Research

Biosciences and Bioengineering

The Biological Sciences discipline at IIT Mandi is motivated by the needs in the field of human healthcare, food/agriculture, and environment sustainability. This thrives for the development of new technologies for better disease diagnosis and management, identification, and the development of rare medicinally important molecules from various sources towards a clean and better environment. Situated in the largely agrarian and scenic central Himalayan terrain, IIT Mandi has a focus on agriculture, environment, and human health. This discipline has initiated activities in the broader areas of biological sciences of immediate relevance to the Himalayan region with a special emphasis on health care. There is an immediate need to extend these benefits of advanced knowledge and technology to the society. Also, with the advancements in technology, better health care regimes need to be evolved. IIT Mandi has several faculties in the school of basic sciences with core expertise in Biological Sciences, who along with the faculties in the other discipline at the School of Basic Sciences and Engineering are engaged in highly interdisciplinary state-of-the-art research activities.

FACULTY RESEARCH PROFILES

Dr. Amit Jaiswal

Research Area:

  • Nanobiotechnology

Research Interests:

  • Metal Nanostructure
  • 2D Materials
  • Nanomedicine
  • Sensors
  • Antimicrobial Materials

Representative Publications:

  • Reusable MoS2-Modified Antibacterial Fabrics with Photothermal Disinfection Properties for Repurposing of Personal Protective Masks, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2021) 13, 11, 12912–12927
  • Cubic Palladium Nanorattles with Solid Octahedron Gold Core for Catalysis and Alkaline Membrane Fuel Cell Applications, ChemCatChem (2019), 11(17), 4383-4392
  • 2D MoS2 based Nanomaterials for Therapeutic, Bioimaging and Biosensing Applications, Small (2018) 15, 1803706

Lab-webpage: https://www.theajlab.com

Dr. Amit Prasad

Research Area:

  • Host-Pathogen interactions

Research Interests:

  • Role of innate immune cells in inflammatory disorders
  • Neurocysticircosis
  • Vaccine design

Representative Publications:

  • Taenia solium proteins: a beautiful kaleidoscope of pro and anti-inflammatory antigens ,Expert Rev Proteomics . Jul-Aug 2020;17(7-8):609-622.
  • Unveiling Taenia solium kinome profile and its potential for new therapeutic targets,Expert Rev Proteomics .2020 Jan;17(1):85-94.
  • Development of multi-epitope chimeric vaccine against Taenia solium by exploring its proteome: an in silico approach, Expert Rev Vaccines .2020 Jan;19(1):105-114.

Lab-webpage: https://sites.google.com/view/amit-prasad/

Dr. Baskar Bakthavachalu

Research Area:

  • Molecular Neuroscience

Research Interests:

  • RNA Biology
  • Genetics and Genome Engineering
  • Neurodegeneration
  • Vector-borne diseases

Representative Publications:

  • Singh A, Huelsmeier J, Reddy A, Pothapragada SS, Hillebrand J, Petrauskas A, Agrawal K, Krishnan RT, Thiagarajan D, Jayaprakashappa D, VijayRaghavan K, Ramaswami M and Bakthavachalu B (2021). Antagonistic roles for Ataxin-2 structured and disordered domains in RNP condensation. eLife., 10:e60326.
  • Singh A, Reddy A, Jayaprakashappa D, Thuery G, Purohit J D, Huelsmeier J, Singh R, VijayRaghavan K, Ramaswami M and Bakthavachalu B (2021). The transcriptional response to oxidative stress is interdependent of stress granule formation. ( Biorxiv: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.18.456454).
  • Bakthavachalu B, Huelsmeier J, Sudhakaran I, Hillebrand J, Singh A, Petrauskas A, Thiagarajan D, Sankaranarayanan M, Mizoue L, Anderson E, Pandey UB, Ross E, Parker R, VijayRaghavan K, and Ramaswami M (2018) RNP-granule assembly via ataxin-2 disordered domains is required for long-term memory and neurodegeneration. Neuron., 98, 754–766.

