Graphene and its derivatives, graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide(RGO), and graphene quantum dots (GQDs) have drawn huge attention of researchers worldwide due to their amazing physicochemical properties for biomedical applications.GO and RGO have been used as a drug-carrier and photothermal agents for cancer therapy whereas GQDs have been employed for bioimaging and sensing applications.Conventional cancer therapeutic techniques like chemotherapy cause side effects also, therefore, photothermal therapy for cancer has been explored extensively.

With a particle size of 1 micro meter and grnome size of more than 2 Mbp, which is bigger than many bacteria, giant viruses are changing the way we think about viruses and concept of obligate parasitism.Not too long ago, scientific community believed that viruses cannot be much bigger than 200 nm and in the process missed them completely until an accidental discovery of a giant virus (microbe mimicking virus or mimivirus) in 2003. The rest is history.If one looks at their enigmatic genetic makeup, their abundance and prevalence, it appears

Sickle cell disease is an
inherited blood disorder that affects the red
blood cells (RBCs). A mutation alters the
hemoglobin present inside the RBCs. As a result, normally biconcave and deformable RBCs become stiff and sickle-shaped leading to blockage of blood vessels, recurrent pain, and other related complications. Since there is no cure at the moment, patients have to learn different techniques to manage the disease. Detecting sickle cell disease at an early stage, ideally at birth, helps in better management and control.

With the recent thrust in the Internet-of-Things and wearable electronics, it is expected that all the conventional medical instruments would be highly unobtrusive as well as connected to the internet in near future. However, this imposes several fundamental challenges in their design like low-power consumption, low-noise design, EMI immunity, motion artifact tolerance, low radiation bio-signal communication.

The present scenario in the field of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is grim with no treatments available to halt the progression of the disease. Our group is rigorously working on the development of therapeutics against PD. Using an interdisciplinary approach we have designed smart biomaterials (hydrogels) using small peptides (fragments of proteins) self-assembled into nano-fibres.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurological disorder prevalent mostly in elderly people. This is characterised by progressive loss of brain cells/neurons in specific regions (substantia nigra) of the brain resulting in gradual decline in the sufferer’s motor skills. Mutations in protein, α-synuclein is associated with rare early onset familial forms of PD. The presence of abnormal clumps (aggregates) of the same protein in the neurons surviving in affected regions of PD patients’ brains indicate the key role of α-synuclein in the pathogenesis of PD.

Deafness is the most prevalent sensory disability across nations. Unlike other senses, hearing has been least understood owing to the challenge in accessing the deeply positioned inner ear. The long term goal of our Auditory Biomechanics Lab at IIT Bombay is to develop a better understanding and effective diagnosis of hearing loss by investigating active vibroacoustics in the inner ear using novel instrumentation as well as computational modeling.

Sunscreen products work by absorbing or scattering UV radiation. Formulating superior sunscreen is of utmost importance in protecting our skin from sunburn, skin cancer and other deleterious effects. This is especially true for people with light skin due to lower concentration of melanin in their skin, which is the natural absorber and dissipater of UV radiation. The normal zinc oxide (ZnO) used as an active ingredient in sunscreen are micro-­dimensional and because of this, they scatter light and appear white when applied on the skin, which is not aesthetically pleasing.

Among the several essential trace elements of biology, iron, copper and zinc are three most important and crucial ones for life since two-thirds of the metalloenzymes performing various functions in the human body comprise these elements in the form of their ions, viz., Fe 2+/3+ , Cu1 +/2+ and Zn 2+ . Perhaps cobalt can be placed next to it though there are only limited number of enzymes in human body based on this element. The presence of these ions in human tissue in their optimal concentrations is essential for healthy life.

Separating plasma from cellular elements of blood is imperative in disease diagnostics. Conventionally, blood plasma is separated in a centrifuge. However, this process of separation is difficult to replicate at the microscale, requires large sample volume, and is laborious and time consuming.

