Profile
Dr. Rode has over 15 years of research experience in nucleic acids chemistry, RNA chemical and synthetic biology. Synthetic riboswitches (RNA switches) are regulatory RNA elements engineered to control and fine-tune gene expression in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes and are becoming increasingly significant for biotechnology applications. Currently, his lab works on de novo design and development of RNA switches as tools for synthetic biology applications. In addition, his lab is also interested in investigating the RNA structural-function relationship in bacterial and human non-coding RNAs to target them with small molecules for antibacterial and anticancer therapy. To achieve the above research goals his group uses multidisciplinary techniques that include synthetic organic chemistry, molecular biology, biophysical chemistry etc.
Current Focus Areas
-De novo design and development of RNA switches as synthetic biology tool and their applications. -Development of small molecules to target nucleic acid conformation for antibacterial and anticancer therapy.
Selected Publications
Ojha D. Rode A (2024) Rational development of FMN-based orthogonal riboswitch that functions in response to specific non-cognate ligand, Research Square https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4276382/v1 Gupta P, Khadake R, Mirgane H, Bhosale S, Gupta D, Vrati S, et al. (2023) Targeting G-quadruplex in SARS-CoV-2 RNA Genome with Tetraphenylethene Derivatives for Antiviral Therapy. ChemRxiv. 2023; doi:10.26434/chemrxiv-2023-jsrz0. Satange R, Jin P, Hou MH, Rode AB* (2023). Editorial: Non-canonical nucleic acid structures, functions and their applications for understanding human genetic diseases Front. Genet. 14:1188978. Gupta P, Khadake RM, Panja S, Shinde K, Rode AB* (2022). Alternative RNA Conformations: Companion or Combatant. Genes 13, 1930 Gupta P, Ojha D, Nadimetla DN, Bhosale SV, Rode AB* (2022) Tetraphenylethene Derivatives Modulate the RNA Hairpin-G-quadruplex Conformational Equilibria in Proto-Oncogenes. ChemBioChem, e202200131 Jadhav RW, Wagalgave SM, Kumbhar BV, Khadake RM, Rode AB, Bhosale SV , Bhosale SV*(2022). Aminoglycoside antibiotic kanamycin functionalized tetraphenylethylene molecular probe for highly selective detection of bovine serum albumin protein. Sci Rep., 11526 Pandey M, Ojha D, Bansal S, Rode AB*, Chawla G* (2021)From bench side to clinic: Potential and challenges of RNA vaccines and therapeutics in infectious diseases. Molecular Aspects of Medicine,101003 Harale B, Kidwai S, Ojha D, Singh M, Chouhan D, Singh R, Khedkar V, Rode AB* (2021) Synthesis and evaluation of antimycobacterial activity of riboflavin derivatives. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 48, 128236.