Lab-webpage: https://www.baskarlab.com/

Dr. Kharerin Hungyo

Research Area:

  • Computational and Physical Genomics

Research Interests:

  • Nucleosome dynamics and positioning, Chromatin folding,
  • Conformational dynamics of proteins

Representative Publications:

  • H. Kharerin, P. J. Bhat, J. F. Marko and R. Padinhateeri, "Role of transcription factor-mediated nucleosome disassembly in PHO5 gene expression," Sci Rep, vol. 6, p. 20319, 2016
  • R. K. Kar, H. Kharerin, R. Padinhateeri and P. J. Bhat, "Multiple Conformations of Gal3 Protein Drive the Galactose-Induced Allosteric Activation of the GAL Genetic Switch of Saccharomyces cerevisiae," J Mol Biol , vol. 429, p. 158, 2017.
  • H. Kharerin, P. J. Bhat and R. Padinhateeri, "Role of nucleosome positioning in 3D chromatin organization and loop formation," J Biosci , vol. 45, p. 14, 2020
  • H. Kharerin and L. Bai, "Predicting nucleosome positioning using statistical equilibrium models in budding yeast," STAR Protoc, vol. 4, p. 101926, 2022.

Lab-webpage: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7gUW48MAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra

Dr. Prasad Kasturi

Research Area:

  • Molecular and Cellular Biology
  • C. elegans Model System

Research Interests:

  • Protein quality control
  • Stress response
  • Aging and age related diseases

Representative Publications:

  • M.S. Hipp*, P. Kasturi* and F.U. Hartl*. The proteostasis network and its decline in ageing. Nature Reviews Mol. Cell. Biol 2019. 20(7): 421-435. doi.org/10.1038/s41580-019-0101-y
  • D.M. Walther*, P. Kasturi*, M. Zheng, S. Pinkert, G. Vecchi, P. Ciryam, R. I. Morimoto, C. M. Dobson, M. Vendruscolo, M. Mann and F.U. Hartl. Widespread Proteome Remodeling and Aggregation in Aging C. elegans. Cell 2015. 161(4): 919-932. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2015.03.032

Lab-webpage: https://www.kpbiolab.com/

Dr. Shyam K. Masakapalli

Research Area:

  • Metabolic Systems Biology

Research Interests:

  • Metabolism of Plant and microbial systems
  • 13C fluxomics
  • Cellular Bioprocessing Technology
  • NMR, GC-MS

Representative Publications:

  • Insights into the Polyhydroxybutyrate Biosynthesis in Ralstonia solanacearum Using Parallel 13C Tracers and Comparative Genome Analysis, ACS Chem. Biol. 2021 doi.org/10.1021/acschembio.1c00249
  • The B-Box-Containing MicroProtein miP1a/BBX31 Regulates Photomorphogenesis and UV-B Protection ,Plant Physiol, 2019 Apr;179(4):1876-1892.
  • Allosteric inhibition of MTHFR prevents futile SAM cycling and maintains nucleotide pools in one-carbon metabolism, J Biol Chem .2020 Nov 20;295(47):16037-16057.

Lab-webpage: https://sites.google.com/view/metsysbiolab

Dr. Sumit Murab

Research Area:

  • Tissue Engineering & Biomaterials

Research Interests:

  • Bioinspired materials
  • In vitro disease models
  • 3D Printing/ Bioprinting
  • Dental Regeneration

Representative Publications:

  • Murab S, Gruber SMS, Lin CYJ, Whitlock P. Elucidation of bio-inspired hydroxyapatie crystallization on oxygen-plasma modified 3D printed poly-caprolactone scaffolds. Materials Science and Engineering: C. 2020 Apr;109:110529.
  • Murab S, Samal J, Shrivastava A, Ray AR, Pandit A, Ghosh S. Glucosamine loaded injectable silk-in-silk integrated system modulate mechanical properties in bovine ex-vivo degenerated intervertebral disc model. Biomaterials. 2015 Jul;55:64–83.
  • Murab S, Chameettachal S, Ghosh S. Establishment of an in vitro monolayer model of macular corneal dystrophy. Lab Invest. 2016 Dec;96(12):1311–26.
  • Murab S, Chameettachal S, Bhattacharjee M, Das S, Kaplan DL, Ghosh S. Matrix-embedded cytokines to simulate osteoarthritis-like cartilage microenvironments. Tissue Engineering Part A. 2013 Aug;19(15–16):1733–53.

