Sanchez-Delgado Group: Group members  

The Sánchez-Delgado Research Group at Brooklyn College

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Current Group Members

Flavia Barragán PhD
Postdoctoral Research Associate

Dr. Flavia Barragán studied Chemistry at University of La Rioja (Spain) where she obtained her BS in Chemistry in 2004. Right after that she joined Prof. Mª Helena Garcia at University of Lisbon (Portugal) and started her research in the field of Organometallic Chemistry with medicinal applications. In 2006, she moved to Barcelona to work with Prof. Virtudes Moreno on the field of Medicinal Inorganic Chemistry involving the synthesis of new metal-based anticancer drugs. She received her PhD in 2011 at University of Barcelona and subsequently joined Prof. Roberto Sanchez-Delgado’s group at Brooklyn College as a postdoctoral research associate. Her recent research is focused on malaria and other tropical diseases, with an emphasis on developing organometallic hybrids with multiple effects that may overcome drug resistance.

Minfeng Fang PhD
Postdoctoral Research Associate

Minfeng Fang was born and grew up in the southeast of China. He went up north to the capital Beijing and received his B.S. degree in chemistry from Peking University. He then came across the Pacific Ocean to America joining Professor Sánchez-Delgado’s group and has worked in the catalysis project on the development of novel high-performance nanostructured catalyst materials for hydrogenation of aromatics (mono-/polycyclic arenes, N-/S-heteroaromatcis) of relevance to the manufacture of cleaner fuels. He has demonstrated for the first time a unique ionic hydrogenation pathway on solid catalyst surfaces and has developed a highly active and versatile catalyst for aromatics hydrogenation superior to other known supported noble metal catalysts. His published work in 2011 was highlighted as a Hot Article by Royal Society of Chemistry.

Qunsheng Guo PhD
Postdoctoral Research Associate

Dr. Qunsheng Guo obtained his PhD  under the supervision of  Prof. Jin-Shan Li  from Nankai University, China in the field of asymmetric catalysis. Dr. Guo did his early postdoctoral research in organometallic chemistry and organocatalysis at Tokyo University and  at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Dr. Guo joined Prof. Sánchez-Delgado's research group in November 2012. His primary research focus is on design and synthesis of  tetraoxane-based novel compounds with anti-parasitic activitiy.

Dipankar Roy PhD
Postdoctoral Research Associate

After obtaining my PhD from Indian Institute of Technology  Mumbai, India, and first postdoctoral stay at Hunter College with Prof. Joseph J Dannenberg, I have joined Prof. Sanchez-Delgado's research group. My primary research focus is on understanding the mechanism of drug resistance in plasmodial parasite using computational and theoretical methods.

Reena Rahi
Graduate Student

Reena received her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Hunter College, CUNY in 2007. She joined Prof. Sánchez-Delgado’s group in 2009 and is currently working on the catalysis project to develop nanostructured materials for the hydrogenation of aromatics, N-heteroaromatics, and S-heteroaromatics to improve the quality of fossil fuels and biodiesel.

Jesus Estrada
Research Assistant

Jesus recently graduated from Brooklyn College with an M.S. in chemistry. He is currently working on the syntheses of novel compounds with potential antimalarial properties targeting both the inhibition of heme aggregation and Plasmodium falciparum dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (PfDHODH). Further analyses of these compounds are done via the determination of chemical properties (-logP, pKa, binding affinities to hematin, HAIR) both experimentally and theoretically.

RiCheng Li
Research Assistant

Ri Cheng has received B.S. Degree in Chemistry from  Brooklyn College (CUNY) in 2012. He joined the research group of Prof. Sanchez-Delgado in 2011. His research focuses on studying new aminoquinoline drugs active against resistant malaria parasite. The work involves modeling interactions of drug candidates with parasite proteins.

Milana Sapozhnikov

Undergraduate Student

 

Milana is a Pre-Med student in Macaulay Honors College of CUNY at Brooklyn College. She is in her sophomore year and aims to further her education in medical school. Her research work currently focuses on studying the physical-chemical properties of new compounds with potential biological activity synthesized in the lab.

Victoria Medialdea
Research Technician

Victoria Medialdea obtained her B.Sc./M.Sc. degree in Biology/Animal Ecology From Universidad Central de Venezuela in 1991 and a Diploma in Management Studies from The Institute for Advanced Studies in Administration (Caracas) in 1996.  Since 1994 she worked as an executive at QUIMBIOTEC, the biotech company of the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC), until 2004 when she moved to New York. Currently, she is an adjunct lecturer in the Chemistry and Biology Departments of Brooklyn College and the Chemistry Department of New York City College of Technology, and a part-time Research Technician in Sanchez-Delgado’s group.


