Konika was born in Delhi, the capital state of India. She attended Kirorimal College in Delhi University where she received her B.Sc (H) in Chemistry (2015). Later, she joined Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Indore, India for receiving her Master’s degree in Organic Chemistry (2018). During her masters, she worked under Dr. Chelvam Venkatesh working on synthesizing small molecule targeting ligands or inhibitors for therapeutic and diagnostic applications of pathological diseases. During this tenure, she acquired skills in various aspects of Organic Chemistry like Total Synthesis and Natural Product Chemistry. In addition to this, she was a part of summer project at JNCASR, Bangalore, India. The project focused on the synthesis of some quinoline based fluorescent molecules which might be employed for imaging macromolecules in live and dead cells. After acquiring this research experience, she felt prepared to embark her PhD studies. Outside Chemistry, Konika enjoys cooking, dancing and sketching.

Konika joined Dr. Tepe’s lab in the Fall of 2019. Her work focuses on synthesizing pyrrolopyperazinone based scaffold. These moieties are believed to be an essential part of bromopyrrole alkaloids which are found to exhibit numerous biological activities including anti-microbial, anti-viral, anti-tumor and many more.