Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Lab, Annex building, 1st floor
Department of Materials Engineering
IISc Bangalore, Bangalore - 560012
Email - bharathg@iisc.ac.in
Google Scholar Profile: Sriram Bharath Gugulothu
Postdoctoral Research Associate (CSIR RA) at Department of Materials Engineering, IISc Bangalore, Jan 2026-Present
Ph. D., Department of Materials Engineering, IISc Bangalore, 2020-2026.
Research Associate at Cell and Gene Therapy Department, Intas Biopharmaceuticals, 2017-2019
Dual Degree (B. Tech + M. Tech) in Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering; Micro specialization in biomedical instrumentation IIT Kharagpur, 2012 - 2017.
Biomaterials
In vitro disease models - Breast cancer
Gene therapy for genetic disorders
3D/4D bioprinting
Antimicrobial resistance
Diagnostics
Wound healing
Intestinal crypt-villi 3D cell culture models
Synthetic biology
Vaccines, Viral vectors, Drug delivery
Prof. Kaushik Chatterjee (PhD Advisor) Prof. Agneyo Ganguly (Master's Advisor)
Address: Address:
Department of Materials Engineering, Department of Biotechnology,
Indian Institute of Science, C.V. Raman Avenue, IIT Kharagpur,
Bangalore 560012 India Kharagpur, West Bengal, 721302 India
Phone: 91-80-2293-3408 Phone: +91-3222-282896
Fax: +91-80-2360-0472 Email: agneyo@iitkgp.ac.in
Email: Kchatterjee [AT] iisc.ac.in
MT 271 - Introduction to Biomaterials Science and Engineering
MT 250 - Introduction to Materials Science and Engineering
BE 210 - Drug Delivery: Principles and Applications
NE 201 - Micro and Nano Characterization Methods
MT 262 - Concepts in Polymer Blends and Nanocomposites
MT 260 - Polymer Science and Engineering
CO 202 - Research Communication
Total credits: 17 CGPA: 8.8 / 10
Memberships
Lifetime member of the Society for Biomaterials and Artificial Organs India.
ACS student Member from 2022 to 2023.
Fellowships
CSIR RA fellowship 2024.
Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship (PMRF) through lateral entry from August 2020 to July 2024.
Merit cum means fellowship from August 2012 to May 2017 at IIT Kharagpur.
Academic achievements:
Best Oral Presentation award at the Bioprinting Ignited x India conference 2024.
Best poster award at the Advances in 3D Cell Culture Conference.
ACS Best Oral Presentation Award at the Annual Student Symposium of the Department of Materials Engineering .
Recommended with a commendation for the June 2022 PMRF review.
Secured 46th Rank in GATE Biotechnology 2019 out of 9348 applicants (Gate Score: 721; percentile: 99.50%).
Qualified for DBT India (Department of Biotechnology) Junior Research Fellowship 2019 in Category I.
Secured an Excellent grade (Highest) in the Master's Thesis project at IIT Kharagpur.
I completed a microspecialization in biomedical instrumentation offered by IIT Kharagpur.
Mentor of bronze medal-winning IGEM_2016 IIT_KHARAGPUR team regarding construct design & molecular cloning.
Represented IIT Kharagpur at the Giant Jamboree of IGEM (Synthetic biology competition) 2015 held at Hynes Convention Center (Boston).
Qualified for CSIR Net Junior Research Fellowship 2017.
3D bioprinted metastatic breast cancer tumor models
Strategy 1: Stereolithography-based 3D bioprinting for Vascular 3D breast tumors model development.
Breast cancer metastasis (cancer cell migration through blood and lymphatic vessels to secondary organs) is the leading cause of breast cancer-related deaths in women. To understand the cancer cell invasion through blood vessels by using light-based 3D bioprinting triple-negative breast cancer cells surrounding a microfluidic channel will be coated with endothelial cells to establish a breast cancer vascular model. physiological and pathological fluid shear stress will be applied to the microfluidic 3D model to understand the effect on cancer cell migration and cancer cells interactions with endothelial cells which can be further used to evaluate several immune cell infiltration and their role in cancer cell invasion.
we have tried combinations of a few photopolymerizable bioinks like PEGdiacrylates and Gelatin Methacrylate to create vascular channels. followed by cell-laden bioprinting for optimal cell viability. Further, cell-laden microfluidic channel establishment was done without any leakage. In future, this channel will be evaluated for fluid flow and endothelial cell-seeded to realize a vascular breast cancer tumor model.
