SOA to collaborate with US company for developing drugs from natural products

Bhubaneswar: Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University (SOA) will take up research collaboration with US-based THINQ Pharma and Ayurvidya Healthcare Innovations for developing drugs from natural and synthetic products to treat difficult diseases.

The subject was discussed at a meeting held here on Saturday between SOA Funder President Prof. (Dr.) Manojranjan Nayak and Dr. Mukund S. Chorghade, eminent scientist and President and Chief Scientific Officer of THINQ Pharma and Ayurvidya Healthcare Innovations in the presence of other scientists.

The collaboration will aim at development of new drugs and drug products from natural and synthetic origin.

Researchers comprising scientists from the US company and drawn from different disciplines of SOA including pharmacy, biotechnology, medical sciences and engineering will constitute the team which will take the project forward.

Dr. Chorghade, who was accompanied by Dr. Debendra Kumar Mohapatra, Chief Scientist, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS). His research interests are in Drug Discovery and Development, Process Chemistry Derived Medicinal Chemistry and Traditional Indian Medicine.

He is credited with the discovery of the sterically protected and electronically activated metallporphyrin catalysts called ‘chemosynthetic artificial livers’ which find utililty in drug metabolism, valorization of biomass and environmental remediation.

Dr. Chorghade either holds or has held Adjunct Research Professor, Visiting Fellow or Visiting Scientist appointments at Caltech, Harvard, MIT, Northeastern, Northwestern, Princeton, University of Chicago (USA), University of British Columbia (Canada), Cambridge, Universite Louis Pasteur (France), ICT and CSIR.

Prof. Kulamani Parida, Director of SOA’s Centre for Nano Sciences and Nano Technology, Prof. Lala Bihari Sukla, Director, Bio-fuel and Bio-processing Research Centre, Prof. Hruday Nath Thattoi, Director, Centre for Industrial Biotechnology, Prof. Gyana Ranjan Rout, Professor at Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Prof. Sanghamitra Nayak, Head of Centre for Biotechnology, Prof. E. Subudhi, Professor at Centre for Biotechnology, Prof. Pratap Kumar Sahoo, Prof. B.B. Subudhi and Prof. Laxmidhar Maharana, all professors at School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, were present during the discussion.