Ana-Maria Udrea

PhD. Ana-Maria Udrea

I graduated from the Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest: Bachelor’s degree in biology (2013), master’s degree in Neurobiology (2015), and the PhD in Biology since May 2019. From November 2018, I have been working at the National Institute for Laser Plasma and Radiation Physics (INFLPR), Laser Spectroscopy and Optics group as an Assistant Research Scientist.

My research is focused on neuropsychiatric disorders (Depression, Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder, Alzheimer’s disease etc.) especially the interaction between medication and receptors.

In my PhD thesis entitled “New Therapeutic Approaches of Natural Compounds by Computational Pharmacology Techniques” I have used computational approaches in order to find if the natural compounds from plants used in traditional medicine present antidepressant or antipsychotic-like effect using both QSAR and Molecular docking approach and if those compounds are safe to use in pregnancy using QSAR methods. QSAR methods purposes are to find a correlation between the chemical structure of a compound and the structural properties. Also, in my PhD thesis, I have predicted ADME-Tox features of those natural compounds in comparison with medication clinically used.

My research experience involves Computational Chemistry, Computational Biology, Computational Pharmacology (Ligand-receptor interaction using SAR, QSAR and Molecular Docking methods; ADME-Tox studies; Drug-Like, Molecular Modelling; Rational Drug-Design;) and spectroscopy (UV-Vis-NIR and FTIR). Software: Volsurf, MOE, alvaDesc 1.0, VMD, Autodock, HyperChem, Discovery Studio, Avogadro, GAUSSIAN. Due to a multidisciplinary area of research, I am actively collaborating with the Department of Anatomy, Animal Biology, Animal Physiology and Biophysics, University of Bucharest.