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Gaurav Chopra, PhD
Gaurav Chopra, PhD
James Tarpo Jr. and Margaret Tarpo Professor
Department of Chemistry, Purdue University
Department of Computer Science, Purdue University
Email: gchopra@purdue.edu
BIOGRAPHY
BIOGRAPHY
Gaurav Chopra is the James Tarpo Jr. and Margaret Tarpo Professor (tenured) in the Departments of Chemistry and Computer Science at Purdue University and AnalytiXIN Fellow in Life Sciences and Manufacturing, and is affiliated with the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering, Purdue Institutes for Cancer Research, Drug Discovery, Immunology, and Integrative Neuroscience. As the Director of the Merck-Purdue Center, an initiative supported by Merck, Chopra oversees projects spanning Purdue University. His research group is at the forefront of Molecular Artificial Intelligence focused on identifying and targeting immuno-metabolic "brakes" to understanding glial and immune cell dysfunction in neurodegeneration and cancer. Chopra group stands out globally for employing a multidisciplinary approach to develop bioanalytical methods, chemical tools, targeted drugs, and artificial intelligence (AI) platforms with closed-loop laboratory automation, digital healthcare and conducting experimental validations in cancer- and neuro-immunology. Chopra received his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2002 from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India and his M.S. in 2003 in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Irvine. In 2010, Chopra received his PhD in Computational Mathematics with Professor Michael Levitt (2013 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry) at Stanford University School of Engineering and was a JDRF Fellow from 2012-2016 in experimental immunology developing immune tolerance therapies with Professor Jeffrey Bluestone at the University of California – San Francisco, School of Medicine. Chopra’s research program is funded by several federal agencies and companies, such as National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, National Science Foundation, to name a few. He has given over 100 invited lectures nationally and internationally to universities, companies and FDA related to AI-based automation, immunology and drug discovery. Recently, Chopra led a team that won the ASPIRE Grand Prize by the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS) for developing AI-guided drug discovery and automation platform. His current work with NCATS includes developing large language model (LLM)-based AI infrastructure to plan, execute, analyze and automate chemical and biological experiments to accelerate drug discovery and development. Outside of academia, Chopra has co-founded two companies – Meditati Inc. and BrainGnosis Inc. Chopra is dedicated to fostering diversity in academia, developed a virtual reality-based drug discovery game, MINT, and organized outreach events for K-12 and university students, promoting a love for science and inclusivity in scientific endeavors.
Academic Lineage of Gaurav Chopra - courtesy Kyra Chopra (daughter)
EDUCATION
EDUCATION
2003-2010 Stanford University, School of Engineering, Stanford, CA
M.S. in Scientific Computing/Computational Mathematics, May 2005
Ph.D. in Computational Mathematics, January 2010
2002-2003 University of California at Irvine, Henri Samueli School of Engineering, Irvine, CA
M.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, May 2003
Area: Biomedical microelectromechanical systems (BioMEMS) and Control Theory
1998-2002 Indian Institute of Technology – Delhi, New Delhi, India
B. Tech. in Mechanical Engineering, May 2002
Area: Robotics and Mechanical Design
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
Present Positions
Present Positions
2022- James Tarpo Jr. and Margaret Tarpo Professor (tenured), Purdue University
Department of Chemistry, Department of Computer Science (by courtesy)
Full Member: Institute for Cancer Research, Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering, Purdue Institutes for Drug Discovery Integrative Neuroscience, Immunology, Integrative Data Science Initiative, Bindley Bioscience Center, PULSe interdisciplinary graduate program
Research Area: Molecular Intelligence in Neuroimmunology and Disease (MIND)
Immunotherapy, Neuroimmunology, Artificial Intelligence, Targeted Drugs, Single-Cell Lipidomics, Glial Cells, Lipid Accumulation, Alzheimer’s Disease.
2020- Director, Merck-Purdue Center
Merck sponsored center funding research projects across Purdue University
Total investment by Merck = $3 million+ ; New Team-Science Investment (approved)
2023- AnalytiXIN Fellow in Life Sciences, Indianapolis, IN
AnalytiXIN (Analytics Indiana) was established to develop a community, including a place-focused collaboration hub in Indianapolis at the 16Tech Innovation District that will strengthen connections and encourage engagement of academic data science R&D talent with their industry peers to drive sustained innovation within Indiana.
