Dr. Rayala is a Postdoctoral Associate in Prof. Nefzi’s lab, whose main focus is on medicinal chemistry and drug discovery. He is involved in the design and development of various biologically active moieties aimed at anticancer, antibacterial, antiviral, and pain therapeutics. Dr. Rayala has expertise in the synthesis of small molecules, linear & cyclic peptides and peptidomimetics via traditional or combinatorial chemistry approach.

Previous work includes: synthesis and methodology development of nucleoside analogues and halogenated nucleoside analogues with applications in anticancer and antiviral treatments; Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions; click chemistry; C-H direct bond activation reactions.