Group Members

Joel S. Freundlich, Ph.D., is a Professor of Pharmacology, Physiology and Neuroscience and of Medicine at Rutgers University–New Jersey Medical School with membership in the Center for Emerging and Reemerging Pathogens, the Graduate Program in Medicinal Chemistry, and the Rutgers Cancer Institute. Prior to his return to academic research, he spent eight years in the pharmaceutical industry as a medicinal chemist. His undergraduate and master’s degree training were in chemical engineering at Cornell University as a McMullen Dean’s Scholar. He received his doctorate in organic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the tutelage of 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry awardee Richard Schrock.

Link to CV

Link to CDD interview (Collaborative Drug Discovery)

Link to interview at Grosset Symposium

Pankaj Sharma completed his MS (Pharm.) and a PhD in medicinal chemistry in 2017 from the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Hyderabad, India. He developed a silver-catalyzed domino protocol for the synthesis of a new class of spirooxindoles during his doctoral research work. He also worked on the synthesis of oxindole- and benzimidazole-based new chemical entities acting as potential cytotoxic and apoptosis inducing agents. He worked as a postdoctoral research at the Ohio State University, under the guidance of Prof. Karl Werbovetz. The prime focus of his research was to develop the structure-activity relationship for new antileukemic and antileishmanial compounds. He joined as a postdoctoral fellow in the Freundlich lab in January 2022 and is currently exploring the rational development of compounds targeting the menaquinone biosynthetic pathway in M. tuberculosis. He is also learning novel techniques in structure-based drug design and molecular modeling.

Shivangi
Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Shivangi completed her PhD in May 2022 from CSIR- Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, India. Her PhD work focused on the characterization of mycobacterial GTPase and ATPase proteins through biochemical and biophysical analysis, disruption studies by point mutagenesis and identification of potent inhibitors through in silico and in vitro methods. She joined the Freundlich Group in June 2022 and here her primary goal is to study drug accumulation kinetic phenomena in different bacteria. In addition, she is very interested to learn more about bacterial cell death post primary target engagement.
Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9lX9XNIAAAAJ&hl=en
Twitter handle: @Shivangi_122

Kishor Mane, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Kishor Mane graduated from CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory Pune in June 2022. His PhD work focused on the transition metal-free and transition metal catalyzed reactions mainly C-H activation of heteroarenes, photoredox catalysis, designing & synthesis of small bioactive scaffolds using reactive intermediates such as aza-oxyallyl cations, donor-acceptor cyclopropanes, EDA complexes, quinone monoimines (QMI), quinone imine ketals (QIKs), para-quinine methides (p-QMs), aryne, and α-oxyalkyl radicals produced from ethers. In October 2022, he joined the Freundlich Group and is primarily involved in the design and synthesis of small molecule antibacterials.

Amir George MD-Ph.D.

Amir George is an MD-Ph.D. student who joined the Freundlich group in June 2022. Prior to joining the lab, Amir received his Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Psychology from Rutgers University Newark. He is interested in studying the computational, synthetic and biological aspects of drug discovery to gain a deep understanding of the process of drug development. As a medical student, he is pursuing an MD with Distinction in Medical Education because of his interest in academia and passion for teaching students. Amir hopes to pursue a career as a physician scientist in the future that allows him to work in drug discovery, participate in medical education curriculum and development, and apply modern scientific findings to patient care.

Kendra Spencer is an undergraduate at Rutgers University Newark who joined the Freundlich group in August 2023. She is a student at the School of Arts and Sciences pursuing a major in cellular and molecular biology and a minor in chemistry. She is committed to furthering her knowledge and skill sets in molecular biology because of her passion for research and medicine. While volunteering and participating in a pre-medicine summer program, she became interested in medicine and drug development research. She aspires to complete her bachelor's and continue her education by pursuing a medical degree and her Ph.D. She hopes to leave an impact on the scientific community with her contributions to the Freundlich group.

Temitope Ayetan is an undergraduate at Rutgers University Newark who joined the Freundlich group in September 2023. He is a student in the School of Arts and Sciences pursuing a major in Biology and a minor in Mathematics. He is committed to advancing his knowledge and abilities in the field of molecular biology because he has a strong passion for research. He is eager to contribute to the current initiatives in the Freundlich group and anticipates leaving a lasting impression on the scientific community.

Iris Tural is a senior undergraduate student in Rutgers-Newark, who initially joined the Freundlich Group in January 2024. She’s majoring in Chemistry with a minor in Honors College. She is interested in both the Chemistry aspect of drug synthesis, and the biological aspect of how they take effect in the human body. She has also done research in inorganic chemistry and clinical drug trials.

Divine Onyeagocha is a rising senior at Rutgers University–Newark, pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry with a minor in Mathematics. During their undergraduate studies, they developed a passion for drug synthesis, particularly its potential to drive breakthroughs in treating diseases. This interest was ignited while working in the organic synthesis research lab of Dr. Brenner-Moyer, where they gained hands-on experience in designing and synthesizing bioactive molecules.  Eager to bridge the gap between chemical innovation and patient care, Divine plans to integrate their research background into a future medical degree, combining clinical practice with drug development to address unmet medical needs. Working alongside the Freundlich group will give him hope that such a dream will come true.

Dr. Jyoti Sharma earned her Ph.D. in Physical Organic Chemistry from the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in 2023. Her Ph.D. work focused on the computational and experimental investigation of elemental sulfur and polysulfide. In February 2024, she joined the Freundlich Group, shifting her focus to machine learning and its applications in computational biology and chemistry.