Meet Dr. Sandra C. Ordonez-Rubiano
I am a patient-driven scientist passionate about cancer research and mentorship. My goal as a researcher is to identify new targets and strategies for treating cancer. I developed this patient-centered focus during my clinical rotations at the National Cancer Institute in Colombia, where witnessing limited treatment options motivated me to pursue cancer research.
Mentorship has been central to my academic career. I have mentored over 15 undergraduate and graduate students, guiding them to develop hands-on technical skills and critical thinking. As a principal investigator at Georgia Southern University, I aim to apply my scientific expertise toward advancing cancer research while supporting future scientists on their path to discovery.
Outside of the lab, I enjoy creative pursuits ranging from acrylic painting and photography to playing the ukulele. I firmly believe a healthy work-life balance is essential for every scientist!
Professional experience
I earned my Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences/Pharmacy from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá in 2017. In 2018, I moved to the United States to pursue a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Purdue University under the mentorship of Dr. Emily Dykhuizen. During my doctoral studies, I developed chemical tools to investigate the role of chromatin regulators in cancer. In 2024, I joined Dr. Laura Dassama’s laboratory at Stanford University to study protein modulation of transcriptional regulators in cancer models. In 2026, I joined Georgia Southern University as an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry.
Postdoctoral associates
Velayudham Sankar
Velayudham Sankar is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the laboratory of Dr. Sandra C. Ordonez-Rubiano at Georgia Southern University. He is a synthetic organic chemist with more than 10 years of research experience in transition-metal catalysis, asymmetric catalysis, catalytic reaction development, C–H functionalization, and multistep organic synthesis.
Sankar received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from SRM Institute of Science and Technology, India, in 2022. He subsequently worked as a Research Associate in Prof. Debabrata Maiti’s group at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the groups of Prof. Junliang Zhang and Prof. Junfeng Yang at Fudan University, China. His previous research has focused on the development of new catalytic methodologies, asymmetric synthesis, chiral ligand design, cross-coupling reactions, and the synthesis of structurally complex organic molecules.
In the Ordonez-Rubiano laboratory, Sankar is expanding his research into medicinal chemistry and chemical biology, focusing on the design and synthesis of small molecules and chemical probes targeting transcriptional regulators involved in cancer. His current work integrates his expertise in synthetic organic chemistry with biological and biochemical approaches to develop selective chemical tools for investigating cancer-related molecular pathways.