Vinayak Agarwal

Biography

 Education: B.Tech. M.Tech. Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (2007); Ph.D. University of Illinois a Urbana-Champaign (2012); Postdoc. University of California San Diego (2017).   Awards: NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence award (2016) Young Scientist Award, 12th International Symposium on Persistent and Toxic Substances, University of California, Riverside (2015) Helen Hay Whitney Foundation research fellowship (2014)  

Research Interest

 A majority of antibiotics and drugs that we use in the clinic are derived or inspired from small organic molecules called Natural Products that are produced by living organisms such as bacteria and plants. Natural Products are at the forefront of fighting the global epidemic of antibiotic resistant pathogens, and keeping the inventory of clinically applicable pharmaceuticals stocked up. Some Natural Products are also potent human toxins and pollutants, and we need to understand how these toxins are produced to minimize our and the environmental exposure to them.