Chitra Narayanan obtained her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Her doctoral research characterized the conformational properies of the monomeric ensemble of the intrinsically disordered protein α-Synuclein, implicated in the pathology of Parkinson’s disease. Her research experience and expertise are in the areas of computational chemistry, biophysics, and environmental chemistry. Dr. Narayanan's research integrates computational chemistry with environmental sampling and biophysical experimental techniques to 1) design novel antimicrobial peptides with high therapeutic index to mitigate antibiotic resistance, and 2) characterize the molecular mechnisms of the interactions between aviation fuel combustion-derived air pollutants and human proteins that trigger adverse health effects in flight crew, ground personnel and traveling public.

• Structural characterization and design of novel antimicrobial peptides

• Intrinsically disordered proteins and neurodegenerative diseases

• Protein misfolding and disease

• Protein and enzyme engineering

• Integrating computational and NMR approaches to characterize enzyme allostery and function

• 2019 Insight Data Science scholarship, Insight Data Science Fellowship Program, Toronto, ON, Canada

• 2017 PROTEO Award to present at the ICMRBS 2018, Dublin, Ireland

• 2016 Oral Presentation Prize at the 9th annual GRASP symposium, QC, Canada

• 2016 Armand-Frappier Postdoctoral Fellowship (one-year), QC, Canada

• 2015 2nd Best Poster Prize for presentation at the 15th PROTEO annual symposium, QC, Canada

• 2015 GRASP Postdoctoral fellowship (two-year), QC, Canada

• 2015 GRASP Award to present at the 29th annual symposium of the Protein Society, Barcelona

• 2013 Award for valuable contributions to the Society of Women Engineers and the NJIT community, New Jersey Institute of Technology