Education

1981-1985	PhD in Organic Chemistry	University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
1979-1981	MSc in Chemistry	Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India

 

Biography

Arun Ghosh was born and raised in Calcutta, India. He was awarded a National Talent Scholarship, by the Ministry of Education, Government of India for his undergraduate studies. He attended Ramakrishna Mission Residential College under the University of Calcutta from 1975 to 1979. He received his B. S. degree in Chemistry and graduated with First Class honors with highest distinction in 1979. He was then awarded a National Merit Scholarship and attended the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur to pursue a master’s degree in chemistry. He graduated with First Class honors with highest distinction in 1981.

Arun then moved to the United States to pursue his Ph.D. degree in organic chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh. He began his graduate studies in the Department of Chemistry and worked with Professor Kozikowski. His thesis work involved natural product total synthesis and development of asymmetric synthetic methodologies. He received his Ph.D. in October, 1985. Arun then moved to Harvard University as a postdoctoral research fellow in Professor E. J. Corey’s laboratories. He was involved in the synthesis of diterpene complex natural products, ginkgolides A and B, which are well known platelet activating factor antagonists. Following his postdoctoral studies, he joined Merck Research Laboratories at West Point, Pennsylvania as a Medicinal Chemist in late 1988. There he worked on a number of research areas including benign prostate hyperplasia, HIV protease, and HIV reverse transcriptase. In the fall of 1994, Ghosh began his independent academic career at the University of Illinois at Chicago as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry. He quickly rose to tenured associate professor in 1997 and then became Professor of Chemistry in 1998.

In 2005, he moved to Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana as a Professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Medicinal Chemistry & Molecular Pharmacology. In 2009, he became the Ian P. Rothwell Distinguished Professor in the department of Chemistry and department of Medicinal Chemistry & Molecular Pharmacology. Over the years, Arun’s research interests have bridged the areas of bioorganic, medicinal and synthetic chemistry. He has developed a range of conceptual tools for inhibitor design and published over 300 original research articles in leading international journals. He has written two books. His numerous patents and patent applications exhibit an extremely diverse array of research accomplishment including design of HIV protease inhibitors for combating drug-resistant HIV, anticancer agents and memapsin inhibitors for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. His seminal work on the design and development of HIV protease inhibitors by targeting protein-backbone culminated in the FDA approval of Darunavir as the first treatment of drug-resistant HIV. Darunavir has emerged as a frontline treatment of HIV/AIDS and has been approved in 2008 for general HIV/AIDS patients. His pioneering work on structure-based design of β-secretase inhibitors (BACE1) led to development of tools and strategies of BACE inhibitor design for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Ghosh was awarded the Herbert Newby McCoy Award, Purdue University’s highest research award in 2015. He was inducted into the ACS Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame in 2013, received the CRSI Medal from the Chemical Research Society of India in 2012, the NIH MERIT Award in 2011, the IUPAC-Richter Prize in 2010, the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award in 2010, and the American Chemical Society’s Robert Scarborough Award in Medicinal Chemistry in 2008. He became Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2005 and Fellow of the Royal Chemical Society in 2015. He is on the editorial advisory board of numerous journals. He was on the Scientific Advisory Board, Channel Island Alzheimer’s Research Institute; a Founding Scientist, CoMentis Inc, Oklahoma City, and a University Scholar at the University of Illinois.

Research Interest

• Synthetic Organic, Bioorganic, and Medicinal Chemistry
• Design and synthesis of molecular probes for biological systems
• Development of Novel Drug Design Concepts
• Peptidomimetic Design and Synthesis
• Design and development of nonpeptide mimics
• Natural product total synthesis of biologically important molecules
• Development of Asymmetric Synthetic methodologies

 

Scientific Activities:

Teaching Experience:

2009-Present	Ian P. Rothwell Distinguished Professor, Department of Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
2005-2009	Professor, Joint Appointment with Department of Chemistry and Department of Medicinal Chemistry
2000-2005	Professor, University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois
1997-2000	Associate Professor, University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois
1994-1997	Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois Chicago, Illinois

