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Dr. Rajkishor Rai
Head & Senior Scientist
Quality Management & Instrumentation Division
CSIR – Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Canal Road, Jammu – 180001
Email: raj[at]iiim[dot]res[dot]in
Bio Sketch
Dr. Rajkishor Rai earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi. He then conducted postdoctoral research at the Molecular Biophysics Unit at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore. Before joining the CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine in August 2009, he served as an assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Advanced Research in Gandhinagar and later worked as a Senior Research Scientist at Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. in Pune.
Dr. Rai’s research interests are centered around the structural chemistry of peptides incorporating non-protein amino acids, which opens new avenues for therapeutic applications. He is particularly focused on the design and development of peptidomimetics, and bioactive peptides. Furthermore, he investigates self-assembled peptides, exploring their properties as therapeutic agents. His work stands at the intersection of chemistry and biology, aiming to make significant contributions to the field of medicinal chemistry and drug development.
Education
| Degree | Subjects | University | Qualifying Year |
| Ph .D | Chemistry | Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. | 2002 |
| M.Sc. | Chemistry | Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur. | 1996 |
| B.Sc. | Botany & Chemistry | Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur. | 1994 |
Position Held
| Position Held | Period | Organization |
| Senior Scientist | 06/2010 – Present | CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu |
| Scientist Fellow | 08/2009 – 06/2010 | CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu |
| Senior Research Scientist | 01/2008 – 08/2009 | Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd., Pune. |
| Assistant Professor | 06/2006 – 12/2007 | Indian Institute of Advanced Research, Gandhinagar |
| Postdoctoral Fellow | 12/2002 – 07/2006 | Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
(Advisor: Prof. P. Balaram) |
Area of Expertise
- Peptide Chemistry
Projects
- Bioresource Conservation and Prospection (MMP025302)
- Preclinical Validation of Poly-herbal Formulation for the Management of Bronchial Asthma (SSP250001)
- Synthesis of reference standards and in vitro and in Vivo studies (P.K. studies on the metabolites and long-term metabolites (GAP 3102).
- Role of Conotoxin-Based Peptide Libraries in Neuropathic Pain (GAP 3170).
- Development of b-Hairpin Peptidomimetics and Self Assembled Ultra short Hybrid Peptide Nanostructures as Anti-infective Agents.
- Design and Synthesis of Novel Antimicrobial Peptides under 12th Five Year Plan Network Project “Centre for Biotheurapautic Molecule Discovery Program” funded by CSIR. (Completed).
- Designer peptides based on b-amino acids funded by IIIM under Major Lab projects. (Completed)
- Investigation of the Role of Melanin Co-polymers and Antioxidant Peptides in Skin Biology: A Semi-synthetic Approach Funded by CSIR under EMPOWER Scheme. (Completed)
Publications
| Authors | Title | Journal |
| Chowdhary, R., Rathore, A., Sarkar, A. R., Kumari, J., Manhas, R., Firdous, S., Mahapa, A. & Rai, R. | Antibacterial activity of 2-(4-aminopiperidin-4-yl) acetic acid (β3,3-Pip) and Its peptide conjugated with lauric acid through the side chain against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). | Microbial Pathogenesis, 2025, 107693 |
| Sarkar, A. R., Kumari, J., Rathore, A., Chowdhary, R., Manhas, R., Firdous, S. Mahapa, A. & Rai, R. | Antimicrobial activity of α/β hybrid peptides incorporating tBu-β3,3Ac6c against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. | Journal of Antibiotics, 2024, 1-8. |
