Dr. Prashant Suresh Kharkar

Professor and Head, Pharmaceutical Quality Assurance
M. Pharm. Sci., Ph. D. (Tech.)

Areas of Specialisation

Pharmaceutical Chemistry

Official Email Id

prashant.kharkar@nmims.edu

Office Phone No.

022-42332000 (Extn- 2028)

Experience

15 (Industry – 9 years, Academics - 6 years)

Drug discovery professional with expertise in Medicinal Chemistry and Computer-aided Molecular Design (CAMD) and Molecular Modeling. Managed discovery projects (metabolic disorders, cancer, pain, inflammation) in the lead identification and optimization stages. Managed interactions with team members from other disciplines & delivered all project goals in time. Currently working with Shobhaben Pratapbhai Patel School of Pharmacy and Technology Management as Professor & Head, Pharmaceutical Quality Assurance.

Interest areas

• Preclinical Development of New Chemical Entities (NCEs) 
• Design and synthesis of new chemical entities (NCEs) as therapeutic agents 
• Drug repositioning/repurposing 
• Design and development of novel fluorescent probes and their biomedical applications 
• Development of novel excipients and their pharmaceutical and material sciences applications 
• Process development of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) 
• Development and validation of Analytical Methods 
• Impurity synthesis and profiling

Research

• Publications – 46 (International- 44, National- 02) 
• Book Chapters- 05 
• Patents- 03 
• Presentations- 39 (International- 25, National- 14)
• Government funded projects – 03
  • Completed 
    Design and Development of Novel Inhibitors of Inosine 5’-Monophosphate Dehydrogenase II (IMPDH II) as Anti-inflammatory Agents (DST/SERB) (Sanction Order No. SERB/F/60/2014-15 dated 09.04.2014) (Total Outlay Rs. 26,00,000/-) (May 28, 2014-May 27, 2017)(PI)
  • Targeting Therapy-resistant Cancer Stem Cells (BIPP/BIRAC/DBT) (Total Outlay Rs. 1.5 Cr) (Sanctioned) (Collaborator) (Along with Godavari Biorefineries Ltd., Mumbai) 
  • Discovery of Inhibitors of System Xc¯ Transporter, a Novel Therapeutic Target for Glutamate-Mediated Excitoxicity and Epileptogenesis (DBT/NTF) (Reference No. BT/PR4605/MED/30/719/2012) (Rs. 18.16 lakh) (September 2012-August 31, 2015) (Co-PI)
• Industry projects - 05
  • Completed (Title of the project, name of industry, amount in Rs.)
    o Scale-up of Lead Anti-Cancer Stem Cell Molecule Intermediate (Godavari Biorefineries Ltd., Mumbai)(Total Outlay Rs. 1 lakh) (January 21, 2018 – March 31, 2018) 
    o Evaluation of XARTM for the Treatment of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome using a Mice as an Animal Model (Epigeneres Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai)(October 2017-December 2017) (Total Outlay Rs. 50,000/-) 
    o Comparative Evaluation of Microcrystalline Cellulose obtained from Bagasse (MCC-B) with Pharmaceutical Grade MCC. Consultancy Project sponsored by Godavari Biorefineries Ltd., Mumbai. (Total Outlay Rs. 90,000/-) (February 1 – April 30, 2015) (PI)
  • Ongoing 
    o Development of Novel Anti-Cancer Stem Cell (CSC) Therapeutics. Consultant to Godavari Biorefineries Ltd., Mumbai (Total Outlay Rs. 14,00,000/-) (2014-2018). 
    o Evaluation of XARTM for Anti-Aging Effects (Epigeneres Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai)(October 2017-December 2017) (Total Outlay Rs. 40,000/-)

Conferences/Workshops/Seminars attended

39

Academic activities:

o He has guided 30 M. Pharm. students for their research projects. 

o He has guided FOUR PhDs successfully and TWO candidates are registered under his supervision. 

