From 2431e7c8b1f41ba6db4d2ba772150c1f6ec03732 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Pavan Behara Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2026 10:24:22 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Update biography for Pavan Behara Expanded Pavan Behara's biography with additional details about his research and current role as a CADD scientist at UCI's Center for Neurotherapeutics, including specific projects and methodologies. --- pages/people.md | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/pages/people.md b/pages/people.md index c6bea8a..eec0043 100644 --- a/pages/people.md +++ b/pages/people.md @@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ David Mobley did his undergraduate work in Physics at the University of Californ pbehara -Pavan Behara graduated in Chemical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani in 2011. He worked for a year in the R&D division of Aditya Birla Group on Alumina refining processes. In 2012, he moved to University at Buffalo, SUNY, for a Masters degree and worked on understanding demixing phenomenon in binary hardsphere mixtures. He started his PhD research in 2015 on modeling charge carrier dynamics in renewable energy materials using Ab initio quantum chemistry methods. Pavan joined Mobley Lab, under Openforcefield initiative in Sep 2020, to work on development of small molecule force fields for pharmaceutically relevant chemical space. +Pavan Behara graduated in Chemical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani in 2011. He worked for a year in the R&D division of Aditya Birla Group on Alumina refining processes. In 2012, he moved to University at Buffalo, SUNY, for a Masters degree and worked on understanding demixing phenomenon in binary hardsphere mixtures in the Kofke Lab. He started his PhD research in 2015 on modeling charge carrier dynamics in renewable energy materials using Ab initio quantum chemistry methods in Dupuis Lab. Pavan joined Mobley Lab, under Openforcefield initiative in Sep 2020, to work on development of small molecule force fields for pharmaceutically relevant chemical space. Since April 2023, Pavan has been a CADD scientist under the supervision of Prof. Mobley at UCI's Center for Neurotherapeutics, where he has worked on early-stage drug discovery research related to neurodegeneration. Pavan executed virtual screening campaigns for challenging CNS targets including PIAS1 (Huntington's disease), Kv7 ion channels (epileptic seizures and pain mitigation), oncology targets (MAP4K3 and Rpn13), and broad-spectrum antivirals targeting the picornavirus 3C protease. He applied docking methods to enrich hit selection and guide SAR hypothesis generation. For the Kv7 ion channel hit-to-lead campaign, he prioritized and sourced Enamine compounds for electrophysiology validation based on structure- and ligand-based modeling, and integrated phosphoproteomics analysis to characterize neuroprotection studies. He also enumerated cyclic-peptide DNA-encoded libraries (DELs) from provided building blocks, evaluating physicochemical properties and BBB permeability relevant to CNS drug design. Since July 2026, Pavan's time has been divided between the Mobley Lab and CNT. While the CADD support work continues at CNT, Pavan is excited to work on method development for free energy calculations and force field science in the Mobley Lab. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavan-kumar-behara-a0223b1a) From ff49ce73c0768aa403c5718e360b9a837ffd37cd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Pavan Behara Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2026 10:37:56 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 2/2] Revise Pavan Behara's biography details Updated Pavan Behara's biography to include recent work on AI/ML methods for drug discovery. --- pages/people.md | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/pages/people.md b/pages/people.md index eec0043..f61e290 100644 --- a/pages/people.md +++ b/pages/people.md @@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ David Mobley did his undergraduate work in Physics at the University of Californ pbehara -Pavan Behara graduated in Chemical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani in 2011. He worked for a year in the R&D division of Aditya Birla Group on Alumina refining processes. In 2012, he moved to University at Buffalo, SUNY, for a Masters degree and worked on understanding demixing phenomenon in binary hardsphere mixtures in the Kofke Lab. He started his PhD research in 2015 on modeling charge carrier dynamics in renewable energy materials using Ab initio quantum chemistry methods in Dupuis Lab. Pavan joined Mobley Lab, under Openforcefield initiative in Sep 2020, to work on development of small molecule force fields for pharmaceutically relevant chemical space. Since April 2023, Pavan has been a CADD scientist under the supervision of Prof. Mobley at UCI's Center for Neurotherapeutics, where he has worked on early-stage drug discovery research related to neurodegeneration. Pavan executed virtual screening campaigns for challenging CNS targets including PIAS1 (Huntington's disease), Kv7 ion channels (epileptic seizures and pain mitigation), oncology targets (MAP4K3 and Rpn13), and broad-spectrum antivirals targeting the picornavirus 3C protease. He applied docking methods to enrich hit selection and guide SAR hypothesis generation. For the Kv7 ion channel hit-to-lead campaign, he prioritized and sourced Enamine compounds for electrophysiology validation based on structure- and ligand-based modeling, and integrated phosphoproteomics analysis to characterize neuroprotection studies. He also enumerated cyclic-peptide DNA-encoded libraries (DELs) from provided building blocks, evaluating physicochemical properties and BBB permeability relevant to CNS drug design. Since July 2026, Pavan's time has been divided between the Mobley Lab and CNT. While the CADD support work continues at CNT, Pavan is excited to work on method development for free energy calculations and force field science in the Mobley Lab. +Pavan Behara graduated in Chemical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani in 2011. He worked for a year in the R&D division of Aditya Birla Group on Alumina refining processes. In 2012, he moved to University at Buffalo, SUNY, for a Masters degree and worked on understanding demixing phenomenon in binary hardsphere mixtures in the Kofke Lab. He started his PhD research in 2015 on modeling charge carrier dynamics in renewable energy materials using Ab initio quantum chemistry methods in Dupuis Lab. Pavan joined Mobley Lab, under Openforcefield initiative in Sep 2020, to work on development of small molecule force fields for pharmaceutically relevant chemical space. Since April 2023, Pavan has been a CADD scientist under the supervision of Prof. Mobley at UCI's Center for Neurotherapeutics, where he has worked on early-stage drug discovery research related to neurodegeneration. Pavan executed virtual screening campaigns for challenging CNS targets including PIAS1 (Huntington's disease), Kv7 ion channels (epileptic seizures and pain mitigation), oncology targets (MAP4K3 and Rpn13), and broad-spectrum antivirals targeting the picornavirus 3C protease. He applied docking methods to enrich hit selection and guide SAR hypothesis generation. For the Kv7 ion channel hit-to-lead campaign, he prioritized and sourced Enamine compounds for electrophysiology validation based on structure- and ligand-based modeling, and integrated phosphoproteomics analysis to characterize neuroprotection studies. He also enumerated cyclic-peptide DNA-encoded libraries (DELs) from provided building blocks, evaluating physicochemical properties and BBB permeability relevant to CNS drug design. Since July 2026, Pavan's time has been divided between the Mobley Lab and CNT. While the CADD support work continues at CNT, Pavan is excited to work on method development for free energy calculations, AI/ML methods for drug discovery, and force field science in the Mobley Lab. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavan-kumar-behara-a0223b1a)