PROFILE BOOK of

DST/SERB-Ramanujan Fellows DBT-Ramalingaswami Fellows DST-INSPIRE Faculty Fellows

Released on the occasion of the 1st Joint Conclave of DST/SERB-Ramanujan, DBT-Ramalingaswami and DST-INSPIRE Fellows (Monitoring-cum-Interaction Meet) at Jaipur on 8th to 10th June 2018.

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DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

SERB-Ramanujan Fellow 6 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Alok Kumar Pan

Assistant Professor RJN-083/2014 National Institute of Technology, Patna Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : December 17, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow

v The quantum contextuality is traditionally demonstrated through the violation of non-contextual value assignment of compatible observables in a realist model. We demonstrated a kind of contextuality within QT without any reference to relist model. v The notion of traditional contextuality is extended and generalized to the preparation and transformation. We showed how preparation contextuality in QT powers one-way communication game. We further generalized that game and derived the optimal success probability of the for n-bit case. v It is commonly believed that coarse grained measurements can give rise to a classical description of a system. We showed that if the satisfaction of Leggett- Garg inequality (LGI) is an indicator of classicality then it does not emerge by coarsening the measurement. v For Bell scenario involving two-party, two outcomes, two measurements per site, the only relevant Bell’s inequality is the CHSH form. Standard LGIs are often considered to be the analogues to the CHSH inequalities. We provided a generic proof to show that some probabilistic LGIS are not only inequivalent to the standard ones but also stronger than them. v Recently, it is shown that the Lueders bound of LGIs can be violated if von Neumann projective measurement is used. We questioned the implication of such violation of Lueders bound and proved that it has no relevance to the quantum violation of a realist model. v The non-ideal quantum measurement theory with and without post-selection is studied. We provided an all-order-coupling treatment of joint weak measurement scenario which enables us to extract the joint weak value from the single pointer displacement and to show the negative probabilities emerge in the quantum paradoxes. v Using a suitable setup involving linear optical devices, we proposed a curious protocol for swapping the intra-photon entanglement in a single photon to intra- photon entanglement between two spatially separated photons. The same set-up is used to demonstrate quantum state transfer protocol. Crucially, both the protocols do not require the Bell-basis discrimination

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Future Research plans Despite its enormous success as a physical theory, there is still no consensus among physicists about what QT says about the nature of reality. This is one of the many motivations for pursuing research on quantum foundations. Another is the development of quantum technologies, such as, quantum computation and quantum cryptography by exploiting its counterintuitive features. A better understanding of the theory facilitates the identification and development of these new technologies and also further the harnessing of the power of non-classicality.

Against this backdrop, the objective of my proposed research studies would be threefold: • The most important features that were derived from the arena of foundations of QT are non-locality for multipartite system and contextuality for single system. In recent times, there is an upsurge of interest to study whether quantum contextuality can be useful for gaining advantages in communication task. I shall study the generalized notion of quantum contextuality from foundational perspective and explore the power of generalized quantum contextuality in various communication and computational tasks. I shall also propose experimentally feasible new communication tasks aided with contextual correlation in QM which can lead to the development of quantum technology in future. In this connection, I shall investigate the connection between the non- contextuality and other distinctions of ontological models.

• The process of measurement is governed by the laws of physics. Therefore, the measurement precision not only depends on the technological limitation but also on the fundamental limit imposed by the physical laws. Metrology is the science of measurement. The accuracy of parameter estimation can be enhanced by using the principles of QT. I shall study the quantum enhance metrology for various quantum systems in particular in the presence of technical noise. Another goal is to probe the eccentric weak value aided improvement of precision compared to the standard strategy.

• Uncertainty principle has been considered to be one of the backbones of quantum mechanics and played a pivotal role in the discovery of quantum cryptography. In recent times, there are various interpretations of this principle viz., preparation uncertainty, measurement uncertainty, and error-disturbance trade-off relations. Besides foundational studies of the various expressions of uncertainty principle, we plan to investigate the application of the measurement uncertainty relation for security analysis of various quantum communication tasks. We shall also study the memory assisted reformulation of uncertainty relation for the scenario of multipartite entanglement which is of great importance as this will have intimate connection with information processing tasks involving many parties.

SERB-Ramanujan Fellow 8 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Anuj Kumar

Ramanujan Fellow SB/S2/RJN-076/2015 CSIR-Central Building Research Institute Roorkee Email ID: [email protected] or [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : March 14, 2018

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow An air quality monitoring system (AQMS) based on IEEE/ISO/IEC 21451 standards is presented. In the development of AQMS, we have used the GSM wireless communication module. The developed system is capable of real-time measurement of air polluted gases such as CO2, CO, NO2, and SO2. The machine-to-machine communication of the air quality monitoring station and PC with the sink node was successfully implemented. Various gas sensor technologies were evaluated for the system and ultimately electrochemical and infrared sensors were used. Hardware and software for an AQMS was designed and implemented. The AQMS uses an array of sensors to take measurements of the ambient air surrounding it and wirelessly transmits the data to the base station. A graphical user interface (GUI), which makes it easy for end user(s) to interact with the system, was developed. Gas concentration values are plotted on the GUI. The defined calibration of the instruments at time interims assures that the desired accuracy is sustained. A wireless sensor actuator network based ventilation monitoring and control system is developed for buildings. Sensor array modules with ZigBee communication are implemented successfully. Machine-to-machine communication of the exhaust fans and the control Apps with PC (personal computer) was successfully carried out. Developed system is capable of online monitoring of exhaust fans running information parameters such as air flow, vibration, rpm (revolutions per minute), and load. The system is also capable of ventilation control for good indoor air quality based on real-time monitoring of environmental parameters like as CO2, temperature and relative humidity. Exhaust fans real-time information and environmental parameters values are displayed on the GUI developed using Visual Studio C# language. Calibration of the sensor module and exhaust system has been implemented successfully and they assure that the desired accuracy is sustained after a time interval. Developed system is of low cost, and energy efficient with high accuracy.

Future Research plans Commercial and Residential Buildings consume around 40% of total energy in most of developed countries annually. Tremendous increment of energy consumption over time due to the growth of real estate and satisfaction of human comfort draws researchers’ attention to improve the existing building systems. Related research areas of interest to be conducted within building context are energy usage optimization, power flow control of the distribution systems, renewable energy integration, etc. Modern buildings are

SERB-Ramanujan Fellow 9 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

complex systems which are usually equipped with a large number of inter-connected equipment and subsystems. Thus, in order to support the efficient operations of systems, it is essential to coalesce communication, control and computation technologies as well as handling with big data analysis, prediction and decision making. In this regards, we developing a wireless sensor network based smart lighting system that combines heterogeneous lighting technologies enabling intelligent functions and real-time indoor environmental quality monitoring and control system. Also, the Building Management System (BMIS) would be developed based on systems thinking to achieve energy efficiency along with human comfort. Research works also intend to develop dashboards as a part of the overall project, through which authenticated users can visualize data flow, make qualitative assessments and take necessary corrective actions if needed. It is expected that the overall energy consumption of the building would be reduced by at least 15-20% while maintaining user comfort and without sacrificing quality living.

SERB-Ramanujan Fellow 10 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Anupam Mukherjee

Ramanujan Fellow Scientist SB/S2/RJN-065/2015X Division of Virology, ICMR-National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : May 20, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow Regulation of autophagy via GSK3β-TSC1/2-mTOR pathway by cellular microRNAs following rotavirus infection MicroRNAs (miRNA) are evolutionary conserved, single-stranded, small non-coding RNA molecules that bind target mRNA to repress gene expression. Emerging line of evidence suggests that miRNAs are closely linked to virtually all known fundamental biological pathways like stress response, proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, autophagy etc. Autophagy refers to a collection of tightly regulated evolutionary conserved catabolic processes, which plays an essential role in maintaining cellular homeostasis and restriction of pathogen replication. Recent studies show that despite the ability of autophagy to act as an antiviral mechanism, some viruses use the autophagy machinery to favor viral replication, and Rotavirus (RV), which is the major etiological agent of viral gastroenteritis in children, is one of them. To gain more insights into the role of cellular miRNAs as possible countermeasures of RV for suppression of the host antiviral response or using autophagy machinery for viral propagation, a miRNA array was performed by using human colon-epithelial cells HT29 infected with RV. Several miRNAs were dysregulated in RV-infected cells. We focused on miR-29b, let-7g and miR-99b as regulators of GSK3β-TSC1/2-mTOR signaling and thus regulators of autophagy. RV infection significantly downregulates miR-29b and let-7g to stabilize the TSC1-TSC2 complex which ultimately leads to inhibition of mTOR activity. Moreover, following RV infection, miR-99b is upregulated and directly targets mTOR activity, therefore induces autophagy. In addition, we observed that the exogenous expression of miR-29b and let-7g and knockdown of miR-99b, individually or in combination, restricts RV replication by upregulating mTOR expression. Taken together, these results provide new mechanistic insights into the orchestration of three miRNAs regulating RV-induced autophagy and thus viral replication, and may offer a potential target for antiviral intervention.

Future Research plans Role of miR-181a and miR-192 family miRNAs in Wnt/β-Catenin signalling pathway for successful establishment of Rotavirus infection The conserved Wnt/β-Catenin pathway regulates the cell fate decisions during development. This developmental cascade integrates signals from other pathways, including retinoic acid, FGF, TGF-β, and BMP, within different cell types and tissues and promotes cell cycle and proliferation. Several miRNA targets the Wnt/β-catenin signaling

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pathway. During RV infections we found downregulation of miR-181a and miR-192 family miRNAs viz. miR-192, miR-215 (our preliminary observation). In silico study reveals that miR-181a targets β-Catenin and miR-192/215 targets FZD-9, the main two main regulators of Wnt signalling pathway. Therefore, we hypothesize that RV infection activates the Wnt signalling cascade by downregulating miR-181a and miR-192 family miRNAs for establishing proviral environment for disease progression. We will take a mechanistic approach to discover the role of these miRNAs in RV pathology.

Role of exosome and exo-miRs in Rotavirus transmission and pathogenesis Exosomes are small vesicles secreted from cells that participate in intercellular communication events. Accumulating evidence demonstrates that viruses hijack host exosome pathways and that virally modified exosomes contribute to virus spread and immune evasion. To identify whether host exosome carries the rotavirus RNA after infection, we will isolate the exosomes from rotavirus infected culture media and check the viral load by realtime PCR. We will also treat the naïve cells with isolated exosomes from the virus infected cells and check the infectivity of rotavirus on naïve cells by realtime PCR. We will also examine the change of exo-miRs expression profile and characterize their role in cellular trafficking of Rotavirus particle. After identifying the differentially expressed exo-miRs in rotavirus infection, we will identify the target molecules of those exo-miRs on rotavirus replication and cell survival pathway using different in silico analysis. The identified target molecules and the respective signalling pathway will be examined in presence or absence of respective miRNAs.

SERB-Ramanujan Fellow 12 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Areejit Samal

Reader F SB/S2/RJN/006/2014 THE INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES, CHENNA Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : January 15, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow My research interests are in the area of complex networks and systems biology. In the last few years, my research group has been working in the following directions. Firstly, we have been modelling the plant biomass degradation network and protein secretion system in filamentous fungi. From a biotechnological perspective, elucidating the plant cell wall degradation network and protein secretion machinery in filamentous fungi will aid in development of hypersecretion fungal strains for novel enzymes. Specifically, we have built the first detailed model of the plant cell wall degradation network in the model filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa. We have also developed a computational pipeline that integrates high-throughput experimental datasets and bioinformatic predictions to identify the secretome and cell membrane proteins in fungi. Secondly, we have undertaken a large-scale effort to map the phytochemical space of Indian medicinal plants. Specifically, we have built IMPPAT which is the largest digital database on the phytochemical composition of Indian medicinal plants. IMPPAT compiles information on 1742 Indian Medicinal Plants, 9596 Phytochemicals and 1124 Therapeutic uses. Notably, IMPPAT has generated a natural product library of phytochemicals with 2D and 3D structures which can be used for virtual screening and drug discovery. Our computational analysis of the phytochemical space of Indian medicinal plants has underlined the huge potential for future drug discovery. Thirdly, we have been developing novel computational methods to investigate the structure, dynamics and evolution of complex networks, especially, biological networks. Specifically, we have adapted the Forman's discretization of Ricci curvature from differential geometry for the geometrical characterization of complex networks. Notably, Forman-Ricci curvature is an edge-based measure which elegantly incorporates weights of nodes and edges in networks, and thus, the measure is well-suited for the analysis of both unweighted and weighted complex networks.

Future Research plans In the near future, we plan to continue our research in the above-mentioned directions. Firstly, we are building a genome-scale model of the protein secretion system in model filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa. We expect this protein secretion model to also aid in the ongoing research efforts towards elucidating the host-pathogen interactions leading to establishment of fungal infections such as aspergillosis. Secondly, we are expanding the map of the phytochemical space of Indian medicinal plants. We are building a unifying platform for the application of computational approaches, especially, network biology and cheminformatics, to enable elucidation of the mechanistic links between phytochemicals of Indian medicinal plants and their therapeutic action. Thirdly, we are employing our

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methods for geometrical characterization of weighted networks to integrate heterogeneous omics datasets and buildcontext-specific biological networks. Such efforts may reveal network level perturbations contributing to disease pathogenesis.

SERB-Ramanujan Fellow 14 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Arijit Ghosh

Reader F SB/S2/RJN-064/2015 The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai Email ID: [email protected], [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : February 06, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow I have worked on problems in Computational Topology and Geometry, Probabilistic Method, Parameterized Complexity and Sublinear Algorithms. I have worked on the following problems: • Large degenerate subgraphs of hypergraphs. We proved existence of large induced degenerate subgraphs of a given hypergraph in terms of its degree sequence. • Optimal Epsilon Nets. We have given a short proof of optimal Epsilon Net theorem in terms of shallow cell complexity using Packing Lemma. • Delaunay triangulations for Riemannian manifolds. We showed obstruction to getting Delaunay triangulation of Riemannian manifolds. We showed that sample density alone is insufficient to ensure Delaunay complex triangulates the manifold if the dimension of the manifold is greater than 2. • Parameterized complexity of combinatorial geometry problems. We worked on kernelization aspects (a standard problem in parameterized complexity) of general position subset selection problem in Euclidean space and geometric covering problems. • Unified framework for proving approximation guarantees. One of the problems in manifold learning (also in high dimension geometry and topology and approximation theory) is the piecewise linear approximation of an unknown manifold using a dense point sample from the manifold. A number of different complexes have been introduced in the literature to tackle this problem. We have been developed a general framework for showing theoretical guarantees for these and many other complexes used in this area. • Macbeath regions and semi-algebraic set systems. We proved existence of small Macbeath Regions of semi-algebraic set systems in terms of their shallow cell complexity. • FPT algorithms for embedding into low complexity graphic metrics. We worked on parameterized complexity of embedding general graphs into low complexity graphs. The parameters of interest include things like distortion upper bound, bound on the maximum degree , treewidth, and connected treewidth. • Parameterized Query Complexity of Hitting Set. We have worked on query complexity of parameterized decision and optimization versions of Hitting-Set and Packing problems in graphs and hypergraphs.

SERB-Ramanujan Fellow 15 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Future Research plans I want to work on the following problems: • Reconstruction and learning stratifolds. Over the last decade there has been lot of work done in learning and approximating manifolds from data samples by researchers working in Computational Topology and Machine Learning. Natural generalizations of manifolds are stratifolds. I want to extend the techniques of approximating and learning manifolds to the case of stratifolds. • Random Walks inside Polytopes. I am interested in finding algorithmic applications of random walk inside convex polytopes. • PTAS for problem in Geometric Set Systems. We are trying to develop a general framework for getting polynomial time approximation scheme for different set systems induced by geometric incidence relations. • Sublinear Algorithms. I am currently working on different algorithmic problems in streaming computation model and property testing. • Metric geometry. I am interested in working on algorithmic aspects of metric embedding and its applications in computer science.

SERB-Ramanujan Fellow 16 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Arnab Dutta

Assistant Professor SB/S2/RJN-112/2015 IIT Gandhinagar Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : June 18, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow In the past two years, we have developed two different classes of copper based complexes for oxygen reduction reaction. These complexes contain redox active ligands that stabilize the copper center in higher oxidation states.

Following is the major findings from the electrochemical analysis or these complexes: 1. Both the classes of complexes exhibited oxygen reduction in aqueous conditions. 2. The oxygen reduction activity improves with the increase in pH of the solution (in the range of pH 7-13). 3. Oxygen reduction reactivity was also observed for these complexes in organic solvents. 4. These complexes also exhibited water oxidation reactivity in oxidation potentials. 5. These complexes degrade range organic dyes in aqueous conditions at neutral pH.

Future Research plans We will explore the redox activity of these copper complexes in more details in near future.

1. Here, we will execute electrochemical experiments (Cyclic Voltammetry, Bulk Electrolysis) to measure the catalytic efficiency of these complexes in both organic and aqueous solvents. 2. Additionally, we are also planning to perform computational studies (DFT) of these complexes to have an insight into the reaction mechanism of the catalytic cycle. 3. We will include amino acid based outer coordination sphere around the complexes to figure out the effect of proton channels in the catalytic reactivity of the complexes. 4. We are on the way to develop the bimetallic version of the complex and monitor its reactivity.

SERB-Ramanujan Fellow 17 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Aruna Kumar Nayak

Reader - F SB/S2/RJN-108/2015 Institute of Physics Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : January 20, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow In Standard Model, the Higgs boson to fermion coupling is proportional to fermion mass. Thus, the measurement of the Yukawa coupling of the Higgs boson to top quark, is of high phenomenological interest due to extraordinary large values of the top quark mass compared to all other known fermions. The measurement of the production rate of Higgs boson in association with top quark pairs provides the most precise model independent measurement of top quark yukawa coupling. We contributed to the measurement of top yukawa coupling in the final state with a hadronic decaying tau lepton, which is sensitive to the Hàtt decay mode, using the proton-proton collision data recorded by the CMS experiment at LHC in the year 2016. We played a leading role in developing the multivariate (MVA) discriminant for this measurement with Boosted Decision Trees (BDT). The results of this analysis is combined with those obtained from multilepton final states excluding tau. The significance of the signal is found to be 3.2s (observed) against an expected significance of 2.8s, which provides a strong evidence for the H production in association with top quark pair. Furthermore, results of all the analyses, searching for such production in various final states, and at 7, 8, and 13 TeV, have been combined together, which provides a 5.2s significance for the observed signal as compared to 4.2s expected. This constitutes the first observation of Higgs boson production at LHC in association with top quark pair. The reconstruction and identification of lepton in their decays to hadrons and tau neutrino is crucial for the studies of Higgs boson and many other new physics searches at LHC. My group plays major role in the development of reconstruction and identification algorithms of the hadronic decays of tau leptons. The performances of the identification techniques have been evaluated, in 2016 data, in terms of efficiency of a genuine tau to pass the identification criteria as well as the misidentification probability of quark and gluon jets, electrons, and muons to be identified as tau hadronic decay. The measurements show that the performances in data agree well with that of the expectation from simulation. The rescaling factors have been obtained to scale the performances in simulation to match that of data. My group is also involved in the activities related to the development of jets and missing transverse energy trigger in the High Level Trigger (HLT) of the CMS experiment. These triggers are crucial for many new physics searches.

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Future Research plans LHC has already delivered more than 80 fb-1 of data at center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and expected to deliver about 140 fb-1 data by end of 2018. This amount of data will be enough to improve the accuracy in the measurement of many of the Higgs boson properties. It is essential to do precision measurement of Higgs boson properties to get an indirect hint for the energy scale of the beyond Standard Model physics. Towards this effort we will be studying to further improve the precision of the Higgs to top quark Yukawa coupling in the tau lepton final state. We have already made significant improvement to our analysis strategies and planning to have a publication with combined 2016 and 2017 data. Furthermore, the Higgs boson decay to tau final states can provide a model independent measurement of the CP nature of the Higgs boson. The spin correlations between the decay products of the two tau leptons are sensitive to the CP nature of the Higgs boson. In particular, the angle between the decay planes of the two leptons can not only discriminate between CP-even and CP-odd states but also between CP-eigen and CP- mixture states. Towards this effort we have already studied the detector resolutions that affect significantly the discriminating power of the CP observable and starting to do the analysis with all available data to measure the CP properties. Moreover, we also plan to contribute to the search for Higgs boson in minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) and in other beyond standard models (BSM).

In some of the two Higgs doublet models (2HDMs) the charged Higgs boson can decay to a c and a s quarks with a significant branching fractions. Thus we are searching for the production of a charged Higgs boson in top quark decay which subsequently decays to a c and a s quarks. The results of the search, with data recorded by CMS at centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV, has already been published. We are currently performing the analysis with 13 TeV data. Given the kind of analysis interests, we will be continuing in contributing to the development of object, in particular tau lepton, jets, and missing transverse energy, reconstructions both at offline and at trigger level. The LHC will be upgraded to a high luminosity LHC during 2022-2025. To cope with the high luminosity many components of the CMS detector will be upgraded. We are starting to carryout R&D to contribute to the upgrade of the CMS silicon-strip detector. In particular, we will be contributing to post-production tests of the tracker modules. We will participate in developing the single module test setup and the cold burn-in system needed for the multi-module long-term burn-in test at the operating temperature of -20 or -30 degree centigrade.

SERB-Ramanujan Fellow 19 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Aseem Paranjape

Scientist - E SB/S2/RJN-124/2014 Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : December 28, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow The main theme of my recent research has been to build up an increasingly comprehensive understanding of the hierarchical formation of structure (Cosmic Web, galaxies and the inter-galactic medium) in the Universe over a wide range of Cosmic epochs from the local Universe to the epoch of reionization. This has included the development of analytical and semi-numerical techniques for modelling the formation of gravitationally bound dark matter ‘haloes’, the use of numerical N-body simulations of dark matter for studying the multi-scale filamentary Cosmic Web and its influence on dark halo properties and evolution, and the use of statistical techniques for connecting the theoretical halo distribution to the observed (or expected) spatial distribution and properties of galaxies and the inter-galactic medium. This research has been done in collaboration with a number of scientists from India and abroad, including students and postdocs at IUCAA, and has led to 10 publications to date plus 2 arXiv e-prints. I am currently guiding two IUCAA Ph.D. students. I present below a summary of one recent project that I have led at IUCAA as a Ramanujan Fellow.

Tidal Effects and Halo Assembly Bias Halo assembly bias refers to the dependence of dark halo clustering on halo properties other than halo mass. One such property is halo concentration: at large halo masses (galaxy cluster scales), highly concentrated haloes are known to be less clustered than less concentrated haloes of the same mass. This trend is, in fact, predicted by simple analytical excursion set / peaks models as a consequence of basic properties of Gaussian random fields. At low halo mass (Milky Way to dwarf galaxy scales), however, simulations show that this trend inverts, with high concentration haloes now being more clustered than low concentration ones. The primary suspect for this inversion is the tidal environment of low mass haloes (Hahn+ 2009); haloes in filaments, in particular, can be subjected to strong tidal anisotropy which can lead to mass truncation at early times. Such tidally influenced early forming objects would naturally occur in highly biased surroundings and have a high clustering amplitude. We have explored this effect in detail in N-body simulations, introducing a variable α which encodes the anisotropy of the local tidal environment of a halo. We find that (a) this tidal anisotropy α cleanly segregates haloes in filaments from those in more isotropic

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‘node’ environments, (b) the overall clustering amplitude of haloes at fixed mass is a strong function of α, and finally (c) α also correlates strongly with the sign and strength of the assembly bias signal. These results provide a new angle on the role of tidal effects in determining the assembly history of dark matter haloes and clarify the origin of the trends mentioned above. We have used the IUCAA cluster Perseus for running the simulations used in this work. Collaborators: Oliver Hahn (OCA Nice), Ravi K. Sheth (UPenn) Publication: A. Paranjape, O. Hahn and R. K. Sheth, MNRAS (2018) 476, 3631

Future Research plans In the next 3-4 years I intend to focus on two main avenues of research. These are (1) exploring the potential role of the Cosmic Web (tidal and density) environment at different length scales in shaping galaxy formation and evolution, and (2) continue with efforts at refining (semi-)analytical excursion set and related techniques for structure formation. I briefly describe my plans for each of these below. Where needed, my Ramanujan Fellowship grant will be used for purchasing facilities such as high capacity storage for simulations, etc.

Galaxy evolution and the Cosmic Web: The role of the Cosmic Web in shaping galaxy evolution is a topic of considerable current interest in the community. However, progress in this field is hampered by observational limitations (e.g., challenges in robustly classifying the Web environment using, say, photometric data at high redshifts) and dynamical range issues in theoretical modelling (e.g., there is no known way of accurately modelling stellar winds and Supernova outflows in cosmological volumes, leading to ‘sub-grid recipes’ that must be calibrated against observations). As a result, many open questions persist. E.g., is galaxy evolution and that of the inter-galactic medium in cosmic filaments different from that in the field? Do filaments actively and generically channel gas and galaxies towards large groups/clusters? Is this related to the phenomenon of galactic conformity? I intend to address some of these questions using numerical simulations and appropriate analysis of observational data.

