I have a diverse set of skills involving high throughput screening of small molecules and RNAi agents against a cell line panel, evaluation of anti-cancer activity profiles of novel probes, biomarker discovery and development, biochemical and biophysical assay development, protein purification, confocal and cryo-electron microscopy, as well as nanoparticulate drug formulation development and quality control.

I am interested in developing a promising compound towards a lead candidate for anti-cancer therapy. With my prior training in biochemistry, cell and molecular biology, I am now working toward employing chemical biology methodologies to enhance the pharmacological properties of a compound known to be selectively toxic to certain non-small cell lung cancer cell lines and hitting a protein that is a validated cancer target. To achieve these goals, I have initiated collaborations to create a platform for establishing chemical/gene correlation, biomarker discovery and probable mechanisms of action of screening compound hits targeting non-small cell lung cancer. Additionally, I am in the process of constructing a drug resistant cell line library through transposon-mutagenesis of a homogeneous subcloned lung adenocarcinoma line as an unbiased approach to target gene discovery.

1. Zubovych I, Sethi A, Kulkarni A, TagalV, Roth M. A novel inhibitor of Topoisomerase I is selectively toxic for a subset of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer cell lines. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, 15(1):23-36. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-15-0458, 2015

2. Kulkarni A, Alpadi K, Sirupangi T, Peters C. A dynamin homolog promotes the transition from hemifusion to content mixing in intra cellular membrane fusion. Traffic, doi: 10.1111/tra.12156, 2014

3. Kulkarni A, Alpadi K, Namjoshi S, Peters C. A tethering complex dimer catalyzes trans-SNARE complex formation in intracellular membrane fusion. Bioarchitecture,2(2): 59–69, 2012

4. Alpadi K, Kulkarni A, Namjoshi S, Srinivasan S, Sippel K, Ayscough K,Zieger M, Schmidt A, Mayer A, Evangelista M, Quiocho F, Peters C. Dynamin-SNARE interactions control trans-SNARE formation in intracellular membrane fusion.Nature Communications, 4(1704). doi: 10.1038, 2013

5. Alpadi K, Kulkarni A, Comte V, Reinhardt M, Schmidt A, Namjoshi S, MayerA, Peters C. Sequential analysis of trans-SNARE formation in intracellular membrane fusion. PLoS Biology, 10(1):e1001243. doi: 10.1371, 2012

6. Gugulothu D, Kulkarni A, Patravale V, Dandekar P. pH-Sensitive Nanoparticles of Curcumin–Celecoxib Combination: Evaluating Drug Synergy in Ulcerative Colitis Model. Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 103(2):687-696, 20136 - Team Oncology (111682)