Former Group Members

Alberto Martinez

Alberto Martínez received his BSc from the University of Barcelona, Spain, where he was awarded his Masters and doctorate degree in 2001 and 2005, respectively, under the supervision of Professor Virtudes Moreno. From 2006-2012 he joined Professor Sánchez-Delgado's research group at Brooklyn College, as a Postdoctoral Research Associate, and Professor Nicholas Farrell's group at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond (2010-1011). In 2012, Dr. Alberto Martinez became Assistant Professor of Chemistry at NYC College of Technology, also part of CUNY, from where he continues collaborating with Professor Sánchez-Delgado. His research in the group focused on medicinal chemistry with applications on Malaria and Cancer, and he is currently investigating the role that metal ions play in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

Antonio Sanchez

Antonio Sánchez studied chemistry at the University of Zaragoza (Spain) completing his Bachelor’s degree in the year 2005. He received his Ph.D. with “magna cum laude” honors (2010) under the supervision of Prof. Daniel Carmona and Prof. Luis A. Oro in the field of asymmetric homogeneous catalysis, joining next Prof. Roberto Sanchez-Delgado’s group at Brooklyn College - City University of New York where he stayed as a postdoctoral research associate from March-2010 to February-2013, working on heterogeneous catalysis based on supported metal nanoparticles as well as the development of organometallic analogues for mechanistic studies. He is currently R&D chemist at AirLiquide-Voltaix in New Jersy.

Tiffany Shand

Tiffany received her bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Brooklyn College, CUNY in 2010. She joined Professor Sánchez-Delgado's group in 2009. Her research focused on studying studying the interactions of arene Ru(II) chloroquine complexes of known antimalarial and anti-tumor properties with albumin and transferrin. She then went on to become a post-bac student at the Mayo Clinic, dissecting the signaling requirements for the generation of Large Granular T Lymphocytes (T-LGL) and their progression to LGL Leulemia (T-LGLL). She started graduate school in the Biomedical Science Graduate Program at the University of Virginia in Fall-2013.

Nataliya Machalba

Nataliya did research first as a high school student and later as an undergraduate synthesizing solid-state catalysts for the hydrogenation of nitrogen- and sulfur-containing aromatic compounds, and testing their activity in hydrogenation reactions.  Nataliya graduated from City College with a BE in Chemical Engineering (2012).

Dalanda M. Diallo

Dalanda graduated from Brooklyn College Honors Academy in 2009 with bachelor’s degrees in Chemistry and Biology. While at Brooklyn College she participated in Dr. Roberto Sanchez-Delgado’s laboratory from 2007 until 2009 as an undergraduate student. Her research interests were centered around the antimalarial activities of Ru-CQ complexes against resistant species of P. falciparum and Ru-KTZ complexes as potential anti-tumor agents. Work in these areas resulted in a publication in 2009 and she was awarded the Jonas E. Salk Scholarship upon graduation. Dalanda is currently a third year medical student at SUNY-Upstate Medical Univeristy and looking forward to pursue a career in Radiology.

Atif Ahmed

Atif Ahmed was part of the group since June 2011 till his graduation on February-2013. His research interests focused on the hydrogenation of aromatic, N-, and S-heteroaromatic compounds contained in fossil fuels, using supported metal nanoparticle catalysts. He has also investigated hydrogenation to improve the quality of biodiesel. Atif is currently a flavor chemist apprentice at Virginia Dare, a Brooklyn based flavor and extract company.

Dimitriy Vovchok
C-SURP Research Fellow

Dimitriy was a member of Sanchez-Delgado's research group from summer 2012, when he joined as a part of the C-SURP research fellowship, until his graduation in 2013. His research was on the design and characterization of ruthenium based catalysts supported on carbon nanotubes, and testing their activity for hydrogenation of (hetero)-aromatics under mild pressure and temperature. He is currently pursuing graduate studies in Chemistry at SUNY, Stony Brook. 

Cyril Abraham
Undergraduate Student

Cyril is currently a junior at Brooklyn College and the Macaulay Honors College pursuing a BS in Chemistry. His research aims at understanding the mechanism of antiparasitic action of Ru-clotrimazole complexes.

