Dr. Rakesh Das, Ph.D. in Physics (Theoretical)

Research Interest:

The major motivation of my research is to understand biological systems exhibiting fascinating emergent and dynamic phenomena from a physical point of view.  Starting from a molecular scale (i.e., proteins, DNAs, RNAs etc.) to a full organism scale, biological systems comprise several functional units interlinked across scales. There are growing repertoire of experimental indications that the overall physical manifestation of a given organism can be understood as emergent property of its interlinked functional units. My research objective is to  understand the synergy among those functional units.   

Currently, I am focusing on the scale of individual cell. From a physical point of view, a cell can be considered as a mechanical system comprising a few classes of components. However, here we should keep in mind that biological systems are fundamentally out of equilibrium (viz., due to ATP hydrolysis). Plus, there are varieties of chemical agents that affect cellular functionality. Considering all these relevant aspects, I conduct model studies of cellular sub-systems using the concepts of mechanics, statistical mechanics, and nonequilibrium physics. In the next step, I plan to integrate the acquired knowledge of these sub-systems to develop a comprehensive understanding of cellular systems.  This kind of studies are meaningful when conducted in close collaboration with biologists.