Pharmacology and Chemical Biology

Thota Ganesh is an Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Ganesh received a Bachelor of Science, a Master of Science in biology and chemistry, and, then a PhD in Organic Chemistry from Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. He conducted postdoctoral studies with Dr. Patrick G. Steel at the University of Durham in the UK, and Dr. David G.I. Kingston at Virginia Tech, USA. Dr. Ganesh's long-standing research interests are to discover and develop therapeutic agents (Medicines) for neurodegenerative diseases such as epilepsy, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

 

Dr. Ganesh has received substantial funding for his research from the National Institutes of Health (NIH branches NIA and NINDS), and the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) to conduct research in Epilepsy, AD, and TBI. Dr. Ganesh received a Scientific Achievement Award in drug discovery and development for the year 2023, from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET). Dr. Ganesh co-founded a biotech company named Pyrefin, Inc., to develop treatments for inflammatory brain conditions. Dr. Ganesh is an author/co-author of well over 75 research articles published in a variety of peer-reviewed biomedical journals with a current web of science h-index = 26. Dr. Ganesh also created a non-profit organization, Thota Foundation to support economically backward schoolchildren and schools in rural districts of INDIA.

In recent years, Ganesh's lab has created several small organic molecules to unravel the functions of inflammatory PGE₂ receptor EP2, and oxidative-stress enzyme NADPH oxidase-2 (NOX2) in the brain.