Co-Founder and Board Member
2025- LIPOS BIO Inc.
Transform Neuron Immune Therapies through Lipid Biology
2023- BrainGnosis Inc.
Making Smarter AI Agents for Humans
2022- Meditati Inc.
Smart Drugs for Mental Health based on award winning NCATS ASPIRE Artificial Intelligence (AI) Drug Discovery Platform; Funding NIH STTR Award
Previous Positions
Previous Positions
2024-2025 James Tarpo Jr. and Margaret Tarpo Associate Professor, Purdue University
2022-2024 Associate Professor (tenured), Purdue University
2016-2022 Assistant Professor (tenure-track), Purdue University
Department of Chemistry, West Lafayette, IN
Department of Computer Science (by Courtesy), West Lafayette, IN
2013-2016 JDRF Postdoctoral Fellow
School of Medicine, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, CA
Mentor: Professor Jeffrey A. Bluestone
Research Area: Cellular Immunology (Immune Tolerance)
2010-2012 Postdoctoral Scholar
Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Structural Biology, Stanford, CA
Mentor: Professor Michael Levitt (2013 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry)
Research Area: Drug Discovery
2005-2010 Graduate Research Assistant
Stanford School of Engineering, Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering, Stanford, CA
Mentor: Professor Michael Levitt (2013 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry)
Research Area: Computational Mathematics, Chemistry and Biology
Dissertation: Computational Modeling of Solvent in Structural Biology
2003-2005 Graduate Research Assistant and Programmer
Earth and Planetary Sciences, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, Stanford, CA
Mentor: Professor David D. Pollard
2002-2003 Graduate Research Fellow
Henry Samueli School of Engineering, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Irvine, CA
Mentor: Professor Marc J. Madou
Research Area: Bio-MEMS, Bio microelectromechanical systems
AWARDS AND HONORS
AWARDS AND HONORS
Internal to Purdue University
2024 College of Science Leadership Award
Award for leading the Merck-Purdue Center and Chemical Intelligence Area
2020 College of Science Award for Undergraduate Advising
2018 Teaching for Tomorrow Fellowship Award
2018 Digital Education Award for Online Course Development
2017 Ralph W. and Grace M. Showalter Research Trust Award
2017 Jim and Diann Robbers Research Award for New Investigators
2016 Instructional Innovation Award, Purdue University
External to Purdue University
2024 Scialog Fellow for Automating Chemical Laboratories
Selected from nominees in US and Canada. Fellowship to develop advances in automated instrumentation and artificial intelligence (AI) for accelerating drug discovery.
2024 Honorarium and Invited Seminar on AI agents, Eli Lilly and Company.
2023 AnalytiXIN (Analytics Indiana) Fellow in Life Sciences and Manufacturing
Award to combine AI to accelerate experiments in life sciences by developing experimental and modeling datasets in collaboration with Indiana companies.
2023 Rising Star in Measurement Science by ACS Measurement Science Au
Award for work on Machine Learning in Analytical Chemistry
2023 Honorarium and Invited Seminar, Merck & Co.
2023 Grand Prize Winner NIH NCATS ASPIRE Reduction to Practice Challenge
Led the team in a competition that received #1 rank and prize to develop AI based drug discovery platform that is now being integrated at the NCATS (National Center for Advancing Translational Science). The AI closed-loop drug discovery platform predicted new molecules for protein targets of interest, synthesized these new molecules and validated binding and agonism/antogism of these molecules.
2022 Two NIH NCATS ASPIRE Reduction to Practice Award (Stage 2 Milestone 2)
2021 Two NIH NCATS ASPIRE Reduction to Practice Awards (Stage 1, Stage 2)
2019 Two NIH NCATS ASPIRE Challenge Awards (worldwide competition)
2018 Honorarium and Invited Seminar, Merck & Co.
2017 Institute Seminar and Honorarium at National Center for Biological Sciences, India
2016-2018 Featured in C&EN News (live event), Mid-day.com (international), Purdue Today (internal) for virtual reality based drug discovery game for education and science.
