Viswanathan Research Group

bioorganic chemistry and natural product biosynthesis
find our research site on
  • Welcome
  • News
  • Research
  • Publications
  • People
  • Pictures
  • Techniques
  • Collaborations
  • Links
  • Outreach
Picture

Left to right - Guanping Yu, Norah Alqahtani, Suheel Porwal, Deepti Sharma, Alden Voelker, Brittney Bunn, Karthikeyan T and Raj Viswanathan - enjoying a beautiful summer walk with flowers in full bloom-- Summer 2012

Thanks to Dale Ray for the picture!

Rajesh Viswanathan

Picture
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.


Outside of professional life, Raj enjoys playing racquet sports, tennis especially and is an avid self-taught learner of the sport. He is married to Nirmala Krishnamurthy, a biochemist who graduated (with Ph. D.) from University of Utah. They have a 3-year old daughter, Diya Viswanathan.

On mentoring philosophy:

I adopt a philosophy to mentor students that is best paraphrased by the following quote from the book Open in which (former tennis world no 1) Andre Agassi's coach, Gil, supports his mentee by saying:

“Andre, I won't ever try to change you, because I've never tried to change anybody. If I could change somebody, I'd change myself. But I know I can give you structure and a blueprint to achieve what you want. There's a difference between a plow horse and a racehorse. You don't treat them the same. As far as I'm concerned, you're a racehorse, and I'll always treat you accordingly. I'll be firm, but fair. I'll lead, never push. I'm not one of those people who expresses or articulates feelings very well, but from now on, just know this: It is on. You know what I'm saying? We're in a fight, and you can count on me until the finish line. Somewhere up there is a star with your name on it. I might not be able to help you find it, but I've got pretty strong shoulders, and you can stand on my shoulders while you're looking for that star. You hear? For as long as you want. Stand on my shoulders and reach, man. Reach.” 

Excerpt adapted from Open 



My Ph. D. Dissertation can be found here:    


raj.pdf
File Size: 5215 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


Graduate Students (Current)

Deepti Sharma

Picture
Hometown: Amritsar, India.


Education: Sc.B. in Biology from BBK. D.A.V.        
                                               College, India
                      
M.Sc in Pharmaceutical Sciences from    
                                               GND University, India.
Research Project: Secondary metabolites from
cyanobacteria: mining nature’s treasure trove


Email:  dxs479@case.edu


Norah AlQahtani

Picture
Hometown: Jeddah,Saudi Arabia


Education: B.S. in Chemistry from Jeddah University


Research Project: Studies in Directed Biosynthesis of Anticancer Microbial Alkaloids



Email: nfa14@case.edu

Brittney Bunn

Picture
Hometown:  Barberton, Ohio.
Education:  Sc.B. in Biochemistry from the University
of Mount Union
Research Project:  Unraveling genetically encoded
pathways leading to bioactive metabolites in                                               group V cyanobacteria


Awards:
    
   2013                         Graduate Dean's Instructional Excellence Award
    2012 - present: GAANN fellowship from Department of Education
    2012                   Dumitru and Gheorghe D. Mateescu Student Citizenship Award



Email:  bmb70@case.edu

Sarah Huff

Picture
Hometown: Canal Winchester, Ohio


Education: B.Sc. Chemistry from Central Michigan University


Awards: 2013          Dumitru and Gheorghe D. Mateescu Student Citizenship Award


Email:        sxh537@case.edu


Graduate Students pursuing M.S. degree

Xinyu Dong

Picture

Hometown:  Hebei,China

Education:  B.Eng.in Pharmaceutical Engineering from Tianjin University of Science &Technology

Email:  xxd73@case.edu


Post-doctoral Scholars

Suheel Porwal

Picture
Hometown: Delhi, India
 
Education: Ph. D. in Chemistry (completed 2011) from IIT Madras (Prof. Santosh Gharpure)

Research Project: Role of DHBA in Chelating siderophores of bacteria and humans - a biosynthetic investigation.

Awards: Prof. C. N. Pillai Prize for the Best Thesis in Ph.D. Chemistry from IIT Madras.

Email: skp62@case.edu



Viswanathan Group Alumni

Graduate Students

Alden Earl Voelker (graduated: 2013)

Picture
Current Affiliation: University of Wisconsin, Madison, Biochemistry.
Hometown: Cleveland (Rocks!)
Education:
Sc.B., concentrations in Chemistry and French from Brown University
Research Project:
Self-Catalyzed Immobilization of GST and its Fusion Proteins
Awards: 
2011 Graduate Dean's Instructional Excellence Award
   
Read more about this award here!





Post-Doctoral Scholars

Sridhar Anand

Picture
Current Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences
ST. JOHN FISHER COLLEGE | Wegmans School of Pharmacy
3690 East Ave, Rochester, NY  14618
Faculty Page


Hometown:   Mumbai, India. 
Education:  
Ph. D. in Medicinal Chemistry, 
University of Mississippi (Dr. John Rimoldi, Adviser)
                      

B. Pharm. Sci., Mumbai University.
 
Research Project:
 
a. Isolation of sesquiterpenoid compounds from Russian Knapweed and Yellow Starthistle
b. Structure-based design and synthesis of potential antibiotics for tuberculosis

Awards: St. John Fisher College, Faculty Development Grant 
for the academic year 2013-2014,
for the isolation of natural products from Yellow Starthistle.
    


Email:  
sanand@sjfc.edu

Karthikeyan Thandavamurthy

Picture
                                                                               Current Affiliation: Scientist, Shasun Chemicals, India.

Undergraduate Students

William Lang

Picture
Current Affiliation: Pre-med student in transit to Medical School 


Hometown: Winchester, Massachusetts 


Education: B.A in Chemistry (2013) from Case Western Reserve University
Research Project: Isonitrile synthases (Wwi-IsnA and Wwi-IsnB) of terrestrial cyanobacteria: Mechanistic insights from homolgy based 3-dimensional structures

Email: wrl19@case.edu

Andrew Gansmiller

Picture
Hometown:

Education: B.S. in Chemistry,

Research Project:


Awards:  

Current Affiliation: Graduate Student, University of California, Irvine. Department of Chemistry.



Elizabeth Ennis

Picture

Hometown: Ellicott City, Maryland


Education: B.S. in Chemistry, B.A. in Spanish Case Western Reserve University


Research Project: Site-specific protein modification (CWRU)
Awards:  2008-2010 Case Alumni Association Scholarship

Current Affiliation: Graduate Student, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.


younger minds...

Picture
Diya Viswanathan


Hometown: Cleveland, USA
 
Education: Parks, Outdoors, Wiggles, Nat. Geographic etc.






Contact the Viswanathan Group


Web:          http://www.case.edu/artsci/chem/faculty/viswanathan/
E-mail:      nathan@case.edu


Picture

Picture
Fall 2008
Powered by
✕