Ananthan Sadagopan
Ananthan Sadagopan is pursuing a doctorate in biological and biomedical science at Harvard University, focusing on chemical biology and the development of new therapeutic strategies.
Sadagopan earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and biology in three years from MIT, where he led projects characterizing somatic perturbations of X chromosome inactivation in cancer, developing machine learning tools for cancer dependency prediction, using small molecules for targeted protein relocalization and creating a generalizable strategy to drug the most mutated gene in cancer (TP53), publishing as the first author in top journals, such as Cell, during undergrad. He also holds patents related to his work on cancer dependency prediction and drugging TP53.
During his doctoral studies, he hopes to harness chemical biology to pioneer next-generation treatments for currently intractable diseases. He is developing strategies for targeted epigenetic remodeling with small molecules, modular gene activation, new approaches for targeted protein relocalization, ligand design, logic-gating targeted protein degradation and the delivery of macromolecules into cells.
Born and raised in Westborough, Massachusetts, Sadagopan has been passionate about chemistry from a young age, earning first place in the You Be the Chemist Challenge in middle school and representing the U.S. at the International Chemistry Olympiad, where he received a gold medal in high school. He continued his interest in chemistry throughout college, serving as president of the Chemistry Undergraduate Association at MIT, winning both the First-Year and Senior Chemistry Achievement Awards, and joining Harvard as a Herchel Smith Fellow.
In addition to his research endeavors, he was also involved in many leadership and community-building initiatives during college, directing the mentorship organization Leadership Training Institute and being head of the events committee for MIT Science Olympiad. Outside of research, Sadagopan loves to powerlift, play tennis and sail.