Honors & Awards

2015	Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Herbert Newby McCoy Research Excellence Award, Purdue University
2013	Member of the ACS Medicinal Chemistry Division Hall of Fame
2012	The Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI medal)
2011	NIH MERIT Award, Novartis Chemistry Lectureship
2010	IUPAC-Richter Prize in Medicinal Chemistry, American Chemical Society’s Arthur C. Cope Senior Scholar Award, Jeananne D. and James B. Chaney Research and Scholarship Achievement Award, College of Pharmacy, Thomson Reuters Award in Medicinal Chemistry
2009	Ian P. Rothwell Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry, Distinguished Alumnus Award, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, NIH AIDS Related Study Section Full Member
2008	ACS Robert Scarborough Excellence in Medicinal Chemistry Award
2007	Study Section, ADhoc Member, NIH-B&NP; AIDS
2006	The Seed for Success Award, Purdue University
2005	Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Scientific Advisory Board, Channel Island Alzheimer’s Research Institute, Distinguished Faculty Award, University of Illinois
2002	Founding Scientist, CoMentis Inc, Oklahoma City

 

Publications

1. “Diastereoselection in Intramolecular Nitrile Oxide Cycloaddition (NOC) Reactions: Confirmation of the “Antiperiplanar Effect” Through a Simple Synthesis of 2-Deoxy-D-ribose" A. P. Kozikowski, A.K. Ghosh. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1982, 104, 5788-5789.
2. "The Isoxazoline Route to β-Methylene Lactones" A. P. Kozikowski, A. K. Ghosh. Tetrahedron Letters 1983, 24, 2623-2626.
3. "Diastereofacial Selection in Nitrile Oxide Cycloaddition Reactions. The Anti-Directing Effect of an Allylic Oxygen and Some New Results on the Ring Metalation of Isoxazolines. A Synthesis of (±) Blastmycinone" A. P. Kozikowski, A. K. Ghosh. J. Org. Chem. 1984, 49, 2762-2772.
4. "Methods for Pyranoannulation - An Approach to a New Class of Polyethers" A. P. Kozikowski, A. K. Ghosh. J. Org. Chem. 1985, 50, 3017-3019.
5. "Mn(III)-Promoted Annulation of Enol Ethers to Fused or Spiro 2-Cyclopentanones" E. J. Corey, A. K. Ghosh. Tetrahedron Letters 1987, 28, 175-78.
6. "Two-step Synthesis of Furans by Mn(III)-Promoted Annulation of Enol Ethers" E. J. Corey, A. K. Ghosh. Chemistry Letters 1987, 223-226.
7. "Total Synthesis Of (±) Ginkgolide B" E. J. Corey, M-C. Kang, M. C. Desai, A. K. Ghosh, I. N. Houpis. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1988, 110, 649-651.
8. "Total Synthesis Of Ginkgolide A" E. J. Corey, A. K. Ghosh. Tetrahedron Letters 1988, 29, 3205-3206.
9. "Total Synthesis Of (±)-Ginkgolide B" M. C. Desai, A. K. Ghosh, M-C. Kang, I. N. Houpis, Strategies and Tactics in Organic Synthesis, Academic Press, Edited by T. Lindberg. 1991, 2, 89-119.
10. "Stereoselective Reduction of β-Hydroxy Oxime Ethers: A Convenient Route to Cis-1,2-Amino Alcohols" A. K. Ghosh, S. P. McKee, W. M. Sanders. Tetrahedron Letters 1991, 32, 711-714.
11. "Di(2-Pyridyl) Carbonate Promoted Alkoxycarbonylation Of Amines: A Convenient Synthesis of Functionalized Carbamates" A. K. Ghosh, T. T. Duong, S. P. McKee. Tetrahedron Letters 1991, 32, 4251-4254.
