Janarthanan Jayawickramarajah

Professor Elisabeth Martin Armstrong Dean Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences

Email

jananj@mail.smu.edu
Office Location

203 Dallas Hall

Education

Postdoctoral Researcher, Yale University
Ph.D. Chemistry, The University of Texas at Austin
B.S. Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
 

About

  • Elisabeth Martin Armstrong Dean, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Southern Methodist University (2025 - present)
  • Professor of Chemistry, Southern Methodist University (2025 - present)
  • Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Tulane University (2024 - 2025)
  • Associate Dean for Research, Faculty Affairs and Ph.D. Programs, Tulane University (2023 - 2024)
  • Professor of Chemistry, Tulane University (2007 - 2025) 
     

Research Interests

  • The Chemistry and Self-Assembly of Macrocyclic Host-DNA Conjugates
  • Mechanically Interlocked Molecules and Slide-Ring Materials
  • Development of Stimuli Responsive Protein-Binders Based on DNA-Small Molecule Chimeras
  • Development of Well-Defined Porphyrin Arrays in Water: Towards Photonic Nanostructure 

Selected Publications

  1. Beltrami, N.; Pradhan, S.; Rudman, N. A.; Jyoti, A.; Adekusibe, O.; Berk Atuk, E.; Zarandi, M. A.; Ismail, M.; Franques, A. G.; Kagalwala, H. N.; Dmochowski, I. J.; Jayawickramarajah, J. Cucurbit[6]uril-Monoazide: Towards Covalent DNA Conjugates Capable of Orthogonal Xenon Binding/Rotaxane Formation and DNA Base-Pairing. 2026, Submitted
  2. Qu, X.; Lin, Z.; Jayawickramarajah, J.; Alsager, J. S.; Schmidt, E.; Nephew, K. P.; Fang, F.; Balasubramanian, S.; Shan, B. G-quadruplex is critical to epigenetic activation of the lncRNAZarandi, M. A.; Pathak, P.; Beltrami, N.; Walker, J. N.; Zhang, F.; Brodbelt, J. S.; Schmehl, R.; Jayawickramarajah, J. Heteromeric guanosine (G)-quadruplex derived antenna modules with directional energy transfer. Nanoscale 2023, 15, 19069-19073. HOTAIR in cancer cells. iScience 2023, 26.
  3. Zarandi, M. A.; Pathak, P.; Beltrami, N.; Walker, J. N.; Zhang, F.; Brodbelt, J. S.; Schmehl, R.; Jayawickramarajah, J. Heteromeric guanosine (G)-quadruplex derived antenna modules with directional energy transfer. Nanoscale2023, 15, 19069-19073.
  4. Kankanamalage, D. V. D. W.; Tran, J. H. T.; Beltrami, N.; Meng, K.; Zhou, X.; Pathak, P.; Isaacs, L.; Burin, A. L.; Ali, M. F.; Jayawickramarajah, J. DNA Strand Displacement Driven by Host–Guest Interactions. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 16502-16511.
  5. Pandey, S.; Kankanamalage, D.; Zhou, X.; Hu, C.; Isaacs, L.; Jayawickramarajah, J.; Mao, H. Chaperone-Assisted Host-Guest Interactions Revealed by Single-Molecule Force Spectroscopy. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 18385-18389.
  6. Pathak, P.; Yao, W.; Hook, K. D.; Vik, R.; Winnerdy, F. R.; Brown, J. Q.; Gibb, B. C.; Pursell, Z. F.; Phan, A. T.; Jayawickramarajah, J. Bright G-Quadruplex Nanostructures Functionalized with Porphyrin Lanterns. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 12582-12591.

 

Portrait of Dean Janan Jayawickramarajah