Analytical models of structure formation: Although analytical models of structure formation are necessarily approximate, pursuing their development continues to be useful and interesting for at least two reasons. Firstly, the multi-scale nonlinear nature of the late-time Cosmic Web and its resident haloes means that the interpretation of high quality simulation data is actually not trivial and can often be aided by insights drawn from simplified toy models of the relevant physical effects. E.g., the complex evolution of small haloes in large filaments is conceivably easier to understand using models such as peaks theory combined with the Zel’dovich approximation. Secondly, analytical models allow for a rapid exploration of parameter space, which becomes particularly useful when considering alternatives to the standard cosmological model (e.g. warm dark matter or modified gravity). My research will continue to build and refine analytical techniques for structure formation.

SERB-Ramanujan Fellow 21 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Ashima Bhattacharjee

Ramanujan Fellow SB/S2/RJN-106/2015 X S. N. Pradhan Centre for Neurosciences, University of Calcutta Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : March 01, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow Although essential, excess intracellular Copper [Cu(I)] is detrimental. Quick transition between Cupric (Cu++) & Cuprous (Cu+) forms underlies its ability to participate in redox reactions. In mammals, level of intracellular Cu is regulated by the concerted activity of multiple transporters & chaperones. The most critical among them being P-type ATPases ATP7A and ATP7B. In response to high intracellular Cu(I), they traffic from Trans Golgi Network to endosomal vesicles, exporting excess Cu(I) out of the cell. Mutation in ATP7A causes failure of Cu delivery into circulation, causing systemic Cu(I) deficiency (Menkes Disease). Mutation in ATP7B, the primary Cu transporter in the liver, results in severe Cu(I) accumulation (Wilson Disease, WD). As a part of this project, my laboratory is engaged in understanding the mechanism (Aim 1) and cellular consequences (Aim 2&3) of copper accumulation as a result of inactivation of copper export pathway.

(Aim 1) Utilizing mutations and Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) in ATP7B, I am trying to understand their effect on ATP7B structural stability, intracellular localization and copper transport activity. This will provide the precise mechanism of copper accumulation in WD. (Aim 2) My studies demonstrate that excess intracellular copper due to inactivated ATP7A affects mitochondria glutathione balance leading to accumulation of H2O2. This causes changes in nuclear gene expression machinery, affecting interferon signaling. Changes in intracellular copper also accompany physiological processes like neuronal differentiation. Cu(I) is important for both neurite formation and neuronal survival. By utilizing the neuronal differentiation as a model, I am trying to understand the consequences of knocking out plasma membrane copper transporter CTR1. (Aim 3) My laboratory is interested in understanding the mechanism of hepato-biliary tumor development in WD. My studies demonstrate copper dependent MAP-kinase activation in HEPG2 cells. Presently, we are trying to understand the downstream consequences of such activation towards tumor development.

Future Research plans

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Change in cellular copper homeostasis accompanies various physiological process, important being neuronal differentiation. At the same time, change in cellular glutathione balance has been hypothesized to be important in neuronal and glial differentiation. Both the processes are tightly regulated not only within the cell but also within individual cellular compartments. How does redox environment (glutathione couple) change in different cellular organelles with neuronal differentiation? How are such changes coupled with changes in the dynamics of compartment specific copper utilization within cells? Are such changes equally important in neurons and glia? These questions demand investigation. Such changes might influence pathogenesis associated with not only copper metabolism disorders but also various other neurodegenerative diseases. The long-term goal of my laboratory is to understand the interplay of cellular copper and redox homeostasis and its role in physiology and pathology. Utilizing the outcome of Aim 2, I will identify the changes in the cellular copper and redox homeostasis that accompany neuronal and glial differentiation and neuron-glia communication. Further, I plan to identify the specific pathways that are triggered by such changes in the interplay during neuronal and glial differentiation. How activation of such pathways is affected due to inactivation of copper export pathway - will provide the mechanism of neuronal pathology development in WD. I will investigate how inactivation of copper export pathway, due to WD mutations, affect neuron, glia and neuron-glia communication. The studies will (i) identify role of metal-redox homeostasis in the physiology of the neurons and the glia (ii) identify the mechanism of neuron-glia interaction (ii) understand the mechanism of neuronal pathology development in copper homeostasis disorders. On a broader perspective, it will aid in understanding the pathology of a wide variety of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s Disease and prion diseases where cellular copper and redox changes have been implicated.

SERB-Ramanujan Fellow 23 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Somashekar B S

DST-Ramanujan Fellow SB/S2/RJN-052/2015CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : May 19, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow Title: NMR-based Metabolomics Studies in Phytomedicine and Nutritional research. Research in my laboratory is focused on (a) delineating the effect of dietary phytochemicals on cancer metabolism through NMR-based metabolomics approach, and (b) Developing simple NMR methods for the quantification of bioactives in spices. Dietary phytochemicals derived from cruciferous vegetables Indole-3-Carbinol (I3C) and 3,3ʹ- diindolylmethane (DIM) has been known to arrest the proliferation of various cancer types by targeting wide range of signaling pathways involved in cell-cycle progression and proliferation. We utilized ovarian cancer cell line (PA-1) and triple-negative human breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231) to delineate the chemo-preventive mechanism of I3C and DIM. 1H NMR-based metabolic profiling were carried out on PA-1 and MDA-MB-231 untreated and treated cells with varying concentrations of DIM. Prior to metabolomics study, the cytotoxic potential of DIM was analyzed using MTT assay, which revealed IC50 of 90 and 64 µM, respectively for PA-1 and MDA-MB-231 cells. 1H NMR spectra of polar extracts were used to identify more than thirty metabolites. Further, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) on NMR data revealed clear group separation among untreated and DIM treated cells. DIM treated PA-1 and MDA-MB-231 cells exhibited significantly altered levels of various metabolites involved in hexosamine pathway, energy metabolism, glutaminolysis, membrane choline phospholipid metabolism and osmo-regulatory mechanism. In summary, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report in revealing chemo-preventive mechanisms of DIM on cancer metabolism. Further, this report clearly indicates that appropriate dose of these phytochemicals could be formulated as functional foods for ovarian and breast cancer management as well as prevention. We are also working on the development of NMR methods for the quantification of major bioactives in Indian spices. Recently, we have developed simple and accurate one- dimensional 1H NMR method for the quantification of curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin in turmeric.

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Future Research plans Cancer chemoprevention via natural occurring dietary phytochemicals is a promising alternative and safe route. These dietary phytochemicals include carotenoids, alkaloids polyphenols and nitrogen containing compounds, which are naturally found in vegetables, fruits, grains, roots and other plant products. Epidemiological studies revealed that consumption of diet rich in phytochemicals have significant impact on the prevalence of specific types of cancers. In this regard, my future plans will focus on delineating chemo- preventive mechanism of dietary phytochemicals (individual and/or in combination) on platin-resistant ovarian cancer and triple-negative breast cancer. Here, NMR-based stable isotope resolved metabolomics will be extensively used to delineate the affected metabolic pathways affected by dietary phytochemicals. By using stable isotopes such as 13C-labeled glucose and 15N-labeled glutamine as cellular nutrients and by tracing labeled metabolites by NMR and MS techniques, we can reveal biochemical pathways affected in different cancer cellular compartments upon treatment with phytochemicals.

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C. Edward Raja

DST-Ramanujan Fellow SB/S2/RJN-009/2016 Madurai Kamaraj University Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : June 10, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow Research title: Development of bacterial biosensor for real-time fluoride detection in ground and surface waters: a promising approach

(i)Virulent characteristics of Fluoride (F-) resistant Pseudomonas: Three strains THP6, THP41 and OHP5 was isolated from Thadikombu, Settinaickanpatti and Ottupatti villages, Dindigul district, Tamilnadu. 16S rRNA partial sequences were submitted in the NCBI under accession numbers MF481852, MF481853, MG751413. They showed 200 mM high F- resistance and expressed virulent characteristics (β-haemolytic activity) determined on Blood agar. Virulent genes gyrB, toxA algD, lasB, plcH, and rhlC was amplified and confirmed by PCR. P. aeruginosa MTCC 2453 was used as positive control. The putative species-specific PCR assay was carried out for THP6, THP41 because of its expression of virulence characteristics. The 956-bp PCR product was amplified from THP6 and THP41 by using species specific primers. PCR result confirmed that strains (THP6, THP41) are P. aeruginosa. The genomic DNA of THP6, THP41 and OHP5 was extracted and F- resistant gene was amplified by primers (PsF1-atgcgcccagtcctgctgc; PsR1- gtgcgggcagtcctggcg). The PCR product 684-bp was eluted and using for cloning process.

(ii) Screening and isolation of F- resistant bacteria from groundwater: A total of 36 water samples were collected from 23 different villages in and around Natham taluks, Dindigul district, Tamilnadu. All groundwater samples showed F- values ranged (0.409 - 1.3 ppm) and average values of F- is 0.809 ppm. In contrast, 2 samples exhibited very high F- values (11 & 4.7 ppm) tested from chellapanaikenpatti and odukampatty villages. According to BIS and WHO standard, low concentration of F- below 0.5 ppm may increase the risk of tooth decay. The concentration of F- above 1.5 ppm may cause dental fluorosis; intake of F- above 3.0 ppm may cause skeletal fluorosis. Bacterial colonies were screened from water samples by using Rapid hicoliform agar. Initially 93 blue-green colonies were screened from Rapid hicoliform agar plates. Finally, 46 bacterial isolates were selected based on high F- resistance (350 mM) determined on LB agar plates. Only one isolate (S2-9) was selected based on blue-green colony formation on Hicrome coliform agar. Other colonies formed salmon red colour.

(iii)Characteristics and virulence gene of isolate S2-9: E. coli attaching and effacing gene eaeA (367 bp) was amplified and confirmed by PCR. E. coli ATCC 43888 and E. coli

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MTCC 443 was used as positive controls. Multiplex PCR analysis also carried out with SLTI, SLTII and eaeA primers. At present, eaeA and SLTI was amplified from the isolate S2-9. In contrast, only eaeA is identified in ATCC and MTCC E. coli controls. More positive controls to be used for future experiments.

Future Research plans (i) The Full length 16S rRNA sequences of THP6, THP41 and OHP5 will be carried out. Cloning of fluoride resistant gene in E. coli and further development of biosensor for fluoride detection. (ii) Other virulence genes for eg. (ipaH, stx, aggR) neither present nor absent in the isolate S2-9 and to evaluate pathogenic or non-pathogenic of remaining 45 isolates screened from groundwater. Molecular characterization of all fluoride resistant isolates will be carried out in near future. (iii) More groundwater samples will be collected from Dindigul and Tuticorin districts ---- -(a) to check their water quality and (b) to determine fluoride contamination in ground and surface waters (c) to assess microbial quality by NGS sequencing (d) to screen high fluoride resistant bacteria from surface waters from Dindigul and Tuticorin districts (e) Molecular characterize the fluoride resistant gene from different bacterial species (f) Fluoride bioremoval studies and Proteomic analysis (g) To develop biosensor for real time fluoride detection.

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Degala Venkata Kiran

Assistant Professor Award Number SB/S2/RJN-093/2015 Affiliation IIT Tirupati Email ID: [email protected]; [email protected]= Availed Fellowship from : February 03, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow ResearchTopic 1: Development of hot wire assisted TIG welding for improving process capabilities Trained an M.Tech student in topic

Hot wire TIG (HW-TIG) welding process can be a suitable competitor to MIG process due to its high deposition with relatively superior quality. HW-TIG process can replace MIG process if its process efficiency is increased. An indigenous setup is developed to pre-heat the filler wire using the heat losses from the tungsten electrode and welding arc instead of using the additional power source to improve process efficiency and productivity. It is clearly evident that the heat utilized to melt the base plate and filler wire is more efficient using the developed hot wire TIG setup. In the other words, the heat losses are efficiently utilized in preheating the wire using the developed setup which helps in increasing the process efficiency.

Topic 2: Thermal-metallurgical-mechanical modeling of single and multi-wire deposition welding processes using finite element method as well as CFD-FEM framework. A methodology to predict various metallurgical phases in a weld joint is proposed and validated. First a conduction based heat transfer analysis of the bead on plate welding on an AH36 steel using gas metal arc welding process is performed. Next, an AH36 steel CCT diagram is coupled with calculated temperature distribution. Ferrite, and bainite phases in the fusion zone and the heat affected zone of the weldment are estimated using simple linear interpolation as a function of phase transformation start and finishing temperatures, and the cooling rates. Martensite phase is calculated using Koistinen- Marburger (K-M) equations.

Future Research plans Topic 3: An investigation on the Aluminum alloy and galvanneled steel joining using cold metal transfer process Training a PhD student in topic 3. Made an effort to convert the existing conventional TIG machine to cold wire TIG, and the same is used to join Aluminum alloy 6061 and galvanneled steel. It is planned first, to study the effect of process parameters on the joint dimensions, temperature distribution in the weldment, thickness of the Fe-Al intermetallic compound layer thickness, microstructure, micro hardness and the tensile strength of the joint. Next, a CFD model will be developed to

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understand the temperature distribution and the fluid flow in the weldment. Further an attempt will be made to control the distortions in the weldment. Based on the above study the process parameter window for the good quality Aluminum alloy/steel joint will be proposed.

Topic 4: Arc based additive manufacturing of complex structures Training a PhD student in topic 4. Topic 5: Distortion and residual stress analysis in a multi-wire deposition welding processes. The temperature distribution in a multi-wire deposition welding process leads to the generation a complex residual stress distribution and the welding distortions. It is planned to study the evolution of the stresses and distortions, and developing the corresponding mitigation techniques to control the same using numerical as well as experimental approach.

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Dibyendu Roy

Associate Professor I SB/S2/RJN-060/2015 Theoretical Physics group, Raman Research Institute, C. V. Raman Avenue, Sadashivanagar, Bangalore 560080, India Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : January 18, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow My research interests broadly focus on understanding nonequilibrium quantum dynamics in solid-state and atomic, molecular & optical (AMO) systems. My primary research work is theoretical. I also frequently collaborate with experimental groups. Here I describe my two main research work since the start of the Fellowship. (a) Strongly interacting photons in one-dimensional continuum : Dibyendu Roy, C.M. Wilson, and Ofer Firstenberg, Rev. Mod. Phys. 89, 021001 (2017) Overview : The photon-photon scattering in vacuum is extremely weak. However, strong effective interactions between single photons can be realized by employing strong light- matter coupling. These interactions are a fundamental building block for quantum optics, bringing many-body physics to the photonic world and providing important resources for quantum photonic devices and for optical metrology. In this commissioned Colloquium, we review the physics of strongly-interacting photons in one-dimensional systems with no optical confinement along the propagation direction. We focus on two recently- demonstrated experimental realizations: (i) superconducting qubits coupled to open transmission lines, and (ii) interacting Rydberg atoms in a cold gas. Advancements in the theoretical understanding of these systems are presented in complementary formalisms and compared to experimental results. The experimental achievements are summarized alongside of a systematic description of the quantum optical effects and quantum devices emerging from them. (b) Effect of long-range hopping and interactions on entanglement dynamics and many- body localization : Rajeev Singh, Roderich Moessner, and Dibyendu Roy, Phys. Rev. B 95, 094205 (2017) Overview : We numerically investigate the dynamics of entanglement in a chain of spinless fermions with nonrandom but long-range hopping and interactions, and with random on-site energies. For moderate disorder in the absence of interactions, the chain hosts delocalized states at the top of the band which undergo a delocalization-localization transition with increasing disorder. We find an interesting regime in this noninteracting disordered chain where the long-time entanglement entropy scales as S(t)∼ln t and the saturated entanglement entropy scales with system size L as S(L,t→∞)∼ln L. The entanglement dynamics in the noninteracting long-range model shows striking similarities to the random XXZ chain with nearest-neighbor interactions, which exhibits a many-body localized (MBL) phase at strong disorder. We further study the interplay of

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long-range hopping and interactions on the growth of entanglement and the MBL transition in this system, and find an intermediate regime which appears to share properties of both delocalized and MBL phases of the random XXZ chain.

Future Research plans I am currently engaged in various research projects involving my students and collaborators. I describe two of them which I hope to finish within next few years. (a) Light propagation through one-dimensional interacting open quantum systems: Overview : We are interested in investigating nonlinear light propagation through one- dimensional interacting quantum media. We (with Pooja Manasi) have been able to apply the quantum Langevin equations approach to study light propagation through a one- dimensional interacting spin-1/2 chain of finite length (eight sites) with nearest-neighbor coupling. The transient and steady-state transport properties of incoming monochromatic laser light are calculated for this model. We find how the local features of the spin chain and the chain length dependence of light transport coefficient evolve with increasing power of the incident light. While the nonlinear light transmission in our studied model seems to be ballistic in the absence of interaction and for a high interaction, it shows an apparent system-size dependence at intermediate interactions. Currently, our primary challenge is to extend our study of nonlinear light propagation to long chains, and we are investing our time to explore recent efforts along this direction using the Lindblad master equations along with matrix product operators. (e) Optical spectroscopy of spin noise in alkali vapors and ultracold atoms:

Overview : The fluctuation-dissipation theorem in statistical physics relates the linear response function of a system measured by applying a small perturbation to the system’s spontaneous fluctuation properties at thermodynamic equilibrium. Most scientific techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy probe the linear response function by preparing a system in a non-equilibrium state. Spin noise spectroscopy (SNS) has been developed as an alternative method to detect the statistical fluctuation in magnetization of a system at thermal equilibrium. The SNS can reveal the dynamical spin properties, such as spin relaxation times, of the system with a minimal perturbation. The SNS technique has already been implemented in experiments with hot alkali atomic vapors and semiconductor heterostructures. At the Light and Matter Physics Group of Raman Research Institute, we perform and refine SNS in rubidium (Rb) vapor at room temperature. We have conducted a detailed experimental study of the optical spectroscopy of electron spin noise in the thermal Rb atomic vapor . We are now trying to apply the SNS beyond room-temperature atomic vapor. Our team has been able to measure Faraday rotation from ultracold atoms, and they are now preparing to detect spin noise signals from the same. I am hoping we will be able to perform such measurement which would be a breakthrough in the field of SNS.

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Gnanesh Nanjappa

Ramanujan Fellow SERB SB/S2/RJN-049/2015 Central Sericultural Research & Training Institute, Mysuru Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : May 09, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow Limited availability of genomic resources has constrained the molecular breeding efforts in mulberry. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) discovery is an important goal for mulberry molecular breeding. SNP were mined from the transcriptome data generated from leaf tissue of four mulberry genotypes. Analysis of transcriptome data and variant calling revealed 105115 SNPs. Two hundred unique SNPs have been chosen for validation using Competitive allele specific PCR, KASP assay. These unique SNPs are being validated with 94 diverse mulberry accessions using KASP assay. In order to identify the substantial genome size variation, mulberry accessions with different ploidy level were chosen. The relative 2C genome size of mulberry genotypes chosen for genome sequencing and resequencing were determined using flow cytometry. The mulberry accessions with different ploidy level showed substantial genome size variation, with the 2C-value ranging between 0.77 and 1.15 pg. The mean amount of 2C nuclear DNA of the diploid mulberry sample was calculated as 0.79 pg. Conversion between DNA content and genome size (1 pg DNA=980 Mbp) indicate that the haploid genome size (1C) of mulberry is 387.1 Mbp. Our study highlights the necessity of optimizing the flow cytometry methodology prior to obtaining reliable genome size estimates for other germplasm accessions. Root rot disease is a serious menace in mulberry and it is prevalent in many states of India. Total of 69 diseased mulberry root samples were collected from different mulberry cultivation areas of South India based on their wilting symptoms. Isolated and identified 74 virulent isolates of root rot from 69 regions of South India. Fusarium solani was most dominating (69%) followed by F. oxysporum (19%) and Lasiodiplodia theobromae (12%). Species identity of fungal isolates is determined using ITS 1 and ITS 4 primers. Twenty isolates have been sequenced and has been deposited in NCBI data base. Molecular characterization revealed new species of F. equiseti associated with mulberry root rot. Two resistant and susceptible genotypes have been identified for studying the transcriptomic profile of mulberry in response to F. solani. Also, mapping populations for QTL studies resistance to root rot using two contrasting genotypes have been developed.

Future Research plans The research aims to develop novel genomic resources like single nucleotide polymorphism to undertake molecular breeding in mulberry and to develop superior genotypes with enhanced disease resistance. Resequencing of diverse genotypes generates high quality reference data for detection of SNPs and variants. SNP genotyping array developed will be used for characterizing the panel of diverse mulberry germplasm by

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association analysis as well as trait specific mapping populations by linkage analysis. The panel comprising of around 300 germplasm accessions will be genotyped using SNP array. The mapping population developed will be utilized for identification of QTLs linked to root rot disease resistance and construction of high density SNP linkage map. In addition to SNP array, Competitive Allele Specific PCR (KASP) assay will be used for validating the SNP linked to the different traits and utilized further for Marker Assisted Breeding in mulberry genetic improvement. Transcriptome profiling of mulberry in response to root rot and root knot disease will lead to identification of genes responsible for disease resistance. To better elucidate the responsive expression patterns of the related transcription mechanisms in root tissues infected with root rot and root knot, getting insights on the mechanisms underpinning mulberry resistance against Fusarium Sps and M. incognita, functional annotation of assembled unigenes, and development of SNP markers in mulberry.

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Gopala Krishna Darbha

Assistant Professor SB/S2/RJN-006/2016 Department of Earth Science, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, Mohanpur, 741246, West Bengal Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 01, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow In this current project, the interaction of metal ions: Hg2+, Cr6+ and EMNs: ZnO, CeO2 with montmorillonite particles (MMTP) and further their transport across the granite fracture are studied. Though there are reports on the sorption of Hg2+ and Cr6+ onto clays where the effect of pH and contact time on partition coefficient (Kd) are published, the effect of organics, temperature, polydispersity, presence of other metal ions was not discussed. To our knowledge, till date the information reported with respect to the determination of Kd for ZnO and CeO2 and MMTP is very limited. Moreover, the detailed investigation on transport/re-entrainment at rock-fluid interface and basic mechanisms controlling their migration were not clearly demonstrated. In the present work, as first part, the stability of MMTP colloids as function of metal ion and EMNs concentration, impact of polydispersity ratio on aggregate formation, pH and temperature will be studied. As second part, the transport experiments of metal-associated-clay particle in the granite fracture will be performed. Here, the impact of residence time, hydrodynamics and charge heterogeneity will be of main focus. As third part of the project, to elucidate the observed colloid retention processes, the forces between clay particle and minerals are quantified by means of colloid probe technique (Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM).

Future Research plans The main focus of our lab is environmental nanoscience: from application of nanoparticles for environmental protection (remediation of toxic metals) to their fate in the environment. Extending the research work from Ramanujan fellowship research work, where the main emphasis is to understand the fate of metal and metal oxide in the environment, we have three prospective projects under initiation that are of environmental significance: 1) modified clay particles for the remediation of toxic metal ions in the environment 2) fate of microplastics in the environment: degradation and its detection 3) understanding the stability, degradation and transport properties of nanopesticides.

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Hiyaa Ghosh

Reader-F SB/S2/RJN-091/2015 NCBS-TIFR Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : February 15, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow Neurons are one of the most elaborate and long-living cell type of our body with little capacity for regeneration or repair. What underlies the longevity of mature neurons through an entire lifespan, which span decades in many cases, such as in humans? While mostly post-mitotic, the adult brain does retain capacity for new neuron generation; a process termed as adult neurogenesis. What determines the fate and potential plasticity of the adult neural stem cells during adult neurogenesis? These are questions related to the molecular regulation of cell-intrinsic processes that, on one hand, influence the individual cell’s properties, while on the other hand, potentially instruct intercellular interactions. Studies in my lab are directed towards understanding the genetic program that underlie cell-intrinsic processes and intercellular interactions governing adult brain functioning.

Using mouse as our model organism, we employ transgenesis for specific spatial and temporal deletion of gene, fate-mapping, high-resolution microscopy, high throughput sequencing, transcriptomics, morphometric, biochemical and behavioral studies to investigate molecular regulations in the old and new neurons, and microglia in the adult brain. The overall goal is to gain insights into the homeostatic processes in the healthy brain, in order to be able to better correlate conditions of impaired functionalities to specific cellular processes.

Future Research plans In the last two years, we have identified a gene that is critically important for adult neurogenesis, a process by which new neurons are continually generated in the adult brain in specific locations. We have further uncovered the cellular events underlying the proper execution of this process. Our data demonstrated that the deletion of our gene-of- interest, specifically in the neural stem cells, leads to precocious development of neurons, ultimately leading to exhaustion of the stem cell pool and reduction of adult neurogenesis. Going forward, we plan to understand the mechanistic details of the process of ‘stem cell exhaustion’ and ‘fate-decisions’ in the context of adult neurogenesis.

