Dharmeshkumar Patel, PhD, MPharm

Biography

Dharmeshkumar Patel, PhD, MPharm, is an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Patel is a molecular modeler and computational chemist in the Emory Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology.

Dr. Patel is a member of the Discovery and Developmental Therapeutics Research Program at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University.

Education

Dr. Patel earned his PhD in Computational Biophysics from University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia. He holds a Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) in Medicinal Chemistry from Institute of Chemical Technology, University of Mumbai in Mumbai, India. He completed his postdoctoral training at University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho.

Titles & Roles

• Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics

  Emory University School of Medicine

Research

Dr. Patel employs a range of molecular modeling techniques in the field of drug discovery. These include virtual screening, molecular docking, pharmacophore mapping, structure-based drug design and predicting the binding affinity of small molecules. Additionally, he possesses expertise in analyzing protein structures, homology modeling, predicting protein-protein interactions and identifying drug resistance mutations. Dr. Patel is well-versed in assessing the ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion) properties and toxicity of drug-like molecules. His proficiency extends to conducting molecular dynamics simulations using enhanced sampling techniques such as umbrella sampling, metadynamics and ABF simulations. These simulations are instrumental in calculating free energy profiles for drug-like molecules. Furthermore, Dr. Patel has experience in determining the three-dimensional structures of biomolecules through nuclear magnetic resonance.

Publications