Alumni

Diptiprava is from Odisha, India, received a master degree in chemistry from Pondicherry University, Puducherry in 2019. She worked with Dr Binoy Krishna Saha on crystal engineering and supramolecular chemistry during her masters. She joined Dr Soumen De group in the Vasanth 2020 as an institute fellow and submitted her PhD thesis in July 2025. She likes to spend her spare time on art and craft. She submitted her thesis in July 2025.

Present Position: Postdoc in Professor Henry Dube's group in Germany.

Email: diptiprava20@iisertvm.ac.in 

Publications:

1. "Stimuli-Responsive Chiroptical Switching" Diptiprava Sahoo, Renitta Benny, Nithish Kumar KS, and Soumen De*ChemPlusChem. 2022, 87,e202100322

2. "Biomimetic supramolecular coordination chemistry and molecular machines" Renitta Benny, Diptiprava Sahoo, Nithish Kumar KS, and Soumen De* Book Chapter, Elsevier, 2022, ISBN: 610995

3. "Recent advances in fuel-driven molecular switches and machines" Renitta Benny, Diptiprava Sahoo, Ajith George, and Soumen De* ChemistryOpen, 2022, 11, e202200128 

4. "Light-Triggered Reversible Open-Close Motion of a Chiral Molecular Plier to Modulate Guest Binding" Diptiprava Sahoo, Muhsin Abdul Majeed, Aarti Lathwal, and Soumen De* Chem. Eur. J, 2023, 29, e202300092

5. "Homochiral Self-Sorting During Macrocycle Formation and Their Chiroptical Properties"  Diptiprava Sahoo and Soumen De* ChemistryOpen, 2024, DOI: 10.1002/open.202400400.

6. "Light-Triggered Reversible Helicity Switching of a Rotor by a Photo-Responsive Plier" Diptiprava Sahoo, Anshuman Bera, Sivaranjana Reddy Vennapusa, and Soumen De* Chem. Eur. J.,2025, e202404771.

Kavya Pramod is a BSMS major student of Batch 20 at IISER TVM. She is from Kannur, Kerala, India. She worked on the “Synthesis and characterisation of Chiral Nanobarrels” as her major project.

Email: kavyapramod20@iisertvm.ac.in

Abhinav is a BSMS major student of Batch 20. He is from Kozhikode, Kerala. He joined our group in May 2022 and later continued his major project on " Macrocycles for Chiral Catalysis." 

Email: abhinavn20@iisertvm.ac.in

Shada Abdulla is a BS-MS Major student of Batch 20. She is from Kozhikode, Kerala. She joined our group in April 2022 and continued her major project on "Chiral molecular switches". 

Email: shadaabdulla20@iisertvm.ac.in

Chandana was a BS-MS Major student of Batch 19. She is from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. She joined our group in July 2022 and later continued her major project on “Metal-ion induced switching in Chiral Mechanically Interlocked Molecules”.

Email: chandanas19@@iisertvm.ac.in

Present Position: PhD Student at Washington University in St. Louis, USA

Aiswarya Roby was a BS-MS Major student of Batch 19. She is from Ernakulam, Kerala, She joined our group in June 2023 and later continued her major project on "Chiral molecular switches".

Email: aiswaryaroby19@iisertvm.ac.in

Present Position: PhD Student at the University of Dortmund (Guido Clever's group), Germany

Abhinu was a BS-MS Major student of Batch 18. He is from Thrissur, Kerala. He joined our group in August 2021 and later continued his major project on ‘Chemically fueled molecular switches’.  

Email: abhinums18@iisertvm.ac.in

Present Position: PhD Student at the University of Dortmund, Germany

Ashley was a BS-MS Major student of Batch 18. She is from Ernakulam, Kerala. She joined our group in October 2021 and later continued her major project on "Chiral cages and Mechanically interlocked molecules". 

Email: ashley18@iisertvm.ac.in

Present Position: PhD Student at the University of Munich (Ivan Huc's group), Germany

Suraj was a BS-MS Major student of Batch 18. He is from Alwar, Rajasthan. He joined our group to pursue his major project in August 2022. He did his major project on corannulene-derived materials and their various applications. 