Awards:

• Best Research Output of the Year 2017-18 given by SVKM’s NMIMS (Deemed to be University), Mumbai (August 11, 2018) 
• Best Major Project Thesis in Quality Assurance (QA) (2017-18) to Ms. Madhushree Phalak, Guide: Dr. Prashant S. Kharkar (August 11, 2018) 
• DST Foreign Travel Grant for presenting research work at Gordon Research Conference on Computer Aided Drug Design, West Dover, USA. (July 2017) 
• Best Poster Award at International Conference on Pure and Applied Chemistry (ICPAC)-2016, Mauritius (July 2016) (Poster Presented by Mr. Chetan Shah)
• Indian National Science Academy (INSA) deputation under International Collaboration and Exchange Programme to University of Mauritius, Mauritius (2016)
• Best e-Presentation Award at the Virtual Conference on Computational Chemistry (VCCC)-2014 organized by University of Mauritius, Mauritius (August 1-31, 2014)
• Best Poster Award at International Conference on Pure and Applied Chemistry (ICPAC)-2014, Mauritius (June 2014)
• 2nd Prize in Oral Presentation at Manshodhan-IV (December 2013)
• DST Foreign Travel Grant for presenting research work at Gordon Research Conference on Bioorganic Chemistry, Andover, USA. (June 2013)
• 2nd Prize in Oral Presentation at Manshodhan-III (December 2012)
• All India Rank 1 at the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE)-1998 examination. Score : 99.96 percentile
• K. C. Mahindra Talent Scholarship for securing 1st rank in T. Y. and Final Yr. B. Pharm.(1997-98) 
• National Merit Scholarship for securing 90 % in S. S. C.
• University Grants Commission – Junior Research Fellowship award (1998)
• University Grants Commission – Senior Research Fellowship award (2000)
• Chemical Structure Association (CSA) Trust Grant 2003 (US $ 1000) for presenting poster overseas.
• Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Foreign Travel Grant for presenting research paper at a Conference in Australia

Professional Memberships:

• Member, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
• Association of Pharmaceutical Teachers of India (APTI) – Life Membership (December 2012)
• American Chemical Society (ACS)
• Molecular Graphics and Modeling Society (MGMS) (2014-15)

Recent Publications:

1. Sahu, Niteshkumar U.; Purushothaman, Gayathri; Thiruvenkatam, Vijay; Kharkar, Prashant S. Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of Helicobacter pylori inosine 5′-monophosphate dehydrogenase (HpIMPDH) inhibitors. Drug Develop. Res. 2018 (In Press) [Clarivate Analytics Impact Factor (2017): 2.646]. 
2. Shah, Chetan P.; Kharkar, Prashant S. Discovery of novel human inosine 5′- monophosphate dehydrogenase 2 (hIMPDH2) inhibitors as potential anticancer agents. Eur. J. Med. Chem. 2018 (In Press). [Clarivate Analytics Impact Factor (2017): 4.816]. 
3. Shah, Chetan; Kharkar, Prashant S. Newer human inosine 5′-monophosphate dehydrogenase 2 (hIMPDH2) inhibitors as potential anticancer agents. J. Enz. Inhibit. Med. Chem. 2018, 33, 972-977 [Clarivate Analytics Impact Factor (2016): 4.293]. 
4. Sahu, Nitesh U.; Singh, V.; Ferraris, D. M.; Rizzi, M.; Kharkar, Prashant S. Hit discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis inosine 5′-monophosphate dehydrogenase, GuaB2, inhibitors. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2018, 28, 1714-1718 [Clarivate Analytics Impact Factor (2016): 2.454]. 
   
5. Hoonjan, M.; Sachdeva, G.; Chandra, S.; Kharkar, Prashant S.; Sahu, N.; Bhatt, Purvi Investigation of HSA as a biocompatible coating material for arsenic trioxide nanoparticles. Nanoscale 2018, 10, 8031-8041. [Clarivate Analytics Impact Factor (2016): 7.367].