In another project, we are investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying longevity of neurons; one of the most long-living cell type of our body, with little, if any, capacity for

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regeneration. In the last year, we have discovered a factor that is critical for the maintenance of mature neurons in the adult brain. Our data demonstrates depletion of mature neurons in response to inducible deletion of this factor specifically in projection neurons in adult murine brain. We will be investigating the mechanisms that underlie the longevity of neurons using this system. Furthermore, we will also use this in vivo model for neuronal loss to study the adaptive responses of the brain in the face of neuronal loss both at the cellular and circuit level.

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Jayamurugan Govindasamy

Scientist-D SB/S2/RJN-047/2015 Institute of Nano Science and Technology Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : June 03, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow My expertise is synthetic organic chemistry and my research area is focused on functional organic nanomaterials and its applications in polymer chemistry, framework materials, catalysis, sensing, biomaterials (for drug/antibody/gene delivery and antimicrobial) and push-pull chromophores based optoelectronic materials. In a joint collaboration with biologist we successfully demonstrated for the first time that the development of a potential drug carrier to improve the therapeutic efficacy of LCS-1 for specific killing of colorectal cells (CRC) having BLM defects (Figure 1).1,2 A customized nanocarrier (NC) composed of a magnetite core coated with three polymeric shells, namely, aminocellulose, branched poly(amidoamine), and paraben-PEG, was synthesized and characterized for encapsulating LCS-1. Encapsulation efficiency and drug loading were found to be 74% and 8.2%, respectively. Due to enhanced efficacy of the drug using NC, the sensitivity difference for BLM-deficient cells increased to 1.7 times in comparison to that with free LCS-1. In continuation to this, we further demonstrated that the synthesized nanocarrier were also found to be effective for the delivery of niclosamide drug to treat CRC. Catalysis is another broad research area we are interested in study using nanomaterial.

Herein, we report that copper oxide (CuI/IIO) nanoparticles (NPs) supported by tris-(2- aminoethyl)amine (TREN)-cellulose (TC) functionalized with thioglycolic acid TC-S- CuI/IIO, showed excellent activity for the homocoupling as well as heterocoupling of terminal alkynes to synthesize corresponding 1,3-diynes under eco-friendly condition. Interestingly, a rationally designed comparative study of different catalysts led to a conclusion that polarity tuning of the catalyst could be a useful strategy to design catalyst for achieving selectivity between the products.3 Thus a technology was developed that highly efficient magnetically recyclable eco-friendly customized CuO nanoparticles catalyst for homo and hetero Glaser reactions. In order to address a societal problem such as environmental pollution, we undertook study on dye degradation of dye molecules using uniformly distributed metal nanoparticles supported by graphitic polymers without any light or heat. In this study, we observed that an efficient catalyst was made which is active only when both graphitic polymer and metal nanoparticles present together due to synergistic effect. Remarkably, we found that the catalyst was very active, for example Rhodamine B dye degraded 98% within 45 minutes under ecofriendly condition without use of any light or heat.

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Some part of the above work has been published in the international journals which are mentioned below. 1. A. Gupta, A. Ahmad, H. Singh, S. Kaur, K. M. Neethu, M. M. Ansari, G. Jayamurugan,* R. Khan,* Nanocarrier Composed of Magnetite Core Coated with Three Polymeric Shells Mediates LCS-1 Delivery for Synthetic Lethal Therapy of BLM-Defective Colorectal Cancer Cells Biomacromolecules 2018, 19, 803–815. (* corresponding authors) 2. A. Ahmad, A. Gupta, G. Jayamurugan,* R. Khan,* Applying synthetic lethality to nanomedicine: LCS-1 loaded magnetite and polymeric nanoparticles for the treatment of BLM and CHEK2-deficient colorectal cancer cells. CANCER MEDICINE. Vol. 7. 111 RIVER ST, HOBOKEN 07030-5774, NJ USA: WILEY, 2018. 3. S. Kaur, A. Selim, V. Gowri, A. H. Dar, K. M. Neethu, S. Sartaliya, Md. E. Ali, G. Jayamurugan,* Catalyst Polarity Tune Selectivity towards Heterocoupling of Terminal Alkynes by a Highly Efficient and Reusable Fe3O4/CuI/IIoxide@TREN-cellulose Catalytic System manuscript communicated. 4.G. Jayamurugan, V. Gowri, D. Hernández, S. Martin, A. González-Orive, C. Dengiz, O. Dumele, F. Pérez-Murano, J.-P. Gisselbrecht, C. Boudon, W. B. Schweizer, B. Breiten, A. D. Finke, G. Jeschke, B. Bernet, L. Ruhlmann, P. Cea, F. Diederich, Design and Synthesis of Aviram–Ratner-Type Dyads and Rectification Studies in Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) Films Chem. Eur. J. 2016, 22, 10539–10547.

Future Research plans The future research efforts are directed towards the continuation of the ongoing projects in the field of biocompatible graphitic and polymeric materials based drug delivery, wound healing and antimicrobial coating applications. Further the use of our newly developed CuO catalyst in other organic transformation reactions under greener conditions will be evaluated. Similarly in biomass conversion to fine chemicals. Another interesting area we are working on is the development of new class of cyclic push-pull chromophores for size selective binding of biologically important analytes through color change.

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Kausik Majumdar

Assistant Professor SB/S2/RJN-007/2015 Department of Electrical Communication Engineering,Indian Institute of Science Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : February 01, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow My primary research area is semiconductor nano-devices, with a focus on the physics of novel material systems and their applications to optoelectronics and nanoelectronics. In my research group, we are involved in designing conceptual devices using nanomaterials, developing the theory of working principle, and experimentally realizing the same. Some of the recent results are listed below: • Probed the fundamental radiative broadening of excitonic states and the effect of zero- point energy in layered 2D materials using a novel technique. • Experimentally demonstrated ultra-high reverse rectification ratio (>104) using a 2D-2D heterojunction with excellent nonlinear characteristics. • Experimentally demonstrated record high specific detectivity at a given input light power (3.2x1014 Jones @ 0.26 Wm-2) and with a capability of zero external bias operation using an asymmetrically encapsulated vertical ITO/MoS2/Cu2O heterojunction photodetector. The photodetector maintains fast operation irrespective of high gain. • Explained through an unambiguous and novel experimental technique the paradox of negligible photoluminescence peak shift in two-dimensional systems embedded in different dielectric media by introducing energy state dependent varying compensation of excitonic binding energy changes and quasi-particle bandgap renormalization. • Using both theory and experiments, carrier injection mechanism in 2D materials was explored. A new form of Richardson equation is derived for a top contact structure. The fundamental limit of contact resistance was derived. • The theory of ferroelectric gate MOSFET (which typically uses the concept of “negative capacitance”) was revisited based on minimization of the Gibbs free energy of the whole systems, rather than minimizing part of the free energy of the system. • Room temperature valley coherence with in MoS2, MoSe2, WS2 and WSe2 monolayers was demonstrated using linear polarization resolved hot photoluminescence (PL), at energies close to the excitation – demonstrating preservation of valley coherence before sufficient scattering events. The energy relaxation pathways of hot photoexcited carriers were explore through carrier and phonon temperature extraction. • Two-dimensional planar heterojunction photodetectors were demonstrated using monolayer/bilayer (1L/2L) and monolayer/few-layer/multi-layer (1L/FL/ML) heterojunction devices. .

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Future Research plans Research plan in the immediate future: Probing excitonic complexes and valley-physics in layered materials o Probing ultra-fast inter-layer transfer of excitonic complexes in two-dimensional materials o Probing quantum confined stark effect in few-layer TMDs o Bandstructure of bright excitonic and trion states; and its effect in luminescence o Probing valley hall effect of excitonic complexes Sensitive, high speed photodetection devices o Sensitive photodetection down to few-photon level o High speed photodetection @1550 nm using heterojunction nano-devices Novel charge transport at the nanoscale o Charge density wave induced phase change devices o Ultra-short channel (sub-5 nm) transistor

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M. Tanveer

Assistant Professor and Ramanujan Fellow SB/S2/RJN-001/2016 Indian Institute of Technology, Indore Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : July 22, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow Dr. Tanveer’s research group focusses on the following research problems: • Classification and prediction of Alzheimer disease using multimodal imaging data • Optimization models and algorithms for non-parallel support vector machines • Detection of human brain disorders using novel machine learning approaches • Development of novel machine learning algorithms for automated detection of seizure using EEG signals

Publications: Edited Book: • M. Tanveer and R.B. Pachori, Machine Intelligence and Signal Analysis, Springer, 2018, Book. (In Press). Papers: • B. Richhariya, M. Tanveer (2018), EEG signal classification using universum support vector machine. Expert Systems with Applications, Elsevier, 106: 169-182. • Swastik Gupta, Konduri Hari Krishna, R.B. Pachori, M. Tanveer (2018), Fourier-Bessel series expansion based technique for automated classification of focal and non-focal EEG signals. International Joint Conferences on Neural Network (IJCNN), July 08-13, 2018, Rio, Brazil. • Deepthi Badarinath, Chaitra Siddu, Neha Bharill, Tanveer M., Mukesh Prasad, Abhishek Appaji, Suma Vinekar and Anand Ningappa (2018), Study of clinical staging and classification of retinal images for Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) screening, International Joint Conferences on Neural Network (IJCNN), July 08-13, 2018, Rio, Brazil. • M. Dalal, M. Tanveer, R.B. Pachori (2017), Automated identification system for focal EEG signals using fractal dimension of FAWT based sub-bands signals. International Conference on Machine Intelligence and Signal Processing, December 22-24, 2017, Indore, India. • B. Richhariya, M. Tanveer (2017), A fuzzy universum support vector machine based on information entropy. International Conference on Machine Intelligence and Signal Processing, December 22-24, 2017, Indore, India. • B. Richhariya, M. Tanveer, A reduced universum twin support vector machine for class imbalance learning (In Revision).

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• B. Richhariya, M. Tanveer, A robust fuzzy least squares twin support vector machine for class imbalance learning (In Revision) • M. Tanveer, C. Gautam, PN Suganthan, Comprehensive evaluation of twin SVM based classifiers on UCI 2-class datasets (Submitted) • M. Tanveer, M. Aldhaifallah, KS Nisar, B. Richhariya, Multiclass classification methods based on regularized least squares twin support vector machines (In Revision).

Future Research plans • To develop a novel machine learning approach that can integrate multimodal data in order to classify Alzheimer disease patients and predict their evolution, starting from the earliest stages of the disease. • To develop an optimization algorithm for large scale least squares twin support vector machines. • To develop a robust and sparse algorithms for non-parallel support vector machines. • To develop a new machine learning approach for analysis and classification of brain neurological disorder patients like epilepsy, sleep disorders, Alzheimer’s etc. The performance of the developed algorithm will be compared with the existing algorithms using several measures; classification accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, receiver operating characteristic and Matthews correlation coefficient etc. • To develop novel machine learning approach for automated detection of seizure using EEG signals.

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Mansoor Ali

Assistant Professor SB/S2/RJN-199/2014 Department of Biotechnology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : June 01, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow Sepsis and bacterial infections are life threatening disease in neonates and adults, which are leading causes of acute lung injury (ALI) characterized by plasma leakage, increased white blood cell influx and cytokine generation. The only preventable measures in infection related mortality are antimicrobial therapy and aggressive supportive care, which are not so effective. The overall focus of my research is to improve understanding of the etiopathogenesis of Acute Lung Injury and sepsis and find innovative methods to prevent and manage these diseases. To achieve this, I have been doing bench and translational research covering the myriad aspects of these complex disorders. The focus of my research has been in understanding bacterial and sepsis-induced lung injury in the mature and developing lung, a major factor in causing ARDS and other lung diseases. We are investigating the role of miRNAs in maintaining lung fluid homeostasis and moderating lung inflammatory injury in neonatal and adult mice models as well as in vitro models. My research work also covered molecular signaling pathways in acute lung injury and sepsis and mechanisms of action of angiogenic factors which include downstream transcription factors and microRNAs in macrophages and epithelial cells. We are using models for direct as well as indirect acute lung injury. Our specific goal is to characterize the role of macrophage/epithelial miRNAs in lung growth and development and determine if these miRNAs are able to play a role in lung vascular and alveolar growth during and in recovery after lung injury. We are hoping these studies will offer novel insights and therapeutic targets that we think will lead to the development of more effective treatments with improved outcomes for patients suffering from sepsis and acute lung injury. The goal of my research is also confirm and translate the findings using bio-specimens from the established and establishing cohort of human patients with various lung diseases. This has allowed us to carefully study the molecular and cellular responses of certain novel mediators in the lung.

Future Research plans Despite recent advances in the treatment there is no cure of various forms of neonatal lung injury and respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), many gaps in knowledge about pathophysiology and treatment remain. Our future research goals will advance translational research in neonatal lung biology through design and use of innovative,

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evidence-based approach that are intuitive, practical to reduce neonatal morbidities. I am planning to investigate following domains of neonatology: (i) application of fetal and neonatal physiological principles to translation basic science; (ii) elucidation of early clinical biomarkers in neonatal lung injury and developing targeted interventions; (iii) design of affordable, high quality evidence-based biotechnologies for reduction of infant mortality and morbidities; (iv) translation of clinical evidence to systems application; and (v) prevention (specifically) of sepsis/ventilator-related newborn lung damage through systems-approach, biotechnologies and non-coding RNAs. The future research goals will be focused on under following major themes: Mechanisms of regulation of type2 epithelial gene expression: In this research goal I am planning to explore genetic, epigenetic and post-transcriptional regulator of gene expression changes within alveolar type2 epithelial cells. MicroRNAs are key post- transcriptional regulators of gene expression and in this study we will identify subset of miRNAs and long non coding RNAs that play a role in regulating the gene-expression response of the type2 epithelium after hyperoxic/sepsis insult (Syed et al. Nat. Comm., 2017). In collaboration with bio-informaticians, we are planning to link gene expression profiles to SNPs in promoter regions of these genes via computational modeling and a novel high-throughput SNP platform. Novel immune regulators in the lung during respiratory infections and sepsis: I am especially interested to search novel mediators or targets having modulation capacity of macrophage polarization and function in animal models of pneumonia/sepsis that will contribute to the understanding of the immunology of resistance and susceptibility, and in the development of new treatment strategies for inflammatory lung diseases.

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Natasha Sharma

Ramanujan Fellow SB/S2/RJN-084/2015 Department of Physics, Panjab University, Chandigarh Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : February 12, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow Study of nuclei and anti-nuclei production at LHC. Dr. Sharma has worked on various analyses in ALICE related to light (anti-)nuclei in various systems and energies. The results constitute the strong (anti-)nuclei Physics program of ALICE, also getting interest from the Astrophysicists. The results are published in various journals viz. Phys. Rev. C97 (2018) 024615, Nucl. Phys. A956 (2016) 461, Phys. Rev. C93 (2016) 024917, Eur. Phys. J. C77 (2017) 658, Phys. Lett. B752 (2016) 267, Phys. Lett. B754 (2016) 360, and Nature Phys. 13 (2017) 535. Implementation of improved background estimation for correlation studies in heavy-ion collisions. The di-hadron correlation studies are largely affected by the background coming due to flow in heavy-ion collisions. Dr. Sharma has developed a new technique for background subtraction, which allow for higher precision measurements with fewer assumptions about the background. This work is published as Phys. Rev. C94 (2016) 011901(R) and Phys. Rev. C93 (2016) 044915. Theoretical/phenomenology work. She has worked on Understanding strange particle production in the small systems. The study demonstrates that the properties of strange particles are explained if collisions are constrained by exact strangeness conservation in a canonical ensemble. The paper is published as Eur. Phys. J. C77 (2017) 584. She also worked on Thermal model description of p-Pb collisions at LHC energies. She demonstrated that particle production in small-system collisions can be described by the thermal model and strangeness quantum number is conserved canonically for small systems. The paper is published as Eur. Phys. J. C78 (2018) 288. Dr. Sharma has also discussed her research work in different conferences. She presented a talk in XXII DAE-HEP Symposium in 2016, Delhi, an invited talk in 9th MPI international conference at the LHC, in 2017, Shimla, and has been invited to give talk at EMMI workshop, GSI, Germany, in 2018.

Future Research plans 1. Multiplicity dependence of light nuclei and anti-nuclei production in pp collisions: Dr. Sharma has started analysing data of proton–proton collisions collected by the ALICE experiment at LHC to study the light nuclei (like deuterons, tritons, helium3) and their anti-nuclei production in various multiplicity classes. These experimental results are of great interest to understand the (anti-) nuclei production mechanism, for dark matter study and also for study of proton-proton collisions in outer space.

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2.Understand production mechanism of light nuclei and anti-nuclei in high energy collisions: There are few possibilities that (anti-) nuclei can be thermally produced like all other particles or can be produced via coalescence of particles in the later stage of collisions. There is also a possibility that the probability of their production could be high when a parton fragments (i.e. in jet region). Dr. Sharma is performing various models study to explore all these options. She will compare model results with the experimental data and will try to give some Physics interpretations.

3.Unified description of particle production in pp, p-Pb and Pb-Pb high energy collisions using thermal model: Dr. Sharma is trying to understand particle production mechanism in high energy collisions for different multiplicities and also for different collisions systems. She is planning to use various ensembles like full canonical, strange canonical and grand canonical ensembles to do this study. With the availability of LHC data in various multiplicity classes for proton-proton collisions, she is also testing if thermodynamic limit (as proposed in theory) can be approached in high multiplicity collisions.

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Neha Garg

Ramanujan Fellow SB/S2/RJN-072/2015 School of Basic Sciences, Indian Institute of Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, India -175005 Emai ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 01, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow My research area lies towards understanding the mechanisms of brain tumors using microRNA/small noncoding RNA profiling. My lab is also working in nanocarriers for the delivery of poorly soluble drugs in cancer cells. We are also working for sensing of enzymes and screening of cancer cells using carbon dots as analytical tools. Recently we have started the computational screening of small molecules on proteins upregulated in cancer. We studied a series of bisindolylmethanes molecules, derived from the 3- substituted indole as basic skeleton, and investigated their in-vitro anticancer property against two different cell lines. We initially focused on central core skeleton (i.e. Indole), which is responsible for biological activity and compared the activity with its various substituted structures. Further Indole, 5-methoxyindole and 6-Fluoroindole, were taken as base material to synthesize their substituted bisindolyl analogues. Based on the IC50 value, the compound with utmost cytotoxic potential was selected and further considered for confocal apoptosis assay and DNA ladder assay. After reasserting the mechanism of cell death, the potential cellular protein targets of the most active synthesized compound was predicted by using a combination of two chemoinformatic approaches i.e. pharmacophore mapping method and divide-and-conquer docking approach and the target was further verified by Schrodinger docking. Among the 4 putative target proteins established after comparing the results of PharmMapper and idTarget, Pim-1 was found to have significantly high fit-score, Z-score and idTarget docking score. These results and the pharmacophoric complementarity of CN-TBM towards PIM-1 binding sites, shaped a conviction of Pim-1 involvement in apoptotic death of cancer cells induced by CN-TBM. Docking studies results, where it was found that CN-TBM is showing an excellent binding affinity toward Pim-1, with a docking score of -10.652, further elevated the confidence of Pim-1 involvement. The manuscript regarding the above work is submitted to ACS journal.

Future Research plans Proviral integration site for Moloney murine leukemia virus-1 (Pim-1) is a serine/threonine- protein kinase and is involved with various cellular activities including cell survival, cell cycle and drug resistance. Overexpression of PIM-1 is associated with many types of solid tumors. One of the mechanisms for tumorigenesis by Pim-1 involves the regulation of Myc transcriptional activity. Phosphorylation of Myc by Pim-1 results in its stabilization and therefore an increase in its transcriptional activity. Therefore

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understanding the relationship between Pim1 and Myc under the action of indoles will be carried out. One of the major projects that I will be working on is to decipher the MicroRNAs controlled by c-Myc in medulloblastoma (MB) stem cells. My specific experimental aims seek to clarify/identify microRNAs that are regulated by c-MYC, a key gene often over expressed in poor outcome MB and may form a specific signature identifying poor- prognosis non-Shh/Wnt group 3 MB subtype. We have established the cell lines and we are working towards the characterisation of these lines by various cell surface and stem cell markers. We have also procured the vectors for overexpression and knockdown of Myc and we are generating transient and stable cell lines. Thereafter we will start with miRNAs profiling. Differentially expressed miRNAs will be tested for regulation of Myc pathway and stem cell behaviour. Thereafter, Identification of mechanisms responsible for microRNA modulation (downregulation or upregulation) by looking at the targets of microRNAs and their functional role in stemness/proliferation of MB stem cells will be carried out. Finally, determination of Myc dependent microRNAs specifies a signature for Non-Shh/Wnt MBs, and targeting of microRNAs signature in vivo to control MB growth in mouse model of xenografted MB stem cells will be performed.

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Pranjal Chandra

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR SB/S2/RJN-042/2015 Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati Guwahati - 781039, Assam, India Email ID :[email protected]/[email protected] Availed Fellowship from : May 10, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow We have designed an amperometric biosensor to detected epithelial cell adhesion molecule expressed on the metastatic cancer cells. The proposed immunosensor was successfully applied to detect cells in serum and mixed cell samples and interferences due to nontarget cells and molecules present in the real sample matrix was also examined (published in Biosensors and Bioelectronics). This article appeared as a research highlight "Nanobiosensor for detecting metastatic cancer" in Nature India. In another work, we detected Escherichia coli by developing a label free self-reporting genosensor based on specific probes immobilized on platinum nanoparticles chitosan nanocomposite on screen printed carbon electrode. The sensor was applied to detect bacteria from surface water which showed a dynamic range between 1.0×10−12 and 1.0×10−4 with the detection limit of 3.6×10−14 M (published in Electroanalysis). This article appeared as a research highlight "Ultrafast device to detect E. coli in 20 minutes" in Nature India. Another work was on the development of first bifunctional nanobiosensor for chemokine screening and detection in a single experimental setting (published in Biosensors and Bioelectronics). In the most recent work, a phtyofabricated Nanotherapeutic agents (NTA) (AgNPs) has been synthesized and characterized using various techniques. The formation of NTA was also confirmed using electrochemistry, which to the best of our knowledge has never been reported before for biosynthesized NTA. The antileishmanial potential of NTA was examined on the clinical isolates of Leishmania donovani cells in an in vitro experimental setting. A dose dependent killing activity of the AgNP was observed with an IC50 value of 51.88 ± 3.51 µg/ml. These results were also compared using commercially available drug, miltefosine. Furthermore, the clinical applicability of NTA, as antileishmanial agent was proven by testing them against normal mammalian monocyte cell line (U937). The results were statistically analyzed, which showed no significant toxicity of AgNPs on the normal mammalian cells (published in Nature Scientific Reports).

Future Research plans Currently, our group at IIT Guwahati is focusing towards developing facile, environmental friendly, quick method to synthesize novel bimetallic nanomaterials for their prospective applications in analyzing numerous drug molecules based on the direct electron transfer reaction. In another forthcoming work, we are aiming towards designing of nanoporous structure on screen printed electrodes and their application towards neurotransmeter detection in various body fluids and other matrices. Future research plans are also

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inclined towards studying the comparative analysis of phytofabricated and chemically synthesized nanomaterials and their performance analysis towards electrochemical biosensors, which has not been reported tell date to the best of our knowledge. Efforts have also been started towards developing paper biosensor for alkaline phosphatase detection mediated through mobile phones, for the point of case analysis in a miniaturized self-reporting format. We are anticipating that this biosensor may be useful for fast screening of raw and pasteurized milk in domestic as well as in industrial level.

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Prashant Kumar

Faculty Scientist SB/S2/RIN-077 / 2015 Institute of Bioinformatics, Bangalore, India Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : January 18, 2018

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow My research interest lies in the area of Cancer Biology. Cancer biomarkers have become an essential component of patient care. With discovery efforts ongoing, the next phase towards translation will involve validation and demonstration of the clinical utility of the biomarkers.

As a part of the Ramanujan fellowship, the study undertaken by me was on the discovery of a panel of biomarkers for bladder cancer using an integrative proteomics approach. The shortcomings of urinary cytology like low sensitivity and invasiveness of the cystoscopy procedure have resulted in a search for alternate markers for screening of initial stages of bladder cancer and follow-up of its recurrence. Disease heterogeneity does not allow a single biomarker to detect every bladder cancer patient, therefore, the intend of the study is to design a non-invasive assay employing multiple biomarkers in combination.

The objectives of the study was firstly to compare the secretome of a normal urothelial cell line (TERT-NHUC) with a panel of bladder cancer cell lines (J82, VMCUB1, T24, RT112, SW780 and KK47) using a quantitative TMT-based mass spectrometry analysis. These secreted proteins are an incredible source for novel biomarker discovery as proteins that are found to be secreted by cells are likely to be present in urine or blood making the secretome an excellent choice for discovery studies.

