RC

Ritu Chaturvedi

Ústav organické chemie a biochemie Akademie věd České republiky, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, Purdue University West Lafayette

Research areas: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Molecular Biology · DNA Repair Mechanisms · DNA and Nucleic Acid Chemistry · Carcinogens and Genotoxicity Assessment

ORCID iD 0000-0002-3819-3317
Follow

About

I am a trained organic chemist (with over 10 years of experience in complex organic syntheses of various kinds of molecules) and a mass spectrometrist (specializing in the hydrogen/deuterium exchange mass spectrometry, HDX-MS, analysis of proteins). During my research career (15 years and counting), I have had the opportunity to explore the therapeutic abilities of small molecules, oligonucleotides, and proteins.

My Ph.D. research is focused on exploring novel cancer therapies; in particular, my work helps in moving one step closer to the development of unique assays for early detection of bio-markers produced in mammalian skin during UV exposure, that might later lead to skin cancer. My expertise lies in the design and manufacture of molecules of various kinds and complexities; it is evidenced by the synthesis of dinucleotide and oligonucleotide models containing multiple types of sunlight-induced DNA lesions, including the manual synthesis of oligonucleotides (of different lengths) using controlled pore glass (CPG) beads. I have successfully conducted the multi-step synthesis and analysis of dinucleotides and oligonucleotides with a selective N15 label as part of their chemical analyses. I am proficient in the use of UV-Visible absorption spectroscopy, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) (analytical and preparative scale), NMR spectroscopy, LC-MS and IMS-MS (Waters Synapt G2-Si/Synapt G2) for the characterization and quantification of small molecules, oligonucleotides and proteins.

My postdoctoral research at Indiana University in Indianapolis, U.S.A. aimed at designing new methods to achieve gas-phase HDX of proteins by applying instrument modifications to a Waters Synapt G2-Si MS. Eventually, I employed these gas-phase HDX reactions to study the pathology of intrinsically disordered proteins. My research at the Institute of Organic Chemistry & Biochemistry, IOCB in Prague, Czech Republic, and Novartis Pharmaceuticals in Munich, Germany was focused on optimizing solution phase HDX-MS-based methods to study the structural intricacies of proteins using Waters LEAP-PAL robot system, which works in combination with ACQUITY M-class HDX manager and Synapt G2 MS.

Employment

Education

Education history is unavailable.

Projects & Funding

  • Development of Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry (IM-MS) based methods for rapid screening of drug candidates for the COVID-19 protease drug target Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
    2020 - 2022

Publications (5)