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Hydrogel and ECM Growth Factors (Jan 2012 – May 2012): As a guest scientist at Max Bergmann Centre (Dresden, Germany), I was involved with the investigation of the diffusion process of GAG-binding and unbound growth factors through different types of hydrogels.
Membrane Biophysics and Extracellular Matrix (Jan 2010 – Dec 2011): During the second postdoctoral tenure at Technical University Dresden (Germany), I worked on supported lipid membranes of different lipid materials and studied their diffusions using FCS. Simultaneously, investigating the effect of Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) on the membrane dynamics. In the later part, I studied the effect of GAG on the interaction of growth factor proteins with their receptor counterparts.
Protein Folding and Dynamics (Apr 2007 – Dec 2009): During my first postdoctoral tenure at UMASS-Amherst (USA), I learnt the molecular biology techniques that are used in expressing and purifying the protein in the bacterial cells, E. Coli. For investigating the protein folding mechanism and characterizing the folding intermediates, I used extensively fluorescence techniques (FRET, single-molecule, and stopped-flow fluorescence) including other optical spectroscopic method like CD and Absorption techniques. As far as the environment is concerned, I used different solvent condition, such as salt environment.
Peptide Dynamics (May 2003 – Mar 2007): Four years of research experience in the field of peptide chemistry during my PhD tenure brought proficiency at experimental set-ups and explicitly, handling spectrofluorometers, time-correlated single photon counting, CDspectrometer, NMR, HPLC. During the PhD duration, most of the research part focused on the photophysical behavior of polypeptides. Fluorescence-based techniques like fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and end-to-end collision-induced quenching techniques were employed to investigate the structural and dynamic changes of short peptides. The investigations were varied with respect to internal factors like type and number of amino acids and external factors, such as temperature, pH, and solvent. Along with these, phosphorylation-induced structural and dynamic changes were also investigated. In addition to the photophysical analysis, required fluorescent probe and its derivatives were also synthesized for spectroscopic measurements with high purity (11 step organic synthesis).
Chiral Chemistry (2005 to 2007): During the PhD, besides the peptide dynamics, I was also involved with another project, which deals with the enantioselective fluorescence quenching of a synthesized naphthalene derivative chromophore by amines. Also to know more about the quenching mechanism, solvents like acetonitrile (polar) and n-hexane (nonpolar) are used. To have a selective quenching, all three kinds of amines (primary, secondary, and tertiary) were used.