Naidu Bobba is joining the Department of Nuclear Engineering this fall as an assistant professor.
Bobba comes to UT after spending the last few months as an assistant professional researcher at the University of California, San Francisco. He received his bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD degrees in chemistry in India and did his post-doctoral work in radiochemistry at Kyungpook National University in South Korea and UCSF.
Bobba spent nearly a decade in various medicinal chemistry industries after receiving his master’s degree. But his passion for academic research drew him back to the university setting.
Bobba’s Research Interests
Bobba’s expertise is in radiotheranostics, which is rapidly emerging as a powerful approach for cancer diagnosis and treatment. His goal at UT is to develop new radiopharmaceuticals with reduced off-target toxicity and train the next generation of radiochemists to help fill a shortage of nuclear medicine researchers.
Bobba recently collaborated with the Department of Energy Isotope Program to develop new radiotheranostics using Ce-134 and Ac-225 isotopes, which are processed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
“This position at the University of Tennessee is a great opportunity that allows me to interact with undergraduate and graduate students and continue with ORNL for new collaborations and new isotope development,” Bobba said. “I am excited to further test the isotopes in pre-clinical settings, which can be translated into the clinic in the future.”
Contact
Rhiannon Potkey (865-974-0683, rpotkey@utk.edu)