2016 Grand Rounds Seminar and Honorarium at Eli Lilly & Company, IN, USA
2014 Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Award
2012 Plenary Lecture and Workshop at InCoB Conference and Honorarium
2008-2012 Invited panelist for best worldwide performance in refinement category at CASP8, 9, 10.
2002-2003 Graduate Fellowship from University of California, Irvine for academic excellence
PLENARY TALKS AND INVITED LECTURES
PLENARY TALKS AND INVITED LECTURES
130 invitations, 5 Plenary talks, 2 Invited Workshops, 4 Honorariums, 3 Invited Panelist within the United States and several international locations in Europe and Asia.
130. Invited Talk, Lipidomics Gordon Research Conference on Applications, Methods, and Instrumentation Centered Around Community Harmonization, Ventura, CA, 15-20 Mar 2026
129. Invited Talk, Gordon Research Conference on Characterizing Small and Large Ions Using Experiment and Theory, Galveston, TX, 22-27 Feb 2026
128. Invited Departmental Seminar, Department of Chemistry, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 23 Jan 2026
127. Invited Chemical Biology Seminar, Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 4 Nov 2025
126. Invited Symposium and Talk, XVII European Meeting on Glial Cells in Health and Disease (EuroGlia 2025), Immunometabolism of Glial Cells in Cancer and Neurodegeneration, Marseille, France, 8-11 Jul 2025
125. Invited Seminar, Institute of Neuropathology, University Hospital of Zürich, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland, 30 June – 1 July 2023
124. Invited Seminar, Chronobiology and Sleep Institute, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 23-25 Apr 2025
123. Invited Seminar, Department of Cell Biology and Peter O’Donnell Brain Institute, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, 18-20 Mar 2025
122. Invited Lecture, Metabolomics Association of North America, Tampa, Florida, 21-24 Oct 2024
121. Invited Talk, FASEB Lipid Droplets: From Mechanism to Disease, St. Paul, MN, 21-25 Jul 2024
120. Invited Lecture, Center for Neurogenomics, Human Techopole, Milano, Italy, 8 Jul 2024
119. Invited Lecture, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany, 5 Jul 2024
118. Invited Lecture, Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen (DZNE), German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Bonn, Germany, 4 Jul 2024
117. Invited Lecture, Humanitas Research Hospital, Humanitas University, Milano, Italy, 1 Jul 2024
116. Invited Lecture, Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine (inStem), Bangalore, Karnataka, India, 26 Jun 2024
115. Invited Lecture, National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore, Karnataka, India, 25 Jun 2024
114. Invited Lecture, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, Chennai, India, 20-22 Jun 2024
113. Invited Lecture, Department of Chemical Engineering and Mehta Family School for Artificial & Data Science, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India, 18 Jun 2024
112. Invited Lecture, EMBO Lecture Course, Post-transcriptional regulation in ageing and age-related diseases, Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi, India, 10 - 15 Jun 2024
111. Invited Lecture, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, 4 Jun 2024
110. Invited Lecture, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali, Punjab, India, 24 May 2024
109. Plenary Talk, 2024 Spring Brain Conference, Sedona, AZ, 28 Apr – 1 May 2024
108. Invited Lecture, Eli Lilly and Company, Artificial Intelligent Agents for Accelerating Drug Discovery, Indianapolis, IN, 9 Apr 2024
107. Invited Lecture, Garnet E. Peck Symposium, Digital Transformation in the Pharmaceutical Industry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 4 Apr 2024
106. Invited Seminar, Department of Computer Science, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, 14 Mar 2024
105. Invited Panelist, 2024 Indiana Life Science Manufacturing Summit, Indianapolis, IN, 7 Mar 2024
104. Invited Seminar and Honorarium, Neuroscience at Merck & Company, West Point, PA 1 Dec 2023
103. Invited Seminar, Emerald Cloud Lab, Austin, TX, 10 Oct 2023
102. Invited Talk, FDA/PQRI Workshop on the Regulatory Framework for the Utilization of Artificial Intelligence in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, 27 Sep 2023
101. Invited Panelist, GenAI Panel, T200 Summit – Empowering Women in Technology, New York, NY, 14 Sep 2023
100. Invited Talk, Greater Indiana Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 8 Sep 2023
99. Invited Talk, ACS Fall 2023, Session on “Application of Predictive Sciences in Pharmaceutical Industry”, San Francisco, CA, 13-17 Aug 2023
98. Invited Seminar, Department of Chemistry, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France, 25 July 2023
