Dr. Kularatne is the Executive Vice President of Research & Development at On Target Laboratories, Inc. West Lafayette, IN, USA.
He is also the founder of AFT Kids & Elders (a non-profit organization). Dr. Kularatne has pioneer experience in drug design & development in both small molecule and antibody drug conjugates. He pursued his postdoctoral studies in molecular biology and biomedicines with Dr. Peter G. Schultz at The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA. He earned his PhD in medicinal/biochemistry from Purdue University under the guidance of Dr. Philip S. Low, the Ralph C. Corley Distinguished Professor of Chemistry. Dr. Kularatne’s scientific efforts have resulted in 3 FDA approved drugs, 8 drug candidates in human clinical trials, over 250 US and foreign issued/pending patents, and over 100 scientific publications. He has received numerous national (USA) and international awards including Outstanding Young Scientist Award in Drug Discovery Sciences, Global PHT Expo & Summit (2023), SBIR Grant Awards for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Research (2014, 2016, & 2018), “Elevate Ventures, Fueling Indiana Ambition Award for Image-guided Surgery Research (2018)”, “Innovation Corps-NIH/SBIR Award for Drug Development for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (2016)”, “Elevate Ventures fund award for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Research (2015)”, “AAPS Postdoctoral Fellow Award sponsored by Merck (2012) for CXCR4-targeted antibody drug conjugates for metastatic cancers”, “AAPS Graduate Student Award in Biotechnology, sponsored by Pfizer (2009) for PSMA-targeted drugs for prostate cancer”, “AAPS Graduate Student Symposium sponsored by Eli Lilly (2009) for PSMA-targeted drugs for prostate cancer”, “Delano Maggard, Jr. graduate research award (2005)”, “ACS recognition Chemist of the year (2004)”, “E. A. Talaty Fellowship (2003)” and “B. L. Parker Endowed Fellowship (2002)”. He is an invited member of multiple honorary societies including Phi Kappa Phi (NSF), National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and Beta Phi Upsilon. Dr. Kularatne is also an invited peer reviewer for multiple scientific journals.
