Chamani Perera, PhD

Dr. Chamani Perera has served as director of the Synthetic Chemical Biology Core Facility at the University of Kansas since 2015. She earned her Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 2009 from the University of Kansas, where she received training in organic synthesis, physical organic chemistry and photochemistry. She then completed postdoctoral research in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at KU, focusing on drug delivery through endosomal disruption. During this period, Perera gained expertise in chemical biology, molecular probe design, peptide synthesis and medicinal chemistry. As director of the SCB Core, she draws on her extensive background in small molecule and peptide synthesis, chemical biology and medicinal chemistry to design and synthesize molecules of interest for investigators across diverse scientific disciplines.