Balaji Vijayakumar Gowrivel (He/Him)
Ph.D. Chemistry | Postdoc| Chemist| Scientist | Organic chemist with expertise in small molecule drug discovery| Antimicrobial biopolymer films | Experienced in polymer synthesis and characterizations | Computational Drug Discovery | BSL-2
Researcher with a strong experience in organic synthesis of small drug-like molecules, antimicrobial biopolymer (polysaccharide) films, polymer synthesis, characterizations, data analysis, and computational studies.
Currently, seeking employment in industry as well as postdoctoral research opportunities. Actively expanding my skill-set to include the life science domain.
Experience
Polymer Scientist (Duration : Jan 2024 - Mar 2024, Company: Biomr LLC, Location: Newark, NJ, USA)
- Supervised product development team providing SOP, method development and synthetic strategies to reach project goals.
- Provided expertise on synthetic organic chemistry, polymer chemistry, biomaterials chemistry, and green chemistry for textiles.
Intern (Duration : Sept 2023 - Nov 2023, Company: Avanz Bio Training and Research Institute Location: India)
- Underwent training in Microbiology and Molecular Biology Wet Lab Skills (BSL-2) for contract research.
- Record keeping, Statistical data analysis for biological studies using Excel, Graphpad PRISM, Python, R
Doctorate (Ph.D.) Scholar (Duration: Sept 2016 - May 2023 Company: Pondicherry University Location: India)
- Developed new antimicrobial chitosan biopolymers. 200x safer than market antifungals. Used Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Multi-step organic synthesis, nucleic acid chemistry, Drug Discovery, Drug Design, and Polymer chemistry.
- Conducted scientific studies using NMR, HPLC, LCMS, GC, KF, UV/Vis, FT-IR, particle size analysis, dissolution testing, DSC, TGA, and XRPD.
- Computational studies for drug-discovery against disease proteins. Published article with 140+ citations.
- Taught/Mentored 7 graduate students in lab practices and oversaw their capstone projects.
- Written reports/Deliverables: Published 10 peer-reviewed articles and 1 book chapter.
- Responsibilities: Day-to-day lab operation, inventory management, teaching students, instrument maintenance, and research method development. Design, synthesis, and characterization of small molecules, novel polymeric materials, failure analysis, and novel biopolymer chemistry.
Master of Science Project (Duration: Aug 2009 - Aug 2014, Company: University of Hyderabad Location India)
- Developed polyurethane-clay composite emulsion cast films, tested and characterized with 100% increase in Young’s modulus and 10% increase in thermal stability for only 1-5% additive content.
- Conducted scientific studies using LCMS, UV/Vis, IR, dissolution testing, DSC, TGA, and XRPD
Education
Doctorate (Ph.D.) in Chemistry from Pondicherry University, India (Sept 2016 – May 2023)
Thesis: Chitosan with bioactive pendant groups: synthesis, characterization, and antimicrobial studies
Supervisor: Prof. K. Tharanikkarasu
Master of Science (M.Sc.) Chemistry (Aug 2009-Aug 2014) from University of Hyderabad, India
5 Year BS+MS, Dissertation: Emulsion cast Polyurethane clay-composites
Supervisor: Prof. Tushar Jana
Skills
Synthetic organic chemistry: Drug design, drug discovery, multi-step organic synthesis, synthetic chemistry, antibacterial, antibiotic, small-molecule inhibitor design and synthesis, and reaction optimization.
Instruments/techniques: Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier transform-infrared (FTIR), Ultraviolet-Vis (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, Gel permeation chromatography (GPC), Liquid Chromatography Mass spectrometry (LC-MS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (powder and single crystal XRD), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), Karl-Fischer Titration (KF), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), High Resolution-Transmission Electron Microscope (HR-TEM), Tensile strength analysis, Electrospinning, and Good Laboratory Practice (GLP).
