Prabhat Arya, PhD

Founder and President, SignMod

After spending more than 22 years of his academic career at the National Research Council of Canada (Ottawa), Prabhat moved back to India (in 2009) to establish a Chemical Biology Program. He has written several leading articles on the need to going beyond the conventional chemical space for enhancing the chances of handling challenging targets considered “undruggable” at present. After completing his academic tenure (July 2009- June, 2018) as the Distinguished Research Professor, Dr. Reddy's Inst of Life Sciences (Univ of Hyd Campus), he started this biotech (July 1, 2018-), harnessing more than 3 decades of his work in the domain of building a natural product-inspired, macrocyclic toolbox for challenging “undruggable” targets. During his Canada days, he was also an Adjunct Professor, Chemistry Dept (Univ of Ottawa), Biochem (McGill), Affiliate Investigator, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) and Member, Ottawa Institute of Systems Biology. Prabhat grew-up on the Univ of Delhi campus where he received his post-secondary education (BSc Hons, MSc, MPhil, PhD, 1974-85); pursued his post-doctoral tenures (1985-89) with Professors Robert Corriu (late) (France), Ian Paterson, FRS (Cambridge University) and Bill Chan (McGill). He has published 105 articles, gave 165 invited lectures, and trained 55 Post-doctoral fellows and 12 PhD students.

Arvindh Shanmugam, PhD

Chief Operating Officer and Director, SignMod

Arvindh Shanmugam is currently involved with SignMod Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd, a novel innovative biotech company working at the interface of Organic Chemistry and Disease Biology. The company is poised to strike deals with several leading pharmaceutical companies in the near future. Previously from November 2015 to September 2017, Arvindh served Startup Accelerator India, Visakhapatnam as the Director of Operations. Arvindh, as the Founder Consultant of Akasha Consultancy, from November 2013 to November 2015 has been involved with Govin Academy, Singapore in building relationships with right-minded individuals and institutions to create a sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem (Biotechnology & Bio-medical Equipment) in the country for improving the nation’s economy. Currently, a member of Institutional Ethical Committee of Chennai Meenakshi Multispecialty Hospital, Chennai & Board of Studies of Women’s Christian College, Chennai. Arvindh served Ramachandra Innovis, a research commercial wing of Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre, Chennai as General Manager (R&D) and was responsible for the overall functioning of the SBU in its day to day activities as well as actively involved in its ambitious program to become a leading IP based Contract / Clinical Research Organization.

Rajamohan Reddy Poondra, PhD

Medicinal and Process Chemistry Leader and Director, SignMod

Raj (Rajamohan Reddy Poondra) has broad medicinal chemistry experience across a variety of therapeutic areas including metabolic disorders, cancer, infectious disease, and inflammation. His scientific interests include development of functional small molecules, creation of strategic research collaborations and evaluation of novel technologies for drug discovery, with a particular focus on high-throughput chemistry and library generation. Raj establishes and manages strategic R&D alliances with international pharma, biotech, and academic institutions. He builds scientific relationships with new potential clients and partners in the USA, Canada & Europe.

He is cofounder of SignMod and is responsible for medicinal chemistry operations at SignMod. In his role he drives innovation & development strategy to further consolidate the company’s position as a leading provider for innovative medicinal chemistry solutions.

Previously, Raj held senior research positions at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd., and he holds a PhD in organic chemistry from The University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. Overall, he has more than 20 years of experience in the life science industry, with hands-on laboratory experience and profound medicinal chemistry expertise in diversified therapeutic areas. Raj is co-author of numerous high impact scientific publications and co-inventor of patents in the areas of medicinal chemistry and drug discovery.