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College of Science and Mathematics

Santanu Maitra

Professor

Chemistry and Biochemistry | 559-278-2961 | Office: Science 1 Room 246

smaitra@csufresno.edu

Education

Ph.D., University of Nevada, Reno

Courses Taught

  • Chem 8
  • Chem 128A/B
  • Chem 129A/B
  • Chem 150
  • Chem 160H
  • Chem 165SH
  • Chem 180H
  • Chem 230
  • Chem 240T
  • Chem 260
  • Chem 280
Dr. Maitra joined the department of Chemistry at Fresno State University in the fall of 2008 after spending about 9 years in pharmaceutical industry. His research areas comprise medicinal, agricultural, and bioorganic chemistry.
Areas of Specialty
The primary research focus has been in the areas of Alzheimer’s disease drug discovery and development of pest repellent. These collaborative projects evolved from ground zero in the hands of aspiring undergraduate and graduate students at Fresno State. The Alzheimer’s drug discovery research has yielded promising lead compounds based on in vitro and in vivo results earning several patents and publications. The research team’s hypothesis to modulate three proteins including apolipoprotein E (apoE) is novel, high-risk, and had been controversial. Currently the team is working hard to reveal the biological mechanism of action (MOA), initiate extensive in vivo studies, publish, and secure funding.

The unassuming agricultural project that at first had aimed solely at the ‘3-D shape analyses’ of analogs of DEET – a quintessential mosquito repellent, has surprised the collaborative team more than once. Conformational analysis using variable-temperature (VT) and 2D NMR techniques revealed amide bond rotational secrets never known before. Recent studies have validated entropy-enthalpy compensation (EEC) process in a focused library of DEET analogs that awaits publishing. The team has also stumbled upon rather bizarre effects of magnetism on a handful of analogs. A more beneficial aspect of this project has been the discovery of two significant compounds that repel a major pest in the US – Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD). Research and search for finding are ongoing.
The research team has initiated a new and exploratory project to search for potent, safe, and inexpensive antifungal agents. The current arsenal is inadequate, non-specific, and have appreciable side effects. Several fungal diseases, such as, Valley fever are often ignored, misdiagnosed, and mistreated. The antifungal research team has been working hard and diligently to sift through the background to learn deeper and wider about fungal diseases and their medications. This research has been critical in fine-tuning the design aspect of the focused library of molecules our team wishes to produce as antifungal agents. Prof. Alija Mujic in the department of Biology is the collaborator for this project and has been generously training our research group on performing the fungal assay with our molecule library.

The Maitra group has been fortunate to have a plethora of incredibly gifted, talented, and modest young students. Many of them chose professional schools, industry, or graduate school as their next stop. A great number of them have returned to the valley – a few of them even chose to return ‘home’ as lecturers in our chemistry department.

We wish to continue our journey toward simple, innovative, and novel research that can help human beings live a better life.
Research

We have been working on (1) Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery, (2) Agricultural Pest Repellent Development, & (3) Antifungal Drug Exploration using simple synthetic organic chemistry as a tool. Unfortunately, we are now forced to learn & apply basic cell biology to screen our focused molecular libraries!

Publications

 * Guerra, J.; Bajwa, B.; Kumar, P.; Vazquez, S.; Krishnan, V. V.; Maitra, S. “Validation of Enthalpy-Entropy Compensation Mechanism in Partial Amide Bond Rotation” ACS Omega 2020, 5, 9348 – 9355.

* Maitra, S. and Maitra, K. “Chemistry of Bioproducts”, In: Practices and Perspectives in Sustainable Bioenergy:A Systems Thinking Approach, Madhumi Mitra, Abhijit Nagchaudhuri, Eds.; Springer India, New Delhi, 2020; Chapter 11. (E copy: https://www.springer.com/in/book/9788132239635)

* Krishnan, V. V.; Vazquez, S.; Maitra, K.; Maitra, S. “Restricted amide rotation with steric hindrance induced multiple conformations” Chem. Phys. Lett. 2017, 689, 148-151.

* Schott, J. T.; Mordaunt, C. E.; Vargas, A. J.; Leon, M. L.; Chen, K. H.; Singh, M.; Satoh, M.; Cardenas, E. L.; Maitra, S.; Patel, N. V.; de Lijser, P. H. J. “Effects of structural and electronic characteristics of chalcones on the activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARg)” Chem. Pharm. Bull. 2013, 61, 229-236.

* Singh, M.; Schott, J. T.; Leon, M. L.; Granata, R. T.; Dhah, H. K.; Welles, J. A.; Boyce, M. A.; Oseni-Olalemi, H. S.; Mordaunt, C. E.; Vargas, A. J.; Patel, N. V., Maitra, S. “Design, synthesis and identification of a new class of triarymethyl amine compounds as inhibitors of apolipoprotein E production” Bioorg. & Med. Chem. Lett. 2012, 22, 6252-6255.

* Krishnan, V. V.; Thompson, W. B.; Goto, J. J.; Maitra, K.; Maitra, S. “Modulations in restricted amide rotation by steric induced conformational trapping” Chem. Phys. Lett. 2012, 523, 124-127.

Patents

* Maitra, S. and Kim, J. “Method of inhibiting apolipoprotein-e expression while increasing expression of at least one of ldl-receptor protein or abca1 protein comprising administering a small compound”, U.S. Pat. No. 10,214,502 B2, issued February 26, 2019.

* Maitra, S. and Patel, N. V. “Method of inhibiting apolipoprotein-e expression comprising administering a triarylmentyl amine compound” U.S. Pat. No. 8,871,507 B1, issued October 28, 2014.

* Maitra, S. and Patel, N. V. “Method of inhibiting apolipoprotein-e expression comprising administering a triarylmentyl amine compound” U.S. Pat. No. 8,633,195 B1, issued January 21, 2014.

Grants

* RUI: Mechanistic and Kinetic Studies of the Atmospheric Chemistry of Isoprene and its First-Generation Products. (2010-13) Funded by: National Science Foundation ($251,000) Role: Co-PI.

* SuRE R16GM145547 grant for “Targeting AbcA1 and Ldlr production for the Discovery of Alzheimer’s disease Drugs” from NIH NIGMS - $558,847.00 Role: PI (2022).