Vision Statement

Chopra laboratory is a leading center for Molecular Artificial Intelligence and Immunology that combines chemistry, immunology and artificial intelligence (AI) with basic science guided translational focus to improve human health. Chopra’s research program is focused on identifying and then targeting metabolic “brakes” of the immune system for neuro-immunotherapy with an overarching question – “How do lipids/metabolites modulate immune and glial cells in chronic inflammation”. The initial focus is to translate novel immunological therapies for neurodegeneration by developing bioanalytical methods (eg. single-cell lipidomics), chemical tools (eg. targeted fluorescent dyes), targeted drugs (immune and metabolic checkpoint inhibitors and degraders) using AI architectures and molecular modeling infrastructure and then validating with in vitro and in vivo experiments. Chopra has also developed an “AI agent” infrastructure integrated with large language models for automating biological and chemical experiments to accelerate drug discovery with NCATS (National Center for Advancing Translation Science). Chopra’s long-term goal is to harness the immune system for therapy for neurological diseases (such as Alzheimer’s disease) by targeting the functional lipid/metabolic landscape of immune and glial cells. Harnessing the immune response for therapy has already demonstrated to provide durable long-term therapeutic responses with impact on disease progression and enhancing quality of life. However, integration of immuno-metabolome has remained unexplored to develop new immunotherapies.

Chopra would like to establish a Center for Molecular Artificial Intelligence and Immunology with both basic science and translational focus to enhance human health in neuroscience and beyond, eventually affecting other areas of medicine. Such a Center does not exist in the United States. This world-class program, as the next frontier with Chemical Science being central to Medicine will be done by bringing together ideas and expertise from Immunology, Neuroscience, Metabolism, Chemistry, Digital Health, AI, Engineering and Medicine. The initial focus will translate cell-specific functional biomarkers and immunotherapies for neurodegeneration and extend this to develop new tools and neuro-immunotherapeutics for neurological diseases. Neuroimmunology is where cancer immunology was ~15 years ago and this is a huge untapped opportunity for the future of medicine. The basic science in chemistry, immunology and engineering in partnership with disease experts and clinical scientists will be essential to translate these discoveries to new medical frontiers beyond small molecules, biologics and cell therapy. Typically, such diverse fields do not deeply interact with each other, and Chopra’s research experience and interdisciplinary expertise is well-suited to take on such a leadership role to make this vision into a reality. 

Outside of academia, Chopra has co-founded two companies – Meditati Inc. that develops ‘smart’ drugs for mental health indications and BrainGnosis Inc. that develops AI-guided brain prognosis and diagnosis biomarkers for diseases. Chopra is committed to diversity in academia and have been the co-PI of NSF-REU award that selects underrepresented minority undergraduate students in STEM and funds them to do summer research with faculty at Purdue University. To increase diversity and openness in science for all ages, Chopra group has also developed a virtual reality-based AI drug discovery game called MINT and have conducted several outreach events for K-12 and university students to enhance their love for science (https://chopralab.github.io/MINT/index.html). All software from the Chopra group is publicly available on GitHub (https://github.com/chopralab).