Polymer synthesis, chemistry and analysis: Polymer synthesis, polyelectrolyte membrane synthesis, solvent casting, emulsion polymerization, polymer-inorganic composites, carbohydrate polymers/biopolymers, and failure analysis of polymers.
Computational skills: Excel, Power BI, Graphpad PRISM, BigQuery, SQL, Kaggle. RCSB and Uniprot. Data analytics. Preliminary experience with molecular dynamics through GROMACS. Strong understanding of C and C++. Basic experience with MATLAB, Python, FORTRAN, R, Linux, bash scripting, and Windows Powershell. Strong experience: Molecular docking and analysis using Schrodinger, SeeSAR, Autodock Vina, and Autodock 4, Pymol, Data Warrior, Ligplot+, Biovia Discovery studio, and PyRX. Use of BLAST studies, homology studies, and protein modelling via Swiss-model.
Microbiology and molecular biology techniques: Hands-on training in aseptic techniques (BSL-2), bacterial isolation, animal cell culture, microbial cell culture, cell preservation techniques, determining minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentrations (MIC and MBC), MTT assay, DNA isolation, plasmid isolation, gel electrophoresis (PAGE), primer design, Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), gel-based purification of DNA, wound healing assay, and DNA fragmentation.
Certifications
MATLAB Onramp (Mathworks)
Foundations: Data, Data, Everywhere (Google Data analysis certification through Coursera)
Ask Questions to Make Data-Driven Decisions (Google Data analysis certification through Coursera)
Prepare Data for Exploration (Google Data analysis certification through Coursera)
Introduction to High-throughput Materials Development (Authorized by Georgia Institute of Technology)
Introduction to Composite Manufacturing (LinkedIn Learning)
Microbiology and Molecular Biology Wet Lab Skills Development
Basic Techniques in Animal Cell culture (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research - Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, India)
Awards
Department of Science and Technology – Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) scholarship (2009-2014) (National Scholarship)
Teamwork and Leadership
Led a study on SARS-CoV-2 with medicinal chemistry colleagues. Computational experimentation in-charge.
Provided data analysis and interpretation relevant to computational drug discovery teams.
Generated publication-quality writeups and imaging as per the needs of the team. Co-authored a book chapter and several publications on infectious diseases.
Taught wet lab chemistry to graduate students and oversaw “Master’s dissertation” of 7 graduate students.
List of Publications
Balaji Gowrivel Vijayakumar, Deepthi Ramesh, K. Santhosh Manikandan, Mary Theresa, Aiswarya Sethumadhavan, V. Brindha Priyadarisini, E. K. Radhakrishnan, Maheswaran Mani, and Tharanikkarasu Kannan. Chitosan with pendant (E)-5-((4-acetylphenyl)diazenyl)-6-aminouracil groups as synergetic antimicrobial agents. J. Mater. Chem. B, 2022, 10, 4048-4058 https://doi.org/10.1039/D2TB00240J. (Impact factor: 7.57)
Balaji Gowrivel Vijayakumar, Deepthi Ramesh, Sumeeta Kumari, Akashpratim P. Anil Kumar, K. Tharanikkarasu, Enhancing Antifungal Properties of Chitosan by attaching Isatin-Piperazine-Sulfonyl Acetamide pendant groups via novel imidamide linkage
Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 2023, 125428 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125428 (Impact factor: 8.02)Balaji Gowrivel Vijayakumar, Deepthi Ramesh, Ramkishore Matsa, Manika Verma, Pooja Thapar, H. Prathap Kumar Shetty, Regina Sharmila Dass, K. Tharanikkarasu, Chitosan with sulphonamide and sulphone derivative as antimicrobial agents (Under review)
Balaji Gowrivel Vijayakumar, Deepthi Ramesh, Sumeeta Kumari, P. Anil Kumar, K. Tharanikkarasu, Chitosan with piperazine derivatives as antimicrobial agents (Under Review).
