetics/Bioinformatics/Metabolic Pathways/Drug Discovery

The Viswanathan laboratory’s contributions to the fields of bio-organic chemistry and natural product biosynthesis are focused on building two synergistic platforms: a. developing understanding of nature’s molecular construction processes and b. discovery of new biocatalytic systems. These goals rest on four fundamental disciplines we study, namely: Organic Chemistry, Microbiology, Natural Products and Biocatalysts. For a visual representation, see cartoon below. Using tools such as genomics, asymmetric synthesis, mechanistic enzymology, and microbiology we design platforms that delineate bio-organic mechanisms of enzyme-catalyzed processes. As an application of our research strategies, we develop novel antivirulent therapeutics against infectious diseases, design and construct bio-sensors to detect disease-relevant metabolites, and modulate human enzymes involved in cancer pathways.

近期论文

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Dana M. Bis, Yang H. Ban, Elle D. James, Norah Alqahtani, Rajesh Viswanathan, and Amy L. Lane* “Characterization of the Nocardiopsin Biosynthetic Gene Cluster Reveals Similarities and Differences to the Rapamycin and FK-506 Pathways” ChemBioChem, 2015, Just Accepted. Karthikeyan Thandavamurthy, Deepti Sharma, Suheel K. Porwal, Dale Ray and Rajesh Viswanathan* “Regioselective Cope Rearrangement and Prenyltransfers on Indole Scaffold Mimicking Fungal and Bacterial Dimethyl Allyl Tryptophan Synthases” J. Org. Chem., 2014, 79, 10049–10067. DOI: 10.1021/jo501651z Melinda L. Micallef*, Deepti Sharma*, Brittney M. Bunn, Lena Gerwick, Rajesh Viswanathan§, Michelle C. Moffitt§ “Comparative analysis of hapalindole, ambiguine and welwitindolinone gene clusters and reconstitution of indole-isonitrile biosynthesis from cyanobacteria” BMC Microbiology 2014, 14:213, DOI: 10.1186/s12866-014-0213-7 David Kuo, Guanping Yu, Wyatt Hoch, Lisa Long, Mahmoud Ghannoum, Nancy Nagy, Clifford V. Harding, Rajesh Viswanathan, and Menachem Shoham* “Novel quorum-quenching agents promote MRSA wound healing and sensitize MRSA to b-lactam antibiotics” Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Just Accepted. DOI: 10.1128/AAC.04767-14 Liu, Z.; Reba, S.; Chen, W-D.; Boom, W. H.; Porwal, S. K.; Viswanathan, R.; and Devireddy, L.*“Regulation of mammalian siderophore 2,5-DHBA in the innate immune response to infection.” J. Exp. Med. 2014, 211, 1197-1213. Published May 26, 2014, DOI: 10.1084/jem.20132629. Porwal, S. K.; Furia, E.; Harris, M. E.; Viswanathan, R.*; and Devireddy, L.* “Synthetic, Potentiometric and Spectroscopic Studies of Chelation between Fe(III) and 2, 5-DHBA Supports Salicylate-Mode of Siderophore Binding Interactions.” J. Inorg. Biochem. Just Accepted. DOI: 10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2014.12.010 Yu, G.; Kuo, D.; Shoham, M. and Viswanathan, R.* “Synthesis and in vitro Evaluation of a Biaryl Hydroxyketone Library as Antivirulence Agents against MRSA.” ACS Comb. Sci. 2014, 16, 85–91. DOI: 10.1021/co400142t Voelker, A. E. and Viswanathan, R.* “Synthesis of a Suite of Bioorthogonal GST Substrates and Their Enzymatic Incorporation for Protein Immobilization” J. Org. Chem. 2013, 78, 9647-9658. DOI: 10.1021/jo401278x Voelker, A. E. and Viswanathan, R. “Self-Catalyzed Immobilization of GST-Fusion Proteins for Genome-Encoded Biochips” Bioconjugate Chem., 2013, 24, 1295-1301. DOI: 10.1021/bc400128g