The other objective is to integrate the global proteomics of secretome and urine data and further validate the differentially regulated proteins identified in the both data-set using targeted proteomics. Molecules that are upregulated in bladder cancer in both the studies are likely to be true candidates to be potential biomarkers and could be used to develop urine based diagnostic test.

Future Research plans I aim to identify a panel of biomarkers that may have the potential to be used to not only monitor, but also for screening asymptomatic subjects who are at a high risk of developing bladder cancer. On my proposed objectives, I have selected a panel of 20 proteins to be validated in large cohort of urine sample obtained from Indian population. This is likely to be the first study, which deals with the validation and quantitation of urinary proteins using Parallel Reaction Monitoring (PRM) in bladder cancer. The methodology will allow us to quantify the absolute levels of proteins in urine samples.

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The PRM based assay development on the bladder urine samples will also provide an alternative method to be used for large-scale validation of the identified protein from global proteomics especially in case of proteins for which the commercial antibodies are not available. The study will identify a robust set of urine biomarkers for bladder cancer diagnosis. This study is likely to be immensely beneficial to patients as a companion diagnostic in the standard of care or as a potential novel therapeutic and provides the prospect for non-invasive way to detect bladder cancer.

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Prashant Saxena

Assistant Professor SB/S2/RJN-116/2015 Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : January 20, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow This work focusses on the mechanics of magneto-active elastomers. These new smart materials undergo a change of their mechanical properties in the presence of an external magnetic field. In the last two years, we have shown the existence of some new coupled magnetoelastic instability modes in the inflation of two-dimensional magnetoelastic membranes in the presence of an externally applied magnetic field. Results have been obtained and published for toroidal and cylindrical geometries. We also showed that only some specific wave modes are allowed to propagate in a hollow cylindrical magnetoelastic waveguide.

Future Research plans We are now establishing an experimental setup to confirm the above theoretical and computational findings and to determine new interesting aspects of mechanics in these materials. Mathematical work is being undertaken to determine post-buckling behaviour and stability criteria in such coupled systems.

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Radhika Nair

RAMANUJAN FACULTY FELLOW SB/S2/RJN-182/2014 RAJIV GANDHI CENTRE FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : June 29, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow Metastasis or the spread of cancer from the primary site to other parts of the body is a silent killer in breast cancer, with 90% mortality rate for women with metastatic disease. Therapeutic targeting of metastasis requires a deeper understanding of the metastatic process and our work will directly address key challenges in the field. Project 1. Defining the cellular and molecular mechanisms of metastasis We have successfully demonstrated that the bHLH transcription factor Id1 controls a cell intrinsic program that leads to the Cancer Stem Cell (CSC) state by controlling the self- renewal phenotype. In addition, we have begun more complex in vivo modeling by using the 4T1 mouse tumor model. We have successfully generated breast cancer tumors in a reproducible fashion in a syngeneic mouse model (Figure 1D). This will allow us to now translate our in vitro findings into a more complex physiologically relevant setting. Project 2. Deconvoluting the tumour- metastatic niche microenvironment In an effort to understand the role of the stroma in tumor progression, we have developed an in vitro system utilizing co culture systems. We have demonstrated that there is a direct interaction between the 4T1 tumor cells and 3T3 fibroblast cell lines. We are currently exploring this molecular cross talk in an ex vivo co culture system.

Future Research plans I have spent the past 2 years establishing a ‘pipeline’ of technologies that will allow me to make fundamental discoveries in breast cancer molecular aetiology, and then test their relevance in vitro and in vivo models and in human disease. I have optimized complex cell culture models to model proliferation and invasiveness; and assays for lineage commitment and self-renewal, like the ‘tumoursphere’ assay. I will now extend these assays to in vivo limiting dilution assays to determine ‘tumour/ metastasis-propagating’ frequency of cell populations. I have utilized well accepted transplantable in vivo metastatic breast cancer models where syngeneic murine tumor cells (4T1) that have been labeled with fluorescent and luminescent reporters for in vivo/ex vivo imaging and will now extend this to human cell lines (MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468). While outside the scope of the current research proposal, my ultimate goal is to integrate the information gleaned from my proposal to identify druggable pathways that are essential for cell intrinsic and extrinsic processes for metastasis. The overarching goal of my work will be to combine my passion to contribute to cancer research in India, alongside transfer of vital skills and technology, to ultimately make a real difference in the clinical outcome for patients currently dying with metastatic disease.

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Radhika Venkatesan

Reader (F) SB/S2/RJN-189/2014 National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), GKVK Campus, Bangalore Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : December 17, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow Plants often produce attractive fruits to attract seed dispersal agents. However, many plants do not produce any such rewards. Ricinus communis (castor bean) plants are grown for their oil-rich seeds and do not carry any fruits. When their seed dispersal mechanisms were investigated, it was observed that ants provide secondary dispersal services and in turn gather the fatty acid-rich appendage on the seeds. We have identified ant species, characterized their behavior, seed composition and conducted field experiments to confirm our observations. Olfactory cues play a major in this interaction. In the second project, we explore heavy metal stress in plants. Since phytoremediation using metal-accumulating plants is a slow process, we hypothesized to isolate endophytic microbes from metal-tolerant plants and utilize them for metal bioremoval. Castor bean plants can grow in nutrient poor and contaminated environments as a means to escape herbivory. We have isolated endophytic bacteria from such plants that can perform Cr bioremoval efficiently in solution. Our results are promising for bioremoval of Cr from water. We have expanded the project to improve plant growth by inoculation of these endophytic bacteria.

Future Research plans Our projects examine various aspects of plant-insect interactions mediated by chemicals in the broad area of chemical ecology. We have successfully progressed in our projects and are in the process of writing manuscripts. Future directions of these projects would be to undertake detailed investigation on germination of castor plants and their endophyte for Cr bioremoval potential. For this, we have established the necessary analytical platforms. Taken together, our results from these projects would provide useful insights into plant adaptations and ant-plant mutualisms.

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Raghunath Chelakkot

Assistant Professor SB/S2/RJN-051/2015 Department of Physics, IIT Bombay Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : June 23, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow Pattern formation in active particles We study the deposition of active particle on a permeable surface. For a system with a fixed number of particles, we analyze the steady state, as well as dynamical patterns formed as a function of the activity of the particles and the permeability of the wall. The particles get deposited on the wall for sufficient low wall permeability. The dynamics and the structure of particle deposition is crucially depends on both wall permeability and the particle activity. When the permeability is smaller than a critical value, the particle is deposited uniformly on the wall.

Synchronization and metachronal wave propagation in active filaments. In this project, we study the cooperative effects of a proposed model for active filament, which is rhythmically oscillating due to elastic follower forces. We specifically analyze the phase-lag synchronization of an array of active filaments, interacting purely through contact forces. The intensity of interaction depends only on the spacing between the filaments. In the high interaction lime, where the filaments are tightly packed, both the frequency and the wave pattern of individual filaments are modified, resulting slow metachronal wave propagation across the filament array. When the spacing is increased, the filament oscillation gets distorted, causing a disruption of metachronal wave propagation. At even higher spacing, the changed nature of interaction allows a different form of fast moving metachronal wave propagation.

Future Research plans (a) Mean-field model for active surface deposition: The results that were obtained from numerical simulations indicate that there is a general rule that the growth phenomenon follows. We will modify the mean-field growth model based on KPZ equation, which will capture the rich growth behavior observed in numerical simulations. (b) Deposition of rod-shaped particles on permeable wall: Unlike spherical particles, systems consist of rod-shaped particles also possess orientational order, in addition to spatial order. Also, the activity ensures that enhanced orientational order is associated with an non-zero active particle current. We will study the interplay between the dynamical behaviour in a confined geometry. We also study the

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structure and dynamics of particle deposition on permeable walls and study the influence of particle shape and geometry. (c) Chemically interacting active particles By tuning the pairwise integration between the particles, self-propelling active can be used to study variety of active systems such as bacterial swarms, synthetic active colloidal particles, microtubule-kinesine mixtures etc. The interaction between particles can be either derived from a central pairwise potential or it can be a function of their orientation or polarity. Various chemical interactions between adjacent cells are also very important, especially in developing multicellular organisms. In the past, many models have been proposed to study the specific cell-cell interactions. A specific model has been proposed in the context of Delta and Notch trans-membrane protein concentration in cells. We use a particle based numerical study to systematically understand the effect of Notch-Delta dynamics on collective behavior and pattern formation in tissues. One can start with a minimalistic model for cell, by approximating them as polar spherical particles with tunable stiffness and motility.

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Rakhi Raghavan Baby

Ramanujan Fellow SB/S2/RJN-098/2015 CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram Email ID: [email protected] /[email protected] Availed Fellowship from : February 01, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow Title of the project: Nanostructured electrodes for energy storage devices

For the last 2 years, I have been working on fabrication and performance studies of high performance supercapacitors using different types of nanomaterials – MXenes, metal oxides and Metal Oxide/MXene, reduced Graphene Oxide, nanocarbon/ conducting polymer composites. Based on the finding of these works, I could publish seven journal articles. In all these works, funding received through Ramanujan fellowship has been acknowledged publicly. Following is the brief summary of the important results achieved 1. Flexible solid-state supercapacitors are fabricated using same electrode material and Alumina-silica based gel electrolyte. The solid-state device delivers a specific capacitance of 145 Fg-1 and a device capacitance of 36 Fg-1 at a discharge current density of 1 Ag-1. 2. Nanocrystalline ε-MnO2 whiskers were deposited over MXene nanosheet surfaces (ε- MnO2/Ti2CTx and ε-MnO2/Ti3C2Tx) by direct chemical synthesis, to make nanocomposite electrodes for aqueous pseudocapacitors. 3. Au/Mxene nanocomposte is synthesized by a simple chemical reduction technique and characterized using XRD, TEM and SEM measurements. 4. RGO based ternary nanocomposite [RGO-(RuO2/CNCs)] is prepared by the introduction of crystalline RuO2 nanoparticles loaded carbon nanocoils (CNCs) as spacers in reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and tested as an efficient cathode material for high rate, high energy density supercapacitors. 5. An electrochemical double layer capacitor (EDLC) was fabricated using methylammonium bismuth iodide (CH3NH3Bi2I9), a lead-free, zero-dimensional hybrid perovskite material. 6. Fe3O4 and Zn-doped Fe3O4 (Zn/Fe3O4) nanoparticles were prepared by a simple co- precipitation method and used as electrode materials for supercapacitors. 7. A binder-free flexible PANI/Fe3O4 nanocomposite electrode is fabricated by the direct growth of active materials over carbon cloth. The electrode exhibits a maximum specific capacitance of 365 F g-1 and retains a cycling stability of 91% even after 4000 charge- discharge cycles in a stable potential window from -1V to 0 V.

Future Research plans

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For the coming years, I will be focusing on the following works:

A) Nanostructured oxides/sulphides via heterogeneous hydrothermal / solvothermal synthesis

Objectives • study role of substrate type and surface treatment • study role of solvent type (solvothermal) and additives (hydrothermal) • study role of intentionally added nucleation centers on substrate surface • measurement and analysis of electrochemical energy storage performances In this Program, we will target the preparation of nanostructured oxides via heterogeneous hydrothermal and solvothermal approaches. In this approach, various types of substrates are introduced into the reaction vessel during hydrothermal or solvothermal synthesis. Depending on the type of substrate used, its surface chemistry and roughness, and the type of nucleating agent that may be deposited on the substrate surface prior to oxide synthesis, the resultant oxide morphology, nanostructure, and surface area can be significantly tailored.

B) Macroporous frameworks for 3D-hierarchical electrode configurations. Objectives • integrate polymers/metal oxides with macroporous 3D scaffolds (e.g. paper, textile, and sponge) • measurement and analysis of electrochemical energy storage performances Developing 3D scaffolds as support for active supercapacitor materials deposition is critical. The 3D scaffolds provide effective electrode architecture for maximizing the efficiency of electron and ionic transport simultaneously. These scaffolds are coated with a thin conducting layer, and serve as supporting substrates for controlled loading of pseudo-capacitive materials such as oxides and electroactive polymers.

C) Enhancing the energy storage properties of MXenes by deposition of conducting polymers(CP) Objectives • synthesis and Characterization of CP loaded MXenes • measurement and analysis of electrochemical energy storage performances Transition metal carbides (MXenes) are an emerging class of two dimensional (2D) materials with promising electrochemical properties. However, their energy storage applications are limited due to low specific capacitance. This can be solved by loading MXenes with pseudocapacitive materials like transition metal oxides or conducting polymers.

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Ravi Pant

Assistant Professor SB/S2/RJN-069/2014 Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Thiruvananthapura Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : December 17, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow My group is exploiting light-sound interaction in optical waveguides through stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) for applications in microwave photonics and Brillouin lasing. Recently, my group has demonstrated several new effects exploiting coherent Brillouin interactions in microwave domain. We demonstrated controlled excitation of wideband Fano resonance and induced transparency in microwave domain, which is a first of its kind. The results have been published in International conferences and under review in Scientific Reports. The work undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellowship has resulted in MS and PhD projects. One PhD student has finished 4 years and will be graduating in next 1-1.5 years. One MS student graduated from the project is currently doing PhD at the University of Amherst at Massachusetts.

Future Research plans This work has also resulted in new ideas for high resolution, ultrafast microwave photonic switching and widely tunable microwave delay. Currently, we are exploring these new ideas and implementing them. This work on microwave photonics is of great importance in defense, mobile/RF communications. We are trying to forge collaboration with defense organizations for testing our ideas for application in electronic warfare. The next step will be to implement these ideas in a chip scale waveguide for photonic integration and developing devices based on it. Since Fano resonance is of great importance for sensing, we are planning explore RF sensing based on coherent Brillouin interactions.

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Ritam Mallick

Assistant Professor SB/S2/RJN-061/2015 IISER Bhopal Email ID : [email protected] or [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : June 13, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow During the last one-year we had been working on the study of dynamics of the phase transition in neutron stars. The conversion of a neutron star to quark star is likely through a deconfined phase transition (PT). In this work, we have studied the dynamical evolution of the shock front as it travels from the core to the surface of a star. The shock front generates at the center of a star due to sudden density and pressure fluctuation. We have studied this PT from NM to QM with our hydrodynamic code. Next, we have located the position of the shock discontinuity and by our assumption; this is the place where PT happens. Once we have located the shock discontinuity, we have ensured that the post- shock burnt matter should have a different equation of state than the pre-shock un-burnt matter obeying the conservation conditions. As time evolves and as the shock propagates outwards this is repeated for every small time step thereby imitating the PT scenario. Studying the shock propagation, we find that the shock strength decreases as the shock propagates to the boundary. However, the velocity of the shock increases at it travels outwards to the low-density region. The shock takes about 50 microseconds to travel through the entire star. It is difficult to employ real nuclear and quark matter Equations of state (EoS) in the hydrodynamic equations to describe matter properties. One of the ways out is using piecewise polytropic EoS. However, more the number of piecewise polytrope more are the chances of numerical fluctuations. To avoid such difficulty, we have employed single polytrope to describe matter properties. We have kept the initial speed to be zero at either side of the front. We are assuming a spherically symmetric non-rotating star.

Future Research plans This result is quite remarkable and different from any other calculation done earlier. In most of the previous works, the time of PT is of the order of milliseconds. Such significant change in the shock propagation time can have a considerable significance in the determining the observational outcome of NSs, like gravitational wave and gamma-ray bursts. Such small PT time would generate a stronger gravitational wave, however, lasting for about 50 micro-seconds. This is different from any other gravitational wave signals coming from other processes like black hole or neutron star mergers, where the GW last for larger times. This signal would be accompanied with other gamma-ray and neutrino signals which would come from the PT of NM to QM. The timing of the gamma-ray and neutrino signal would also differ from any other signal coming from another process due

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to the time difference. If such signals could be detected, then we can conclude that the PT in astrophysical scenarios is a real event and there can be QS's along with NS's.

We are in the process in calculating the gravitational wave strength and the exact template of the gravitational wave coming from such process. We are also in the process of refining our calculation in various aspects. One is to employing real nuclear matter equation of states in our problem and also employing some piecewise polytropes and trying to reduce numerical fluctuation at the fitting ploytrope boundary. We are also trying to incorporate gravity in our problem, which would galvanize the matter. By incorporating gravity we can even have situation where as the shock propagates the radius of the star changes as there is PT from NM to QM.

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Sandeep Kumar Shukla

Head of Computer Science and Engineering, and Poonam & Prabhu Goel Chair Professor SB/S2/RJN-075/2015 Computer Science and Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : February 08, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow The project undertaken under this fellowship is about cyber security of critical infrastructures, and in particular (i) detection methods for code replacement attacks on SCADA systems; (ii) Malware analysis and detection; (iii) development of indigenous cryptographic hardware for encryption, and digital signatures; (iv) SCADA and critical infrastructure security; (v) mitigation of insider threats in critical infrastructures. In each of these categories, we summarize below the major work accomplished: (1) we addressed the problem of detecting component replacement attacks from the schedulability perspective. Given a set of control components, a control objective to be satisfied by the control ensemble, the question of schedulability and synthesis of a scheduler that can ensure the desired control performance has been recently studied in literature. In this work, we extended the same philosophy to build an automata theoretic frame-work for assessment of replacement attacks on schedulability. The foundation of our attack analysis framework is based on the notion of infinite automata-based reasoning of control performance and schedulability analysis. Automata theoretic modeling frameworks have been quite popular in literature for a wide variety of applications. Additionally, the power of finite automata over infinite words (Büchi automata in particular) has been exploited in recent literature in control performance and stability analysis. Our work is another step in the same direction for assessing the effect of replacement attacks in cyber-physical control; (2) Malware analysis with Machine learning, and deep neural networks for Windows, Linux, and Android malware have yielded very high accuracy detection and classification. Honeypot systems were deployed to collect malware and understand attack vectors, and modus operandi of attackers on IIT Kanpur network; (3) Progress in Formal verification openSSL library from the code and applying formal verification with hierarchical state machine models to verify basic requirements of the SSL/TLS handshaking protocol. Found large number of vulnerabilities in openSSL code that can be exploited by attackers – buffer overflow, pointer related vulnerabilities. A number of coprocessors for symmetric encryption in SSL/TLS and IPSec have been designed, and has been published in research forums (conferences and journals); (4) A Test bed for SCADA and power distribution system vulnerability has been created, and a number of vulnerabilities have been found, penetration testing methodologies created, and all vulnerabilities have been reported to National Cyber Security Coordinator office; (5) Block Chain based insider threat mitigation technique has been created and published.

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Future Research plans My plan in the next few years can be summarized as follows: (i) procurement and construction of an industry scale test bed for smart grid, industrial automation, home automation, and process automation with diversity of vendor specific configurations of the testbed. (The procurement and budget of this testbed is from another DST project). This testbed will allow my group to not only work on threat modeling in critical infrastructures, but also provide penetration test automation techniques for utilities, and develop tools for penetration test automation, visualization of vulnerabilities, risk modeling, and criticality classification; (ii) Develop formal methods for protocol reverse engineering in SCADA automation, find vulnerabilities, and development mitigation tools and techniques; (iii) further develop block-chain based SCADA cyber asset vulnerability assessment, patch management, and version control tools and platforms which can lead to indigenous cyber security products for utilities; (iv) develop further refinement of malware analysis tools we developed with binary analysis, and combining with dynamic/static analysis approaches we already use; (v) develop formal verification techniques for SCADA protocol verification, security protocol verification, and IoT system verification.

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Sandip Paul

Ramanujan Fellow SB/S2/RJN-092/2015 CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology Email ID : [email protected] or [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : May 02, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow The human body is home to numerous microorganisms, including bacteria, archaea, viruses, and fungi, collectively known as microbiome. Recent advances in the genomic technologies like high-throughput DNA sequencing and metagenomics, revealed that trillions of microbes co-evolved with human at different body niches and create a complex, body-niche specific, adaptive ecosystems that are finely accustomed to persistently fluctuating environment of body habitat. Many previous studies have revealed intriguing association of dysbiosis in microbiota with several diseases. Thus a proper understanding of the healthy microbiome composition and its properties is an essential first step to explore the role and mechanism of microbiome in human health and diseases. Also characterization of the functional structure of microbiota will certainly facilitate the development of system level metabolic cooperation model of human microbiota. The overall goal of my project is to create a comprehensive and rigorous pipeline to build a model of metabolic interactions between diverse microbial communities inhabiting various body-niches of human host for understanding human health and diseases that are associated with the microbiota. Diverse and complex metabolic interactions within microbial community will be created via understanding a two-species minimal microbiome. The method will be implemented to explore various clinical settings (e.g. oral cancer) associated metabolic interactions in compare to the healthy state. The understanding could play a pivotal role in the development of microbiome beneficial services to their host through putative identification of set of metabolites for which microbes compete and is utmost important in generation of dietary-based intervention efforts, safe drug development, probiotics and prebiotics in disease prevention.

Future Research plans The major focus of my research is to uncover the processes of microbe-microbe and host- microbe interactions in human holobiont. The study of metabolic interactions between the communities will provide the probable community derived small molecules or metabolites; and also, how it varies in case of different physiological conditions. The validation of these metabolites is very much necessary for proper understanding of the microbial functions. Also, host genetic variants may play a crucial role in determining the holobiont communication. Considering all these aspects I plan to integrate and analyze all these layers of experimentally derived omics-data into a comprehensive machine learning framework for pan-omics study. The proposed framework not only enables us to identify

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the microbial-dysbiosis associated functional changes but also reveal the key microbial taxonomic players and/or host genetic factors responsible for the dysbiosis.

The Indian population is highly heterogeneous with respect to human genetic composition, dietary habits, exposure to environmental factors, and biogeographic distribution. Hence, detailed pan-omics analyses with data collected from the healthy and patient population especially in case of oral cancer in India, will provide the system level understanding of inter-dependence between host and microbiota in diseases. This knowledge will then be utilized for the development of disease diagnostics and predictive biomarkers, which translates into preventive and therapeutic approaches for Indian population.

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Sangram Bagh

Associate Professor-E SB/S2/RJN-061/2014 Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : March 07, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow The ultimate goal of the emerging field of Synthetic Biology is to program a living cell or organism like an engineer program a device by applying engineering principle in the realm of genetic engineering to create new mathematically predictive biological functions. Synthetic Biologists have built various types of synthetic genetic circuits including toggle switch, amplifiers, oscillators, timers, logic gates, counters, half-adders, half subtractors and complex gene networks for cell-cell communications. One of the next key challenges is to create much more complex human-designed signal processing system in cell. My research goal is to create 1) new tools and methods for synthetic biology and 2) create a set of artificial signal processing systems for decoding multiple extracellular chemical signals similar to electronic decoding devices. In this direction, we have undertaken the following sub-projects. 1) Synthetic gene circuits with a frame-shifted gene yet functional by translating from non-natural start codons. Here we report a frame-shifted λ-repressor cI, with which we created synthetic genetic NOT, NAND and NOR logic gates in Escherichia coli with regulatory ranges as high as >300 and digital transition with Hill coefficient as high as >6.5. We hypothesized and showed evidences that frame-shifted cI translated from non-natural start codons to produce a truncated but functional cI. Thus explains how a frame-shifted cI may work functionally. 2) NETWORK Brick: A new type of BioBrick system and its application in constructing and optimizing transcriptional logic gates, which overcomes the limitations of the gold standard for bioparts assembly, ‘Biobrick’ assembly method. We further demonstrated its utility in constructing and optimizing transcriptional NOR and IMPLY logic circuits in single plasmid in Escherichia coli. 3) Using the above mentioned tools and parts we are currently creating a library of well- characterized logic gates library to built an electronic analogous 2-to-4 synthetic genetic decoder.

Future Research plans My immediate future research goal is to successfully finish the electronic analogous synthetic genetic decoder system. The synthetic biology tools and the device, which we are currently building would never be possible without the Ramanujan Fellowship. This is creating a ground for my lab to create a cellular robotics platform, where we create artificial molecular sensors, signal processing systems and actuators in E.coli to build biological robots, which will work as soft micro-robots at single cell and population level. We would like to apply this cellular robotics platform for i) programmed delivery of

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therapeutic biomolecules into cancer cells and ii) solving space bioengineering problems especially related to international space station or similar facility. .

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Sangram Keshari Samal

Faculty Fellow SB/S2/RJN-038/2016 Materials Research Centre, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 01, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow The research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow at Indian Institute of Science, understand the fundamental concepts of regenerative bone biology. Advanced functional porous injectable nanohydroxy apatite bead hydrogels with stem cells and bioactive biomolecules have been developed. The morphology, physico-chemical and biological properties of the prepared materials were evaluated. The localized controlled delivery ability of newly developed injectable systems also been evaluated with respect to time and biological medium.

