The Andreana Research Group
The Andreana Research Group
Carbohydrate-based Vaccines, Small Molecule Synthesis, Immunology, Immunotherapy
Current Group Members:
Advisor
Peter received his Hons. BSc in Biochemistry (heavy emphasis on Organic) from Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada in 1998 under the tutelage of the late Prof. H. L. Holland. His Honors thesis is titled: "An Investigation of the Sulfoxidation of N-Protected Amino Acids by Beauvaria bassiana ATCC 7159". He then received his PhD in 2002 from Wayne State University, Detroit, MI working in the labs of Prof. P. G. Wang. His Dissertation is titled: "Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of Biologically Significant Carbohydrates".
In 2002 he moved to Harvard University in Cambridge, MA to work first as a Post Doctoral Associate and then as an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein Post Doctoral Fellow for Prof. S. L. Schreiber. In the Schreiber labs he studied the direction of Diversity-Oriented Synthesis (DOS) which included small molecule synthesis and asymmetric catalysis using multicomponent coupling reactions.
In 2005, he returned to his PhD granting institute to begin his independent career as an Assistant Professor and in 2012 relocated with his group to The University of Toledo where he is currently Full Professor. He is both a member of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and School of Green Chemistry and Engineering. The Andreana Group Research interests can be found on this website but in short the group is interested in carbohydrate-based vaccine development (current directions are cancer and bacterial based), small molecule synthesis (natural and natural product like synthesis) and the development of carbohydrate-based immunotherapeutics. For all existing efforts, the group operates under an NIH UO1 GM125271-01 and start-up monies from The University of Toledo. In 2010, the Andreana Group was bestowed an ACS National Award from the Division of Carbohydrate.
Currently Prof. Andreana serves on the United States Advisory Committee for the International Carbohydrate Symposium (USACICS) as treasurer and secretary, the ACS Carbohydrate Division's webmaster and as of January 1, 2020 in the role of ACS Immediate Past Chair for the ACS Carbohydrate Division.
Post Doctoral Associates/Fellows
The Andreana Research Group is always looking for well-qualified post-doctoral associates!!!
Dr. Ghosh came to us from Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Samir worked on the total synthesis of tumor associated carbohydrate antigens (TACAs) Gb3 and Globo H. He developed stereoselective chemistries as well as chemistries to facilitate the incorporation of aminooxy functionality that allowed for expedited conjugation to carbonyls. His hard work and concerted efforts landed him a number of publications which you can see here. After a short stint back in India at a preeminent pharmaceutical company, Samir is back in the Andreana Group ready to pick up exactly where he left off...dialed in at 100 mph!!!
Dr. Shi comes back to us after completing a Postdoctoral Fellowship at The Broad Institute in Boston, MA (see more info below). Mengchao graduated in 2016 from the AndreanaGroup and since his return has been focused on developing methods for glycosylation reactions. You can see some of his work here.
Graduate Students
The Andreana Group is very lucky to have received such an ambitious young man and scientist. Vinny is an excellent addition to our group and he has already made a number of important contributions. Hailing from Hyderabad, India, Vinny arrived in the USA in the summer of 2016 and since then has been working relentlessly on various projects involving carbohydrate chemistry. Most recently, he received the University of Toledo COGS-GSA Research Award. This is an amazing feat for a graduate student who is only in his 2nd year! Aside from doing research, Vinny enjoys reading about research, thinking about research, eating and breathing research! We look forward to seeing a number of excellent and meaningful contributions from him in the future.
Welcome our newest addition to the group, Mrs. Shanika Gamage, who comes to us from Colombo Sri Lanka. Shanika received her BS from the University of Colombo in Colombo Sri Lanka and then came to the USA to join our research program. In such a short period of time, Shanika has already contributed to the group and continues to work hard. We look forward to truly amazing things from her!