Email: sjgothwal618@iisertvm.ac.in

Present Position: PhD Student at the Ulsan National Institute of Science & Technology(UNIST) Korea.

Ajith was a BS-MS Major student of Batch 17. He joined our group in April 2021 and later continued his major project on chiral receptivity and selective binding of small molecules. 

Publications:

1. "Recent advances in fuel-driven molecular switches and machines" Renitta Benny, Diptiprava Sahoo, Ajith George, and Soumen De* ChemistryOpen, 2022, 11, e202200128

Present Position: PhD Student at Weizmann Institute of Science (Sergey Semenov's group), Israel

Muhsin was a BS-MS Major student of Batch 17. He joined our group in June 2021 and later continued his major project on chiral photo-switchable cage molecules. 

Publications:

1. "Light-Triggered Reversible Open-Close Motion of a Chiral Molecular Plier to Modulate Guest Binding" Diptiprava Sahoo, Muhsin Abdul Majeed, Aarti Lathwal, and Soumen De* Chem. Eur. J, 2023, 29, e202300092

Present Position: He is pursuing his MBA from IIM Kozhikode.

Devika was a BS-MS Major student of Batch 17. She joined our group to persue her major project (with Prof. Y. D. vankar) on "Synthesis of 2-c-formyl glycals and 2c-branched c-aryl glycosides".

Poovannan Ravichandran was a BS-MS Major student of Batch 16. He was the 1st member of our group. He Joined our group in December 2020 to pursue his major project on switchable catalysis. 

Present Position: PhD Student at Charles University, Prague

Aarti (Msc student (2022-23) is, from Haryana, an MSc student of batch 2021.  She did her graduation with chemistry honours from Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of science and technology (DCRUST), Haryana. She likes participating in volunteering activities especially teaching underprivileged kids. She has been associated with a few non-profit organizations since her college days. She usually spends her leisure time watching movies or listening to music.

Email: aarti21@iisertvm.ac.in

Publications:

1. "Light-Triggered Reversible Open-Close Motion of a Chiral Molecular Plier to Modulate Guest Binding" Diptiprava Sahoo, Muhsin Abdul Majeed, Aarti Lathwal, and Soumen De* Chem. Eur. J, 2023, 29, e202300092

Sreelakshmi is from Thrissur. She obtained her master's from Christ College (autonomous), Irinjalakuda,  Thrissur. She joined our group in April 2024 for her master's project on chiral macrocycles and their applications.

 Present Position: Currently, she is working as a quality control chemist at a pharmaceutical company in Kuwait.

Email: sreelakshmikp001@gmail.com

Isha is a BS-MS student at SRM Institute of Science & Technology. She is from Kerala. She joined our group in the summer for 2023 for a summer intern and later joined again in January 2024 to continue her master project on “Synthetic Studies towards BINOL-based Chiral Cage ”.

Email: imabraham12@gmail.com 

Vinish is from Chennai. He is currently pursuing my 2nd year in MSc in Chemistry at SRM IST, Kattankulathur. He joined our group in the summer of 2025 as a summer intern and worked on chiral macrocycles.

Email: vinishks17@gmail.com

Sri Karuneeshwari is an MSc student at SRM Institute of Science & Technology. She is from Ariyalur, Tamil Nadu. She joined our group in the summer of 2025 as a summer intern and worked on Metalloswitches. 

Email: karunya2pd@gmail.com

Isha is a BS-MS student at SRM Institute of Science & Technology. She is from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. She joined our group in the summer for 2023 for a summer intern on Chiral Cage.

Email: imabraham12@gmail.com 

Saswat, a chemistry major student at NISER Bhubaneswar, joined IISER TVM as a summer intern in May 2023. He worked on "Chiral molecular switches". He had been awarded several scholarships such as  DISHA, NRTS Pathani Samanta Mathematics Scholarship for his excellent academic record.

Email: saswat.parija@niser.ac.in