Future Research plans In coming years, magnetized porous injectable hydrogels will be developed, which will allow excellent integration to surrounding tissues and will possess the ability to generate magnetic gradient. This magnetic driving force will attract and reload magnetized bioactive molecules and magnetized osteogenic stem cells. This newly developed system will also expect to show good electromagnetic properties. The electromagnetic field stimulation approach will be used to stimulate cell metabolism, increase oxygenation and remove waste by-products. This will help to promote faster regeneration, enabling the body to support healing. This strategy is hypothesized and expected to reduce bone regeneration time from months to weeks.

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Sanjita Banerjee

RAMANUJAN FELLOW SB/S2/RJN-174/2014 School of Biological Sciences, NISER Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : January 21, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow The broad aim of our group’s research is to understand how environmental stimuli influence immune responses of an organism and how this modulates organismal response to a concomitant or subsequent pathogenic insult. We address this question from different synergistic research directions using zebrafish as a model host organism: Establishing a zebrafish infection model to study vibriosis: We are establishing a zebrafish - Vibrio parahaemolyticus host-pathogen infection model. This will involve establishing the infection parameters followed by characterization of the immune response of zebrafish larvae to V. parahaemolyticus infection. The novel zebrafish host- pathogen model thus established can additionally be extended as a surrogate model for V. cholera, given their similarities. Clinical isolate of V. parahaemolyticus has been obtained and the growth and culture conditions have been standardised. Further, towards developing the host-pathogen model, optimal infection doses that give reproducible and quantifiable phenotypes of mortality and morbidity in zebrafish, such as the dose, route and duration of bacterial exposure have been established. Currently, experiments are systematically analysing the immune response elicited in zebrafish in response to V. parahaemolyticus infection.

Investigating the immune response to UV exposure in zebrafish: UV has been demonstrated to be a sterile stressor that elicits an immune response in zebrafish. We are currently conducting molecular characterisation of the response of zebrafish larvae to UVB and UVA exposure. This will allow us to select UVA and UVB exposures that can be used concurrently with infection models. Exploring the influence of environmental stimuli on host-pathogen infection: Experiments planned here are described in the following section. The research reported here has been carried out by one Masters student and a summer student in addition to myself. There will not be any PhD students involved in this since Ramanujan Faculty Fellows are not allowed to recruit PhD students at SBS, NISER.

Future Research plans Research plans for each of the multiple directions is elaborated below: Establishing a zebrafish infection model to study vibriosis: In order to establish a robust and comprehensive host-pathogen model of zebrafish – V. parahaemolyticus infection, a fingerprint of the host immune response to vibriosis must be established. A directed

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approach as well as an unbiased approach will be used. Current experiments analyzing the involvement of genes known to be implicated in V. cholera pathogenesis form part of the directed approach and will be continued. Additionally, novel candidate genes involved in V. parahaemolyticus pathogenesis will be identified by microarray analysis as the unbiased approach. Investigating the immune response to UV exposure in zebrafish: Mortality and morbidity profiles of zebrafish exposed to different doses of UVA and UVB is currently being standardized. This will be followed by characterization of immune profile of the larvae. The data thus generated will form the baseline from which deviations will be monitored, and hence accurate calibration of UVA and UVB exposure will be very important. Exploring the influence of environmental stimuli on host-pathogen infection: Characterisation of infection model and environmental stress model will form the framework that will be used to address the larger theme of the research objective of my group. To address this aim, zebrafish larvae will be subjected to environmental stimuli in conjunction with the established infection model. Survival parameters, infection kinetics and immune response of the host will be analysed to understand environmental influence on disease outcome. Additionally, other environmental stress stimuli, such as hypoxia model, will be explored. The understanding gained from one set of “host - environmental stimuli -infection model” can be applied and extrapolated to other models. This will help us understand how different environmental stimuli can affect our immune response to a pathogenic organism.

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Santosh Kumar

Ramanujan Fellow SB/S2/RJN-103/2015 Dept. of Biochemistry, AIIMS Patna Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : July 14, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow Project was initiated with objective to evaluate either the down-regulation of TG2 or GTPase activity of TG2 by small interfering RNA/ inhibition by small molecule inhibitors/ by plant derived natural compounds. Such approaches can enhance therapeutic efficacy of anticancer drugs and inhibit metastatic spread by targeting TG2.We used small molecule inhibitor NC9 (TG2 GTPase activity inhibitor) synthesized in Prof. Jeffrey W. Keillor, Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences University of Ottawa, Canada and plant derived natural products (Hesperidine, Berberine chloride, 3 Hydoxy 4 methoxy benzaldehyde, Caffeine and Crocin) isolated from Dept of Pharmacology, Panjab University Chandigarh.

Cell Viability and Western Blotting Study: Cell viability was measured by MTT assay. Briefly, cells were seeded in quadruplicate wells in 96-well plates (3000 cells per well), and left to adhere to the plates overnight before treatment. Effect of hesperidin, barber chloride, and 3 hydoxy 4 methoxy benzaldehyde inhibited cell viability of HT-29 cells in a concentration and time dependent manner, out of all these three compounds hesperidin is more effective. Further we used combinational therapy for by using hesperidins and NC9 with different concentration of doxorubicin, gemcitabine and 5-Fluorouracil. Combination of NC9 and Hesperidine with doxorubicin, gemcitabine and 5-Fluorouracil was able to induce better cytotoxicity compare to same concentration of doxorubicin, gemcitabine and 5-Fluorouracil alone. We evaluated the effect of NC9 and hesperidins treatment on the expression of the TG2, antiapoptotic protein Bcl2, cell proliferative marker PCNA, mesenchymal cell markerN cadherin protein by western blot.Our data showed that an increase concentration of hesperidins, level of TG2 protein significantly decreases in concentration dependent manner. When cell treated with hesperidins or NC9 with different concentration of doxorubicin, gemcitabine and 5- fluorouracil, expressions of TG2, Bcl-2, PCNA and N cadherin, level of protein was decreased significantly in compare to control HT-29 cells.

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Future Research plans The promising compounds that emerge from MTT and western blotting screening (i.e., able to either induce ‘extended’ conformation or reduced the level of TG2 protein level) will be further evaluated for their ability to reverse chemoresistance in TG2-expressing pancreatic, breast and ovarian cancer cells (Panc-28; MDA-MB231, MCF-7/Dox, Hey8 etc). Their TG2- negative counterparts (BxPC3, MCF-7, SKOV) will be used in parallel as control to determine, if any, non-specific toxicity is associated with these compounds. Dose and time course for each test compound ranging from 0.1 µM to 25 µM concentration and 48h to 96 h treatment alone or in presence of IC20 concentration of chemotherapeutic agent (gemcitabine, doxorubicin, paclitaxel and 5-Fluorouracil) will be determined by MTT and western blotting assay. Selected compounds will be further tested against TG2-expressing/gemcitabineresistant pancreatic cancer cells (e.g., Capan-2, ASPc-1) and TG2-deficeint/drug sensitive (e.g. HPAF-II) cells. Two-to-three active compounds that selectively exert toxicity against TG2 expressing cells will be further evaluated (alone and in combination with gemcitabine) for in vivo efficacy to inhibit the growth and progression of orthotopically-growing pancreatic tumors. Furthermore, the candidate compounds will be tested for their ability to inhibit TG2- regulated signalling (NF-κB activation, HIF1α expression, EMT and CSC phenotype).

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Saurav Datta

Assistant Professor SB/S2/RJN-028/2014 IIT Roorkee Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : December 17, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow Recent years have witnessed a major thrust in moving towards sustainable bio-based economy utilizing renewable resources and adopting green technologies. Enzymes and enzymatic processes play a major role in achieving that goal. Enzymatic biotransformation offers a less energy intensive (ambient condition), highly efficient (higher selectivity) and environment friendly (no toxic chemicals) alternative to the conventional technologies. In spite of that industrial applications of enzymes are limited primarily due to the high cost of production and the structural fragility. Keeping that in mind, we proposed a study on “Engineering Efficient Enzymatic Systems for Sustainable Products and Processes”. We aim to develop immobilized enzymatic systems with improved activity, stability and reusability, and also deliver economically viable options. We envision integrating sound scientific principles and breakthrough engineering practices to address the challenges associated with enzymatic systems. Our specific aim is to develop immobilized enzymatic systems within functionalized polymeric membrane pores. Enzyme immobilization within membrane pores is associated with enhanced kinetics due to favorable hydrodynamics under pressure driven convective flow within the microporous structure of membranes. In addition, enzyme loading is also significantly higher due to the higher surface area per unit volume within membrane pores. Besides, it provides opportunities to tune the performance of the enzymatic reaction by proper manipulation of operating conditions, such as flow rate and pH. On the other hand, phospholipid bilayer (PLB), owing to its fluidity and native “cell-membrane” environment, improves the activity and stability of enzyme compare to other immobilization techniques, and therefore, has been used for immobilization on solid surfaces. We hypothesize that PLB, when incorporated within membrane pores, will be able to maintain its fluidity and native cell-membrane environment as observed earlier for surface immobilization.

Future Research plans We have successfully functionalized nylon based microfiltration membrane with phospholipid bilayer (PLB) leading to a novel biomimetic membrane. A polymer cushion of polyethyleneimine was introduced in between the membrane pore surface and the deposited PLB. The polymer cushion helped in maintaining mobility and stability of the PLB within membrane pores and also acted as a spacer arm to keep the PLB away from the solid membrane matrix. As a model enzyme, glucose oxidase (GOx) was

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electrostatically immobilized by interacting with the PLB. It was observed that the functionalized membrane with polymer cushion supported PLB and operated under convective mode of flow provided improved activity and stability of the immobilized GOx compare to the other configurations. In summary, we have integrated the benefits of microporous structure of polymeric membrane and “cell-membrane” like environment of phospholipid bilayer within the same configuration of biomimetic membrane. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on functionalization of phospholipid bilayer within membrane pores for immobilized enzymatic catalysis. In future, we envision to study the development of bienzymatic and multienzymatic systems within PLB functionalized biomimetic membrane pores. As a model bienzymatic system, the combination of glucose oxidase and horseradish peroxidase (GOx-HRP) can be used, whereas glucoamylase (GA) can be added prior to these two enzymes for developing the multienzymatic system. Major focus will be on successfully immobilizing the enzymes within the membrane matrix by electrostatic interactions among the charged functional groups. Detailed analysis of activity, stability and effect of pH will be conducted. Further, reusability of the functionalized biomimetic membrane and the PLB will also be explored. The functionalized architecture was constructed based on electrostatic interactions, which facilitate reversible attachment-detachment sequence of the functional moieties, thereby opening an avenue for reusability of the functional components.

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Shannon B. Olsson

Reader SB/S2/RJN-089/2014 National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : December 17, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow The Naturalist-Inspired Chemical Ecology Group is interested in how animals, and especially insects, identify objects across different environments. Our work traverses Himalayan meadows, ecologically sustainable agriculture in Coorg, and pollution in Bangalore - anywhere insects are important, which is nearly everywhere on Earth. This past year saw the culmination of several collaborative projects. First, in collaboration with Karin Nordström at U. Uppsala and Flinders University, we studied how cosmopolitan pollinators identify objects across climates, which have important implications for our understanding of pollination as a global ecological service (Nordström et al., 2017). Second, a project with Prof. Jeff Feder at U. Notre Dame has identified a small set of neural cells on the antenna of recently diverged fruit-infesting races that respond to key odours from their host fruit (Tait et al., 2016, 2018 submitted). Our work is significant in its implication that even for complex behaviors, tiny changes in the nervous system can have dramatic effects, even on an evolutionary timescale. This finding thus has implications for understanding relationships between the brain, behavior, and ecology - especially in the case of invasive species - a big issue for us in India. Next, in collaboration with Uma Ramakrishnan at NCBS, we established a pipeline for large scale field sampling of volatiles that has allowed us to assess odor profiles of blackbuck mating territories in Rajasthan (Nair et al., 2018, in press). Finally, we have developed a virtual reality arena capable of high precision delivery of both complex visual and odor stimuli. Our system is world-unique in its ability to accurately measure flight behavior of insects in response to precisely controlled multimodal stimuli on a millisecond timescale (Kaushik et al., 2018 in prep). We also participated in other publications and several scientific and outreach events, including multiple popular articles and TEDx.

Future Research plans In the next phase of our research, we will be utilizing the interdisciplinary platform we have developed to examine object identification from an ethological perspective. Regarding the identification of objects by pollinators, our data suggests that a combination of factors, including flower color, shape, size and scent, together create an attractive signature to a hoverfly looking for a food source, and that it is possible to recreate these signatures artificially (Nordström et. al., 2017). Our data thus offers

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important hypotheses regarding the potential effects of environmental change on animal behavior and ecology across the planet (Nordström et al., 2017). A new PhD student, Aditi Mishra, is now using this information to parse multimodal object recognition in these flies and working with graphic designers and 3-D printing technology to identify the minimal cues used by these pollinators to recognize flowers on different continents. Secondly, we are using our newly developed virtual reality arena to assess the context-aware sensory fusion principles underlying object-oriented search in the apple fly. For this work, we are collaborating with computer scientists and engineers to quantitatively characterize the search behavior when locating objects in our virtual world.

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Shilpi Gupta

Assistant Professor SB/S2/RJN-134/2014 Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Kanpur Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : December 17, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow Key results: • Semiconductor quantum dots, also known as artificial atoms, are promising material systems for developing nanophotonic devices for application in communication and computing. Several studies have been conducted to understand how these quantum dots interact with light at the fundamental level. For CdSe quantum dots, however, the origin of many features in their photoluminescence spectrum at low-temperatures is still not understood well. We developed a theoretical model to explain these phenomena. The key feature of our model is the role played by phonons that are an integral part of a solid-state system like quantum dots. Through a complete quantum mechanical description of the system, taking into account all types of interactions with the phonon modes, we provide an explanation for the observed experimental behavior. [Khosla et al, arXiv:1701.00930, 2017] • We demonstrated a nanofabrication technique for deterministic placement of gold nanoparticles to form a periodic pattern that behaves as a diffraction grating. [Wankhade et al, Photonics 2016] • We demonstrated a diagnostic technique based on optical diffraction imaging to detect orientation of defects during self-assembly of photonic crystals. This will be useful to evaluate various methods currently being developed to minimize the defects. [Shaw et al, Photonics 2016]

Publications: Meenakshi Khosla, Sravya Rao, and Shilpi Gupta, “Polarons Explain Luminescence Behavior of Colloidal Quantum Dots at Low Temperature,” Under review [Preprint available at arXiv:1701.00930, 2017]. Saket Wankhade, Arpita Haldar, Rahul Shaw, R. Vijaya, and Shilpi Gupta, “Fabrication of Diffraction Grating by Patterning Gold Nanoparticles using DVD,” Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Fiber Optics and Photonics (Photonics 2016), paper W2D.4, 2016. Rahul Shaw, Dipak Rout, R. Vijaya, and Shilpi Gupta, “Optical Study of Defects in Self- assembled Three-dimensional Photonic Crystals,” Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Fiber Optics and Photonics (Photonics 2016), paper Th3A.68, 2016.

Future Research plans

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My research group at IIT Kanpur is broadly interested in developing on-chip nanophotonic devices operating at room temperature, with potential applications in optical communication and sensing. We are working on all aspects of device development – understanding basic physics, design, theoretical modeling, fabrication, and optical characterization. We are also simulating and theoretically modeling these devices.

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Siddharth Jhunjhunwala

Assistant Professor SB/S2/RJN-135/2015 Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : September 01, 2016.

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow Interaction of phagocytic immune cells with nano- and micro-particulates:

Particulates made of various materials and sizes have been developed for a number of therapeutic applications. While a few applications require close interaction of these particulates with the phagocytic immune cells in the body, others require evasion of phagocytosis. Both may be achieved by altering size and surface properties of the particulate. As part of the Ramanujan fellowship, my laboratory is interested in utilizing peptide and carbohydrate based surface modifications of particulates to alter their interaction with phagocytic immune cells. Research over the last one and half years have lead us to identify that traditional surface modifications, such as with polyethyleneglycol (PEG) or albumin, alter the phagocytosis capacity of nanoparticles but not microparticles. Utilizing polystyrene and poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) particles ranging from 30 nm to 20 µm, we show that robust surface modification of particulate surfaces may be achieved using a simple carbodiimide chemistry. Our results show that covalent conjugation of these molecules results in reduced uptake of the 30 nm particles by macrophages. Interestingly, the conjugation of the same molecules on 2.6 µm particles does not result in alteration of uptake by both a macrophage cell line as well as in vivo (in a mouse model of research). Additionally, the same modifications do not result in alteration of release kinetics (in serum containing buffers) from particles sized ~ 7 µm that are loaded with a model drug rhodamine. These observations suggest that there is a maximum size beyond which simple surface modifications such as PEG or albumin do not alter the interaction of particulates with biological molecules or immune cells. A manuscript containing these results has been submitted to an international peer-reviewed journal.

Future Research plans Phagocytic Uptake We plan to continue exploring the effects of size on phagocytosis. Specifically, one major focus of the laboratory as part of this fellowship would be to characterize the difference between endocytosis and phagocytosis. This aspect is important in determining whether to develop nanoscale particle or microscale technologies for drug delivery. To perform these studies we have begun to fabricate or obtain particles of different sizes (30 nm, 100 nm, 200 nm, 500 nm, and 3 µm), and study their ability to be phagocytosed. We propose

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to perform these studies using macrophage cell lines as well as primary cells obtained from mouse or humans. In addition, we are interested in understanding whether both neutrophils and monocytes/macrophages have the ability to sequentially take up non-degradable particulates. This question is important from the perspective of compatibility and toxicity of particulate therapeutics. Our aim is to use slowly degrading or non-degrading materials to make particulates of different sizes. Then we propose to test the efficacy of neutrophils (isolated from mouse or human venous blood) and monocytes/macrophages (isolated from various sources) in taking up these particles when they are provided in a sequential pattern. Our hypothesis is that cells with shorter half-lives (such as neutrophils) are likely to not have the capacity to perform sequential uptake, rather uptake of a single or few particles is an end-stage functional event.

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Soumen Kanti Manna

Associate Professor ‘E’ SB/S2/RJN-014/2014 Biophysics and Structural Genomics Division Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata-700064 Email ID: [email protected] or [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : January 05, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow Currently, we are working on characterization of the effect of nutritional stress on cancer cell metabolism. Cancer cells have been shown to be addicted to glucose and glutamine to harvest energy and generate building blocks for biosynthesis of macromolecules. However, cells at the core of solid tumors are in a hypoxic and nutrient-starved environment. Several studies have shown that these cells are poorly-differentiated, show stem-cell like property and are often resistant to conventional therapy. On the other hand, hyperglycemic condition has been indicated to inhibit apoptosis and promote metastasis and therapeutic resistance of cancer cells, which are responsible for majority of cancer- related deaths. It is interesting to note that nutrient-starved cells from solid tumors get exposed to nutrient-rich environment during their transit through blood vessels. But whether and how the chronic starvation affects their ability to thrive in a nutrient-rich condition is poorly understood. We have developed a model of chronic and nutrient-specific starvation of cancer cells in vitro. Synchronized cancer cells are grown under nutrient-sufficient or glucose-deficient or glutamine-deficient condition followed by exposure to high-glucose. As expected, cell growth was significantly lower under chronic starvation. Mass spectrometry-based metabolomic analysis revealed that starvation was associated with widespread attenuation of metabolism, which presumably, contributes to reduction in cell growth. Several metabolic pathways were affected including central carbon, aminosugar and nucleic acid metabolism. Upon exposure to high-glucose, increase in hexose and pentose sugar metabolism was observed and cell growth increased, in general. However, it was interesting to note that glucose-starved cells showed a dramatic upheaval of metabolic processes involving central carbon, amino acid and nucleic acid metabolism compared to glutamine-starved cells. These results indicate that targeting supply of specific nutrients may differentially affect the metabolic response to and behavior of cancer cells under nutrient-rich conditions.

Future Research plans In the immediate future we would like to analyze the effect hypoxia along with chronic nutrient-specific starvation on cancer cell metabolism. Redistribution of fluxes through different pathways will analyzed using stable isotope tracers. Analysis of gene and protein expression will be combined with these results to elucidate system-level reorganization of biochemical landscape underlying behavior of cancer cells under nutritional and hypoxic

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stress. This will be used to identify key targets for manipulating the behavior of cancer cells, particularly, evolution of therapeutic resistance.

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Sourav Kundu

Ramanujan Fellow and Faculty SB/S2/RJN-109/2014 Department of Botany, Wet Bengal State University, Barasat, Kolkata, WB, 700 126 Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : October 14, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow Epigenetics and environment are strongly correlated because DNA methylation and chromatin alterations are associated with environmentally triggered phenotypes. Several studies showed that epigenetics plays an important role in cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease, obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, and immune diseases but endometriosis is remained untouched. There is still no strong evidence that environmental exposure may cause endometriosis other than hormonal imbalance especially in uterus in rodent models which could affect the ability to reproduce by altering the structure and function of uterus via epigenetic alterations. Present study is a novel one in Indian scenario as environmental exposure is obvious and may play an important role in causing endometriosis. Primary studies with rodent models showed modifications in epigenetic level. Identification of biomarkers like miRNAs and interplay between epigenetics, miRs and hormones will lead to find a proper cause of this disease and in future discovery of a potential treatment may lead this study towards clinical significance and importance. This project focuses on epigenetic changes caused via environmental exposure on non-pregnant mouse uterus which include DNA methylation, histone modification and modulation of miRs which will result in chromatin condensation/ gene expression directly or through mRNA targeting. Gene expression may have a feedback role on miRs. Modulation in gene expression will bring about hormonal imbalance which may lead to endometriosis. Treatment with epigenetic inhibitor/ anti- miRs will improve these effects by means of epigenetic reversal or miR regulation. Our study is aimed to determine the effect of environmental exposure on epigenetics in non- pregnant mouse uterus/ endometrium and to see the structural and functional changes occurred in uterine physiology due to this exposure. We will also determine how gene expression pattern changes the level of different hormones and their receptors and find out the molecular signaling pathways.

Future Research plans To continue our previous work, we will be focusing towards the treatment of endometriosis by using antioxidants based on our earlier research. Hydrogen sulfide is a potent vasodilator and earlier, we have shown that decreased hydrogen sulfide (H2S) production led to harmful ROS up-regulation and higher level of ROS regulated autophagy in case of diabetic renovascular remodeling (Kundu et al, 2013). Therefore, in future, we propose that a decrease in H2S production is associated with concomitant

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increase in ROS production will lead to autophagy activation which contributes to endometrial cell survival via anoikis antagonization and endometriotic lesion progression. The combined role of ROS and autophagy in this project is going to contribute a novel finding in the history of endometriosis research. The specific objectives for this study are: 1. We hypothesize that biomarkers of ROS will be up-regulated in endometriotic lesions as compared to normal individuals not experienced endometriosis; 2. We will also test the hypothesis that during endometriotic lesion development, the production of H2S is lowered as high level of ROS contributes to the significant down regulation of H2S production machinery mainly at the genetic level; and finally, 3. We will test the hypothesis that increased ROS production will lead to autophagy using in vivo mouse models of endometriosis.

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Umang Bhaskar

Reader SB/S2/RJN-055/2015 Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : February 08, 2016 . Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow Computing and Improving Equilibria in Network Congestion Games: Congestion games are mathematical game-theoretic models that capture the effect of competition on congestion. Two popular applications of congestion games are road and internet traffic. Congestion games also have connections to other widely-studied models in game theory. In network congestion games, there is a network with a cost function on each edge which maps traffic on the edge to the cost faced by every player on the edge. Each player has a source and a destination, and must choose a minimum cost path in the graph. Since the cost depends on the choices of other players, this sets up a game. Stable solutions, where each player is satisfied by her choice of path, correspond to equilibria. Equilibria can be very inefficient in these games, and hence techniques to improve equilibria, such as increasing the cost on edges by adding tolls, have also been studied. We have shown results for equilibrium computation in two models. If players control large amounts of splittable traffic, we have given the first polynomial-time algorithms for computing equilibria with convex cost functions, for networks consisting of parallel links and either a small number of edges, or a small number of players. In addition, for general networks with convex cost functions, we show that it is NP-hard to an equilibrium where all players have small cost. For players with unsplittable flow, we exploit a connection with finite games to show that even with two players and quadratic cost functions, finding an equilibrium is PPAD-hard. For improving equilibria, the use of tolls is well-studied. We show that even without knowing the cost functions in a game, by observing how traffic changes in response to tolls, one can efficiently enforce any given traffic pattern as the equilibrium flow. Our algorithm uses a polynomial number of queries to such an oracle, that returns the equilibrium flow given any tolls.

