Krishna K. Sharma, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor (Organic & Medicinal Chemistry)
- sharmakk@etsu.edu
- 423-439-6910
- 460 Brown Hall
Note: Currently recruiting graduate, integrated B.S.-M.S., and undergraduate students. Interested students are encouraged to email along with CV. Summer fellowship opportunities are available.
Current ETSU students: Feel free to visit our lab to learn more about our ongoing research. If you would like to discuss potential opportunities in more detail, please feel free to email me with your CV to schedule a meeting.
Prospective visiting researchers and scholars: Candidates interested in international exchange/visiting scholar programs, postdoctoral fellowship programs, or doctoral student exchange opportunities are encouraged to contract me by emai.
Education and Training
| Years | Degree/Role | Institution |
| 2010 | B.S. (Pharmaceutical Science) | Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University |
| 2012 | M.S. (Medicinal Chemistry) | National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), S.A.S. Nagar |
| 2017 | Ph.D. (Medicinal Chemistry) | National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), S.A.S. Nagar |
| 2017-2019 | Post-Doctoral Researcher | University of Kansas |
| 2019-2021 | Post-Doctoral Researcher | Ohio State University |
| 2021-2026 | Senior Research Scientist | Iowa State University |
Short Bio
Dr. Krishna K. Sharma joined East Tennessee State University (ETSU) in Spring 2026 as an Assistant Professor. He received M.S. (Pharm.) and PhD degrees from the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali, India. He did postdoctoral research at the School of Pharmacy at the University of Kansas and the College of Pharmacy at the Ohio State University. Prior to joining ETSU, he worked as a Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Chemistry at Iowa State University.
Courses Taught
CHEM-2010 - Organic Chemistry I (Lecture)
CHEM-2020 - Organic Chemistry II (Lecture)
CHEM 4010/5010: Seminar in Chemistry (Lecture)
Research
My laboratory focuses on medicinal chemistry, peptide chemistry, and drug design to enable the development of peptide therapeutics. By leveraging expertise in medicinal chemistry, organic chemistry, peptide chemistry, chemical biology and pharmaceutical sciences, the foundational studies in my laboratory focus on developing novel peptide chemistry approaches to understand the structure-function-property of peptides and exploit disease targets and biological pathways for therapeutic development.
Research Foci: Drug Design, Medicinal Chemistry, and Peptide Therapeutic Development
(1) Chemical Tools for Improving Pharmacological Profiles of Peptides
(2) Cell Permeable Macrocyclic Peptides for Targeting Intracellular ‘Undruggable’ Protein-Protein Interactions
(3) Strain-Selective Antibiotics with Unique Mechanisms of Action
(4) Chemical Approaches for Selective Modification of Peptides
Current Lab Members
Graduate: Benjamin Appiah, James Afful, Charles Torgbor
Undergraduate: Angel Monroy Hernandez
Alumni: Kean Pajarillaga (summer intern)
Selected Publications
Sharma, K.K.,* Sharma, K., Sharma, A., Rao, K., Jain, R. and VanVeller, B. “Beyond Nature’s Blueprint: Macrocyclic Peptides Containing Unnatural Amino Acids in Therapeutic Development” Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2026, e23959 Doi: doi.org/10.1002/anie.202523959
Wall, B. J., Chaudhury, U., Sharma, K. K., Venditti, V., & VanVeller, B. A. “Versatile Strategy for Head-to-Tail Macrocyclization and Traceless Backbone Editing of Short Peptides” Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2026, 148(15), 16482. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6c04085
Byerly-Duke, J., Bernhard, S.M., Ibrahim, R., Das, S., Sharma, K.K., Panda, C., Venditti, V., Che, T. and VanVeller, B., 2026. Amidine isosteric modification tunes proteolytic stability and activity. RSC Chemical Biology, 2026, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/d6cb00138f
Sharma, K.K.,* Sharma, K., Rao, K., Sharma, A., Rathod, G.K., Aaghaz, S., Sehra, N., Parmar, R., VanVeller, B and Jain, R. "Unnatural amino acids: strategies, designs and applications in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery." J. Med. Chem., 2024, 67, 19932–19965. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c00110
Wall, B.J., Sharma, K.K., O’Brien, E.A., Donovan, A. and VanVeller, B. “General installation of (4H)-imidazolone cis-amide bioisosteres along the peptide backbone.” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2024, 146, 11648–11656. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.3c13825
Sharma, K.,† Sharma, K.K.,† Sharma, A. and Jain, R. “Peptide-based drug discovery: current status and recent advancements.” Drug Discovery Today, 2023, 28, 103464. DOI: 10.1016/j.drudis.2022.103464.
O’Brien, E.A., Sharma, K.K., Byerly-Duke, J., Camacho III, L.A. and VanVeller, B. “A general strategy to install amidine functional groups along the peptide backbone.” J. Am. Chem. Soc, 2022, 144, 49, 22397–22402. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c09085.
Sharma, K.K.,† Cassell, R.J.,† Meqbil, Y.J., Su, H., Blaine, A.T., Cummins, B.R., Mores, K.L., Johnson, D.K., van Rijn, R.M. and Altman, R.A. “Modulating β-arrestin-2 recruitment at the µ and δ-opioid receptors using peptidomimetic ligands.” RSC Med. Chem., 2021, 12, 1958–1967. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/D1MD00025J
Sharma, K.K., Ravi, R., Maurya, I.K., Kapadia, A., Khan, S.I., Kumar, V., Tikoo, K. and Jain, R. “Modified histidine containing amphipathic ultrashort antifungal peptide, His[2-p-(n-butyl)phenyl]-Trp-Arg-OMe exhibits potent anticryptococcal activity.” Eur. J. Med. Chem., 2021, 223, 113635. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmech.2021.113635
* Corresponding author, † Equal first author