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Members
Principal Investigator
Silvina Matysiak, PhD
Associate Professor of Bioengineering
University of Maryland
Postdoctoral Fellow The University of Texas at Austin
PhD Rice University
BS Instituto Tecnologico de Buenos Aires
e-mail: matysiak@umd.edu
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Graduate Students
Riya Samanta
BS/MS Physics, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, India
e-mail: riya@terpmail.umd.edu
Project: Protein allostery
Protein
allostery, also called action at distance where the signal from one
site is transmitted to a second, distal site, to alter protein function
is a fundamental process in biological systems.
How does the information traverses between two faraway sites in a
monoallosteric protein? I am currently working on BirA allostery and
effects of point mutations in its activity, and applying network
science concepts combined with an ensemble view of protein allostery to
address this query. Improving the understanding on of the molecular
mechanism of allostery, a regulatory mechanism used in very known
biological processs will have impact in drug development.
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Suhas Gotla
email: sgotla@terpmail.umd.edu
Project: Chitosan Hydrogels
Chitosan is a carbohydrate polymer
derived from chitin, the primary component of fungal cell walls and
insect exoskeletons, that forms interconnected hydrogel networks. These
chitosan hydrogels are biocompatible and display a range of mechanical
properties in different environmental conditions that make suitable for
use in biofabrication, tissue engineering, and other biomedical
applications. However, it is unclear how surfactants, ionic strength,
and other environmental factors elicit different hydrogel properties.
The aim of my research is to facilitate the development of novel
chitosan-based materials by harnessing the capabilities of coarse
grained molecular dynamics to explore the molecular mechanisms that
underlie differential hydrogel behavior.
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Neha Nanajkar
B. Tech. Biotechnology, PES University, Bangalore, India
email: nanajkar@terpmail.umd.edu
Project:
Membrane curvature has
been shown to have an active role in controlling cellular organization
and activity. Also certain proteins/peptides are known to aggregate on
curved membranes or known to alter membrane curvature. The aim of my
research is to characterize the molecular mechanism behind curvature
peptide sensing and/or alteration of membrane curvature by peptides.
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Meenal Jain
B. S. Chemistry, St. Stephen's College, Delhi, India
M.S. Chemistry Indian Institure if Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, India
email: mjain123@terpmail.umd.edu
Project:
A large proportion of proteins are
metalloproteins. My research aims to understand the mechanism
behind metal-coupled protein folding and protein allostery induced by
the presence of metal ions.
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Alumni
Postdocs
Dr. Anu Nagarajan current position: Schrodinger
Graduates
Dr. Sai Ganesan current position: Google
Dr. Gregory Custer current position: Air Force
Dr. Hongcheng Xu current position: Google
Dr. Abhilash Sahoo current position: postdoc at Flatiron Institute (Pilar Cossio)
Dr. Pei-Yin Lee current position: postdoc at the University of Chicago (Greg Voth)
Undergraduates
Ilana Borison
Neel Sanghvi
Mariam Adwan
Christopher Look
Mattew Eckler current position: IBM
David Peeler current position: University of Washington
Michael McCutchen current position: W.L. Gore
Sudi Jawahery current position: University of California, Berkeley
Anastasiya Belyaeva current position: MIT
High-School Students
Christopher Tong current position: MIT
Anushka Poddar
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