Vipul Navinchandra Panchal

I am a molecular and structure biologist by training. After receiving my Ph.D. in 2018 from the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB), India I joined Prof. Ruth Brenk at the University of Bergen, Norway. Here, my research focuses on evaluating the drug therapeutic potential of regulatory RNA elements of mRNA in bacteria. As the drug therapeutic potential of RNA elements has just begun to realize, there is a need to develop RNA-focused assays that could facilitate their assessment as a potential drug target. This has a larger implication in terms of expanding the existing tiny "druggable landscape". 

With this in focus, my current research focuses on exploring the potential of thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP) riboswitch as a novel class of antibacterial drug target. Riboswitches are structured noncoding RNA elements, residing in the 5'-untranslated region of the mRNA and regulate the expression of the immediate downstream genes (cis-mode of action) in a ligand-dependent manner. As the TPP riboswitch is absent in humans and prevalent across bacteria, identifying a drug-like compound specific to it could lead to a novel drug target. Towards this, I have already developed a novel dual molecular reporter assay and carried out high-throughput screening (HTS).

We are currently working on to establish a structure-activity relationship for verified hits from the HTS. Meanwhile, I am also working on virtual HTS against TPP riboswitch. With this comprehensive approach, I expect to deliver potent drug-like compounds targeting the TPP riboswitch.