12. "Stereocontrolled Synthesis of HIV-1 Protease Inhibitors with C2-Axis of Symmetry" A. K. Ghosh, S. P. McKee, W. J. Thompson. Tetrahedron Letters 1991, 32, 5729-5732.
13. "An Efficient Synthesis of Hydroxyethylene Dipeptide Isosteres: The Core Unit of Potent HIV-1 Protease Inhibitors" A. K. Ghosh, S. P. McKee, W. J. Thompson. J. Org. Chem. 1991, 56, 6500-6503.
14. "Intramolecular and Intermolecular Hydroxyl Reactivity Differences in Ginkgolides A, B and C and Their Chemical Applications" E. J. Corey, K. Srinivas Rao, A. K. Ghosh. Tetrahedron Letters 1992, 33, 6955-6958.
15. "N,N'-Disuccinimidyl Carbonate: A Useful Reagent for Alkoxycarbonylation Of Amines" A. K. Ghosh, T. T. Duong, S. P. McKee, Wayne J. Thompson. Tetrahedron Letters 1992, 33, 2781-2784.
16. "A Facile and Enantiospecific Synthesis of 2(S)- and 2(R)-[1'(S)-Azido-2-Phenylethyl]Oxirane" A. K. Ghosh, S. P. McKee, H. Y. Lee, W. J. Thompson. J. Chem Soc., Chem. Communication 1992, 273-274.
17. "An Efficient Synthesis of Functionalized Urethanes from Azides" A. K. Ghosh, S. P. McKee, T. T. Duong, W. J. Thompson. Chem. Communication 1992, 1308-1310.
18. "Highly Enantioselective Aldol Reaction: Development of a New Chiral Auxiliary from cis-1-amino-2-hydroxyindane" A. K. Ghosh, T. T. Duong, S. P. McKee. J. Chem Soc., Chem. Communication 1992, 1673-1674.
19. "HIV-1 Protease Inhibitors: Synthesis and biological Evaluation of Glycopeptides" A. K. Ghosh, S. P. McKee, W. M. Sanders, P. L. Darke, J. Zugay, E. M. Emini, J. R. Huff, P. S. Anderson. Drug Design and Discovery 1993, 10, 77-88.
20. "Potent HIV-1 Protease Inhibitors: Stereoselective Synthesis of a New Dipeptide Mimic" A. K. Ghosh, S. P. McKee, W. J. Thompson, P. L. Darke, J. Zugay. J. Org. Chem. 1993, 58, 1025-1029.
21. "Synthetic studies of Antitumor Macrolide Laulimalide: Enantioselective Synthesis of the C1-C14 Segment by a Catalytic Hetero Diels-Alder Strategy" A. K. Ghosh, P. Mathivanan. J. Cappiello. Tetrahedron Letters 1997, 38, 2427-31.
22. "3'-tetrahydrofuranglycine as a Novel, Unnatural Amino Acid Surrogate for Asparagine in the Design of Inhibitors of the HIV Protease" W. J. Thompson, A. K. Ghosh, M. K. Holloway, H. Y. Lee, P. M. Munson, J. E. Schwering, J. Wai, P. L. Darke,J. Zugay, E. A. Emini, W. A. Schleif, J. R. Huff, P. S. Anderson. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1993, 115, 801-803.
23. "3- tetrahydrofuran and Pyran Urethanes as High Affinity P2-Ligands for HIV-1 Protease Inhibitors" A. K. Ghosh, W. J. Thompson, S. P. McKee, T. T. Duong, T. A. Lyle, J. C. Chen, P. L.Darke, J. Zugay, E. A. Emini, W. A. Schleif, J. R. Huff, P. S. Anderson. J. Med. Chem. 1993, 36, 292-294.
24. "Cyclic sulfones as novel and High Affinity P2-Ligands for HIV Protease Inhibitors" A. K. Ghosh, W. J. Thompson, S. P. McKee, T. T. Duong, T. A. Lyle, J. C. Chen, P. L.Darke,J. Zugay, E. A. Emini, W. A. Schleif, J. R. Huff, P. S. Anderson, J. Med. Chem. 1993, 36, 924-927.
25. "Potent HIV Protease Inhibitors: The Development of 3'-tetrahydrofuranglycine as P2-Ligands and substituted Pyrazine Derivatives as P3-Ligands" A. K. Ghosh, W. J. Thompson, S. P. McKee, T. T. Duong, M. K. Holloway, H. Y. Lee, P. M. Munson, J. Wai, P. L. Darke,J. Zugay, E. A. Emini, W. A. Schleif, J. R. Huff, P. S. Anderson, J. Med. Chem. 1993, 36, 2300-2310.