(3r) Membrane-Mimetics and Protein Assemblies for Drug Discovery, Delivery and Energy Applications

Both in my doctoral and postdoctoral work I have been using a combination of computational and experimental biophysical tools (including neutron scattering techniques, molecular simulations, docking and NMR) with particular focus on understanding drug-biomembrane interactions and protein-protein interactions. I will demonstrate this by presenting specific projects I have been working on during the poster session and intend to develop an independent research program focusing on three core areas.

(1) Membrane-mimetics: Here I plan to design, develop and characterize lipid and polymer-based self-assembled nano-structures in the form of bilayers, thin films, vesicles or polymerosomes as mimics of biological membranes to address drug/nanoparticle/protein-membrane interactions. Such systems will also serve as platforms for bio-energy and bio-sensor applications.

(2) Protein-Protein Interactions: Here I intend to identify and study protein-protein systems that are relevant to diseases with particular focus on neuro-degenerative diseases (e.g. tau-tubulin) and cancer (e.g. EGF/EGFR or DNA-repair proteins). Understanding the molecular details of such protein-protein or protein-ligand interactions is critical to estabilishing functional relations between proteins in biological systems as well as the structure-based rational drug-discovery.

(3) Large Protein Assemblies: Here I intend to study large protein assemblies of both functional and pathological relevance. Most biological processes are accompanied by assembly of proteins into oligomers and higher order clusters of such oligomers either at membrane surface (e.g. EGFR in cancer cells) or in cytoplasm (e.g. amyloid fibrils). Understanding the molecular details of both structure (symmetry relations) and dynamics (kinetics of formation of intermediate oligomers) of such large complexes will be critical to the development of drugs and might serve as means to creating novel materials.