Biography

Anu Dalal is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Early Translation Branch (ETB) within NCATS’ Division of Preclinical Innovation. She develops small-molecule-attractive chemical leads for eventual use as therapeutics or tools to study and modulate biological targets, which may lead to new treatments for various diseases, including rare and neglected diseases. She also is engaged in developing next-generation synthetic methodologies, medicinal chemistry and hands-on peptide synthesis.

Before joining NCATS, Dalal worked as an early doctoral fellow at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, India, where she participated in multiple projects based on computer-aided drug design focused on structure- and ligand-based research. Her doctoral research focused on the asymmetric synthesis of bioactive natural products and included further in silico studies to potentially speed the rate of discovery. Dalal also served as a research fellow at the National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Sciences (Delhi, India), where she conducted qualitative and quantitative studies of organic explosives from post-blast debris by nuclear magnetic resonance. She was also a fellow in the Taiwan International Graduate Program at Academia Sinica (Taipei, Taiwan), where she synthesized folate-polyethylene glycol conjugated fluorescent probes for diagnosing carcinomas specifically to folate receptor–expressing tumors. She is an alumna of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry Postgraduate Summer School, and she served as a Humanitarian Affairs Peace Ambassador in 2020.

Dalal earned her Bachelor’s degree (with honors) in chemistry from Hansraj College, University of Delhi. She earned her Master’s degree in organic chemistry from IIT Roorkee and her doctorate in organic synthesis from IIT Delhi.

Research Topics

Dalal currently is engaged in ETB projects supported by the Helping to End Addiction Long-term® Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative®, including glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII), natriuretic peptide receptor 1 (NPR1) and modulators of endoplasmic reticulum dislocation.