Future Research plans Computing Equilibria, Learning Cost Functions, and Network Improvement: Our work on computing equilibria for players with large splittable flow leaves a large gap. We have polynomial-time algorithms for parallel edges with a small number of players or edges, and NP-hardness for general graphs and players. We would like to resolve where the boundary for efficient algorithm lies. In addition, we are interested in equilibrium computation in the broader class of network games, including well-studied models such as public goods and discrete strategy-selection games.

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For learning cost functions, our work shows that we can learn tolls to enforce any traffic pattern as an equilibrium. However, if we want to enforce a different pattern, we again have to go through the process of seeing how the traffic pattern responds to tolls; the previous queries may not be of use. To avoid this, if one could instead learn the cost functions themselves, then computing the tolls for any traffic pattern would just require a quick computation. We are interested in this more general problem, of learning the cost functions in network congestion games, rather than just the tolls. Finally, apart from tolls, a significant open problem in network congestion games is to find algorithms for network improvement – how best to add new roads and add capacity. In general, the problem is known to NP-hard. We are interested in the problems on restricted graphs, such as planar graphs, or graphs with bounded tree-width. Any of these restricted cases would still be interesting from a practical perspective.

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V. Damodara Reddy

Ramanujan Fellow SB/S2/RJN-043/2014 Dept of Biochemistry, Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : April 01, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-Ramanujan Fellow Chronic alcohol consumption increases ROS/RNS production and thereby initiate different signaling pathways. As ALD occurs through different stages many macromolecules and organelles plays key role. One of the key organelle is mitochondria. Our lab studies revealed that chronic alcohol consumption leading to mitochondrial dysfunction and it proposed to be key molecular event that accelerate steatosis (triglyceride accumulation in hepatocytes) and initiate progression to steatohepatitis and fibrosis. Mechanisms of ALD have been extensively studied; however, the events that cause progression to hepatitis and fibrosis/cirrhosis are still undefined. Once steatosis is present, the liver becomes more susceptible to the oxidative stress, which is thought to be one of several stimuli for the progression from simple fatty liver to alcoholic steatohepatitis (ASH). The molecular mechanism underlying how steatosis predisposes liver to transition from simple fatty liver to steatohepatitis is not clear. Since, mitochondrion is a site for fat metabolism and the main source of ROS/RNS in hepatocytes, the mitochondrion is postulated to play a central role in the development of ALD. Hence, the present study aimed to define the pathways leading to fat accumulation in liver. Moreover, role of cardiolipin (CL), a mitochondrial-specific phospholipid in mitochondrial dysfunction is not studied. CL regulates numerous enzyme activities, especially those related to oxidative phosphorylation and coupled respiration. CL binds complexes I, III, IV, and V and stabilizes the super complexes (I/III/IV and II/III/IV), demonstrating an absolute requirement of CL for catalytic activity of these enzyme complexes. Alterations in the content and/or composition of CL have been shown to be responsible for mitochondrial dysfunction.

Objectives:

• To study alcohol-induced oxidative/nitrosative stress leading to alterations in lipid metabolism • To study the mechanisms associated with cardiolipin and mitochondrial dysfunction.

Future Research plans Mitochondrial dysfunction in chronic alcoholism is well established. However, emerging area of research is the regulation of mitochondrial function and cellular energetics by HIFs, especially HIF-1 & 2alpha. HIF-2α appears to have a considerable role in the regulation of lipid metabolism, where as HIF-1α have considerable role in the regulation of glucose homeostasis, and cellular differentiation. Both HIF-1 & 2α regulate

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mitochondrial biogenesis and mitochondrial energy production. Recently, HIF-2α has been shown to control the production of lipid metabolism, thereby maintaining proper mitochondrial function. HIF-1 & 2α is a redox sensitive and regulates metabolic pathways and biological processes in a tissue-specific manner. Little is known about the actions of alcohol consumption on HIF-1α & 2α, and the subsequent contributions towards progression of ALD. The generation of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mROS) during hypoxia has been proposed as part of an oxygen sensing pathway for the hypoxic stabilization of HIF-1α. The development of alcohol-induced liver toxicity is influenced by many mechanisms including changes in metabolism, inflammation and fibrogenesis. In addition to hypoxia, oxidative and nitrosative stress have been suggested as key factors capable of both initiating and sustaining the mechanisms of pathogenesis leading to ALD. My future studies focus on to study the role of HIF-1 & 2α protein, mRNA, and downstream gene activation in the livers after chronic ethanol feeding, and the expression of lipid metabolism genes in hepatocytes which might affect the progression of ALD.

Objectives: • To investigate the alcohol-induced mitochondrial dysfunction leading to alterations in lipid metabolism • To investigate the role of HIFs in the initiation and progression of ALD

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Aashish Ranjan

Staff Scientist III BT/RLF/Re-entry/05/2013 National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : April 06, 2015

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow The major research focus of the Ramalingaswami Fellowship proposal is to understand the crosstalk of light and temperature signaling, and their interaction across different plant species (Arabidopsis, tomato and rice). To this end, the effect of high ambient temperature, shade, and the combination has already been established for Arabidopsis, tomato and rice. Both high temperature and shade induced hypocotyl elongation in Arabidopsis, with the combination showing synergistic effect. Tomato, however, showed opposite phenotype i.e. suppression of hypocotyl length under higher temperature. Shade, and the combination of shade and high temperature, still showed the elongation of hypocotyl length. Rice seedlings showed elongation response under both shade and high ambient temperature. However, elongation growth under combined condition was not synergistic. Synergistic effects of shade and high temperature in Arabidopsis, dependency of the shade response on ambient temperature in rice, and temperature mediated suppression of elongation in tomato indicates the cross-talk of light and temperature signaling, however the nature of interaction differs in three species. We have investigated the role of cell-cycle and phytohormone for observed phenotypic responses under changing environmental conditions. The effect of higher ambient temperature on cell- cycle in tomato appears to be a late response. Further, results also suggest strong involvement of phytohormone auxin in high-temperature mediated plant developmental changes. Phytochrome Interacting Factor4 (PIF4) has been shown to be a major regulator of shade and high ambient temperature response in Arabidopsis. We have generated PIF overexpression and knockout transgenics for tomato, and are generating for rice in order to establish the roles of PIF transcription factors in light and temperature signaling in crop plants. In order to compare the light and high temperature signaling, and their interaction across the three plant species, RNAseq libraries in replicates were prepared from the seedlings grown under the respective, pooled, and sent for sequencing.

Future Research plans A. Analysis of RNAseq/Transcriptome data from shoot apex of shade, high-temperature, shade + high-temperature, and control experiments for the three species at three time points (0hr., 1hr. and 12hrs.). B. Generation of rice and tomato cell-cycle, auxin, and cytokinin marker lines. C. Generation and functional validation of tomato and rice PIF overexpression and knockout transgenics. D. Comparative transcriptomic analyses to characterize the conserved and diverged signaling components across the three plant species.

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E. Identification of more critical transcription factors involved in light and temperature signaling, and their interaction in crop plants. F. Detailed effect of environmental factors on gene regulatory module controlling seedling and leaf development.

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Amit Ghosh

Assistant Professor BT/RLF/Re-entry/06/2013 School of Energy Science and Engineering, IIT Kharagpur Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : October 14, 2015

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow Increases in fuel prices coupled with concerns about global warming and energy security, have rekindled interest in producing ethanol and other biofuels from lignocellulosic raw materials such as agriculture and forestry waste. However, while some naturally- occurring and engineered fermentative microorganisms exist, none can currently produce biofuels from lignocellulosic feedstocks in an energy-efficient and cost-competitive manner. Biomass consists of lignin and carbohydrates with the latter making up about 70% of biomass dry weight. Pretreatment of biomass by chemical or enzymatic methods yields a mixture of hexose and pentose sugars. The fermentation of almost all the available C6 and C5 sugars to ethanol or other liquid biofuel is vital to the overall economics of these processes because this will maximize the yield and minimize the costs associated with waste disposal. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is presently the organism of choice for ethanol production on an industrial scale and its superiority in fermenting non detoxified lignocellulose hydrolysates has been well documented. Although well suited for fermentation, S. cerevisiae has the substantial drawback that it cannot fully utilize the substrates available from breakdown of plant biomass. One major limitation in using S. cerevisiae for lignocellulosic fermentation is its inability to metabolize and ferment the C5 sugars. To overcome this problem, D-xylose utilization pathways have been incorporated into the host microorganism. We have made a high copy plasmid for expression of yeast codon-optimized Xylose Isomerase from Piromyces sp under control of the TDH3 promoter. Furthermore the ethanol titer can be improved by overexpressing Xylulokinase using TDH3 promoter. Also made a high copy plasmid for expression S. cerevisiae xylulokinase (XKS1) under control of TDH3 promoter. The goal of the proposed research is to develop a recombinant S. cerevisiae strain that utilizes glucose and C5 sugars such as D-xylose, and ferments ethanol under anaerobic conditions.

Future Research plans The optimization of CRISPR/Cas9 plasmid will be done by deletion of endogenous GRE3 gene (aldose reductase that produces xylitol from D-xylose) followed by insertion of heterologous Xylose Isomerase (XI) and Xylulose Kinase (XKS) genes. To further optimize this xylose pathway, we will develop genome-scale metabolic model with xylose pathways for ethanol production and perform Flux Balance analysis using growth and ethanol accumulation as the objective functions. We will use metabolic flux analysis to identify the rate-limiting steps in ethanol production in the engineered S. cerevisiae. One of the central goals of this project is to increase target product titers and yields through

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manipulation of biochemical reaction networks. Effectively, this involves hijacking the microbe’s metabolism through genetic manipulation. However, genetic changes often lead to unexpected results (i.e. low growth rates, low target molecule production) due to the high interconnectivity of metabolic and regulatory pathways. 13C metabolic flux analysis (13C MFA) will provide insight into these unexpected phenotypic changes by yielding a global snapshot of carbon flux redistribution. We will use metabolic flux analysis to identify the rate-limiting steps in sugar utilization for ethanol production in the engineered S. cerevisiae. These experiments consist of feeding the culture with a defined 13C-labeled substrate, wait until the system reaches steady state and use the resulting labeling of the cell metabolites as extra constraints for the intracellular metabolic fluxes. Metabolite labeling will be determined by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. In addition, we will expand the latest version of the publicly available genome-scale yeast metabolic network to include the novel sugar utilization pathways we introduce. We will then use this updated model to guide rational reengineering of the metabolic network to optimally couple cell growth to biofuel production. These models will enable us to computationally evaluate various metabolic engineering strategies aimed to improve sugar utilization efficiency.

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Anbazhagan Kolandaswamy

Faculty Fellow BT/RLF/Re-entry/57/2013 Dept. of Molecular Medicine, St. John's Research Institute, Opp to BDA complex, Koramangala, Bangalore- 560034 Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : February 01, 2014

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow Although interaction between glomerular cells and monocytes are known, their role in the progression of CKD remains unclear. The current study would help identify putative mechanisms of monocyte-dependent progression of CKD. Phenotypic and functional characterization of monocyte subsets will improve our understanding of the mechanisms mediating inflammation in CKD. It will also help understand inflammation and its cascading effects on the development of renal and cardiovascular disease, anemia, malnutrition and bone mineral disease. Furthermore, as urinary proteins are complex mixture of renal secretions, constructing a urinary protein fingerprint would identify unique markers (chemokines and cytokines), eventually giving crucial insights on disease progression. The functional studies would help us identify novel mediators of inflammation in CKD and provide us targets for the development of novel therapeutic strategies to mitigate progression of renal disease and its associated complications.

Overall aim: To investigate the relevance of monocyte subpopulations in the progression of CKD and development of associated complications like cardiovascular disease, anemia, bone mineral disease, and malnutrition.

Objectives: 1. To profile the circulating monocyte subsets at different stages of CKD and its association with disease progression. 2. To determine the functionality of monocyte subsets in CKD and their differential cytokine and chemokine expression in various stages of CKD. 3. To correlate the phenotype and cytokine profile of monocyte subsets with CKD- associated anemia, endothelial dysfunction, left ventricular hypertrophy, dyslipidemia, bone mineral disease, and malnutrition.

Future Research plans In addition to DBT-Ramalingaswami project, future interest also would include designing functional studies to understand monocyte subsets and other blood inflammatory cells in various diseases. Other interest is to develop FACS or Realtime PCR panels as a diagnostic markers far various communicable and non-communicable diseases.

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Ongoing minor project in development of marker for early prediction of preeclampsia is funded by RGUHS, Bangalore. This research will be taken up in future as a major project. Similarly, miRNAs as a marker for early prediction of osteoporosis is funded by RGUHS and ICMR. Small RNA- based treatment against osteoporosis targeting osteoclast and promoting mesenchyme stem cells will be foreseen in future studies. Further, osteoclasts as a possible early functional marker for bone mineral disorder in CKD or other inflammatory diseases is of future interest. This involves in vitro differentiation and characterization of osteoclasts from monocytes derived from peripheral blood.

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Anil K. Suresh

Associate Professor/Ramalingaswami Fellow BT/RLF/Re-entry/14/2012 SRM University Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : September 30, 2013

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow Nanomedicine includes novel class of engineered nanomaterial’s that are garning tremendous significance to pursuit in various biological and therapeutic applications. This project includes the proof-of-concept studies on the use of super paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles as nanomagnets, the next generation nanobiotics, to directly remove pathogenic cells out of the blood. Using the strategy, we don’t have to worry about achieving targeted therapeutics, multi-drug resistance, side effects caused by various drugs, and screening for novel drugs and would be the simplest and safest way ever implemented to cure blood borne diseases. Completed the Main Objective 1. Involving Antibody mediated selective binding of nanomagnets by multi-drug resistant cancer cells along with the below included two sub- objectives; 1.1. Synthesis and characterization of IONPs and IONP-Ab conjugates; 1.2. Selective attachment of the IONP-Ab conjugates to cancer cells. Also completed the Main Objective 2: Evaluate the parameters for the cell movement and demonstrate direct removal of cancer cells from the blood in vitro.

Future Research plans Active work with regards to the completion of the last Main Objective 3. Use of a mouse model system to evaluate the magnetic movement in vivo is in progress.

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Biswanath Maity

Assistant Professor BT/RLF/Re-entry/15/2013 Centre of Biomedical Research, SGPGI campus, Lucknow Email ID: [email protected], [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : January 30, 2015

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow After returning to India as Ramalingaswami Fellow, I started dissecting the role of different G-protein receptors in physiology especially cancer and cardiovascular. Much of my research focus was on RGS proteins and their binding partner Gβ proteins. The canonical function of RGS-Gβ complex is to accelerate termination of GPCR signaling through stabilization of the transition state in GTP hydrolysis by Gαi/o. We are currently studying the intricate molecular mechanisms by which RGS proteins regulates cell function, and how their perturbation go awry in cancer phenotype specifically in oncogenic regulation and cellular transformation. We seek to identify how R7RGS proteins functions to regulate different stimuli induced epithelial to mesenchymal transition, cellular senescence, interaction with other genetic & epigenetic modifiers. Additionally, we tried to identify the impact of R7RGS proteins in development of chemotherapeutics induced cardiomyopathy using different in vivo model system. We recently discovered that atypical Gβ5 facilitates the chemotherapeutics-induced myofibroblast transition, the persistence of which contributes to pathological remodeling and heart failure. The convergence of Gβ5-mediated, ROS-dependent signaling pathways in both myocytes and fibroblasts represents a critical etiological factor in the pathogenesis of chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity. Together, our results suggest that inhibition of Gβ5 might represent a novel means to circumvent cardiotoxicity in cancer patients whose treatment regimens include anthracyclines, taxanes or fluoropyrimidines (Cancer Research, 2018).

Future Research plans (1) As a future research goal, we are moving forward to dissect the impact of G-protein mediators in chemotherapeutics-induced transition of hypertrophy to heart failure and mechanistically dissect the impact of cytokine-signalling and oxidative stress in this phenotype. Additionally, we will focus on T-tubule regulation and its communication with CaMKII contributing to the aforementioned mechanism. (2) For the cancer project, we want to answer how RGS6 functions as a scaffolding molecule for two epigenetic genome modifiers, Dnmt1 and Tip60 and their combined interaction towards regulation of breast cancer. It will contribute towards development of better therapeutic regime for cancer patients.

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Debabani Ganguly

Ramalingaswami Fellow BT/RLF/Re-entry/52/2012 Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibp Email ID: [email protected] or [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : May 21, 2014

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDP) are highly responsible for both diverse biological functions and lethal diseases including cancer. Due to high abundance in cellular signaling and human dieseases, it is essential to understand the structural basis of IDPs. Among various important IDPs, p53 is a well-known tumor suppressor, also acts as a hub in cell signaling. It is found that mutated p53 gene is responsible for more than 50% of human cancer. My project highlights to understand molecular basis of p53 activation upon post- translational modifications (PTMs). Most of PTMs of p53 occur terminal domains. If the interaction between C-terminal and core DNA binding domains (DBD) is disrupted by PTM, the DBD will become active and induce an enhanced transcriptional activity. PTMs also prevent p53 degradation by inhibiting interaction between MDM2 and p53. The degradation is initiated by C-terminal phosphorylation, followed by inhibition of C- terminal acetylation and finally the ubiquitination. There are number of phosphorylation sites located in N- and C-terminal domains of p53. Sequential inter-site dependence is found to exist in both N- and C-terminal phosphorylation sites. Experiments established that specific phosphorylation patterns induce acetylation of C-terminal. The main thrust area of my research is based on the interdependency between two and how specific mutations disrupts dependency and hence activity by using molecular modeling and simulations. Following are the key objectives of the projects: a) To investigate the structural basis of interactions and recognition of intrinsically dosordered proteins and thereby how their functions are modulated using molecular modeling. b) Thermodynamics and kinetics analysis of the effect of post-translational modification and charge on interactions of intrinsically disordered proteins. c) To investigate how disease related mutation of p53 leads to inactivate its function using molecular modeling. d) Development of force fields, parameters of protein model and techniques of molecular modeling. Future Research plans

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a) In the cell, protein degradation and folding are also carefully balanced. Not necessarily all, but misfolding often leads to aggregation of peptides. Among the various aggregates, amyloid fibrils are the most common type. Probability of aggregation increases with the mutation, denaturation and incomplete folding of proteins as unfolded protein often aggregates to hide its hydrophobic parts from being exposed to the solution. Aging might initiate protein misfolding and thus aggregation over time too. My future research plan is to model few aggregation – prone proteins which are important for various neurodegenerative diseases and thus to answer how and why. Also how does aggregation propensity depend on PTM and/or amino acid sequence and if can be controlled upon mutations. b) Actin Cytoskeleton binding protein has significant intrinsically disordered region. But how does the actin filaments assemble? The hypothesis is this disordered region may help to assemble the filaments through surface electrostatic interactions upon PTM. Another topic of my future research is to understand if the above mentioned disordered regions in actin regulates the assembly.

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Deepak B. Salunke

Assistant Professor BT/RLF/Re-entry/16/2013 Panjab University, Chandigarh Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : March 01, 2015

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow 1. Synthesis of known IDO inhibitors (as described in the proposal), to standardize the primary enzyme-based IDO activity assay. 2. To standardize the enzyme/cell-based IDO activity assay and further synthesis of novel compounds to establish a strong Structure-Activity Relationship (SAR). 3. Further SAR extension to improve the potency as well as water solubility required for excipient free vaccine formulations. Extension of SAR to understand the structural requirements to demonstrate equivalent cellular activity. 4. Synthesis of TLR2, TLR7 and TLR8 agonists required to combine with novel IDO inhibitors to test the hypothesis of synergism. Small molecule agonists for TLR3, -5, and - 9 are not known so far. The synthesized library of compounds will also be screened in TLR transfected HEK293 cell lines for the possible agonistic activity. Extension of SAR studies to identify novel TLR agonists. Each and every molecule synthesized are fully characterized and a library is being maintained which will be screened against various cancer cell lines. 5. Crystal structures of IDO in complex with known inhibitors and TLR8 in complex with known agonists are available and are being used as template in the docking study to understand the interactions and design of novel molecules. 6. Animal immunization experiments are carried out in collaboration to identify the effect of these novel molecules alone as well as in combinations. 7. The research results are being compiled to be published in peer reviewed journals. Based on the results Patent application will also be filed.

Future Research plans Synthesis of at least six known IDO inhibitors is achieved and all the compounds are characterized using NMR, MS and IR spectroscopy. The synthesized library is screened for its IDO inhibitory activity at the laboratory of Dr. D. Manna at IIT Guwahati and optimization of both HPLC as well as UV based IDO enzyme inhibition assay is currently ongoing at my laboratory. A novel series of indole as well as imidazole-based compound library is synthesized and few of the library compounds showed promising IDO inhibitory activity. Two manuscripts are under preparation and further SAR investigation is ongoing.

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Synthesis of highly active TLR7/8 agonistic imidazoquinolines is achieved and the IL6 induction as well as its effect on IDO induction is analyzed. The lead compound was also tested as adjuvant in Malaria and influenza vaccine. The collaborative work was carried out at Department of Zoology, Panjab University by Prof. Bagai and at Flinders University, Australia with Prof. Petrovesky, respectively. Preparation of novel formulation of these compounds for sustained delivery is ongoing.

To explore the available crystal structures of IDO as well as TLR2, TLR7 and TLR8 for designing new analogs. This work is initiated in collaboration with Dr. Anshuman Dixit at the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar. Free online platforms are also in use to design novel analogs.

Three manuscripts are communicated and two more are under preparation. Further development of SAR towards the search of novel analogs is ongoing. We further plan to develop new formulations of TLR agonists as well as IDO inhibitors and also working on to develop novel mixed formulations.

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Goutam Chowdhury

Assistant Professor BT/HRD/35/02/2006 Department of Chemistry, Shiv Nadar University Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 04, 2015

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow Reactive nitrogen species (RNS) are known to damage DNA resulting in various types of DNA lesions including the mutagenic lesion 8-nitroguanine. Significant levels of 8- nitroguanine (8-NO2-Gua), 8-nitroguanosine (8-NO2-Guo), and 8-nitro-cyclicGMP (8- NO2-cGMP), collectively termed as 8-NO2-G here, has been detected at the site of chronic inflammation. 8-NO2-G compounds are excellent electrophiles that can react with cellular thiols form adducts and are also shown to be mutagenic. However the mechanism of mutagenicity remains unknown. In our goal to understand the carcinogenic potential of 8- NO2-G we synthesized it following a 5 step protocol. Purification of the product after the final step proved to be a challenging, but ultimately we were able to purify the 8- nitroguanosine and 8-nitroguanine to homogeneity using a reverse phase C18 column. DNA cleavage assay: We initially performed a plasmid based DNA cleavage assay with 8- NO2-G . No cleavage was observed clearly showing that 8-NO2-G does not form labile adducts in DNA.

Reaction of 8-NO2-G with thiols in DNA: We also looked into the formation of thiol adducts in DNA containing 8-nitroguanine. We hypothesized that 8-thioguanine formed from 8-NO2-G may well be the true lesions responsible for chronic inflammation associated tumorogenicity. To test this hypothesis, we tested ability of thiols to form a stable adduct in peroxynitrite treated DNA. The results show that presence of 5 mM thiols almost completely abrogated DNA cleavage suggesting that addition of thiols makes the labile sites non-labile. Repeat of the experiment with 1 mM of peroxynitrite and increasing concentration of thiol show that 100 µM of thiols were enough to significantly inhibit DNA cleavage by peroxynitrite .

We also performed the same experiment with deoxyguanosine. The reaction products were analyzed with LC-tandem MS (Figure 2). LC-MS clearly showed the presence of a peak eluting at 4.1 min and having mass 573.1504 ([M+H]+). This is consistent with the mass of the GSH adduct of dG (calculated ). CID of this m/z 573 peak gave fragment ions at m/z 306, 268 and 152 which corresponds to GSH, dG and G, respectively. Together these results clearly indicated that the thiols does form adducts with nucleoside following RNS exposure.

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We have also expressed and purified the repair protein AGT and have synthesized dansylated GSH.

Future Research plans We are currently in the process of expressing and purifying DNMT, pol η and Dpo4. In fact we do have Dpo4 which is about 95% pure.

Our initial plan is to perform the same experiment as mentioned above but with dansylated GSH. Because dansyl functional group has a distinct UV-Vis spectra and flourescence, we can follow its binding to DNA by simply precipitating the DNA and measuring the absorbance and/or flouresence. Following this we plan to digest the DNA to the nucleoside level and perform LC-MS to confirm the presence of a GSH adduct.

Once all the proteins are made we will repeat the same experiments with AGT and DNMT. Characterization of the protein-DNA crosslinks will be performed using gel shift assays and Maldi-Tof/Tof. We are at present in the process of procuring it.

Finally we plan to synthesize the adducts at a defined site in an oligonucleotide and perform primer extension assays to determine the mutational spectrum of the adduct.