Maryna Lisai

Maryna Graduated from Brooklyn College with an MA in Chemistry in 2011. She worked in Prof. Sanchez-Delgado's group from the summer of 2010 until the summer of 2011. Her research was focused on the synthesis and characterization of new  4-aminoquinolines with antimalarial properties. She is currently working as a Research Scientist II in Analytical Development at Albany Molecular Research Incorporation, Albany NY.

Oscar Abramovich

 

Oscar is a Pre-Med student at the Macaulay Honors College of CUNY at Brooklyn College. He worked in the research group of Prof. Sanchez-Delgado during the Summer-2013 on synthesis of hybrid molecules containing tetroxane moiety.

Lotta Glans

Lotta Glans completed her undergraduate chemistry studies at University College London (UCL) and Lund University, Sweden. As a PhD student in Inorganic Chemistry at Lund University, her research focused on synthesis of organometallic analogues of the antimalarial drug chloroquine, and she received her doctorate degree in 2012. During her PhD, she collaborated with the Sanchez-Delgado group and visited Brooklyn College for two three-month periods in 2008 and 2010.
Lotta is currently working at the European Chemicals Agency, the European Union’s regulatory authority for chemicals, in Helsinki, Finland.

Chandima S. K. Rajapakse

After graduating in chemistry from University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka, Chandima was the first graduate student to join our (then new) group at Brooklyn College in 2004. She worked on the synthesis and evaluation of ruthenium-chloroquine complexes with antimalarial and anticancer properties and obtained her Ph.D. degree in 2010. She then returned to her native country where she is currently Senior Lecturer at the Chemistry Department of the University of Kelaniya.

Nkechia Ng-a-qui

Nkechia was a RISE and MARC undergraduate Scholar in our group from 2005 to 2007, working on nanostructured Ru/poly(4-vinylpyridine) catalysts for aromatic hydrogenation. She currently is Science Department Leader and chemistry teacher at the Young Women Leadership School of Brooklyn.


Avri Bohm

Avri worked in our lab as an undergraduate student from the summer of 2009 until 2011, focusing on studying the interactions of ruthenium complexes of known biological activity with serum proteins by spectroscopic measurements. He is currently pursuing medical studies at SUNY Downstate Medical School.

Angel Luis Serrano

Angel Luis Serrano obtained his B.Sc. in Chemistry in 2006, and his PhD in 2013 from the University of Zaragoza (ISQCH - CSIC, Spain) under the supervision of Dr. Cristina Tejel and Dr. Miguel A. Casado. His work focused on the development of rhodium and iridium organometallic complexes bearing new hybrid scorpionate ligands, and their applications in the activation of small molecules. In 2010, he spent 3 months in Sánchez-Delgado's group in Brooklyn College, as part of his PhD training.

William Castro

William Castro studied chemistry at Universidad Central de Venezuela (Caracas), completing his Licenciado degree in chemistry in the year 2005. He received his PhD in Chemistry in 2010 supervised by Prof. M. Navarro at the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC). Between March-August 2009, he conducted a research internship in Professor Sánchez-Delgado's laboratory at Brooklyn College, as part of his Ph.D. Thesis. Currently, he is a Researcher in the Bioinorganic Chemistry Laboratory at IVIC. His current research involves the design of metal complexes to interact specifically with thioredoxin reductase and the synthesis of new metal complexes of N-heterocyclic carbene and phosphole ligands with possible antimalarial and anticancer activity.

Becky Naoulou

Becky Naoulou was an undergraduate student in the group between 2005 and her graduation in 2008. Her research was focused on the synthesis and evaluation of ruthenium-chloroquine complexes as antimalarial agents. She received a Salk Award to pursue medical studies at NYU, where she obtained her M.D. Degree in 2012.

Cula N. Dautriche

Cula joined Prof. Sanchez-Delgado's laboratory at the end of her freshman year in 2005 as a MARC scholar. She was inviolved in the project addressing chloroquine resistant malaria until she left the lab in 2008, upon receiving a B.A. in Chemistry and a B.S. in Biology from CUNY-Brooklyn College. She is currently an MD/Ph.D candidate in Medicine and Nanoscience at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering of the University at Albany (CNSE) and SUNY Downstate College of Medicine.

Bola Aladegbami

Bola Aladegbami was the first student to join the group in 2005. He helped a great deal to set up the (then new) lab and worked on the synthesis of metal complexes of isoniazid as potential anti-tubercular agents, graduating with a chemistry major in 2008. He then proceeded to medical school at Stony Brook and obtained his M.D. Degree in 2012. Currently he is in the General Surgery Residence Program at Washington University in St. Louis