People

My interest lies in unraveling the biology behind the working of an enigmatic group of unicellular cyanobacteria called Cyanothece. The members of the genus Cyanothece are capable of accommodating the antagonistic processes of photosynthesis (an oxygen evolving process) and atmospheric N₂ fixation (an oxygen sensitive process) within the same cellular platform. In addition, the different Cyanothece strains harbor many interesting metabolic traits such as high levels of hydrogen production under aerobic conditions. I use these organisms as a model system to explore their potential in sunlight-driven targeted product formation.

My current interest is on how various forms of biological stress induce responses in a photosynthetic organism. The current emphasis is to document differences in the redox related chemistry and gene expression in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis 6803 that allow survival in the presence of various applied stresses. These stresses include changes in light availability, water, salt, and micronutrient content of the environment.

Having completed my Ph.D. studies on the role of low-molecular-weight proteins associated with Photosystem II, I aim to further explore the in vivo Photosystem II assembly process in cyanobacteria. Owing to the oxidative nature of water splitting, the enzyme (Photosystem II) constantly gets damaged.  The current model suggests that following damage the reaction center protein D1 gets selectively replaced in a process that constitutes the Photosystem II repair cycle. In my current project, I explore the processes related to Photosystem II damage and repair.

I am a technician in the lab and enjoy working here with a group of energetic and passionate people! I am responsible for maintaining cyanobacterial cultures and assisting other lab members in addition to performing independent experiments such as PCR, subcloning, and plasmid preparation. I am very interested in working in the field of renewable energy, which will ultimately have a global impact.

My interests are in developing cyanobacteria as a carbon-neutral biotechnology platform. Cyanobacteria and algae have higher areal productivity rates compared to terrestrial plants, i.e. they fix more carbon per unit time per unit land. Moreover, many strains grown in salt water thus obviating the need to use arable land and fresh water to make carbon-neutral fuels and chemicals. However, in terms of basic genetic systems and metabolic engineering workflows, cyanobacteria lag far behind their heterotrophic counterparts. Therefore, a lot of my energy is spent on developing new genetic tools, efficient strain construction techniques as well as novel bioreactor designs

My research interests focus on understanding the structure-function relationships between cellular architecture and biological processes.  Cyanobacteria are ideal model systems for this work because of their diverse metabolic lifestyles, which in some strains can include photosynthesis, nitrogen fixation, and hydrogen production, often coordinated with storage body accumulation and mobilization.  My work uses a variety of experimental approaches, including biochemistry, molecular biology, and imaging methods including light and electron microscopy.

Taking inspiration from the remarkable things nature can do, my research interests are in synthetic biology and engineering biological systems to perform novel functions. After majoring in biomedical engineering in undergrad and subsequently learning about the promise of synthetic biology, I am excited by how biology can be leveraged to help people and society. My current research is focused on engineering the bacterium Vibrio natriegens, a chassis organism that shows encouraging ability for synthetic biology. Outside the lab, I like to go running, read good (and some bad) books, eat lots of baked goods, and pet every dog that I am allowed to.