97. Invited Seminar, Institute of Neuropathology, University Hospital of Zürich, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland, 19 July 2023
96. Plenary Talk, 3rd Nobel Turing Challenge Initiative Workshop, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 11-12 July 2023
95. Invited Seminar, Stark Neuroscience Center, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, 12 June 2023
94. Invited Seminar, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, 8 May 2023
93. Plenary Talk, 2023 Spring Brain Conference, Sedona, AZ, 23-26 Apr 2023
92. Invited Seminar, Department of Neurobiology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, 4 Apr 2023
91. Invited Seminar, Department of Pharmacy, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, 3 Apr 2023
90. Joint Carnegie Mellon-University of Pittsburgh Seminar, Pittsburgh, PA, 3 March 2023
89. Invited Seminar, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, 6-8 Dec 2022
88. 6th International Conference on Mathematical and Computational Medicine, Telluride, CO, 11-15 June 2022
87. Invited Talk, Midwestern Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 6-7 June 2022
86. Invited Seminar, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, India, 25 May 2022
85. Invited Seminar, Regional Center for Biotechnology, Faridabad, Haryana, India, 24 May 2022
84. Neurosciences Seminar, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, 27 April 2022
83. ACS President Initiative on Machine Learning, San Diego, CA, 19th March 2022
82. Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 4th August 2021
81. Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, 9th April 2021
80. Chemistry and Biochemistry Department, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, 26th March 2021
79. Biology of Neurodegeneration (BOND) Seminar Series, School of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, 12th March 2021
78. Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 9th March 2021
77. Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, CA, 2nd March 2021
76. Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 24th February 2021
75. Cancer Center at Illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Urbana, IL, 19 Nov 2020
74. Pacific Chem 2020: A Creative Vision for the Future, Honolulu, HI, December 2020 (canceled due to covid-19)
73. Gordon Research Conference on Molecular Structure Elucidation, Newry, ME, August 2020 (canceled due to covid-19)
72. 5th International Conference on Mathematical and Computational Medicine, Telluride Science Research Center, Telluride, CO, June 2020 (canceled due to covid-19)
71. American Society of Mass Spectrometry (ASMS), Houston, TX, June 2020 (changed to virtual)
70. Mass Spectrometry Applications in Clinical Laboratory (MSACL), Palm Springs, CA, March 2020 (canceled due to covid-19)
69. ACS National Meeting, Spring 2020, Philadelphia, PA, March 2020 (canceled due to covid-19)
68. Department Colloquium, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers University at New Brunswick, NJ, March 2020
67. Machine Learning in Analytical Chemistry, Pittcon 2020, Chicago, IL, March 2020
66. Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, Dec. 2019
65. Materials Research Society Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, December 2019
64. NSF MolSSI Machine Learning in Chemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, October 2019
63. IU/PU Traumatic Brain Injury Symposium, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, October 2019
62. Plenary Talk, SCIX 2019, Palm Springs, CA, October 2019
61. Institute of Immunology, University of California, Irvine, CA, October 2019
60. Stark Neuroscience Center, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, Sept. 2019
59. Nationwide Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Columbus, OH, June 2019
58. Great Lakes Regional ACS Meeting (Biologically Related Molecules & Processes), Lisle, IL, May 2019
57. Data Science Invited Talk Series, Indiana University School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering, Bloomington, IN, April 2019
56. Foundations of Data Science Conference, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, April 2019
55. Pharmaceutical Sciences Seminar and Honorarium, Merck & Company, Rahway, NJ, Dec. 2018
54. Discussion Leader and Speaker, Gordon Research Conference on Molecular Structure Elucidation, Newry, ME, August 2018
53. Department of Cancer Genetics and Genomics, Roswell Park, Buffalo, NY, June 2018
52. 4th Midwest Tumor Microenvironment Meeting, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, May 2018
51. ACS National Meeting, Spring 2018, New Orleans, LA, March 2018
50. Virtual Reality and Healthcare Symposium, Harvard University, Boston, MA, March 2018
49. Future of the Chemical Sciences Symposium, Chicago, IL, December 2017
