Dr. Venkata Vepachedu is an experienced scientist and manger in molecular biology and biochemistry. He took his master’s and Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Osmania University, India. After working as a post-doctoral fellow at UCONN Health Center, CT and Penn State University, PA he joined Pennsylvania Public Health Labs. Venkata worked in collaboration with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during the Zika outbreak. Later established the Next Generation Sequencing Laboratory for the Whole Genome Sequencing of the bacterial samples. Later he was offered Division Chief position of the Division of Virology and Immunology at the Maryland Department of Health Laboratories.
At MDH Labs, he developed qPCR-based methods for the genotyping of different viral and bacterial pathogens, and for the WGS of the hepatitis, rabies, and SARS-CoV-2 viral genomes. He led the virology division during the tough times of COVID outbreak.
Currently, Dr. Venkata is leading the newly formed Molecular Biology team in Janssen Pharmaceuticals, PA. His team works on the PCR based method development, validation and bioanalysis of gene therapy and cell therapy study samples. Dr. Venkata authored around 20 publications in peer-reviewed journals and several book chapters that include biodistribution analysis of clinical and non-clinical samples in gene and cell-therapy studies. Venkata loves melodious music, movies, travelling and meeting people.