Hydrodynamic focusing is a simple yet effective technique for flow focusing and control. It can be utilised in applications such as on-chip microfluidic flow cytometry, flow switches, generation of microdroplets, and micromixers. Hydrodynamic focusing can be 2D or 3D.In 2D focusing, the sample fluid is compressed/ sandwiched only in one direction by the two side flowing sheath fluids. However, 3D focusing allows for sample being completely surrounded with sheath fluid in all directions, and this is realised by compressing the sample flow in both the horizontal and vertical directions.

The cellular processes in the human body and all other organisms are very complex and each event is intertwined with numerous other processes. There are two ways to study these processes. One can either study the cascade of events as a whole to see how they affect the functioning of the cells, or the process can be broken down into its constituting molecules and each molecule studied individually in detail. In the second approach, the properties of the molecules studied individually are then patched together to give an in-depth account of what happens in the cell.

Human malaria is caused by parasites (Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax) that are introduced into the body by the bite of a female Anopheles mosquito. These parasites first invade the liver and then the red blood cells (Fig. 1). In both the liver and red blood cells, parasites multiply so rapidly that one infected person can have as many as several billion parasites in his/her blood cells. To carry out this massive multiplication, parasites need to copy themselves.

Periplasmic substrate binding proteins (SBPs) bind to a specific ligand with high affinity and mediate their transport into the cytoplasm via the cognate inner membrane ATP binding cassette (ABC) proteins. Because of very low sequence identities, understanding the structural basis of substrate recognition by SBPs has remained very challenging. A peri plasmic glucose binding protein from Pseudomonas putida CSV86 (ppGBP) is found to be highly specific towards glucose with an affinity of ~0.3 μM and has very low specificity towards galactose.

Our health depends on health of the cells that constitute our body. The trillions of cells in our body must function properly and synchronously day in and day out to keep us healthy. As a result, it is very important to identify and understand the role of different factors that keeps cells happy. One of such important factors is the tissue micro-environment. Just like us, different cells function best in different environments. That’s why micro-environment of brain is different from liver.

Our group works to understand the molecular mechanism of segregation of chromosomes and the extra-chromosomes during cell division using well known eukaryotic fungal model, Saccharomyces cerevisae and the most prevalent fungal pathogen, Candida albicans. We also work on epigenetics mechanism to understand how genome stability and morphogenesis in C. albicans can be influenced by this.Faithful chromosome segregation is the key to maintain genome stability.

Cell-­based cancer immunotherapy involves modification of immune cells ex vivo and subsequent infusion; this is referred as adoptive cell transfer (ACT) therapy. However, poor survival and persistence of infused immune cells limit its efficacy treatment. Our lab with has expertise in developing 3D hydrogel systems and is trying to utilise these hydrogels for in vivo gene delivery, thereby, overcoming problems pertaining to ACT.Gene delivery vectors can be encapsulated in a 3D hydrogel and released in a sustained and localised manner leading to programming of desired cells in situ.

Cells in vivo are arranged in a complex micro-environment consisting mainly of extracellular matrix (ECM) and soluble factors. Researchers have tried to replicate the ECM by utilising artificially engineered matrices to provide support for cell growth. Our group has developed semi-­synthetic matrices consists of polyethylene glycol diacrylate and gelatin methacrylate which will be used to study how cells respond to different micro-­environment.

Vitiligo is a depigmentation disorder in which white patches appear on skin due to selective damage of melanin producing cells of the skin called melanocytes. Destruction of melanocytes causes hypo-pigmentation of the hair, skin and other mucosal surfaces. Depending on the geographical location within India, the prevalence of vitiligo ranges from 0.09% to 8%, with an average age of onset of symptoms at about 20 years, its occurrence appears to be equal between both genders and its rate of occurrence doesn’t vary according to skin type or race.

Chimeric Antigen Receptor-T cell therapy (CAR-T cell therapy) has demonstrated remarkable success in long-term remission of relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). Very recently, FDA approved the anti-CD19-CAR-T cells developed by Novartis for the treatment of B-ALL. However, this technology has not yet been designed and developed in India. Considering socioeconomic conditions of patients in our country, recently developed CAR-T-cell therapy will be unaffordable to majority of our patients.