48. Mini Symposium on Frontiers of Immunology, Purdue Institute for Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease, West Lafayette, IN, October 2017
47. Purdue Institute for Drug Discovery Symposium, West Lafayette, IN, October 2017
46. Institute Seminar and Honorarium, National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore, India, August 2017
45. 25th Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB 2017), Prague, Czech Republic (3DSig meeting), July 2017
44. Department of Pharmacology, University of California, Davis, CA, March 2017
43. Department of Medicinal and Biological Chemistry, University of Toledo, OH, November 2016
42. Walther Cancer Foundation Inc. Annual Symposium, Lafayette, IN, November 2016
41. Institute for Drug Discovery Symposium, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, September 2016
40. Purdue Center for Cancer Research, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, August 2016
39. Grand Rounds Seminar and Honorarium, Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN, July 2016
38. 24th Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB 2016), Orlando, FL, July 2016
37. Neuronetworking Series, Institute for Integrative Neuroscience, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, June 2016
36. NSF ‘Research goes to school’ – Talk for High School Teachers, West Lafayette, IN, June 2016
35. Oden Institute for Computational Engineering & Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, May 2016
34. Lawrence Livermore National Lab Day, Purdue Cancer Center, West Lafayette, IN, May 2016
33. 3rd International Conference on Mathematical and Computational Medicine, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH, May 2016
32. Center for Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, IU School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, April 2016
31. Big Data Seminar, Statistics Department, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, February 2016
30. Physical Chemistry Seminar, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, February 2016
Before Purdue: (29 invitations)
29. 23rd Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB 2015), Dublin, Ireland, July 2015
28. Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Colorado – Anschutz Medical Campus, Denver, CO, April 2015
27. Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, March 2015
26. 2nd Zing Mathematical & Computational Medicine Conference, Cancun, Mexico, December 2014
25. Diabetes Center, University of California, San Francisco, CA, September 2014
24. Protein Folding Conference, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, July 2014
23. 22nd Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB 2014), Boston, MA, July 2014
22. Panelist, Honoring Michael Levitt’s Nobel Prize, ISMB 2014 Conference, Boston, MA, July 2014
21. Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers, FL, June 2013
20. Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Medical Research Council, Cambridge, UK, December 2012
19. 10th Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction, Gaeta, Italy, December 2012
18. Chemistry Department, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Hong Kong, October 2012
17. Biomolecular Modeling & Design, Bioinformatics Institute, A*STAR, Singapore, October 2012
16. Plenary Talk, International Conference on Bioinformatics (InCoB 2012), Thailand, October 2012
15. Multiscale Modeling Workshop, InCoB 2012, Thailand, October 2012
14. Aug 2012 - Bluestone Group Meeting, University of California, San Francisco, CA
13. July 2012 - Joseph DeRisi’s Group Meeting, University of California, San Francisco, CA
12. Multiresolution Molecular Modeling workshop, Uppsala University, Sweden, June 2011
11. Mar 2011 - Hana El-Samad’s Group Meeting, University of California, San Francisco, CA
10. Department of Chemistry, University of Pacific, Stockton, CA, February 2011
9. 9th Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction, Asilomar, CA, December 2010
8. High Performance Computing Day, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, August 2010
7. CoCrystal Pharma Inc., Mountain View, CA, December 2009
6. Biomedical Computation at Stanford (BCATS), Stanford, CA, November 2009
5. 8th Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction, Sardinia, Italy, December 2008
4. Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology - Delhi, New Delhi, India, April 2008
3. Center for Protein Folding Machinery Nanomedicine Retreat, Stanford, CA, May 2007
2. Critical Assessment of Prediction of Interactions (CAPRI), 3rd Meeting, Toronto, Canada, April 2007
1. International Conference on Bioinformatics (InCoB), New Delhi, India, December 2006
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