Welcome our newest addition to the group, Mrs. Amendra Liyanaranchchi, who comes to us from Colombo Sri Lanka. Akin to Shanika, Amendra received her BS from the University of Colombo in Colombo Sri Lanka and then came to the USA to join our research program. She is currently working hard on all aspects of our graduate program not to mention her devotion to lab work. She always brings a positive attitude to the group and we all look forward to seeing her with numerous achievements.
Welcome the very newest addition to our group, Mr. Matthew Lohman, who comes to Toledo, Ohio all the way from Edwardsville, Illinois. Matt is a De Meo alumni and very well trained in the art of carbohydrate assembly, especially in utilizing sialic acid. Matt received his B.S. degree from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville in 2018. He is currently working on understanding carbohydrate binding to proteins. He is also utilizing his synthetic skill-set to generate sugar donors and acceptors for stitching together biologically significant oligomers. Matt always brings a positive attitude to the group and we all look forward to seeing him excel over the next few years.
Geraud Valentin
2nd Year Graduate Student (F2019 - )
CV
The Andreana Group is very fortunate to have Mr. Geraud Valentin join us. He comes to UToledo from Lille in France with an accomplished track record of success. In 2015, he graduated with a BSc with distinction, he was in the International Chemistry Olympiads in 2016 where he ranked 27th in France and he attended the prestigious ENSCL (Ecole Nationale Superieure De Chimie De Lille). Geraud has gotten off to a great start here at UToledo with making progress towards carbohydrate conjugation. In his past time, we have come to learn, first hand, that Geraud loves to cook classic French dishes that are truly delicious! We expect big things from this young man and look forward to his many scientific accomplishments!
Parlez-vous français? Peut-être la prochaine fois!!! Coming to us from the National College of Chemical Engineering in Mulhouse, France, Mr. Mathieu Geremia is a welcomed addition to La Familia! A multi-lingual talent, including excellent spoken German, Italian and some English (aside from his native tongue), this guy really knows his chemistry as well! He has aspirations of garnering an MS degree in the Andreana Group and then Mathieu plans to eventually go back to France where he will begin his science career. Mathieu has also studied in Germany at Albert-Ludwigs Universität in Freiburg-im-Breisgau and in our group he will examine oxidation/conjugation methods for detecting rare, but important nucleotides/nucleosides. Mathieu is full of energy and we look forward to many great things from him.
Hannah comes to us from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology – Terre Haute, IN where she obtained her BS in Biochemistry. Hannah did a summer intern position as a Research Assistant in Marian University, Indianapolis, IN. She brings a plethora of skills to the team and a great attitude with lots of smiles. We look forward to watching Hannah bloom as she navigates through the choppy waters of vaccine design and development!
Previous Group Members
Post Doctoral Associates/Fellows
Dr. Sharmeen Nishat, PhD
Former Volunteer Post-Doctoral Associate (2017)
Current Position: Assistant Professor
See below for further details about Dr. Nishat. You can see Sharmeen's work here.
Dr. Ahmad A. Shaik, PhD
Former Post-Doctoral Associate (2011/2012-2014)
Current Position: Principal Research Scientist
Ahmad came to the Andreana Research Group in 2011/2012. His diverse skill-set allowed the group to explore new avenues of research interest including ITC, SPR and new chemical entities that include(d) sugar hydrazides and triazoles. In 2014 Ahmad left the group to move into an industrial position. Ahmad's research efforts are now amounting to a nice breath of work, some of which was just recently published!
Dr. Srinivas Boga, PhD
Former Post-Doctoral Associate (2012-2014)
Current Position: Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies
Dr. Yuanyuan Yuan, PhD
Former Post-Doctoral Associate (2011-2012)
Current Position:
Dr. Gopinath Tiruchinapaly, PhD
Former Post-Doctoral Associate (2006-2009)
Current Position: Research Investigator
Dr. Tiruchinapaly developed some chemistry that was used to synthesize a very challenging tetrasaccharide repeating unit of the immunogenic polysaccharide PS A1. Some of his methods are currently employed in the group.