| Kantroo, H. A., Mubarak, M. M., Chowdhary, R., Rai, R., & Ahmad, Z. | Antifungal Efficacy of Ultrashort β-Peptides against Candida Species: Mechanistic Understanding and Therapeutic Implications | ACS Infect. Dis., 2024, 10(11), 3736-3743. |
| Rahim, J. U., Faheem, M. M., Nawaz, S., Goswami, A., & Rai, R. | Synthesis and characterization of piperic acid conjugates with homochiral and heterochiral dipeptides containing phenylalanine and their application in skin cancer. | Peptides, 2023, 170, 171113. |
| Chowdhary, R., Mubarak, M. M., Kantroo, H. A., ur Rahim, J., Malik, A., Sarkar, A. R., … & Rai, R. | Synthesis, characterization, and antimicrobial activity of ultra-short cationic β-peptides. | ACS Infect. Dis., 2023, 9(7), 1437-1448. |
| Rahim, J. U., Ahmad, S. M., Amin, T., Chowdhary, R., Goswami, A., & Rai, R. | Synthesis, conformation and cytotoxic activity of short hybrid peptides containing conformationally constrained 1-(aminomethyl) cyclohexanecarboxylic acid and gabapentin. | Peptides, 2022, 158, 170897. |
| Ur Rahim, J., Singh, G., Shankar, S., Katoch, M., & Rai, R. | Tetrahydropiperic acid (THPA) conjugated cationic hybrid dipeptides as antimicrobial agents. | The Journal of Antibiotics, 2021, 74(7), 480-483. |
| Malhotra, K., Shankar, S., Chauhan, N., Rai, R., & Singh, Y. | Design, characterization, and evaluation of antibacterial gels, Boc-D-Phe-γ4-L-Phe-PEA/chitosan and Boc-L-Phe-γ4-L-Phe-PEA/chitosan, for biomaterial-related infections. | Materials Science and Engineering: C, 2020, 110, 110648. |
| Shankar, M. M. Faheem, D. Nayak, N. A. Wani, S. Farooq, S. Koul, A. Goswami, R. Rai. | Cyclodipeptide c(Orn-Pro) Conjugate with 4-Ethylpiperic Acid Abrogates Cancer Cell Metastasis through Modulating MDM2. | Bioconjugate Chemistry 2018, 29,164-175. |
| N. A. Wani, S. Raghothama, U. P. Singh, R. Rai. | C11 /C9 -Helical Folding in αβ Hybrid Peptides Containing 1-Amino-cyclohexane acetic acid (β3, 3 -Ac6 c). | Chem. Eur. J. 2017, 23, 8364-8370. |
| H. Amin, N. A. Wani, S. Farooq, D. Nayak, S. Chakraborty, S. Shankar, R. ur Rasool, S. Koul, A. Goswami, R. Rai. | Inhibition of Invasion in Pancreatic Cancer Cells by Conjugate of EPA with β3,3-Pip-OH via PI3K/Akt/NF-kB Pathway. | ACS Med. Chem. Lett., 2015, 6(10), 1071-1074. |
Patents
| Inventors/ Contributors | Title | Description | Year |
| Rubina Chowdhary, Aminur Rahman Sarkar, Rakshit Manhas, Arti Rathore, Avisek Mahapa, and Zabeer Ahmed and Rajkishor Rai. | Short β/γ-hybrid peptides as potent antimicrobial agents. | Patent Application No: 0059NF2025). | 2025 |
| Rubina Chowdhary, Aminur Rahman Sarkar, Manzoor Ahmed, Gulam Mustafa, Diljeet Kumar, Ramajayan Pandian, Sanket Kumar Shukla, Zabeer Ahmed and Rajkishor Rai | Anticancer properties of a/b-hybrid peptides containing 2-(1-amino-4-(tert-butyl)cyclohexyl) acetic acid (tBu-b3,3-Ac6c), and 1 (aminomethyl)cyclohexane-1-carboxylic acid (b2,2-Ac6c). | Application No IN202411064499. | 2024 |
| Manika Vij, Ritika Grover, Vishwabandhu Gotherwal, Naiem Ahmad Wani, Prashant Joshi, Munia Ganguli, Rajkishor Rai, Vivek Tirunelveli Natrajan, Rajesh Sudhir Gokhale. | Synthetic melanin nanoparticles for skin pigmentation. | NFNO 0218NF2015/IN | 2015 |
Awards and Honours
NIL
Present Students
| Photo | Name | Area of Interest |
 |
Md. Aminur Rahman Sarkar | Biologically active Short Hybrid Peptides, Peptide Foldamers |
 |
Beenish Rashid | Biologically active Short Hybrid Peptides, Peptide Foldamers. |
 |
Faizan Ahmad Magray | Synthesis of Peptides Targeting Neuropathic Pain. |
Past Students
| Photo | Name | Education |
 |
Junaid Ur Rahim | UGC-SRF |
 |
Rubina Chowdhary | CSIR-JRF |
 |
Naiem Ahmad Wani | Postdoctoral Fellow.
Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. |
 |
Dr. Sudha Shankar
DST- INSPIRE |
Postdoctoral Fellow.
Blavatnik Center of Drug Discovery. Tel Aviv University, Israel. |
