Dr. P.K.Praveen Kumar

Prof. P.K.Praveen Kumar focus on Identification and design of molecules that selectively interfere with critical cellular survival mechanisms, particularly those involving heat-shock proteins and mitochondrial biology. Computational methods are used first to reduce the enormous number of possible molecules that would otherwise have to be tested experimentally. These approaches include molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations, ADMET prediction, target/network analysis and increasingly machine learning and artificial intelligence. Natural products are particularly important in this strategy. The computational predictions are then connected to biological experiments. This is important because a molecule that appears attractive computationally may fail in a living system. His research therefore attempts to establish a chain of evidence: Does the molecule bind the target? → Does it alter the biological pathway? → Does this affect cancer-cell behaviour? → Does the effect occur in an organism? Similarly, the longer-term concept is not merely “find a natural compound that kills cancer cells.” His research try to solve the problems through Understand the molecular vulnerability → identify or optimize a molecule that exploits it → determine the mechanism → improve its targeting → validate therapeutic potential.