 | Dr. Ashok Amonkar Msc (Chemistry); PhD (Medicinal Chemistry) Title: Honorary Academic Director- Medical Research Centre-Kasturba Health Society Other Affiliations: Fellow- National Institute of Health (USA) Elected Member- Maharashtra Academy of Sciences (FMAS) ajamonkar@gmail.com |
| Dr. Ashok Amonkar is MSc in Chemistry from Ruparel College- Mumbai and PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from IIT- Mumbai. Subsequently, as a post-doctoral NIH fellow under Prof. John M. Cassady at Purdue University (USA) he worked on isolation and characterization of molecules from medicinal plants for anti-cancer activity. As head of Chemotherapy Department of Cancer Research Institute (Tata Memorial Centre) he has 28 years’ experience in the isolation of bioactive molecules from medicinal plants. He has isolated and screened molecules from plants like betel leaf, Podophyllum emodi, Curcuma longa and Phyllanthus emblica for anti-cancer activity. Podophyllo toxin, a molecule from P. emodi yielded a number of congeners which showed anti-cancer activity towards carcinomas. He also isolated and synthesized for the first time Hydroxychavicol, a potent chemopreventive phenolic compound from beetle leaf. He was involved in the development of National Facility for in vitro testing using a panel of twenty human malignant cell lines and in vivo drug testing in murine tumors as well as human xenografts of colon, breast and lung in nude mice. With the MRC-KHS team he has contributed in various research programmes like type 2 diabetes mellitus, curcuma longa for cervical precancerous conditions and developing natural antimalerials. Currently he is Academic Director at MRC-KHS. He has 48 original publications in reputed journals, two patents as well as a book chapter in Basic & Clinical Prospective in alternate and complimentary therapies for cancer. |