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:
- 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].
- 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].
- 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].
- 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].
- 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].