Lab-webpage: https://sites.google.com/iitmandi.ac.in/murab-group

Dr. Trayambak Basak

Research Area:

  • Cardiometabolic Diseases

Research Interests:

  • Heart Failure
  • Extracellular Matrix
  • Cardiac Fibrosis
  • Post-translational modifications

Representative Publications:

  • Comprehensive mapping and dynamics of site-specific prolyl hydroxylation, lysyl-hydroxylation and lysyl O-glycosylation of collagens deposited in ECM during zebrafish heart regeneration. Sarohi V, Srivastava S and Basak T*. Front. Mol. Biosci. 9:892763. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2022.892763.
  • A Comprehensive Outlook on Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM): State-Of-The-Art Developments with Special Emphasis on OMICS-Based Approaches. Sarohi V, Srivastava S and Basak T*. J. Cardiovasc. Dev. Dis. 2022, 9(6), 174; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcdd9060174.
  • Quantitative proteomic profiling of extracellular matrix and site-specific collagen post-translational modifications in an in vitro model of lung fibrosis, Matrix biology plus. 2019, 1, 100005.
  • Plasma proteomic analysis of stable coronary artery disease indicates impairment of reverse cholesterol pathway, Scientific reports. 2016, 6 (1), 1-11.

Lab-webpage: https://sites.google.com/iitmandi.ac.in/proteomicslabiit-mandi/home?authuser=0

Dr. Tulika Srivastava

Research Area:

  • Systems Biology and Multi-OMICS

Research Interests:

  • Gut microbiome and Intestinal Immun
  • Host – microbe interaction
  • Disease biomarkers identification
  • Environmnetal pollutants bioremediation

Representative Publications:

  • Comparative Human Gut Microbiome Analysis of Prakriti and Sasang Systems Reveals Functional Level Similarities in the Constitutionally Similar Classes. Fauzul Mobeen, Vikas Sharma, Tulika Prakash*. 3Biotech (BITC) 2020, Sep; 10(9): 379.
  • In Silico Functional and Evolutionary Analyses of Rubber Oxygenases (RoxA and RoxB). Vikas Sharma, Fauzul Mobeen, Tulika Prakash*. 3Biotech (BITC) 2020, Sep; 10(9): 376.
  • Association of colitis with gut-microbiota dysbiosis in clathrin adapter AP-1B knockout mice. Aditi Jangid, Shinji Fukuda, Masahide Seki, Terumi Horiuchi, Yutaka Suzuki, Todd D Taylor, Hiroshi, Ohno, Tulika Prakash*. PLoS One 2020, Mar 24; 15(3) e0228358.

Lab-webpage: https://sites.google.com/students.iitmandi.ac.in/systemsbiology/home

Dr. Ekta Makhija

Research Area:

  • Mechanobiology of cells and tissues

Research Interests:

  • Pattern formation by self-assembly of cells, Forces in biological systems, Cell differentiation and tissue development, Biophysical cellular markers of disease and health

Representative Publications:

  • Topological defects govern mesenchymal condensations, offering a morphology-based tool for predicting chondrogenic differentiation E. Makhija, Y. Zhang, J. Wang, H. Leong, R. Othman, E. X. Ng, E. H. Lee, L. T. Kellogg, Y. H. Lee, H. Yu, Z. Poon, and K. J. Van Vliet Under Review 2023 (preprint on BioRxiv)
  • Mechanical Strain Alters Cellular and Nuclear Dynamics at Early Stages of Oligodendrocyte Differentiation E. Makhija, A. Jagielska, L. Zhu, A. C. Bost, W. Ong, S. Y. Chew, G. V. Shivashankar, and K. J. Van Vliet Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience 2018
  • Nuclear Plasticity and Telomere Dynamics are Regulated by Extracellular Matrix Constraints E. Makhija, D. S. Jokhun, and G. V. Shivashankar Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences 2016

Lab-webpage: