Amit Kumar Sharma, PhD

During PhD, his efforts have been dedicated towards the development of different HER2-targeting peptides for both molecular imaging and therapeutic purposes in breast cancer. He has expertise in solid-phase synthesis of peptides (SPPS) using a manual approach with the Fmoc protocol. He has successfully synthesized the HER2-targeting A9 peptide along with its diverse analogs. He has explored different modifications to enhance the peptide's properties. This includes the incorporation of a polyethylene glycol (PEG) moiety, on-resin cyclization through click chemistry, substitution of L-amino acids with D-amino acids, and even sequence reversal to create a retro peptide. Additionally, he possess valuable experience in synthesizing cell-penetrating peptides, peptide-porphyrin conjugates, and peptide-drug conjugates. He has performed purification of peptides by semi-preparative HPLC and characterized them through MALDI spectrometry. Furthermore, he has acquired expertise in eluting Ge-68/Ga-68 generators and preparing Ga-68 and Lu-177 radiopharmaceuticals. Thus, he has the capability of handling radioisotopes and radiolabeled compounds. He also has experience of performing in vitro cellular experiments in different cancer cells and in vivo experiments in tumor bearing animal models (SCID/nude mice).