Somnath Jana, Ph.D.
Drug Discovery Scientist
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Vanderbilt University/WCNDD Cool Springs Innovation Park
393 Nichol Mill Lane, Suite 100
Franklin, Tennessee - 37067
Somnath Jana (Senior Drug Discovery Scientist) earned his MS degree in 2005 at the IIT, Mumbai, India, under the supervision of Professor Krishna. P. Kaliappan, where he worked on novel synthetic methods for carbasugars. In 2012, he earned his PhD at Oregon State University under the direction of Professor James D. White studying the total synthesis of Providencin, a highly oxygenated diterpene natural product. He then joined the University of Utah to work with Professor Jon D. Rainier as a postdoctoral fellow. There, he was involved in developing new methods to synthesize indoline and benzofuran scaffolds using a Suzuki-Miyaura coupling/oxidative cyclization strategy. In 2014, he moved to Vanderbilt University to join the Molecular Design and Synthesis Core (MDSC) as a staff scientist. In 2025, he joined the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery. He has a broad knowledge and strong background in organic synthesis. At MDSC, he is involved in natural product synthesis like Chrysophaentin A and Isolevuglandin to explore their chemical biology. As a medicinal chemist, he is also actively involved in small molecule drug discovery projects including Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) inhibitors, Taspase-1 inhibitors, Beta-catenin inhibitors, NAPE-PLD activators.