Dr. Fenling Song, PhD (Andreana's first post doctoral associate)
Former Post-Doctoral Associate (2006)
Current Position: Professor and Doctoral supervisor
Dalian University of Technology
Dr. Song synthesized a naturally occurring substrate for the tuberculosis enzyme MshC. Aside from his excellent work, Fenling contributed in many positive ways to the group that really set in place our current group mantra. You can see his work here.
Graduate Students (PhD Students from Andreana Research Group)
If there is one word to describe KK it would be bold. His addition to the Andreana Group will allow for expansion and growth in three areas of research interest to include biologically validated small molecule DOS, methodology development in sugar chemistry and the synthesis of tumor associated carbohydrate antigens. There is no glass ceiling that KK cannot break through!
Farzana Hossain (2014-2019)
PhD in 2019 - The University of Toledo
Current Position: Postdoctoral Associate
The Andreana Group welcomes Farzana to our research environment. Coming to us from Bangladesh, Farzana will work towards our many ideas centered around glyco-peptides and glyco-peptide conjugates. Although limited in her synthetic experience, we all know that she will be a wonderful success as her ambition and motivation are captivating.
Pradheep Eradi (2014-2019)
PhD in 2019 - The University of Toledo
Current Position: The Chaikof Lab
Pradheep comes to us from India with extensive research experience working for GVK BIO Science. To his credit he already has a BMCL paper while he worked on a synthesis project for Lund beck (Sweden). Although only early in his graduate career, Pradheep has courageously taken on one of our most challenging projects which requires a substantial synthetic undertaking requiring extensive knowledge of carbohydrate chemistry. To his further credit, he has already made great progress and we all look forward to many great things from him. You can see his work here.
Nasim began her scientific career in Iran before relocating to the USA and ultimately in the Andreana Group. She has been working on developing chemistries that enable the facile construction of focused libraries entailing a DKP core. Her work extends our Green Chemistry program and will allow us to explore exciting and important roles that small molecules play in plant biology. Furthermore, she has undertaken a very unique project where small molecule peptides are being examined as anti-tumor compounds. You can see her work here.
Krishnakant Patel (2012-2017)
PhD in 2017 - The University of Toledo
Current Position: Research Scientist
Krish came to us via Hyderabad/Anand, India with a BS and MS in Organic Chemistry from Osmania University. While in the group he worked on designing and synthesizing substrate-based inhibitors and testing their activity against enzymes found in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The compounds Krish synthesized are what we call pseudo-carbohydrate-based in that they contain 6-membered rings and are poly-hydroxylated but do not contain furanose or pyranose rings. Krish also worked on developing biologically active small molecules using multicomponent coupling reactions. You can see his work here.
Kevin R. Trabbic (2011-2016)
PhD in 2016 - The University of Toledo
Current Position: Project Scientist
Kevin started his tenure in the Andreana Group in 2011 and was an integral member of the group's immunology division. Kevin's main focus was on understanding immunological responses towards entirely carbohydrate vaccine constructs using murine models. Early in his second year with the group, Kevin contributed to the assembly of a TF-PS A1 immunogen, which work was only most recently published. He followed that up with a first authored manuscript in which he and a former PhD graduate of the group, Dr. De Silva, deciphered structural variation of the Tn-PS A1 construct using CD and fluorescent labeling. Most recently his efforts have been focused on developing mAbs using a novel strategy for immunotherapeutics. You can see his work here.
Mengchao Shi (2011-2016)
PhD in 2016 - The University of Toledo
Current Position: Post Doctoral Associate
Renal Division, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Center for the Science of Therapeutics, Broad Institute
415 Main Street, 3035, Cambridge, MA 02142 AND
Mengchao came to the Andreana Group in 2011 from Nankai University, Tianjin, China as an organometallic and catalysis guru. Since his inception he worked on natural product and natural product-like synthesis of immunogenic carbohydrates, more specifically tumor associated carbohydrate antigens. His efforts accumulated into published papers including his piece du resistance which was just published in JACS. You can see his work here.
