Bio
Dr. Andrey Kovalevsky is a structural biologist, biochemist and a Distinguished R&D Scientist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Dr. Kovalevsky is also an instrument scientist on the ORNL IMAGINE at HFIR and MaNDi at SNS neutron crystallographic instruments. Dr. Kovalevsky received his M.Sc. degree with Honors in 1996 from Kharkiv State University in Ukraine where he studied organic chemistry and crystallography, and his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York, with the emphasis on the transition metal chemistry, photo-induced reactivity, and crystallography. He did his postdoctoral studies on drug resistance of HIV-1 protease at the Georgia State University and on enzyme catalysis using macromolecular neutron crystallography at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Prior to joining ORNL, he held a position as a Staff Scientist at LANL working on the Protein Crystallography Station. Dr. Kovalevsky has authored over 200 publications. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the US Department of Energy (DOE).
Dr. Kovalevsky’s current research focuses on designing antivirals against SARS-CoV-2 and other RNA viruses, designing antidotes against nerve gas and pesticide poisoning, and studying cancer-related vitamin B6-dependent enzymes. His approach combines innovative biophysical and computational methodologies, such as X-ray and neutron crystallography at near-physiological conditions, neutron vibrational spectroscopy, biomolecular simulations, and structure-based virtual reality (VR)-assisted drug design.