Photo of Kiira Ratia

Kiira Ratia


Associate Director, UICentre for Drug Discovery
Director, High-throughput Screening Core, OVCR / Research Resources Core

Email:

kratia@uic.edu

Related Sites:

Selected Grants

Identifying inhibitors of the bacterial peptidyl-tRNA hydrolase, National Institutes of Health (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)., 2/3/2026 - 1/31/2028, Obligated Amount: $440908; Anticipated Amount: $440908

Antibiotics for K. pneumoniae targeting the essential bacterial enzyme peptide-tRNA hydrolase, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation., 1/1/2026 - 12/31/2028, No Obligated Amount Set; Anticipated Amount: $3040616

Designing Selective ?3 Adrenoreceptor Agonists to Treat Obesity, Biagon Inc., 11/1/2025 - 10/31/2026, Obligated Amount: $74921; Anticipated Amount: $74921

Development of antibacterial inhibitors of Klebsiella pneumoniae peptidyl-tRNA hydrolase, Chancellor's Translational Research Initiative., 6/1/2025 - 9/30/2025, No Obligated Amount Set; Anticipated Amount: $25000

Identification of small molecules to improve efficacy of cancer immunotherapy, Chancellor's Translational Research Initiative., 6/1/2024 - 9/30/2024, Obligated Amount: $25000; Anticipated Amount: $25000

COVID19 - Targeting SARS-CoV-2 PLpro for COVID-19 treatment, University of Arizona., 4/1/2022 - 1/31/2027, Obligated Amount: $509541; Anticipated Amount: $509541

Development of Small Molecule Inhibitors of G12 / Alpha-SNAP-dependent vWF Secretion, Chicago Biomedical Consortium., 10/1/2021 - 9/30/2025, Obligated Amount: $250000; Anticipated Amount: $250000

Mechanisms of diabetes from acute pancreatitis in African Americans and Hispanics, National Institutes of Health (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)., 9/17/2020 - 7/31/2025, Obligated Amount: $1488932; Anticipated Amount: $1494424

Development of GCN2 inhibitors to potentiate the activity of asparaginases, US Department of Veterans Affairs (Medical Research Ser)., 8/15/2020 - 8/14/2021, Obligated Amount: $40000; Anticipated Amount: $40000

Selected Publications

Khin, Manead, Saldana, Alejandra Cavazos, Rangel-Grimaldo, Manuel, Raja, Huzefa A, Abegg, Daniel, Ekiert, Julia, Liu, Chang, Misra, Sweta, Ratia, Kiira, Adibekian, Alexander, Gao, Yu, Kulp, Samuel K, Coss, Christopher C, Oberlies, Nicholas H, Burdette, Joanna E. (2026). Natural Product Target Identification of Wheldone, a Fungal Metabolite, as a KIF11 Inhibitor in Ovarian Cancer Using the DiffPOP (Differential Protein Precipitation) Method. Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, 25, (5), 101558. doi:10.1016/j.mcpro.2026.101558.

Gannarapu, MallaReddy, Indukuri, Divakar, Holberg, Cameron, Ratia, Kiira, Ramos, Omar Lozano, Cardoza, Savio, Velma, Ganga Reddy, Musku, Soumya Reddy, Qi, Zuohuang, Slilaty, Steve, Li, Zuomei, Rong, Lijun, Thatcher, Gregory RJ, Xiong, Rui. (2026). Discovery of the SARS-CoV‑2 Papain-Like Protease Inhibitor MR1–114: From Structure-Based Design to In Vivo Antiviral Efficacy. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 69, (7), 8433-8450. doi:10.1021/acs.jmedchem.5c03846.

Ratia, Kiira, Jin, Shengnan, Abad-Zapatero, Celerino, Shetye, Gauri S, Demissie, Robel, Qader, Mallique, Beautrait, Alexandre, Nikolic, Dejan S, Wolf, Nina M, Rubin, Eric J, Krandor, Olga, Serbina, Natalya, Li, Guiying, Pauli, Guido F, Klein, Larry L, Cho, Sanghyun, Franzblau, Scott G, Fotouhi, Nader, Kaneko, Takushi, Lee, Hyun. (2025). Unique Interactions of Novel Rufomycin “Click Chemistry” Analogs with Mtb ClpC1 and Implications. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 68, (24), 26298-26310. doi:10.1021/acs.jmedchem.5c02416.