4D Bioprinting of PEGDM and GelMA combinatorial bioink for tissue engineering applications
During Microfluidic channel optimization, a flat sheet printed using a combinatorial bioink of PEGDM and GelMA rolled to form a cylindrical tube after incubation in DI water. These simple structures curling into a cylindrical tube can be useful for avoiding suturing in nerve conduit guiding surgery and the development of vascular grafts using multi-material stereolithography-based bioprinting.
Strategy 2: 3D Bio-Printed Co-culture model for Breast cancer and immune cells for cell-cell interactions and phenotypic changes of individual cells.
Tumor-associated macrophages play a crucial role in promoting breast cancer tumor metastasis and drug resistance. current therapeutics targeting tumor-associated macrophages are not very successful in clinical trials which underscore the development of more clinically relevant in-vitro models, To address this by using extrusion-based bioprinting we are working on developing a co-culture model of tumor-associated macrophages and aggressive triple-negative breast cancer cell lines in alginate gelatin hydrogels due to their biocompatibility.
Schematic for cancer immune cell interactions model and vascular breast cancer tumor model development.
Small serpentine microfluidic channel model printed (red tracker solution used for channel visualization)
Work flow for Steriolithography based bioprinting(ref)
Abstract for 4D bioprinting of cylindrical tube from 2D flat sheet (ref)
overview on Mechanism of tumor associate macrophages recruitment in the tumor microenvironment. (ref)
TA for Introduction to Biomaterials course (Materials Engineering Department, IISC) from September 2022 to January 2023
Sem III Medical Biotechnology course for MSC students in the Department of Biotechnology at Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences (August 2022 to present).
Class XI Biology at Kendriya Vidyalaya School at IISC
Apart from teaching, I was involved in teaching materials development, such as examination quizzes and chapter slides.
Selected First-Author Publications:
Gugulothu, S. B., Asthana, S., Homer-Vanniasinkam, S., & Chatterjee, K. (2023). Trends in photopolymerizable bioinks for 3D bioprinting of tumor models. JACS Au, 3(8), 2086–2106 [link].Impact Factor (IF): 8.7
Gugulothu, S. B., & Chatterjee, K. (2023). Visible light-based 4D-bioprinted tissue scaffold. ACS Macro Letters, 12(4), 494–502 [link]. IF: 5.2
Waidi, Y. O.*, & Gugulothu, S. B.* (2025). 4D bioprinting of protein-based bioinks for tissue engineering and disease models. Biomaterials Science. (*equal contribution) [link]. IF: 5.7
Co-Authored Publications:
Joseph, J. P., Gugulothu, S. B., Nandi, D., & Chatterjee, K. (2025). Next-generation immune models: bioinks, 3D bioprinting, and future directions. Trends in Biotechnology, [link]. IF: 14.9
Latiyan, S., Gugulothu, S. B., Agarwal, P., Waidi, Y. O., Homer-Vanniasinkam, S., Visweswariah, S. S., & Chatterjee, K. (2025). 4D bioprinting of silkworm sericin-based hydrogels fabricated by digital light projection of visible light. Materials Today Chemistry, 49 [link]. IF: 6.7
Joseph, J. P., Gugulothu, S. B., Nandi, D., & Chatterjee, K. (2023). Mechanical properties affect primary T cell activation in 3D bioprinted hydrogels. ACS Macro Letters, 12(8), 1085–1093 [link]. IF: 5.2
Joshi, A., Kaur, T., Joshi, A., Gugulothu, S. B., Choudhury, S., & Singh, N. (2022). Light-mediated 3D printing of micro-pyramid-decorated tailorable wound dressings with endogenous growth factor sequestration for improved wound healing. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 15(1), 327–337 [link]. IF: 8.2
Joshi, A., Choudhury, S., Gugulothu, S. B., Visweswariah, S. S., & Chatterjee, K. (2022). Strategies to promote vascularization in 3D printed tissue scaffolds: trends and challenges. Biomacromolecules, 23(7), 2730–2751 [link]. IF: 5.4
Indrakumar, S., Gugulothu, S. B., Joshi, A., Dash, T. K., Mishra, V., Tandon, B., & Chatterjee, K. (2025). Silk composite-based multifunctional pellets for controlled release. Macromolecular Bioscience, 25(2), e2400410. [link]. IF: 4.1
Lilly, K., Agrawal, A., Barik, B., Gugulothu, S. B., Rath, S. N., Oh, S. J., & Joshi, A. (2025). Toward next-generation therapies for intrauterine adhesions: a perspective on granular hydrogel systems. Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 13(40), 12869–12876 [link]. IF: 5.8
Gupta, S. K., Gugulothu, S. B., Ivanov, E., Suwas, S., & Chatterjee, K. (2024). Additive manufacturing of a low modulus biomedical Ti-Nb-Ta-Zr alloy by directed energy deposition. Bioprinting, 41, e00349 [link].
