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Welcome to our Group
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Research Highlights

I. Surface Spectroscopy at Membrane Interface
Membrane interface is an unique place in the biological system which controls several complex biological processes such as neurotransmitter signaling, protein conformation, drug permeation and its action as well as enzymatic actions. Hence, understanding the complex biological processes are important to decode their mechanistic aspects. In this context, we utilize the state-of-the-art surface selective and sensitive vibrational sum frequency generation spectroscopy technique to understand the complex biological processes at the membrane interface. 

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II. DNA in Diseases 
DNA is one of the important building blocks of life and controls several biological processes of life.  The change in the environment many times damages/ perturbs the structure of DNA which leads to several serious diseases such as cancer and many other neurological problems. One of the objectives of this project is to understand the structural change as well as stability of the canonical DNA induced by the several different molecules such as ionic liquids, denaturants and fungicides and its plausible role in diseases. Apart from the canonical form, DNA exists in many noncanonical forms such as G-quadruplex and i-motifs. G-quadruplex has been found as one of the alternative targets for the treatment of cancer, hence, focus has been given to design the ligand which can stabilize the G-quadruplexes. In this context, we are interested to understand the molecular level picture of the topological preference of the binding of drug molecules with G-quadruplexes and its role in the expression level of the protein associated with the cancer using the biophysical, biochemical and molecular dynamics simulation methods.

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III. Photophysics of Biomolecules 
Amino acids are one of the simplest biomolecules which control several complex biological processes in humans. There are twenty natural amino acids, however, not enough to understand the complex biological phenomena. Hence, impetus has been designed several analogues of natural amino acids, known as noncanonical amino acids to sketch the panorama of different biological processes. The chromophore of canonical and noncanonical amino acids are responsible for their fluorescence behavior. Hence, understanding the fluorescence behavior of the noncanonical amino acids along with chromophore is essential. Therefore, we  try to understand the role of the substitution in the photophysical behavior and the excited state properties of the noncanonical amino acids as well as their analogues to enhance our molecular level understanding for its application in several different complex processes. 

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IV. Photophysics of Neurotransmitters 
Neurotransmitters are biomolecules which act as chemical messengers inside cells to relay the information contained in neurons. The neurotransmitter molecules have high conformational variety and flexibility in solution. The knowledge of how the noncovalent interactions affect the conformations of their aggregates in aqueous solutions at physiological pH are important and are carried out using DFT studies. The knowledge of their interactions with nucleic acids are important for the understanding of how the nucleic acids and neurotransmitters work in tandem in biological systems. The research work focuses on the understanding of the role of interactions like hydrogen bonding and how the interactions with neurotransmitters affect the structure and stability of DNA by spectroscopic methods.


Open Positions:
Ph.D. positions are available. Interested candidates are encouraged to enquire through email for further information.
(Email: sppcs@iacs.res.in / prashantchem@gmail.com
 



 

Group News:

  • Asim has received the Best Poster Award at TSRP-2024, organized by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. Congratulations!

  • Congratulations to Biswajit for receiving SERB travel grant for attending Gordon Research Conference (GRC) in USA.

  • Sunipa has been selected for a short-term project position through the prestigious Newton-Bhabha PhD Placement Programme. Congratulations!



Some of our Published Works

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