2019-present

I’m currently doing my rotation in Dr. Gabor Balazsi’s lab. Our lab’s goal is to use synthetic gene circuits as research tools in the fields of evolution, development, and cancer. My research is focussed on investigating the effects of long term culture on the phenotype of recombinant yeast cells. I’m particularly working with yeast cells that have been genetically engineered to contain positive feedback and negative feedback synthetic gene circuits. These cells will be tested for dose-response at different concentrations of Doxycycline to investigate their phenotypical behavior and patterns.

2017-2018

In the final year of my graduation, for my master’s project, I worked with Prof. Srinivasa Chakravarthy, a renowned and most capable Computational Biology professor at IIT Madras with research interests in Computational Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering. Since I had previous experience in developing and designing android games as a part of my extra-curricular interests in fine arts, Prof. Chakravarthy and I were very interested in the possibility of a virtual reality game that could be a potential treatment for stroke. This is a rehabilitation therapy that exploits the fact that neuronal cells can and indeed, with proper techniques and exercises, will regain their lost function if acted fast enough. Subsequently, I worked with the Microsoft Kinect Hardware to capture the movement of the hand of the stroke patient and translate the movement into a virtual reality android game that I created using the gaming engines Blender and Unity3D. The game plays on an android cell phone that is attached with google cardboard to make it a virtual reality experience. The android phone is installed with the game software and google cardboard. The aim of this project was to provide a captivating and motivating treatment to stroke patients, at the comfort of their homes and relieving them of the monotony that comes with physical therapy. Because physical therapy for stroke is a long process, typically years of treatment, that patients need to undergo, under the supervision of a therapist. This product would give the patients the motivation to keep taking the treatment because continuous treatment is the only way their brain can relearn the forgotten motion in their limbs.

Google Cardboard and Microsoft Kinect (left to right)

2016

A summer research internship at the Centre for Human Genetics under the guidance of Prof. Jayarama Kadandale helped me spend my 2016 summer well. There I learned various Cytogenetic techniques that were used to identify genetic disorders. This work gave me an insight into the clinical aspects of cytogenetics. I learned and performed techniques such as Software Karyotyping, Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization (FISH), Polymeric Chain Reaction (PCR), DNA Isolation and Gel Electrophoresis on real blood samples of patients who would come to the clinic situated just beside our lab.

at Center for Human Genetics

2015

In the summer of my second year of undergraduate, I did a research internship at the University of Vikrama Simhapuri under the guidance of Prof. K. Vidya Prabhakar. In the project, I formulated Polyethylene glycol (PEG) conjugates of Paclitaxel as prodrugs for cancer treatment. Paclitaxel (PACL) is an anti-cancer drug. But Paclitaxel is highly lipophilic, hence it is available as an intravenous (IV) infusion and not as an oral formulation. It would be much more easy for administration if it were available as an oral formulation. Hence in this research work, polyethylene glycol conjugates of Paclitaxel were prepared by a simple technique such as solvent evaporation technique using high molecular weight Polyethylene Glycols. This PEGylation of paclitaxel was shown to increase its solubility in the aqueous environment as that present in our bodies in my research. I learned techniques such as Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) as well. I have published a first-author research article on this project in the International Research Journal of Pharmacy.