Current lab members

Eric received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Imaging from Duke University in 2018. His dissertation explored interactions between electromagnetic fields and modified TRP channels. Eric also received a BS in Physics from Brigham Young University. In his spare time Eric enjoys running, basketball, spending time with his family and exploring the outdoors.


Anshul Assaiya received her Ph.D. in biotechnology from National Centre for Cell Science, Pune, India. Her research was focused on exploring the structural and functional modalities of ionotropic glutamate receptors and their homologues. She also contributed towards the development of an automated tool called CASSPER for cryoEM data processing. Apart from science, she is interested in music, arts, and cooking.

Kevin received his bachelor of science in biochemistry from the University of Washington in 2018. His undergraduate research work involved chemical cross-linking mass spectrometry to study in vivo protein interactions. Kevin joined the Chakrapani Lab in February 2020 and is interested in studying ion channel physiology and structure.

Emily received her bachelor of science in Kinesiology from the University of Michigan in 2018. She was previously involved in research investigating the structure and function of adipose tissue and the impact of diet and exercise on metabolic health. She is a current CWRU medical student pursuing an M.D./Ph.D. and joined the Chakrapani Lab in June 2020. Her hobbies outside of science and medicine include exercising, volunteering, and reading.

Kayla earned her M.S. degree in biology in 2019 from Case Western Reserve University. Her thesis project focused on elucidating the proteins that compose the mechanotransduction channels of sensory hair cells in the auditory and vestibular organs of Danio rerio via mutagenesis and electrophysiology. She is currently interested in investigating the structure and function of ionotropic neurotransmitter receptors. In her spare time, she likes to cook, draw, write fiction, and play videogames. Kayla joined the Chakrapani Lab in February 2020.

Madeleine received her bachelor of science in Neuroscience from Allegheny College in 2020. Her undergraduate research focused on analyzing the behavior of various ion channels and receptors when exposed to amyloid beta and other pharmacological agents of interest. She is a current BSTP Case Western student and joined the Chakrapani Lab in January 2021. Her interests outside of science include hiking, playing the piano, and listening to historical podcasts.


Henock received his BA in Chemistry at Carleton College in 2021. His undergraduate research was in Biochemistry where he worked on developing an assay to assist in developing and optimizing novel anti-malarial compounds. He is currently enrolled in the M.D./Ph.D. program at CWRU. His interests outside of science are reading and music.

Recent lab Alumni

Arvind finished his PhD from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in the year 2017. His dissertation was on "Structural and Functional insights into AhpR system of Mycobacterium tuberculosis". Prior to this, he finished his M.Sc in BioSciences (specialisation in biotechnology) from Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher learning, Puttaparthi, India. His current focus is on elucidating structure of Ion Channels using cryo-EM. Apart from academics, he is also interested in photography.

Intekhab received his PhD from Korea University where he studied the structure of Murine Norovirus-1 RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and its complex using X-ray crystallography. He has been trained in electron microscopy at university of Michigan where he used Cryo-EM to study various protein complexes. His current focus is the study of ion channels using Cryo-electron microscopy. His nonscientific interests include poetry, listening music and watching cricket.

Venkata R N Rajendra Boggavarapu received his PhD degree from University of Bern, Switzerland in 2014. His dissertation was on structure function studies of membrane transport proteins with special focus on peptide transporters. He received his MSc degree in Biotechnology from Bharkatullah University, Bhopal, India. He worked as post-doctoral associate at the Rockefeller University, New York. He worked with structural studies of macromolecular complexes by cryo EM. His current research focus is on exploring the structural basis for regulation of ion channels by cytoplasmic modulators. His nonscientific interests include cooking, Hiking, traveling, tweeting and blogging.

Sandip obtained his PhD from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore where he worked on V-ATPase from Yeast. He used multidisciplinary techniques and solved high resolution structures of different subunits. His interest in the lab is to work on pentameric ligand gated ion channel. He uses Cryo-EM as a main tool solve the structure of serotonin receptor. He is interested in debate and playing X-box games.

Current Position: Assistant Professor, School of Biological Sciences, NTU, Singapore



Soumili finished her undergrad with distinction from university of Houston, Houston in the year of 2012 in biomedical engineering. Her dissertation project was focused on the structural dynamics of Voltage-gated sodium channel during slow-inactivation. She is well-experienced with CW-EPR and patch clamp techniques.

Current Position: Associate Research Scientist at Seagan

Yvonne finished her Masters degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Purdue University in the year of 2012 where she conducted research on yeast. Her dissertation project was focused on the structural elucidation of serotonin receptor. She likes to bake and keep everything clean.

Current Position: Principal Scientist, Roche Pharma