Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy
Email: roy@olemiss.edu – Office: (662) 915-2980 – Faser Hall 413
Postdoctoral Research Associate, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy; Advisor: Prof. Jeffrey Aubé
Postdoctoral Research Associate, KU School of Pharmacy; Advisor: Prof. Jeffrey Aubé
Ph.D., University of Missouri-St. Louis; Advisor: Prof. Christopher D. Spilling
M.Sc., University of Delhi, India
B.Sc., St. Stephen’s College Delhi, India
Sudeshna Roy received her Bachelor in Science in chemistry from St. Stephen’s College in India and a Master of Science in organic chemistry from the University of Delhi in India. She obtained her Ph.D. in organic chemistry under the supervision of Professor Christopher Spilling at the University of Missouri-St. Louis working on the total synthesis of complex natural products with anti-cancer activity. Her dissertation focused on “Studies toward Tetrahydrofuran-containing Natural Products: Total Synthesis of Amphidinolide C and Oxylipids”. Sudeshna expanded her focus to a more applied field of medicinal chemistry and drug discovery during her postdoctoral tenure under the mentorship of Professor Jeffrey Aubé at the University of Kansas and then at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During her postdoctoral tenure at the NIH-funded University of Kansas Molecular Libraries Probe Production Centers Network Specialized Chemistry Center, she was instrumental in developing highly valuable small-molecule probes with picomolar inhibitory activities targeting the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mtPTP) and potential for further development as treatments for a variety of mtPTP-related diseases, such as, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and cardiovascular disease, to name a few. At the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, she worked on developing chemotherapeutic agents against Hu antigen R and Musashi-1 RNA-binding proteins that are overexpressed in breast and pancreatic cancers. She began her independent academic career in July 2017 as an Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy in the Department of BioMolecular Sciences at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy.