Molecular interaction: bridging the structure with function

Currently, I am a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Columbia University. I have completed my Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) and was a Carver Bioscience Postdoctoral Research Associate at Iowa State University. My research interests include (i) developing methodologies to decipher molecular interaction and transport and (ii) understanding structural and functional insight of biomolecular assemblies. 

I designed spectrally-resolved sensitized emission /FRET imaging to authenticate the biomolecular interaction. The method has been demonstrated to investigate the liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) and its progressive maturation of pathologically relevant α-synuclein (α-Syn) protein. Sensitized emission imaging was also explored to investigate the local surface polarity of α-Syn fibril.

Polarization-resolved single-molecule tracking has been developed to probe the authentic transient pause during tracer transport. As proof of principle, experiments inside polymer thin-film reveal nanoscale glassy domains in a pool of rubbery polymer networks far above the glass transition. Besides, I introduced helical anisotropy imaging to reveal the structural heterogeneity of amyloid fibrils. 

Currently, I am probing the slow-scale dynamics of heterogenous glassy systems using novel Fluorescence microscopes.