Sharmeen Nishat (2011-2016)
PhD in 2016 - The University of Toledo
Current Position: Assistant Professor
Sharmeen began her PhD in 2011 in the Andreana Research Group. Since that time she she was able to determine immune response(s) of glycopeptides conjugated to PS A1 as an immune stimulator (adjuvant). Her ever expanding skill-set included the synthesis of peptides, natural product synthesis (glyco-amino acids) and she was certified by the DLAR to work with mice to test immune responses. Her efforts have now amounted into published works and more are still to come! You can see Sharmeen's work here.
Amarendar R. Maddirala (2011-2016)
PhD in 2016 - The University of Toledo
Current Position: Post Doctoral Associate
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics
Amar cames to us from India. After obtaining his BS from Osmania University in Telangana in 2004 he then completed an MS in Chemistry from Kakatiya University also in Telangana. He joined the Andreana Research Group in 2011/2012 and made seminal contributions to the groups in the small molecule synthesis. Amar's contributions to our current research efforts in the lab were most recently noted in his first publication. Amar just completed a very successful PhD defense, accepted a post doctoral position at WashU and to top it all off he most recently became a father to a healthy and happy baby boy! Congrats Amar...you deserve all the success in the world. You will be greatly missed for being a quiet but very strong leader in the group! You can see Amar's work here.
Jean-Paul worked on the synthesis of carbohydrate tumor antigens (specifically the TF antigen), conjugation thereof to zwitterionic polysaccharides PS A1 and PS B, testing the activity of his vaccine constructs in mice. He was instrumental in designing and implementing a one-pot, two-step process for the synthesis of natural product Thaxtomin A. His diverse training skill-set will surely catapult him towards success in the future. You can see his work here.
Soumava Santra (2005-2010)
PhD in 2010 - Wayne State University
Current Position: Lovely Professional University | LPU
Dr. Santra worked on developing cascade coupling reactions as well as the total synthesis of carbohydrates. His work entailed the understanding of the generation of molecular complexity, solvents effects on multicomponent coupling reactions and diastereoselective glycosylation reactions. Much of Dr. Santra's work is continuing in the Andreana Research Group and due in part to his diligence it has now taken on an environmentally benign role. You can see his work here.
Ravindra D. B. Ajith De Silva (2005-2009) (Andreana's first PhD student)
PhD in 2009 - Wayne State University
Current Position: Instructor of Radiology and Radiological Science
Radiology and Radiological Science - Nuclear Medicine
Dr. Ravindra De Silva is an Instructor in the Johns Hopkins Medicine Department of Radiology and Radiological Science and a member of the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. He specializes in molecular imaging, carbohydrate chemistry, small molecule synthesis and clinical development and manufacturing of imaging and therapeutic agents. In the Andreana Group, Dr. De Silva worked on
the development of an entirely carbohydrate immunogen. He is skilled in the art of total synthesis of carbohydrates, natural product isolation and testing of immune responses thereof. His work is entrenched in ongoing efforts in the Andreana Research Group. You can see his work here.
Graduate Students (MS Students from Andreana Research Group)
Gurdat Premnauth (2013-2016)
MS in 2016 - The University of Toledo
Current Position: PhD Student at The University of Cincinnati
Parlez-vous francais? Well, if not then let Gurdat teach you! While a MS student in the Andreana Group he undertook the important task of deciphering the message(s) of the 6th base in nucleotide assembly. Gurdat worked hard towards completing a very important story for the group that entailed the understanding of 5-hmC and the chemistry that lurks behind it. His work has accumulated into a manuscript that is currently under preparation. Stay tuned as there is more to come from this young scientist.
Andhina Satriani (2017-2020)
MS in 2020 - The University of Toledo
Current Position:
Welcome our newest addition to the group, Ms. Andhina Satriani, who comes to us from Inonesia. Andhina received her BS from the Universitas Mataram in West Nusa Tenggara and then came to the USA to join our research program. In 2017, Ms. Satriani received the very prestigeous Fulbright Scholarship and in the Andreana Group she has already made substantial progress with her chemistry. We are all very excited to see Andhina grow with her science and make substantial contributions.
