Principal Investigator:
Rajgopal Govindarajan
Dr. Rajgopal Govindarajan received his PhD from the University of Nebraska Medical Center at Omaha and postdoctoral fellowship from the University of Washington at Seattle. His training is in the areas of animal sciences, cancer biology and drug transporters and he has extensively used cell and mouse models to evaluate experimental therapeutic agents for pancreatic cancer. Dr. Govindarajan’s laboratory has developed several new insights into the pharmacology of nucleoside analogs used in the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas. Current focuses in his laboratory are to 1) characterize the link between epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), stemness, and therapeutic drug resistance in pancreatic cancer, and 2) understand the role of transporters in pancreatic tumorigenicity. Dr. Govindarajan’s awards in the areas of cancer research include the American Cancer Society Research Scholar Award and Georgia Cancer Coalition Research Award. His current research is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and American Cancer Society.
Post Docs:
Debasis Nayak, PhD
Project Title: Role of transporters in EMT
Professional Interests: Debasis’ research focus is to exploit the solute carrier (SLC) transporters to control metastasis and chemoresistance in pancreatic cancer. In the future, Debasis wants to devote his research career to the discovery and development of novel therapeutic strategies to fight against this deadly disease.
Personal Interests: Debasis likes to read spiritual books of Vedic culture, practice yoga, and explore new adventures.
Tejinder Kaur, PhD
Postdoctoral Student, The Ohio State University – 2021
Research associate, CSIR-IMTECH, India – 2019-21
PhD, Biotechnology, Punjabi University, India – 2019
MS, Biotechnology, Punjabi University, India – 2009
BS, Biotechnology, Punjab University, India – 2007
Project Title: Glycoprofiling pancreatic cancer stem cells and epithelial-mesenchymal transition states
Professional Interests: Tejinder’s interest is in molecular biology and genetic manipulation in food grade lactic acid bacteria. She has also explored glycan profiles of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies using state-of-the-art analytical proteomics techniques. Her work in the lab is focused on glycoprofiling of pancreatic cancer stem cells. She is particularly interested in honing her research skills in field of mass spectrometry.
Personal Interests: Tejinder is an animal lover and is a full-time caretaker of six furry friends at her native place.
Syed Saqib, PhD
Professional Interests: To understand the role of SLCs in hematopoiesis and hematopoietic toxicity
Personal Interests: Syed loves cricket and is captain of the departmental cricket team at his PhD institute.
Graduate Students:
Avinash Persaud
Project Title: Understanding the Role of Concentrative Nucleoside Transporters on Pancreatic Cancer Tumorigenicity and Chemotherapy
Professional Interests: Avinash is a PhD candidate in the department of pharmaceutics and pharmacology who joined Dr. Govindarajan’s lab in the fall of 2018. Avinash’s primary research focuses on characterizing nucleoside transporters and devising novel strategies to optimize nucleoside-derived drug disposition and efficacy in pancreatic cancer. After graduating, Avinash hopes to work on an interdisciplinary ADME team tasked with spearheading protocol development and data analysis for chemotherapeutics moving through the clinical trial pipeline.
Personal Interests: During his spare time, Avinash loves to watch horror movies, read, and play the violin.
Brenna Weadick
Project Title: EMT-induced reorganization of ENT1 contributes to drug resistance in pancreatic cancer
Professional Interests: Brenna is a graduate student in the Division of Pharmaceutics and Pharmacology, and she joined Dr. Govindarajan’s lab in September 2018. Brenna’s work in the lab has investigated nucleoside transporters, the EMT process, and molecular mechanisms of drug resistance in pancreatic cancer. She enjoys using various microscopy techniques to answer questions about transporter localization.
Personal Interests: Besides science, Brenna likes to be outdoors and read books.
Undergraduate Students:
Hanbum Kim
Professional Interests: Pharmacy intern. Experienced in outpatient care as a lead medical assistant, patient screener, triage and transport EMT, video-teleconference healthcare specialist, administrator, and medical support assistant. Passionate about pharmacy informatics and optimization of EHR. Pursuing Doctorate of Pharmacy (PharmD) at The Ohio State University.
Mike Massey
Professional Interests: Mike graduated Suma Cum Laude from Mentor High School. He is a Biology major with an interest in the medical field. Mike currently works on concentrative nucleoside transporter-1 and its role in nucleoside disposition.
Personal Interests: I like to play piano and love to play a variety of sports with friends.
Jane Protos
Professional Interests: Jane is a second year Pharmaceutical Sciences major with an interest in the medical field. She is a CREATES fellow for the 2021-22 academic year. She completed a Research Internship at the Cleveland Clinic focusing on projects involving pediatric asthma and pressure points in cardiac surgery.
Personal Interests: In her spare time, Jane enjoys running and working on projects with her sorority.
Anusha Singh
Professional Interests: Anusha’s student group successfully advocated for policy change around the repeal of the Pink Tax in Ohio and this legislation went into effect during the pandemic on April 1st, 2020; She led an 8-week virtual Policy Bootcamp with hundreds of students from across the country, equipping students to be changemakers; delivered a TED talk; Speaks at different forums about the issue of period poverty and lead different National Campaigns to combat this issue; Spoke on a panel organized by the New York Human Rights Commission.