Giorgi Meshvildishvili is a PhD student at the University of Basel since 2024 specializing in the development of analytical methods for detecting fungal toxins involving microfluidics (funded by Interreg VIA Oberrhein, Project AUTOMETA; https://www.regbas.ch/de/foerderprogramme/projekte-interreg-oberrhein/autometa/) and exploring natural products that can inhibit their uptake in the liver. He earned his Bachelor's degree in 2020 from San Diego State University, USA, where his thesis focused on the synthesis of adamantane derivatives and their biological activities. In 2024, he completed his Master's degree at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, working on the qualitative analysis of metabolites using atmospheric pressure photoionization tandem mass spectrometry.

Giorgi's current research encompasses two main projects. The first involves developing a method for urine sample preparation and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) to detect fungal and mushroom toxins. He aims to adapt this method to centrifugal microfluidics, which will accelerate analysis and enhance practicality. The second project targets alpha-amanitin, a deadly toxin from the death cap mushroom that causes fatal liver damage through the transport protein OATP1B3. He is working to identify inhibitors from a library of natural product extracts that block the uptake of the toxins into the liver.

His interdisciplinary work combines analytical chemistry, toxicology, and natural product research, contributing to improved detection methods and potential treatments for fungal toxin exposure.

Publication(s):

Rosa-Gastaldo et al. (2023): Intracluster ligand rearrangement: an NMR-based thermodynamic study. Nanoscale, 15, p. 6838. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1039/d3nr00360d.