Ref.lr. Bharat

Prof. P. Reddanna

Tel: +91-040-23010745 (O)

Eicosanoids, Inflammation & Cancer Research Group Department of Animal Sciences School of Life Sciences University of Hyderabad Hyderabad-500 046, INDIA

Fax: +91-040-23010120 E-mail: [email protected] [email protected]

UNIVERSITY OF HYDERABAD To whom it may concern

02-12-09

This letter is written in support of the application of Mr.D.Bharat Kumar Reddy for funding under CDMRP's Breast Cancer Research Program. Mr.Bharat joined my lab for PhD after qualifying in a nation-wide entrance test conducted by CSIR and UGC. Initially he was responsible for the development of assay methods for cyclooxygenases (COXs) and lipoxygenases (LOXs) compatible for ELISA and HTS. Employing these methods thousands of compounds have been screened for identifying specific COX and LOX inhibitors from natural and synthetic sources. As part of this program he identified a natural antioxidant from Terminalia chebula with COX-2/5-LOX dual inhibitor activities. The compound was isolated and characterized by LC-MS, MALDI-TOF, IR, NMR studies. This well characterized compound was shown to exhibit anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activities in vitro and in vivo. These findings were published in reputed international journals and also a patent has been filed. Mr. Bharat is well trained in basic biochemical, molecular biology, chromatographic and cell culture techniques. He is exposed to the entire spectrum of pre-clinical drug discovery. He is extremely good in planning and execution of laboratory experiments, data analysis and manuscript writing. He has good written and communication skills in English. Mr. Bharat is a sincere student and highly motivated to pursue academic research. I really enjoyed working with him all these days. With his background and expertise in antiinflammatory and anti-cancer drug discovery, Mr.Bharat will be able to handle the project on breast cancer successfully. I strongly recommend the proposal of Dr.Bharat for funding under CDMRP's Breast Cancer Research Program.

(Prof.P.Reddanna)