Balaji Gowrivel Vijayakumar, Deepthi Ramesh, Annu Joji, Jayadharini Jayachandra prakasan, Tharanikkarasu Kannan, In silico pharmacokinetic and molecular docking studies of natural flavonoids and synthetic indole chalcones against essential proteins of SARS-CoV-2. Eur. J. Pharmacol. 2020, 886, 173448. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejphar.2020.173448. (Impact factor: 5.19)
Balaji Gowrivel Vijayakumar, Deepthi Ramesh, Tharanikkarasu Kannan, Advances in Nucleoside and Nucleotide Analogues in Tackling Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Hepatitis Virus Infections. ChemMedChem, 2021, 16 (9), 1403-1419. https://doi.org/10.1002/cmdc.202000849. (Impact factor: 3.54)
Deepthi Ramesh, Balaji Gowrivel Vijayakumar, Tharanikkarasu Kannan, Therapeutic potential of uracil and its derivatives in countering pathogenic and physiological disorders. Eur. J. Med. Chem. 2020, 207, 112801. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmech.2020.112801. (Impact factor: 7.0)
Deepthi Ramesh, Annu Joji, Balaji Gowrivel Vijayakumar, Aiswarya Sethumadhavan, Maheswaran Tharanikkarasu Kannan, Indole chalcones: Design, synthesis, in vitro and in silico evaluation against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Eur. J. Med. Chem. 2020, 198, 112358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmech.2020.112358. (Impact factor: 7.0)
Deepthi Ramesh, Balaji Gowrivel Vijayakumar, Tharanikkarasu Kannan, Therapeutic Targets for Emerging Zika Virus Infection and Vaccines in Clinical Trials, Frontiers in Clinical Drug Research-Anti Infectives, 2021 8: 260. 10.2174/9789815039412121080008. (Book chapter).
Deepthi Ramesh, Deblina Sarkar, Annu Joji, Monica Singh, Amaresh K. Mohanty, Balaji G. Vijayakumar, Mitali Chatterjee, Dharmarajan Sriram, Suresh K. Muthuvel, Tharanikkarasu Kannan, First-in-class pyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidine-2,4(1H,3H)-diones against leishmaniasis and tuberculosis: Rationale, in vitro, ex vivo studies and mechanistic insights, Arch. Pharm. 2022, 355: e2100440. https://doi.org/10.1002/ardp.202100440. (Impact factor: 4.61)
Maganti Lakshmi Haritha Bharathi, Deepthi Ramesh, Balaji Gowrivel Vijayakumar, Mohd Imran Khan, Arun Kumar Dhayalan, Jayabal, Kamalraja, Tharanikkarasu Kannan, Acetylene containing 2-(2-hydrazinyl)thiazole derivatives: Design, Synthesis, in vitro and in silico evaluation of antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, RSC Adv., 2022, 12, 8771-8782. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2RA00928E. (Impact factor: 4.0)
Deepthi Ramesh, Amaresh Kumar Mohanty, Anirban De, Balaji Gowrivel Vijayakumar, Aiswarya Sethumadhavan, Suresh Kumar Muthuvel, Maheswaran Mani, Tharanikkarasu Kannan, Novel bis-pyrimidine derivatives as HIV-1 p24 inhibitors: Pharmacophore-based design, in silico and in vitro studies., RSC Adv., 2022, 12, 17466–17480. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2RA02450K. (Impact factor: 4.0).
Deepthi Ramesh, Sumeeta Kumari, Balaji Gowrivel Vijayakumar, D Sriram, P. Anil Kumar, K. Tharanikkarasu, Novel Pyrimidine– Imine Hybrids as Antitubercular and Antimicrobial Agents: Insights Into Design, Synthesis, In Vitro, In Silico Studies and Structure Activity Relationships (Under review).
Deepthi Ramesh, Nalini Singh, Balaji Gowrivel Vijayakumar, Viswanathan A Nagaraj, Tharanikkarasu Kannan, Azo Linked Uracil Schiff Bases as Novel Antimalarial Agents: Insights into Design rationale, in vitro analysis, in vivo studies and molecular docking (Under Review).