Shikha, K., Gugulothu, S. B., Mukhopadhyay, S., Chakraborty, M., Ghosh, S., Khatun, S., & Ganguly, A. (2022). The catalytic core of Leishmania donovani RECQ helicase unwinds a wide spectrum of DNA substrates and is stimulated by replication protein A. The FEBS Journal, 289(2), 394–416 [link]. IF: 4.2
Manuscripts Under Review/In Preparation:
Gugulothu, S. B., Joseph, J. P., & Chatterjee, K. (2025). Matrix Stiffness–Dependent Functional and Chemotherapeutic Responses of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells in 3D-Bioprinted Hydrogels. Manuscript under review: Journal of Materials Chemistry B IF: 5.8
Gugulothu, S. B., & Chatterjee, K. (2026). Dynamic culture of 4D bioprinted tubular geometry mimetic triple-negative breast cancer scaffolds promotes chemotherapeutic resistance (Manuscript in preparation).
Patents
Indrakumar, S., Gugulothu, S. B., Joshi, A., Chatterjee, K., Dash, T. K., Mishra, V., Tandon, B., et al. Multifunctional pellets for drug delivery in chronic wounds, kits and methods thereof. Indian Patent No. 546063; Indian Patent Application No. 202341045930 (patent granted).
Poster titled "Visible-light based Bioprinting and Activation of T cells in Gelatin Hydrogels" at IMMUNCON 2024, IISc Bangalore.
Oral presentation titled "4D Bioprinted Tissue Scaffold via Visible Light-based DLP" at Bioprinting Ignited X conference at IISC Bangalore 2024.
Poster titled “Perfusable 3D Bioprinted Tumor Model for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Immunotherapeutics Screening ” at 3rd MPS world Summit 2024, Seattle.
Poster titled "Visible light-based 4D bioprinted tissue scaffold" at world biomaterials congress, Dague South Korea 2024.
Poster titled "Visible light-based 4D bioprinted tissue scaffold" at Advances in 3D cell culture conference, Mumbai 2024
Poster titled "Visible light-based 4D bioprinted tissue scaffold" at Asia Pacific Healthcare Enclave, Mysore 2024
Poster titled “3D Bioprinted vascularized tumor model for triple-negative breast cancer disease modeling” at 2nd MPS world Summit 2023, Berlin.
Poster titled “3D bioprinted metastatic breast cancer and monocytes co-culture model for cell-cell interactions study and immunotherapeutics screening” at EMBO Microphysiological systems: Advances and applications in human-relevant research lecture course, 2023 BE symposium 2023, IISc.
Poster titled “3D Bioprinting of Hydrogels for Studying Breast Cancer” at IISC Materials Engineering Department symposium 2022.
Oral presentation titled "Visible light-based 4D bioprinted tissue scaffolds" at IISc Materials Engineering Department symposium 2023.
Instructor and guest talk on the topic titled "photopolymerizable bioinks for cancer research" at the faculty development workshop on 3D bioprinting at IISc Bangalore 2024.
A guest talk at the Department of Biotechnology at Acharya Institute of Technology on Trends in Biotechnology in 2024.
A guest talk on 3D bioprinting at the Department of Biotechnology at Sir M. Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology in a two-day faculty development program in 2023.