Dr Koteppa Pari | Head of Discovery Analytical
Piramal Healthcare

Joined the Piramal Group in 2005. Currently, the Senior Group Leader and Head – Discovery Analytical Sciences, and head of the NMR/protein NMR research facility. Working on protein-drug interaction studies by NMR and understanding the structure, conformation and dynamics of the target proteins. Other areas involve, ligand screening and lead identification by NMR and other biophysical tools involving CD and fluorescence spectroscopy. Was with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA as a postdoctoral fellow from 2000 to 2005. Area of research work was structural biology and infectious disease. Worked with Dr. Robert London (at the NIH) on HIV-1 reverse transcriptase and solved for the first time NMR solution structure of the RNase H domain of the HIV-1 RT, and did ligand screening in search of HIV-1 RT inhibitors. Prior to NIH stint, worked as a postdoctoral fellow for close to a year in the Department of Biochemistry at the National Cheng Kung University School of Medicine, Tainan, Taiwan in the field of structural and cancer biology. Research focus was in the area of cancer biology involving the structure of RGD peptides, dis-integrins and their interactions with selected integrin proteins. From the start of 1998 till the end of 1999, was with the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, India as a postdoctoral fellow and worked under the guidance of Prof. D. Balasubramanian, the then director of the center, in the area of molecular medicine and molecular biophysics involving projects on human eye-lens proteins, their structure and conformation, and their implications in cataract and other eye related health problems. Carried out Ph.D. research at the Pusa Institute, New Delhi in the field of organic chemistry. Obtained the master’s degree (1993, Organic chemistry) and bachelor’s degree (Physics, Maths and Chemistry from the University of Gulbarga, Gulbarga, Karnataka, India.