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Jancy Nixon Abraham

Ramalingaswami Fellow BT/RLF/Re-entry/45/2014 National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR), Pune Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : April 01, 2016

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow 1. Introduction : The α-Synuclein protein aggregates were found to be the major components of Lewy bodies, the hallmarks of PD. The protein aggregates get deposited in the brain as filamentous form with cross-β structure, and is abnormally phosphorylated at Ser- 129 and partially ubiquitinated. The structure of α-synuclein can be divided into three regions: the N-terminal region containing 1-60 aminoacids having four 11- amino acid imperfect repeats with a conservative KTKEGV motif, the highly hydrophobic and amyloidogenic NAC region with 61-95 aminoacid residues with three additional KTKEGV repeats; and the highly acidic C-terminal region consisting of residues 96-140. The negatively charged C-terminal comprises of protein-protein and protein/small molecule interaction sites, while the N-terminal and the central NAC region contain membrane binding domains. The natively unfolded nature of α- synuclein is due to its low hydrophobicity and high net negative charge along the C- terminus. The high degree of conformational freedom could influence the folding and aggregation of α-syn, which could lead this protein to cause neurotoxicity. The recent studies suggest that the intermediately folded α-syn oligomers are more neurotoxic than fibrils. The development of small molecules that specifically and efficiently inhibit the aggregation process is an effective therapeutic approach. Several indole based anti-amyloidogenic molecules were identified that were highly effective in inhibiting amyloid fibril formation by Aβ.

2. Objectives of the Project : (i) Develop a novel methodology where the ss- DNA oligonucleotides will be used as α- syn inhibitors. (ii) The proposed project will combine the detailed molecular interaction studies (using cutting-edge technologies such as atomic force microscopy and electron microscopy) (iii) The in vitro and in vivo validification of the resulting potent therapeutic molecules.

3. Progress made vis-a-vis each objective : (i) Alpha Synuclein Expression and Purification

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(ii) Fibrillation of α-synuclein (iii) ssDNA as potential molecules for synuclein fibril disassembly (iv) ssDNA as potential inhibitors for synuclein fibril inhibition

Future Research plans The initial results suggest that the negatively charged oligonucleotide sequence could interact with the positively charged amino acids at the N-terminus of the α-synuclein, resulting in amyloid fiber disassembly. The size and charge of spherical aggregates formed after amyloid fiber disassembly will be studied in detail using analytical methods such as circular dichroism, light scattering experiments, zetapotential studies etc. We will also be performing the MTT assay to determine the cytotoxicity of inhibitors at different concentrations. The toxicity of the external oligonucleotides in neuroblastoma cells will also be evaluated using SH-SY5Y cells. The SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cell line is commonly used to study neuronal functions and is appropriate for studies related to PD as it could express dopaminergic markers. The preliminary results set sights on the effective use of short oligonucleotide sequences on targeting α-synuclein aggregates.

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John Bernet Johnson

Scientist C BT/RLF/Re-entry/29/2012 Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : October 01, 2013

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow In order to be successful pathogens, viruses have to overcome multiple layers of immune barrier to productively infect the host including the innate arm. One of the integral components of the innate arm is the complement system (CS), that is known to target a wide range of pathogens including viruses. The complement system unlike the adaptive arm lacks memory and gets activated primarily by pattern recognition. The system cannot distinguish self from the non-self, thus undue damage to self is minimized by a finely balanced regulatory system consisting of a group of proteins called as regulators of complement activation (RCA). Rhabdoviruses are non-segmented, negative sense RNA viruses and are potent pathogens of both humans and animals eg. rabies and Chandipura virus. Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) is a prototypic rhabdovirus, which has 5 genes encoding 5 proteins (N, P, M, G and L). VSV activates the CP either in an antibody dependent or independent manner resulting in virus neutralization. However VSV has adopted unique mechanisms to limit complement, one of which includes the recruitment of membrane associated RCA’s like CD46 and CD55. The over-arching goal of this project is to unravel the complex mechanisms underlying complement activation and modulation by VSV. Immunofluorescence experiments carried out on wtVSV infected or G transfected vero cells showed C3b/C4b deposition in association with G. We also found that VSV recruits C4 binding protein a potent RCA suggesting a multifunctional role for G. Recruitment of CD46 and CD55 by VSV confers resistance to VSV against complement. Time course experiments at a low and high moi showed that the CD55 levels remained unaltered until 24 h, however the levels of CD46 declined 10-11 h post VSV infection. The relative levels of CD55, in infected cells and virion was more compared to that of the uninfected cells. Thus RCA recruitment is a specific and not a random process. These observations are critical as there is a growing interest in exploiting VSV’s oncolytic potential to develop oncolytic and vaccine vectors and incorporation of these changes would facilitate generation of safe yet potent vectors.

Future Research plans The project supported by RLF funds revolve around vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) which is not a human pathogen. Our investigation so far has provided invaluable inputs into the mechanism/s of interaction of VSV with the complement system. Of much

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significance is our finding that VSV is capable of modulating complement by hijacking host membrane associated and soluble RCA’s including CD46, CD55 and C4Bp. Especially the recruitment of membrane associated RCA’s can be easily sidelined as a random process during virus budding from the host cells.

However our data clearly indicate that it is a deliberate act of recruitment by VSV to evade complement. We have many other exciting findings which are taking shape as individual projects and we believe this will help us better understand the complex nature of rhabdovirus interaction with the host immune system. One may question if the findings on a non-human pathogen can be related to human pathogen. As an off-shoot of the RLF program we have extended our studies to rhabdoviruses of greater human significance including the Chandipura virus (CHPV) and the rabies virus. The CHPV project is funded through the DST-SERB program. We have dissected the molecular mechanism of interaction of CHPV with the human complement system. We have identified the role of individual complement components involved in CHPV neutralization. We have also made key observations into the mechanism of complement mediated neutralization of CHPV. It should be pointed out here that no vaccines are currently in place against CHPV and we want to make significant inroads into understanding the biology and pathogenesis of pathogenic rhabdoviruses with a special emphasis on immune interactions and modulation. We are also actively pursuing modalities of exploiting the positive potentials of rhabdoviruses especially to develop novel oncolytic vectors.

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Jyotsnendu Giri

Assistant Professor BT/RLF/Re-entry/21/2-13 Biomedical Engg. Indian Institute of Technolgoy, Hyderaba Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : April 04, 2015

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow “Engineering Nanomedicine”: Applications of Nanoscience and Technology to the life sciences to monitor, repair, control and understand human biological systems at the molecular level hold great promise in future human health care. My interest is to understand complex problems in biological/biomedical science and develop nanotechnology-based engineering solutions in diagnostics and therapeutics to prevent, treat and eradicate lifethreatening diseases and conditions. My research goal is i) to develop next generation novel protein/biomolecules delivery system and biomedical nanostructure materials for tissue engineering, and cancer theranostics and vaccine complemented by the ii) fundamental understanding of the nano-bio interface sciences to elucidate the interactions between nanostructured materials and biological systems at the molecular level.

Future Research plans Ramalingaswami Fellowship gave me a unique opportunity for assembling a strong multidisciplinary team to develop a unique high impact translational research lab, eNARM LAB at IIT Hyderabad, India http://www.iith.ac.in/~jgiri/. My future research plan to improve human health care is specially focus on the following three areas: (I) Stem cell and regenerative medicine (II) Nanotechnology for diagnostic and therapeutic (III) Nano-bio Interface Sciences

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Manoj Garg

Associate Professor BT/RLF/Re-entry/24/2014 Amity Institute of Molecular Medicine and Stem Cell Research (AIMMSCR), Amity University, Sector-125, Noida. Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : May 03, 2016

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow Objectives of the Project: 1. Objective 1: In vitro and in vivo experimental approaches to identify the potential role and mechanism of ML32 and MLL2 in AML 2. Objective 2: Analysis of mll2 knockout mice spleen and bone marrow cells for different myeloid lineages and in vitro differentiation. Objective 1: A. Stable knockdown of MLL3 gene in MV4-11 and MOLM14 using MLL3 gene specific shRNA. To achieve stable knockdown of MLL3, we have obtained a set of 3 human MLL3 gene specific shRNAs along with a scramble shRNA. We also cloned MLL3 shRNA in PKO.1 vector. MV4-11 cells were spin-infected with lentivirus particles at a MOI of 25 with 5 ug/ml polybrene (Sigma-Aldrich) at 2000 rpm for 1hr; stable cells were selected using 0.5-1 ug/ml puromycin for 1-2 weeks. First, we confirmed knockdown using Real time and Western blot. We observed that shRNA3 and shRNA4 displayed best knockdown compared to the scrambled shRNA. Additionally, we have used MLL siRNA to silence the expression of MLL3 in MV411 cell. (b) Functional readout will be in vitro proliferation assay and clonogenic assay: After successful knockdown, we moved to the functional assay which include both cellular proliferation and methylcellulose colony formation assay. We have used shRNA3 and shRNA4 because of their knockdown efficiency. We found that MLL3 silencing (shRNA3 and shRNA4) resulted in a significant increased cell growth in liquid culture and clonogenic growth in methylcellulose compared to scrambled shRNA in MV4-11 cells. Additionally, we have used MLL3 siRNA to avoid the possibility for off-target effects of shRNA mediated knockdown. Our data showed that both siRNA and shRNA have same effect on the growth as well as on clonogenic ability. (c) Effect of MLL3 knockdown on leukemia related genes: MLL3 depletion displayed decreased expression of p21 and p53 mRNA compared to control cells and significant up- regulation of HOXA7, HOXA9 and MEIS1 in MV4-11 cells. These data suggest that HOX genes might be a target of MLL3. Objective 2: Analysis of mll2 knockout mice bone marrow cells for different myeloid lineages and in vitro differentiation. Analysis of mll2 knockout mice and methylcellulose -plating assay using bone marrow cells: We have analyzed mll2+/- heterozygous knockout mice and wild type littermates (6 mice for each genotype; 6 months old). We observed splenomegaly (enlarged spleens) in

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mll2 knockout mice as compared to wild type littermate controls. Splenomegaly is one of the characteristic features of the AML patients. Also, splenomegaly has been observed in other knockout mice models much as tet2, asxl1 and asxl2. Next, we have evaluated the effect of mll2 depletion on the differentiation myeloid cells using mll2 knockout mice bone marrow cells. To achieve this objective, we performed methylcellulose clonogeneic assay using bone marrow cells for both mll2 knockout and the wild type littermate controls. Our data showed that mll2 deficient cells displayed an increased in the number of colonies in second, third and fourth replating in mll2 knockout bone marrow cells compared to wild type cells.

Future Research plans 1. As we have observed splenomegaly in the mll2 knockout mice compared to littermate control, we will perform FACS analysis on the spleen of these mice for granulocytic and monocytic expansion using CD11b and Gr-1markers. 2. We will perform FACS analysis on bone marrow cells of mll2 knockout mice and wild type littermates (6 mice for each genotype; 6 months) for the staining of LSK (Lin- Sca+ Kit+; contains hematopoietic stem cells), myeloid precursors and granulocytes. 3. We will differentiate bone marrow cells in vitro in the presence of SCF, IL3, IL6 and GMCSF and will analyze populations on day 8, 14 and 20 for granulocytes and macrophages using FACS.

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Mohd Ashraf Dar

Ramalingaswami Fellow BT/HRD/35/02/2006 Department of Biochemistry, University of Kashmir Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : June 12,2015

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow Autophagy is a key cellular process that is required for turnover of long-lived and aggregated proteins, cytoplasmic components and damaged cell organelles. Despite autophagy being the principal adaptive pathway to protect the organisms from diverse pathologies like neurodegeneration, cardiac diseases, cancer etc., there is limited understanding of the molecular mechanism regulating autophagy. In the recent years the post translational modification of the proteins by ubiquitin has emerged as an essential mechanism in regulation of various physiological processes like DNA replication, cell cycle progression, transcription, DNA Damage Response, apoptosis etc. Two enzyme classes belonging to the ubiquitn-proteasome system, E3 ubiquitin ligases and Deubiquitinases (DUBS) respectively determine the degradation or stabilization of the target proteins by ubiquitinating or deubiquitinating them. In the proposed study we are studying the regulation of autophagy by ubiquitin-proteasome system. There are ~100 deubiquitinases (DUBS) in human cells. There is a strong possibility that DUBS may directly target the autophagic machinery proteins or their regulatory proteins for deubiquitination, provided the fact that some proteins e.g. DEPTOR, p62, ULK1 etc. involved in autophagy are ubiquitinated in cells. In the current study we are investigating the role of deubiquitinase, USP7 in regulation of autophagy. We found that USP7 protein level is increased in cells under serum starvation conditions and depletion of USP7 in cells results in decrease in autophagy readout marker LC3II, suggesting a possible role of USP7 in regulation of autophagy. We also found that USP7 is a dimeric protein and possesses auto-deubiquitination activity that would be required to increase its own levels during nutritional stress (serum starvation). Currently, we are in the process to generate stable HCT116 cell lines expressing shRNAs (against USP7) using retrovirus technology. We are also stabilizing cells with Flag-USP7 for immunoprecipitation and subsequent mass spectrometry analysis in order to identify autophagy specific USP7 interactors. All these experiments intended to dissect the molecular mechanism by which USP7 is involved in regulation of autophagy.

Future Research plans As we build up the facilities in the lab (to study cell biology) we will investigate overall mechanism with which USP7 would be regulating autophagic process. From the Biogrid data we got a clue that USP7 interacts with ATG10, a protein which is believed to be participating in autophagosome formation. Our preliminary results show that another deubiquitnase USP46 would be involved in autophagy and we will investigate its role and

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mechanism in the process. We will also investigate role of Cullin E3 ligase, CRL4Cdt2 in regulation of autophagy. Finally, we will knockout selected DUBs and E3 ligases in Prostate and breast cancer cell lines to study the role of these proteins in autophagy regulation with respect to disease.

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Mukesh Lodha

Designation- DBT-Ramalingaswami Fellow BT/HRD/35/02/2006 Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Uppal Road, Habsiguda, Hyderabad-500007. Email ID : mukesh.ccmb.res.in Availed Fellowship from : May 01, 2014.

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow Polycomb repressive complex 1 and 2 (PRC1 and PRC2) are best studied. PRC2 subunits are well conserved. Presence of PRC1 has been proposed in plants but clear evidence is missing. PRC1 and 2 deposit repressive histone modifications H3K27 trimethylation and H2A119monubiquitination respectively. Although PRCs and bind to selected targets but their core subunits do not have sequence specific DNA binding. I am interested in cis and trans regulatory factors providing specificity to polycomb complexes. I have taken an approach of protein immunoprecipitation followed by mass spectrometry approach to gain insight into the PRC interacting proteins. Due to lack of antibodies, I have taken a tagging approach for core subunits of PRC2 members. Conditions are standardized for carrying out IPs with high specificity. MSI1-GFP IPs were carried out. Known as well as novel interaction partners were detected. For identification and characterization of cis regulatory elements, we are using a known PRC2 target SHOOT MERISTEMLESS (STM).

I have also asked the question, if all described phenotypes of PRC2 complex encoding genes is due to loss of H3K27 trimetylation or PRC2 has function(s) independent of histone H3K27. I have expressed H3K27M-GFP under H3 promoter. Side by side we have also produced transgenic plants expressing H3K27R-GFP under H3 promoter to dissect the function of methylation and acetylation of K27. Preliminarily, plant phenotype is similar to Polycomb loss of function phenotype. I can conclude from this experiment that major role of Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 is mediated via H3K27me3. This might be different from other model organisms where Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 has been shown to have substrates other than H3 and they have function other than catalytic function.

Future Research plans I will follow the results I have obtained so far. A great deal of effort will be devoted to obtain transgenic plant with tagged Polycomb and Trithorax proteins. Obtained transgenic plants will be used for protein immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry analyses to find new interaction partners of Polycomb. Interactors of Polycomb will be analysed in detail. More replicated of STM ChIP assays will be performed and Polycomb/Trithorax responsive cis regulatory elements will be analysed.

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Naresh Chandra Bal

Associate Professor BT/RLF/Re-entry/41/2014 KIIT School of Biotechnology, Bhubaneswar Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : July 01, 2016

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow After joining as a Ramalingaswami Fellow I have been trying to establish my independent research laboratory. I thought that successful establishment of research lab require procurement of the key instruments which requires significant funding. Therefore, I devoted my first 6 months for applying for additional funding sources. I applied for 4 different opening and was fortunate enough to secure the Early Career Research Award, Department of Science and Technology, India. With this funding, I have successfully installed mice metabolic and exercise facility, with ability to measure oxygen consumption and CO2 production from the whole organism in a non-invasive manner. I have recruited three students for the ongoing research. I had proposed in my Ramalingaswami fellowship application to pursue for functional genomics of skeletal muscle during the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. I have recently established collaboration with Dr. S.K. Bhoi at AIIMS, Bhubaneswar to perform patient based study of skeletal muscle. In parallel, we are trying to develop animal models of type 2 diabetes. We have optimized a mice exercise protocol and western blotting analysis for key proteins in the skeletal muscle and brown fat.

Publications Acknowledging the Fellowship: 1. Mild cold induced thermogenesis: Are BAT and skeletal muscle synergistic partners? Bal NC, Maurya SK, Pani S, Sethy C, Banerjee A, Das S, Patanaik S, Kundu CN. (2017) Bioscience Reports. 37(5). Corresponding Author. 2. Both brown adipose tissue and skeletal muscle thermogenesis processes are activated during mild to severe cold adaptation in mice. Bal NC, Singh S, Reis FCG, Maurya SK, Pani S, Rowland LA and Periasamy M. (2017) Journal of Biological Chemistry. 292(40):16616-16625. Corresponding Author. 3. Sarcolipin: key thermogenic and metabolic regulator in skeletal muscle. Pant M, Bal NC and Periasamy M. (2016) Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism. 27(12):881-892. 4. Increased reliance on muscle based thermogenesis upon acute minimization of brown adipose tissue function. Bal NC, Maurya SK, Singh S, Wehrens XH, and Periasamy M. (2016) Journal of Biological Chemistry. 291(33): 17247-57. Corresponding Author.

Future Research plans We have preliminary data to show that sedentary lifestyle in mice induce upregulation of uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) in the brown adipose tissue. We have also observed downregulation of some proteins involved in store operated calcium entry (SOCE) in the skeletal muscle of sedentary mice. We will be trying to define the role of these proteins

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during different diet-interventions, exercise and sedentary status. We will also try to obtain skeletal muscle biopsies from volunteers with and without type 2 diabetes. We will first analyze the changes in the expression of selected mRNA and proteins in the skeletal muscle of people with diabetes. I have preliminary data to indicate that skeletal muscle can be targeted to counter metabolic disorder including diabetes and planning to apply for funding to conduct research on this theme inside India and abroad.

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Nilabja Sikdar

Ramalingaswami Fellow BT/RLF/Re-entry/05/2012 Human Genetics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 02, 2013

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow Introduction: Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the most common primary malignant disease of the pancreas and the periampullary region, accounts for about 75% of all nonendocrine tumors arising in this region. It is 4th most lethal malignancies. The 5 year survivability rate is below 5%. At the beginning of the 21st century, the estimated number of PC worldwide was 110,000, with an estimated global mortality rate of 98%. Incidence of periampullary adenocarinoma (PACs) is low, approximately 0.5-2% of all gastrointestinal malignancies and 20% of all tumors of the extrahepatic biliary tree. Objectives: To identify the somatic genomic alterations and epigenetically altered genes in PDAC & PAC’s To identify possible altered biological pathways enriched in these cancers. Methodology: DNA samples from Tissue and blood were sequenced for exon sequencing of 412 cancer related genes (NIMBLGNE panel, Custom). Raw fastq files processed using GATK tools and variants identified by Varscan2, MuTect2, STRELKA & MuTect. Same set of data was analyzed by NIBMG in house pipeline (base by base). Altered pathways identified by KEEG. Whole genome DNA methylation was done by Infinium Human Methylation 450K BeadChips array. IDAT files were analyzed using minfi package and subset-quantile within array normalization (SWAN). Results: Analysis by different pipelines identified total 62 SNV’s. Transition was 41 (66%) and Transversion was 29 (34%). Out of these 32 variants (52%) variants was intronic, 18 (29%) were missense, 4 (6%) were synonymous, 4 (6%) were 3’UTR, 3 (5%) were nonsense, and 1 (1.6%) was splice site SNV’s. We observed 14% patients harbored p.A138V mutation at DNA binding domain in TP53 gene. All these mutations were in PDAC and pancreatobiliary subtype of PAC but not in intestinal subtype of PAC. We then observed 76 DMPs have very high differences in between normal and tumor tissues. In between 76 DMPs 42 DMPs were hypermethylated and 34 DMPs hypomethylated. Hypomethylated DMPs were distributed in Gene bodies and Open sea region. Surprisingly, in TCGA genome wide differentially methylation database, we did not observe these 42 differentially methylated genes and from there we conclude that these are the novel DMPs in PDAC. We have observed KRAS oncogenic pathways, interferon alpha/beta signalling, ear morphogenesis, embryonic limb morphogenesis, hypoxia, and cytokine signalling pathways are mainly enriched in PDAC in our patient population.

Future Research plans

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1 TP53 expresssion assay of p.A138V TP53 mutated tissue samples by Immunohistochemistry method for somatic mutation project 2. To check the amplification of ERBB2 in pancreatic and periampullary adenocarcinoma tissue samples 3. To check the expression of the differentially methylated genes in PDAC tissue samples 4. To check the differential methylation of the specific genes in more PDAC samples by methylation specific PCR methods 5. Transcriptomic (RNA Seq) analysis of TP53 A138V mutated and CTNNB1 S45F and wildtype PDAC and PAC samples.

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Niti Kumar

Scientist BT/RLF/Re-entry/07/2012 CSIR-CDRI Email ID : [email protected] or [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : September 04, 2013

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow Investigating the extra-ribosomal functions of ribosomal proteins during stress and infection.

Emerging observations suggest that ribosomal proteins (RPs) play important extra- ribosomal roles in maintenance of cellular homeostasis. They can act as sentinels for cellular perturbations and may influence cellular decision of proliferation or death. However, the mechanistic insights into these processes are not extensively explored. We are trying to investigate the auxiliary functions of selected RPs in pathogenic bacteria. Herein, we present our findings for extra-ribosomal functions of Mycobacteria tuberculosis RPs. M. tb. RPs were selected (from proteomics and microarray data) on the basis of their upregulation M. tb. infections. We observed that amongst the selected RPs, Mtb rpsB and rpsQ were differentially localized in cell wall fraction and exhibited increased biofilm formation. Our SEM data suggested that there was no substantial change in the cell wall morphology in cells overexpressing rpsB and rpsQ. However, cells overexpressing rpsB exhibited tolerance to various proteotoxic stress (oxidative stress, SDS, antibiotic stress and starvation) conditions in comparison to rpsQ overexpressing cells. The cells overexpressing rpsB also showed induction of RelA operon (a stringent stress response operon) which may confer increased tolerance to different proteotoxic stress conditions. These preliminary findings hint toward dynamic roles of RPs in protecting the pathogen against different stress conditions.

Future Research plans Ongoing experiments include (i) checking the transcript levels of other stress operons in cells overexpressing rpsB, (ii) whether surface localization of rpsB affects uptake and survival of pathogen (H37Rv) by host macrophage (THP1) cells.

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Pradeep Punnakkal

Ramalingaswami Fellow Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Biomedical Technology Wing, Poojappura, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala Email ID [email protected], [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : September 2013

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow Mechanism of epileptogenesis in young and adult brain- Role of NMDA receptor subtypes and astrocytes Epilepsy is a neurological disorder, characterized by the occurrence of recurrent seizures. It is estimated about 1% of world population is affected by different forms of epilepsies.Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common type of epilepsy in humans. Manifestation of TLE syndrome may take years following an initial brain insult (head trauma, meningitis, febrile seizures etc), followed by a latent seizure free period of several years before the occurrence of spontaneous recurrent seizures. The antiepileptic drugs (AED) available so far are symptomatic, in which drugs inhibit the seizures but not completely prevent/cure the disease. The process that leads to epilepsy (epileptogenesis) involves temporal changes in the structure and function of neuron or neuronal networks (Ben-Ari and Dudek, 2010). Also the process leading to epileptogenesis and seizure development is different (Stashefe etal., 1989). Understanding the cellular mechanism of epileptogenesis will help us to determine new therapeutic targets to prevent/cure epilepsy. The research proposal aims to investigate the role of 1) NMDA receptor subtypes (NR1/ NR2A-D and NR1/ NR3A-B) in epileptogenesis of young and adult rats.The NR2 subtypes contribute differently to learning and memory and excitotoxicity (Cull-Candy etal., 2001). So studying the NMDA receptor subtype will give us a detailed information regarding the mechanism of epileptogenesis. Long term potentiation (LTP) and long term depression (LTD) are believed to be the model for memory formation. So the next aim 2) is to study LTP and LTD in the hippocampus of young and adult mice with TLE, which will help us to understand the cognitive impairment in TLE. Recently, it is well appreciated that non neuronal cells, like glia (astrocytes and microglia) have a role in the modulation synaptic transmission and plasticity. My aim 3) is to study the contribution of astrocytes in epileptogenesis. These questions will be addressed using behavior, immunohistochemistry and patch clamp technique.

