HYDERABAD: Hailing from a nondescript village in Nalgonda district, studying in a government school, to eventually working his way through to the prestigious Harvard University and inventing anti-cancer agents, the journey of Dr Srinivas Reddy is nothing short of inspiring.
Srinivas, a native of Puttapaka village in Nalgonda district, which is about 100 km away from Hyderabad, is presently working under the guidance of renowned scientist and Nobel Laureate, Professor Elias James Corey.
His phenomenal academic credentials during his PhD at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology has paved the way to him studying in the world’s topmost university. He has published many research papers in leading scientific journals. He was short-listed by Harvard from among 1,500 researchers from different countries.
The 39-year-old organic chemist has synthesised ground-breaking drugs for curing Glioblastoma (fast growing brain tumour). He has made significant progress in the treatment of a variety of disorders such as cancer, inflammation, gout, rheumatism, obesity and disorders of lipids metabolism, is working to develop a vaccine and curing agents for the novel Coronavirus, which has claimed 1.66 million lives across the globe. His curing agent for Galioblastoma was recently approved by the Chinese Food and Drug Administration.
In an interview with The New Indian Express, Dr Srinivas said, “Ever since I entered Harvard, my focus was on the discovery of effective and cheap drugs to combat these diseases. Fortunately, my supervisor EJ Corey gave me a project to synthesise a drug (+)-Costunolide) which has a highly anti-tumour activity and I finished this task within a period of six months.”
Srinivas, who is a postdoctoral fellow, says that besides developing drugs to cure diseases, his goal is to make them affordable.
“My aim is to find out the potential drugs and vaccine for patients suffering from Covid-19,” he said.
Contributions to medicine
Thirty-nine-year-old Dr Srinivas Reddy has synthesised ground-breaking drugs for curing Glioblastoma (fast-growing brain tumour). He has made significant progress in the treatment of a variety of disorders such as cancer, inflammation, gout, rheumatism, obesity and disorders of lipids metabolism, and is working to develop a vaccine and curing agents for the novel Coronavirus