Rupesh Kanchi Ravi is the Lab Head in the Pfizer Oncology Clinical Research Laboratory (POCRL), a clinical genomics GCLP lab overseeing Pfizer Oncology custom genomics clinical sample testing and new platform evaluations for genomics biomarker strategy and clinical utility working with CROs. Previously, Rupesh held the role of Biomarker Assay Specialist as clinical genomics and NGS expertise managing clinical NGS testing for Translational Oncology Phase 1 study programs and working with cross-functional teams that included GPD Oncology, ECD, and Computational Biology.
Prior to joining Pfizer Oncology, Rupesh held senior scientist positions at Genoptix, UCSD’s Genomics Center, TGen in which he developed, validated, and launched novel NGS assays (cfDNA, targeted DNA, targeted RNA, exosomal RNA, miRNA) for GCLP and CAP/CLIA lab environments, and developed novel NGS library generation techniques for numerous nucleic acid sample types. Rupesh earned his PhD in Biotechnology at Pondicherry University where he studied the anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties of marine natural products. He received his first postdoctoral training at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in the Extreme Environments Microbiology Lab where he characterized the DNA replication/repair machinery of hyperthermophiles. He received his second postdoctoral training at University of Arizona where he identified novel alternate DNA repair pathway Base Excision Repair pathway inHSV-1 and developed a High Thorough put assay for identifying single strand DNA-protein inhibitors.