- Structure-guided drug design and multistep synthesis of small molecules
- New synthetic route design/optimization for drug discovery
- Ubiquitin biology, epigenetics and nuclear receptor modulators
- Hit-to-lead, and lead optimization for cancer, neglected, and metabolic diseases
- Pharmacy education-Integrating practice and active learning/teaching
Taraman Kadayat, BS Pharm, MS, PhD
Post-Doctoral Scholar
Taraman Kadayat is a postdoctoral scholar working with Dr. Kip Guy. He obtained his B. Pharm. (2009) with a Dean's award from Pokhara University, Nepal, where he started his first research work on herbal medicines and submitted a thesis on the use of complementary and alternative medicines.
He received an M.S. (2013) and a Ph.D. (2016) in Medicinal Chemistry from the Yeungnam University College of Pharmacy, South Korea, under the supervision of Prof. Eung-Seok Lee. His doctoral work focused on the design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of heterocyclic small molecules as topoisomerase-targeted anticancer agents. From 2016 to 2021, he worked as a drug discovery chemist at the New Drug Development Center DGMIF, K-MEDIhub, a national drug research and development company in Korea, where he refined his skills in structure-guided drug design, multistep synthesis, structure-activity relationships, and pharmacokinetic studies of topoisomerase, epigenetics (HDAC, NSD) inhibitors, and nuclear receptor (ERRg and PPARd) modulators. He completed NRF Korea's Early Career Research Grant (2018-2021) entitled 'Development of histone lysine methyltransferase NSD2 inhibitors using docking-based virtual screening' supported by the Ministry of Education-Korea. He published over 40 scientific papers and presented work in several meetings, including the ACS Meeting, Asian Medi Chem, IUPAC World Chemistry Congress, KCS Meeting, ACS Medi Chem, and Medi Chem Gordon Research Seminar/Conference.
He is the recipient of multiple awards, including the Pokhara University Merit Scholarship, the Dean's Award, the Dr. Hirotoshi Fushimi Award and the Korean Government Scholarship (KGSP) for his academic excellence, and the Dr. Katsuko Komatsu Award (2010), Gordon Research Seminar (Medi Chem) Travel Award, NRF-Korea Independent Research Grant (2018-2021), 2020 KRF Postdoctoral Fellowship for scientific excellence. His primary research interests include discovering small molecules targeting cancer and neglected diseases.
Expertise
We wish to remember and honor those who inhabited this Commonwealth before the arrival of the Europeans. Briefly occupying these lands were the Osage, Wyndott tribe, and Miami peoples. The Adena and Hopewell peoples, who are recognized by the naming of the time period in which they resided here, were here more permanently. Some of their mounds remain in the Lexington area, including at UK’s Adena Park.
In more recent years, the Cherokee occupied southeast Kentucky, the Yuchi southwest Kentucky, the Chickasaw extreme western Kentucky and the Shawnee central Kentucky including what is now the city of Lexington. The Shawnee left when colonization pushed through the Appalachian Mountains. Lower Shawnee Town ceremonial grounds are still visible in Greenup County.
We honor the first inhabitants who were here, respect their culture, and acknowledge the presence of their descendants who are here today in all walks of life including fellow pharmacists and healthcare professionals.