Primary Affiliation: Associate Professor of Chemistry & Biology, IISER Tirupati, India. Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, IISER Tirupati, India.
Short Bio: Rajesh was born in Chennai, India, where he matriculated with B. Sc. from New College (University of Madras) in 1997. He then joined the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, 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 (with Prof. Jeffrey N. Johnston). His Ph. D. thesis work involved development of aryl amination methods for construction of natural products and understanding mechanisms of radical-mediated a-amino mutase transformations. Upon graduating he moved to the University of Utah for further training as a post-doctoral fellow (2005-2008) in chemical biology and mechanistic enzymology, with Prof. C. Dale Poulter. He developed S-farnesylation strategies for site-specifically modifying proteins to immobilize them to create biochips & sensors. He was Frank Hovorka Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Case Western Reserve Univ. until 2018. Since 2018, he is an Associate Professor in Chemistry & Biology at IISER Tirupati, India. Outside of professional life, he enjoys playing tennis and music. He is married to Nirmala Krishnamurthy, a biochemist who graduated from the University of Utah (Ph. D.). They have a 9-year old daughter, Diya R. Viswanathan.