Wang, Zilai, Zhang, Pin, Ratia, Kiira M, Daher, Ahmad, Zhao, Zongmin, Carlier, Paul R, Jiang, Yuwei, Rong, Lijun. (2025). Development of a comparative high-throughput screening platform for identifying glioblastoma subtype specific inhibitors. Cell Insight, 4, (6), 100284. doi:10.1016/j.cellin.2025.100284.

Sacramento, Carolina Q, Bott, Ryan, Huang, Qinfeng, Eaton, Brett, Postnikova, Elena, Sabir, Ahmad J, Argade, Malaika D, Ratia, Kiira, Anantpadma, Manu, Carlier, Paul R, Ly, Hinh, Liang, Yuying, Rong, Lijun. (2025). Recombinant Pichinde reporter virus as a safe and suitable surrogate for high-throughput antiviral screening against highly pathogenic arenaviruses. Antiviral Research, 236, 106117. doi:10.1016/j.antiviral.2025.106117.

Velma, Ganga Reddy, Shen, Zhengnan, Holberg, Cameron, Fu, Jiqiang, Soleymani, Farinaz, Cooper, Laura, Ramos, Omar Lozano, Indukuri, Divakar, Musku, Soumya Reddy, Rychetsky, Pavel, Slilaty, Steve, Li, Zuomei, Ratia, Kiira, Rong, Lijun, Schenten, Dominik, Xiong, Rui, Thatcher, Gregory RJ. (2024). Non-Covalent Inhibitors of SARS-CoV‑2 Papain-Like Protease (PLpro): In Vitro and In Vivo Antiviral Activity. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 67, (16), 13681-13702. doi:10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c00378.

Rusu, Luiza, Bloem, Laura J, Chen, Hui, Lee, Hyun, Ratia, Kiira M, Jayathilaka, Lasanthi, Carlier, Paul R, Minshall, Richard D. (2024). Abstract 1063: G Protein 12 Alpha Subunit Covalent Binding To Alpha-snap And Its Potential Role In Von Willebrand Factor Secretion. Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, 44, (Suppl_1), a1063-a1063. doi:10.1161/atvb.44.suppl_1.1063.

Li, Yangfeng, Shen, Zhengnan, Ratia, Kiira, Zhao, Jiong, Huang, Fei, Dubrovyskyii, Oleksii, Indukuri, Divakar, Fu, Jiqiang, Ramos, Omar Lozano, Thatcher, Gregory RJ, Xiong, Rui. (2024). Structure-Guided Design and Synthesis of Pyridinone-Based Selective Bromodomain and Extra-Terminal Domain (BET)-First Bromodomain (BD1) Inhibitors. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 67, (4), 2712-2731. doi:10.1021/acs.jmedchem.3c01837.

Gordon-Blake, Jesse, Ratia, Kiira, Weidig, Victoria, Velma, Ganga Reddy, Ackerman-Berrier, Martha, Penton, Christopher, Musku, Soumya Reddy, Alves, Erick TM, Driver, Tom, Tai, Leon, Thatcher, Gregory RJ. (2024). Nicotinamide Phosphoribosyltransferase Positive Allosteric Modulators Attenuate Neuronal Oxidative Stress. ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 15, (2), 205-214. doi:10.1021/acsmedchemlett.3c00391.

Education

Degrees:
PhD, University of Illinois at Chicago, United States, 2008
BS, Haverford College, United States, 1999

Selected Presentations

Bae, M, Lee, H, Bloem, LJ, Ratia, K, Du, X, Minshall, Richard. (2019 April 01). Development of novel cell-permeable Gα12-αSNAP binding domain peptide and small molecules for inhibiting microvascular thrombosis associated with cancer and cancer treatment. Gary Kruh Cancer Research Symposium. Chicago, IL. USA..