Ajay Soni
PhD, Head of Medicinal Chemistry
Dr. Soni has extensive global research experience in the area of drug discovery in major pharmaceutical organizations companies including Daiichi Sankyo Tokyo, Daiichi Sankyo India and Ranbaxy Research laboratories. At Daiichi Ajay designed and synthesized several compounds that went into early development. He also led the optimization and development of three clinical candidates. His expertise includes synthesis of complex and diverse chemical scaffolds such as carbohydrates, benzoxaboroles, macrolides, peptidomimetics etc. from milligram to kilogram scales to obtain finished product per ICH guidelines. He has a strong understanding of drug design parameters (both physicochemical as well as pharmacological and toxicological) and in in vivo PK-PD. He is well versed in toxicology analysis in the area of anti-infectives, anti-inflammation and cardiovascular diseases. He has authored several scientific publications and is the inventor on multiple patents.
Manoj Khera
PhD, Head of Custom Synthesis and Process Chemistry
Dr. Khera has over 20 years of research experience in novel drug discovery, and in synthetic organic chemistry. He has led and mentored research projects involving hit to lead optimizations for advancing molecules from early discovery to clinical development. He has served in senior positions in leading multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Daiichi Sankyo, Ranbaxy Research laboratories and Dr Reddy’s Research Laboratories. His research interests include rational design of bioactive small molecules for therapeutic intervention, hit to lead optimization and development of new synthetic methodologies for lead compounds. He has a proven track record of working in collaborative research environments, while successfully driving challenging research projects in collaboration with GSK, Daiichi Sankyo etc. He has published several scientific articles and is the inventor on multple patents.
Malini Bajpai
PhD, Head of in Vitro Biology
Dr Malini has over 20 years of research experience in both Academia and Industry with expertise in pharmacology and integrated drug discovery in the areas of inflammation, cancer and immuno-oncology. Most recently, she was associated with Glenmark Pharmaceutical for more than 15 years as a Senior Principal Scientist. She has been instrumental in delivering two clinical candidates in the area of immuno-oncology and respiratory diseases (COPD) which are currently in Phase 1 clinical trials. Dr Malini served as a Senior Scientist in Ranbaxy Research Laboratories where she led a team focussed on discovery of innovative small molecule therapies for oncology and inflammation. Dr Malini completed her post-doctorate from Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk followed by Oregon Health University in Portland where she worked on signalling mechanism, protein-protein interactions and role of anchoring proteins in signalling transductions. She worked on Signal Transduction pathways controlling sperm motility and the action of inhibitors were explored for the possibilities of developing new vaginal contraceptives along with the anti-HIV activity on spermicidal compounds. Dr Malini completed her PhD in Biochemistry from Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow in the area of Biochemical Investigations on Isolated Germ Cells from Testis of Rat. She has authored multiple publications in peer reviewed journals and is a co-inventor on more than 20 patents across projects.
Ramnik Sharma
PhD, Process Research and Development
Dr. Ramnik brings over two decades of proven expertise in API process research and development. He has successfully developed and optimized multi-step syntheses for products across various therapeutic areas. With a strong background in selecting optimal synthetic routes and cost management, Dr. Ramnik is also proficient in utilizing statistical tools such as Minitab and Sigmatech for DOE in process optimization.
He has conducted extensive studies on process development parameters, including particle size and solubility, and has addressed complex crystallization and polymorph challenges in APIs. Over his career, Dr. Ramnik has developed 50 API products. Most recently, he served as Head of Chemical Research at Kimia Biosciences Ltd. and has previously held key positions at leading organizations such as Ranbaxy Labs Ltd. and Sun Pharma, where he specialized in technology improvement and impurity synthesis.
Laurent Vuillard
PhD, Scientific & Business Development Consultant
Dr. Vuillard has been working in the drug discovery field since 2000, with experience in drug discovery companies and Contract Research Organizations, including Astex and Servier. At Servier, he was leading the structural biology team, bridging the gap between structural biologists and medicinal chemists on projects targeting enzymes, integral membranes, and intrinsically disordered proteins.
Dr. Vuillard brings extensive expertise in strategic planning and alliance management within pharmaceutical and biotech research organizations. His proficiency in identifying and fostering synergistic and mutually beneficial business partnerships is highly valuable to Presude Lifesciences. Based near Grenoble, France, Dr. Vuillard overseas Presude’s commercial activities in the EU region, leading business development and advancing marketing and corporate development capabilities.
Dr. Vuillard welcomes inquiries about Presude Lifesciences. You can reach him atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at +33 603 64 2009.
Advisors
Ghotas Evindar
PhD, Co-founder & President of DEL Source and Drug Discovery Advisor
Dr. Evindar is co-founder and president of DEL Source Inc. and a sought-after drug discovery consultant throughout the biotech industry. Born and raised in the Kurdish mountains, he emigrated to Canada, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Waterloo, in biochemistry and bio-organic chemistry, respectively. He then went on to complete a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Toronto. He initiated his industrial career as a medicinal chemist at Vertex Pharmaceuticals with focus on structure-based drug design. He has authored well over 50 publications and patents in the fields of drug discovery and hit identification, including seminal articles on DNA-Encoded Library (DEL) technology.
Prior to initiating DEL Source, Dr. Evindar was an executive team member and head of drug discovery at 1859 Inc. and Exo Therapeutics. He is one of the pioneers of DEL technology, working in research groups enabling this platform from his early days at Praecis Pharmaceuticals and GlaxoSmithKline. Over the last 20 years, he has been a tireless advocate of the DEL platform, serving as an advisor throughout the industry and as an educational leader through presentations, roundtables, and short courses to support DEL implementation (LinkedIn).
Svetlana Belyanskaya
PhD, Co-founder & Director at DEL Source and DEL Platform Advisor
Dr. Belyanskaya is an accomplished scientific leader in the field of small molecule drug discovery and an expert in DNA encoded library technology. She has been an instrumental player in the discovery of the first DEL-sourced molecule to progress into clinical trials. For more than 20 years she has been working in the DEL field and has made a significant contribution to the development of this platform at Praecis Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline, Anagenex Inc.
She is passionate about DEL platform development and constantly publicizing this technology at scientific conferences and seminars. She has multiple publications in the field of DEL technology, has taught short courses on DEL, and works as a consultant for startup companies.
Dr. Belyanskaya held senior positions in leading cross-functional team at GSK and has served as a Vice President of Biology at Anagenex Inc. Currently, she is a co-founder and a member of the executive team at DEL Source Inc. (LinkedIn).
Jaideep Thottassery
Scientific Advisor
Dr. Thottassery was a senior scientist in the Drug Discovery Division at Southern Research Institute (SRI), Birmingham, AL for over 16 years. Dr. Thottassery, along with Dr. W. B. Parker, was responsible for the discovery and development of DNMT1 depleting nucleosides 4’-thio-deoxycytidine and aza-4’-thiodeoxycytidine which are in clinical trials. He was also PI on several grants funded through agencies such as the Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) SPORE program, and also projects in the National Cancer Institute Experimental Therapeutics (NExT) Program. Jaideep has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and has performed postdoctoral research at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, and at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. Jaideep is an expert on nucleosides, nucleotides, steroids and orphan receptors, ubiquitylation and proteasomal degradation and cell cycle directed therapies. Jaideep has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles and reviews in basic, clinical and translational cancer research.