Embedded Files
Research Interests
Research Interests
The Lab is working on biological nanoparticles, in particular, Viruses, Virus-like Particles and Lipid Vesicles employing surface functionalization approaches and techniques like fluorescence microscopy and surface-sensitive analytical techniques. The aim is to evaluate virus-receptor interactions at molecular level and further, translate the knowledge in developing assays for virus detection and inhibition by anti-viral drugs/agents. The work is highly interdisciplinary and collaborative in nature. We seek active collaborations with Virologist, Microbiologist and Biotechnologist.
Viruses are genetically simple biological nanoparticles with a typical diameter of 20-500 nm. They invade cells of living organisms and hijack the cellular machinery for their RNA/DNA replications. This replication leads to cell death, disrupting the regular functioning of the infected cells. Moreover, viruses can spread via liquid mediums such as blood, through the droplets, aerosol and even across species such as birds to human, mosquitoes to human etc. This is why they are a major health concern worldwide as evident from the outbreaks caused by HIV-1, ebola, zika, nipah, acute respiratory-related coronaviruses (SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV), and more recently, novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)
Virus-like Particles (VLPs) are made of self-assembling structural units of virus devoid of the viral nucleic acid, hence, not infectious but have the same/similar structure and binding properties as native viruses. This is why VLPs have been used as model viruses for their corresponding structural analysis, virus binding and inhibition studies. VLPs are also potential vaccine candidates.
Lipid Vesicles are the most abundant types of nanoparticles in cellular systems. They act as carrier in various cellular transport processes. Their composition can vary widely in terms of lipid content and type, membrane proteins and receptors. Artificial lipid vesicles or liposomes are used as model cell membranes for studying membrane proteins and processes. They are also suitable as drug delivery agents and for vaccine formulation.
Surface Functionalization in Virus Studies
Surface Functionalization in Virus Studies
In-vitro studies of viruses are often carried out to characterize virus nanoparticles, viral proteins and investigate virus-receptor, virus-antibody and viral protein-drug molecule interaction. Surface-based assay are typically employed for such studies and designing such assay require suitable surface functionalization. For example, planar lipid bilayers and self-assembled monolayers are example of functionalized surfaces those are widely employed for virus attachment-detachment and inhibition studies.
Bio-Physical Methods and Techniques in Virus Studies
Bio-Physical Methods and Techniques in Virus Studies
A plethora of advanced imaging and analytical techniques are employed for physiochemical characterisation of virus particles and resolve the molecular mechanism of viral infection. While electron microscopy have been widely used in recent years to examine structure and assembly of virus and viral proteins, various modalities of fluorescence microscopy have been applied to resolve underlaying molecular processes in-vitro, at cellular (fixed and live) and tissue level. The corresponding image analysis allows to unravel dynamics and structural organization of virus and viral-complexes at single particle/molecule level. Furthermore, kinetic based techniques like surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) have been applied for quantitative evaluation of virus-membrane interaction, virus inhibition and in-vitro anti-viral studies.
Funding Agency
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse