• Structural biology

• X-ray crystallography

• Cryogenic electron microscopy

• Host-pathogen interaction

• Protein engineering

• Therapeutics designing

• Protein dynamics

At Institut Pasteur (May 2024 - Present), I am engaged in the identification of neutralizing antibodies and nanobodies against several potent poxvirus antigens. I use X-ray crystallography and Cryo-electron microscopy as the tools to understand the antigen-antibody/nanobody interactions. Viral proteins and antibodies are being expressed using insect and mammalian expression systems. Antigen-antibody/nanobody interactions are analyzed using biolayer interferometry (BLI), and positive hits are checked for their neutralizing activity. Finally, X-ray crystallography and Cryo-electron microscopy play a vital role in recognizing the active sites of the antigen for neutralizing and providing requisite information for therapeutics development.

During my doctoral work (July 2017 - August 2023), I have mainly worked on staphylococcal exotoxins. I have identified a novel staphylococcal exotoxin as a potential superantigen that can directly interact with MHC-II and T-cell receptors. Besides, I have discovered the novel role of staphylococcal superantigen-like proteins in enhanced biofilm formation. I have identified a bunch of staphylococcal essential proteins that could be potential targets. Further, I have performed structure-based drug designing against staphylococcal FemX, an essential protein. In addition, I have also validated the in-silico results of drug designing using in-vitro techniques. I also have knowledge of in-silico designing of multi-epitope vaccines.