Future Research plans 1) Understanding molecular mechanism of drug resistant epilepsy 2) Descending pain pathways in the spinal cord dorsal horn

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Prathibha Ranganathan

DBT-Ramalingaswami Fellow BT/RLF/Re-entry/18/2012 Centre for Human Genetics, Electronic City, Bangalore Email ID: [email protected] or [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : July 18, 2013

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow Title: Genetic and Epigenetic Landscape of Acquired Chemoresistance: Novel Therapeutic Approaches Chemoresistance is a major concern in the treatment of any kind of cancer. Chemoresistance could be intrinsic or acquired. While intrinsic chemoresistance very often has a genetic basis, acquired chemoresistance is believed to be primarily due to epigenetic changes. The molecular mechanisms underlying acquired chemoresistance remain largely unclear. This study is based on the following hypothesis “upon exposure to drugs, the cancer cells activate signaling pathways and/or epigenetic mechanisms as an adaptive/survival strategy and hence acquire resistance to drug-induced apoptosis.” The resistant tumors would therefore exhibit differential expression of genes, differential activation of signaling pathways and epigenetic mechanisms as compared to the primary tumors. Hence, blocking one or more of these pathways may be useful in resensitizing tumors for therapy. The project aimed at understanding the molecular mechanisms responsible for acquired chemoresistance using lung cancer as a model system.

Over the last few years, our group has developed cell-based models for understanding chemoresistance. These cells have been characterized in terms of their response to drugs as well as changes in expression of genes including miRNAs. We have also initiated work to look at differential methylation of promoters, which may be responsible for conferring the resistant phenotype. In the process of characterizing the resistant cells, it was observed that some signaling pathways might have differential activation status in the resistant cells. We are therefore trying to pharmacologically block these signaling pathways and check the effect on the resistance property. We are also screening some natural compounds for their ability to reverse or delay the onset of resistance.

Future Research plans The broad interest of my laboratory is to understand chemoresistance and the work done over the last 4-5 years has given us many leads towards the same. Some of the work I would like to carry out in future are as follows: • Functional validation of the chemoresistance genes and pathways in cell-line models as well as clinical samples. • Understanding changes in chromatin architecture: It is now well established that changes in chromatin architecture govern gene expression changes. In order to get a comprehensive understanding of the molecular changes during development of

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chemoresistance, understanding chromatin architectural changes becomes very important. I intend employing 3C based techniques for this purpose. This work is being planned in collaboration with NTU, Singapore. • Studies on other solid tumors: I am planning to expand my research activities into getting a more comprehensive idea of chemoresistance in not only lung cancer, but other solid tumors such as ovarian, breast and prostate cancers. I intend to understand chemoresistance from multiple perspectives, so as to be able to identify better therapeutic strategies. The assays developed during the course of these studies and some of the findings would also be useful in prognostic tests in a clinical set up. We have initiated studies on breast cancer to understand the role of estrogen in regulating ECM remodelling genes and the possible role in endocrine-resistance (in collaboration with IIT-Guwahati, funded by DBT). We also have initiated studies to understand castrate-resistance in prostate cancer in collaboration with Institute of Nephro-Urology, Bangalore (funded by RGUHS, Karnataka) • Role of tumor-microenvironment on resistance to chemotherapy: The microenvironment is very likely to have a major role in making drugs available to the tumor, and also in how the tumor responds to it. If this relationship is well understood, this might open up a whole new avenue for addressing the problem of therapeutics.

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Raghav Rajan

Ramalingaswami Fellow BT/HRD/35/02/2006 IISER Pune Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : May 01, 2013

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow My lab is broadly interested in understanding how neural activity generates behaviours that are important for an organism. We use the zebra finch, a songbird, as our model system. Adult male zebra finches begin their song bouts with a variable number of short repeated sounds called introductory notes (INs). We have previous suggested that these INs represent a warm-up process by which the zebra finch brain gets “ready” to produce song. In the last 5 years, we have extended this line of research further and the main results are summarised below.

1.We have shown that neural activity in a premotor nucleus, HVC, begins to change hundreds of milliseconds before the start of the first IN of a song bout. These changes are correlated with INs successfully progressing to song and appear to be an early indicator of whether the bird is going to produce song or not. 2. We have shown that properties of INs change very little over the course of 3 years. Further, peripheral sensory feedback appears to play a small role in controlling the properties of INs. 3. We have found significant correlations in the properties of INs between individual birds and their fathers. To determine whether IN properties are learned or innate, we are currently artificially tutoring young birds that have been reared without exposure to their father. Preliminary results suggest both innate and learned components. 4. Finally, we have used head implanted microphones to accurately record the amplitude of zebra finch courtship songs produced in the presence of a female. With increasing distance from the female, we have shown that many features of song including amplitude become similar to the properties of songs produced in the absence of the female.

Future Research plans Listed below are three broad questions that my lab will continue to pursue in the near future. 1. Adult zebra finch song bouts are initiated with a variable number of short syllables called introductory notes (INs). INs are thought to represent motor preparation in the brain. Currently we are looking at how INs are produced and what role they may play in song initiation.

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2. Male zebra finches produce courtship song in the presence of a female zebra finch. This courtship song differs from song produced when the bird is alone, in many different ways. We are interested in understanding how the brain recognizes the two contexts and alters song accordingly. 3. Finally, we are also interested in how female zebra finches develop preferences for male zebra finch song.

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Rahul Das

Assistant Professor BT/RLF/Re-entry/14/2014 Department of Biological Sciences Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER) Kolkata Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : May 20, 2016

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow Downstream signal-transduction in T-cell is triggered by the formation of immunological synapse at the intersection of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) on antigen- presenting cells and T-cell receptor (TCR) complex. The signalling is initiated by recruiting Zeta-chain- Associated Protein kinase (ZAP-70), a non-receptor tyrosine kinase, to the plasma membrane. ZAP-70, which plays a critical role in T-cell development and activation is a dynamic molecular switch that toggles between an inactive and an active state. The underlying mechanism of coupling between the ZAP-70 dynamics and signaling dynamics are poorly understood. ZAP-70 is comprised of tandem SH2 domain (t-SH2), which is made up of N-SH2 and C-SH2 domains, and a carboxy-terminal kinase domain. The t-SH2 domain serves as a central regulatory unit for ZAP-70 activation. Binding of antigen to T-cell receptor (TCR) results in phosphorylation of tyrosine residues on the ITAM motifs in the cytosolic domain of CD3+ and –zeta chain. ZAP-70 co- operatively binds to the doubly phosphorylated ITAM (Y2p-ITAM) motifs through the t- SH2 domain, leading to activation of the kinase domain. The detail mechanism of recognition of Y2p-ITAM motifs and the basis of co-operativety between the N-SH2 and C-SH2 domain are unknown. In this proposal, we have focused our efforts to understand the allosteric network that couples the N- and C- SH2 domain. We proposed to take an interdisciplinary approach such as NMR spectroscopy, biochemistry and cell Biology to understand the role of underline dynamic network in regulating ZAP-70 mediated signaling. We will achive our goal through following objectives: 1. To assign backbone resonance of tandem SH2-domains bound to doubly phosphorylated ITAM peptide by NMR spectroscopy. 2. To map allosteric network of ITAM peptide binding. 3. To determine the role of backbone dynamics of tandem SH2 domains in regulation of ZAP-70. We have completed the objective-1 and validating the results from objective-2, by using biochemical and cell based assay.

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Future Research plans Objective 2 : To map allosteric network of ITAM peptide binding. The allosteric connectivity is being tested by titrating the doubly phosphorylated ITAM peptide and tSH2 domain of ZAP70 by using NMR spectroscopy. Currently we are analyzing the NMR titration data. Preliminary investigation suggest that the most of the residues broadens over a range of peptide concentration without showing any signifiant chemical shift. Objective 3: To determine the role of backbone dynamics of tandem SH2 domains in regulation of ZAP-70. The backbone dynamic will be investigated using H/D exchange experiment. To translate our observation to functional studies of Zap-70 will be carried in a cell base studies. In the next year we will start working on the development of cell base assays to determine the role of functional dynamics in activation of ZAP-70.

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R.Senthilkumar

Assistant Professor [C] BT/RLF/Re-entry/42/2012 Department of Biochemistry, Rayalaseema University, Kurnool, AP Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 01, 2013

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow Alcohol consumption can interfere with the function of all parts of the gastrointestinal tract (GI). Alcohol-induced digestive disorders and mucosal damage in the GI can cause a variety of medical problems. These include a loss of appetite and a multitude of abdominal complaints, such as nausea, vomiting, feelings of fullness, flatulence, and abdominal pain. In addition, alcohol plays a role in the development of cancers of the GI tract. Within the GI tract, maintaining the balance of bacterial flora is important to normal digestive function. Chronic, heavy alcohol consumption alters both the balance of bacterial flora within the GI tract and the permeability to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The vascular architecture linking the GI tract with the liver, thus, leads to increased intrahepatic LPS levels and the stimulation/activation of the liver's resident macrophage (Kupffer cell; KC) population. Once activated, KCs synthesize and release a range of proinflammatory cytokines (e.g., tumor necrosis factor-α, prostaglandins, interleukins), which can act in either an autocrine or paracrine manner to further activate KCs or neighboring cell populations. Indeed, the significance of KCs in mediating the deleterious effects of alcohol on the liver has been eloquently demonstrated through the use of antibiotics to reduce total GI bacteria, or the depletion of KCs. Using these approaches ethanol-related hepatic injury is significantly inhibited. Therefore, we hypothesize that the regulation of G-protein coupled receptors in gastrointestinal smooth muscle affects by alcohol is due, in part, to the calcium channels (CaV) especially the CaV b subunit. Protein kinase C (PKC) phosphorylation of α1 subunit of CaV channels and the activation of specific PKC isozymes causes the opening of calcium channels and the Ca2+ influx. The identification of the isozyme/s involved in the regulation of CaV channels and the mechanism of inhibition of their response by CaV b will contribute to the development of more specific agents to treat gastritis with fewer side effects. Our work focuses on understanding the molecular basis of signaling mechanisms mediated by G protein-coupled receptors in gastrointestinal smooth muscle. In the GI tract both excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters modulate muscle tone by activation of such G protein cascades. Much of our work on the role of neurotransmitters has focused on how these transmitters affect the contraction and relaxations of smooth muscle that are responsible for peristaltic activity of the gut. The involvement of various signaling pathways is both receptor- and tissue-specific. Our studies using both biochemical and molecular biological approaches are directed to identify the specific

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signaling pathways initiated by both excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters. Identifying the intracellular mechanisms involved in smooth muscle contraction and relaxation are pertinent to understand the normal function and some of the changes associated with motility disorders. Objectives:

A) To determine the prophylactic/adverse effects of glycine B) To identify the PKC isozymes that regulates the calcium channels properties C) To explore that which calcium channels are involved in the alcohol-induced inflammation D) To identify the alcohol induced-G-protein coupled receptor expression in the gastric mucosa and find out the signaling pathways

Future Research plans Objective A. I am writing the article to submit the journals and would like to do few more gene expression studies. Objective B: Protein kinase C (PKC) Alpha and epsilon are involved in the regulation of calcium channels that expressed in HUVEC (Objective B) and I have to do more functional studies in this regard. Objective C: I have ordered the calcium channels subunits antibodies especially Cav 2.2 α1 subunit after carefully gone through the literature. It will be useful for an identification of voltage gated calcium channels in alcohol-induced inflammation and I have to do more functional studies in this regard. Objective D: I am planning to purchase the mice gastric mucosal primary cells to find the G protein coupled receptor expression and regulation of signaling cascade in alcohol-induced inflammation. However, I have used HUVEC and found the GPCR- Toll like receptor 2 [TLR2] expressions after alcohol induction. I am planning to do more functional studies in this regard. Our research is also focused on examining the changes in the signal transduction pathways leading to altered motility during gastric inflammation affects of alcohol. Studies include identification of changes in the expression and activity of key signaling molecules by both transcriptional and post- translational mechanism. The long-term goal is to uncover novel cytokine targets that regulate G protein function and altered response of the smooth muscle during alcoholic gastritis. Additional Future Research Plan : The ideal drug for the treatment of diabetes (when replenishing the islets is not an option) will decrease blood glucose when it increased and remain inactive when its concentration is low. However, most hypoglycemic agents used currently released insulin irrespective of the concentration of blood glucose, and thus leading to hypoglycemia and other complications associated with it. [Ca2+]i is required for both the first and second phases of insulin secretion. The first phase of insulin secretion is released from readily releasable pool (RRP)/immediately released pool (IRP) but opening Cav 1.0 channels. Cav 2.0 channels are the likely mediators of the second phases of insulin secretion. The ideal scenario required of a drug for diabetes was observed in β3-/- mice as reported recently. The secretion of insulin increased only with the stimulatory concentration of glucose and not at the basal level of glucose in these animals. The increased insulin secretion in the absence of Cav β subunits (as β3-/-) suggests that these genes negatively regulated insulin secretion. In this proposal we are investigating the mechanisms responsible for the increased insulin

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secretion associated with the silencing of the Cav β subunits. Currently, little work has been done on treatment of diabetes by silencing the beta subunits of Cav channels. Our Preliminary studies revealed a new property of Cav β subunits, i.e., inhibition of PKC responsiveness of Cav channels by targeting the Cav α1 subunits. The regulation of the major subunit of an ion channel by its auxiliary subunits, the Cav β, is a new concept in the modulation of ion channels. We believe that the inhibition of PKC responsiveness of Cav α1 subunits by Cav β is the basis for its negative regulation of insulin secretion. Hence, the identification of Cav β, Cav α1 and the PKC isozymes involved their application in diabetic animals by the implicated Cav β and PKC isozymes and finding the expression of GPCR mediated signaling pathway in insulin secreting cells will provide the basis for employing a new treatment strategy for diabetes.

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Rajesh Kumar T

Associate Professor BT/RLF/Re-entry/37/2013 JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research (Formerly known as JSS University) Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : June 01, 2015

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow Currently, many cities in India are facing the wrath of air pollution, primarily caused by traffic, industrial and domestic emissions, on public health, particularly affecting our children. In India besides tobacco smoking, exposure to ambient air pollution is also a major risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as well as increases the burden of risk of COPD acute exacerbations. Studies from Western world have linked exposures to particulate matter air pollution with poor lung development in children as well as accelerated lung function decline in adults. Furthermore, in adolescent with lower lung function have increased risk for adult COPD, cardiovascular disease and mortality. The main objective of my current project is to identify underlying the cellular and molecular mechanisms how exposures particulate matter (PM) air pollution causes lung injury and impacts lung growth and pulmonary innate immune defenses. First, using in vitro model systems, we are elucidating the key components and the mechanisms how PM induce oxidative stress and the role of lung antioxidants in defending against PM toxicity. Second, using juvenile mouse models, we are investigating whether and how PM or its key components effects lung growth and macrophage functions; third, using sputum samples from smoker and non-smoker (biomass fuel smoke exposed) COPD patients, we are investigating predominant bacteria associated in the airways and its relation with AE- COPD and fourth, we are assessing the effects of ambient air pollution levels on lung function decline in general population (residing in Mysore). Successful completion of project will help in uncovering the health impact and elucidating the mechanisms of PM induced injury. More importantly, will uncover potential chemo-protective approaches to mitigate the adverse effects of air pollution.

Future Research plans With rapid urbanization in India, the air pollution is going to further worsen and will continue to have adverse impact on health of children, adults and geriatric population. In view of this, my future research plan will focus on mechanistic driven translational research integrating patient and population research. Currently, our lab is also involved in establishing a medicinal plant library as well as screening and identifying potential phytochemicals targeting Nrf2 signals. Nrf2 is a transcription factor, which induces nearly all antioxidants and phase II detoxification enzymes. My future research plan will

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involve 1) testing and developing phytochemicals or dietary supplements targeting Nrf2 signaling to increase antioxidants defenses and phase II enzymes to enhance detoxification of air pollutants and mitigate adverse health effects. In collaboration with clinician and epidemiologist, we will establish a cohort of children residing in areas with high and low air pollution and assess respiratory and cardiovascular health biomarkers and also identify factors such as traffic type and distance to major roads, land use pattern, nutrition and physical activity, which influences the exposure levels as well as overall health. Being in Institute with Medical College & Hospital and Pharmacy College, we have established an active working collaboration with clinicians, epidemiologist, nutritionist and medicinal chemist to achieve the proposed research plan.

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Ravi Kasiappan

DBT-Ramalingaswami Fellow/AcSIR Assistant Professor BT/RLF/Re-entry/02/2014 Department of Biochemistry, CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore Email ID: [email protected]; [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : July 01, 2016

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow Breast cancer is the most common malignancy diagnosed in women, and the incidence of breast cancer is increasing every year. Obesity (adipose tissue) has been identified as one of the major risk factors for breast cancer progression. The mechanisms by which obesity contributes to breast cancer development is not yet understood. Recent emerging evidence suggests that dysregulation of miRNAs function and/or expression have been shown to influence several diseases including cancer and obesity. However, the role of miRNAs that are deregulated in obesity-induced risk of breast cancer is totally unknown and there are no specific therapies directed to prevent or reverse this obesity-linked breast cancer. Therefore, we hypothesized that miRNAs are critical regulators of obesity- associated breast cancer and the dysregulation of specific miRNAs in obesity might contribute to enhanced susceptibility of breast cancer. Herein, we investigated the consequences of adipocyte-associated breast cancer (AAC) microenvironment on miRNA expression by using indirect co-culture system in vitro. We identified 98 differentially expressed miRNAs in AAC using small RNA sequencing. Ten up/down regulated miRNAs were subsequently validated by using qRT-PCR in AAC. Using Gene Set Enrichment Analysis, we demonstrated that predicted mRNA targets of the miRNAs significantly regulated many genes associated with tumor suppressor, transcription factors, protein kinases, oncogene and protein regulators. Further, Genego Metacore Pathway analysis revealed that “development of NOTCH-induced EMT” was found to be most abundant followed by “development of WNT signaling” and “Calcium signaling” in AAC. The biological functions including diabetes mellitus, epilepsy and colorectal cancer were significantly affected by differential expression of miRNAs in AAC. Gene ontology distribution of miRNA targets revealed that transcription of DNA-templated in biological process, nucleus in cellular component, and protein binding in molecular function were significantly altered in AAC as compared to control cells. This study provides preliminary data for defining miRNA profiles with associated deregulation of pathways and biological functions may predispose or drive the breast cancer progression in obese patients.

Future Research plans Our preliminary study identified the mRNA targets of significantly regulated miRNAs and their affected pathways and biological functions in adipocytes-associated breast cancer cells. In future, we will determine the biological significances of identified miRNA on cell cycle dynamics, growth, apoptosis and metastasis by using in vitro co-culture breast cancer cells with adipocytes. Further, we will validate the novel targets of candidate

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miRNAs and validate their role in alleviation of obesity-linked breast cancer. We will determine the in vivo role of candidate miRNAs in obese-induced breast tumorigenesis using a mouse model in which animals placed on a high-fat diet become obese and develop breast cancer. This study will allow us to gain a better understanding of the role and mechanisms by which miRNA molecules regulates the pathogenesis of obesity associated with breast cancer, which leads to metastatic and aggressive breast cancer phenotype. This study will also define the translational potential of candidate miRNAs in preclinical obesity-promoted breast tumor mouse models and it may be used as prognostic or predictive biomarkers for breast cancer.

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Sachin Kumar

Senior Scientist BT/RLF/Re-entry/28/2014 Pharmacology Division, Central Drug Research Institute-CSIR, sector 10, Jankipuram extension, Sitapur Road, Lucknow- Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : May 31, 2016

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow The present project deals with role of RhoA GTPase in neutrophil chemotaxis and functions during inflammation (start date 31st May 2016). Firstly importance of RhoA GTPase in chemo-attractant induced neutrophil adhesion, migration, and polarization was determined using diverse experimental approaches. The observed significant decrease in the adhesion of the neutrophils in the presence of Rho associated kinase inhibitor (Y-27632), imply a key role of Rho signaling in neutrophil adhesion. Cytoskeletal reorganization including actin dynamics is essential for proper function and migration of neutrophils. As expected, fMLP induced stimulation led to elongated shape with lamillopodium containing polymerized F-actin at front and a contractile tail at back/ uropod of neutrophils. Interestingly, treatment of Rho signaling inhibitor, Y27632 led to elongated tail with abnormal multiple F-actin protrusions at leading edge, which indicates loss of polarity and a possible defect in migration. In agreement with this, we observed a significant decline in numbers of migrated neutrophils towards lower chamber of transwell chamber containing chemokine fMLP in presence of Y-27632. Similar results were observed with another small-molecule inhibitor of Rho A transcriptional signaling CCG-1423. These results suggest a strong relation between polarity maintenance and persistent migration. Mechanistic experiments suggested Inhibition of Rho signaling led to significant decrease in activity of MLC. pMLC localized to uropod of control neutrophil in response to fMLP, in contrast Y-27632 treated neutrophils exhibited defective polarized localization of pMLC in neutrophils. We further explored effect of Rho A signaling on neutrophil functions including ROS generation and phagocytosis. Rho ¬signaling seems to be dispensable for phagocytosis of FITC labeled bacteria or PE coated latex beads. ROS generation in suspension was Rho A independent, while neutrophil ROS generation under adherent condition was Rho A signaling dependent.

Future Research plans So far we have performed experiments to define the role of Rho A in neutrophil polarity and migration under in-vitro settings. We also standardized functional assay including neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETs) that neutrophils release as DNA along with histone proteins and proteases to trap the microbes. Other experiments will test role of Rho A in neutrophil survival and degranulation along with its effect of bactericidal capacity. Further experiment will be performed to identify key signaling pathways, real time actin dynamics, and cytoskeletal reorganization, using western blotting, Immuno-fluorescence approaches and flow cytometric analysis. Other objective of this study deals with

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determination of RhoA function in neutrophil transendothelial migration and recruitment to inflamed tissue in vivo. We have now developed setup to investigate the same.

Further different in-vivo models will be established and alternative approaches will be utilized to identify role of RhoA in neutrophil migration in-vivo. We will further test effect of Rho A targeting in acute lung injury and other inflammatory disorder models. Besides this we have some interesting leads regarding regulation of Rho A signaling in neutrophils, that will be really intriguing for pursue. Significance of this research work lies in the fact that inflammation is the body's protective response to injury and infection, but uncontrolled inflammation cause tissue damage/injury. Undoubtedly, neutrophils are major effectors of acute and chronic inflammation, as dys-regulation of neutrophil migratory and ROS processes lead to or exuberate inflammatory disorders/ tissue injury. Further experiments will test mitigation of neutrophil recruitment and activation via pharmacological approach in LPS induced lung and peritoneal inflammation models.

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Senjuti Sinharoy

Staff Scientist III Sanction No. BT/RLF/Re-entry/41/2013 National Institute of Plant Genome Research Email ID: [email protected] or [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : June 01, 2015

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow To get a dynamic view of plant dedifferentiation during Arachis aschynomenoid root nodule development we performed RNAseq on nodule developmental time points. To understand the gradual propagation of aschynomenoid nodule development, we focused on the differentially expressed genes in successive time points. By 6 days post bacterial inoculation (dpi), we have noticed root cortical cells division and bacterial entry to cortex through epidermal developmental cracks. According to the GO analysis genes can be clustered mainly in cell wall organization and biogenesis, response to stress, response to a stimulus, protein phosphorylation and oxidation-reduction process. Interestingly we have noticed upregulation of six polygalacturonase gene by 6dpi. Polygalacturonase promote fruit ripening by cell wall degradation. We are speculating, rhizobium induces plant polygalacturonase is promoting plant cell wall degradation, which is necessary for crack invasion. Arachis nodule attained its typical aschynomenoid character (all cells are infected in the cortex) by 10dpi. According to the GO analysis of the induced genes, they are mainly clustered in the cell cycle, DNA replication, chromosome organization, nuclear division, signal transduction, protein phosphorylation and GTP signalling suggested that between 6-10dpi majorities of the nodule developmental program gets upregulated. Additionally, we have noticed induction of genes associated with lipid and carbohydrate metabolism. The huge upregulation of cell division and chromatin remodelling related genes indicate the dedifferentiation and division of the cortical cells. CCS52 is a WD domain containing proteins, acts as a substrate-specific activator of the anaphase- promoting complex (APC). By modulating APC activity CCS52 pushes the mitotic cell cycle towards endoreduplication. Two putative CCS52 genes induce ~ 380 by 10dpi. Suggested like model legumes also in Arachis aschynomenoid nodule host cell endoreduplication is prerequisite during nodule development. By 15 and 21 dpi the prevalent GO terms are enzymatic activity and transport activity. This is coincided with the onset of enormous amount of the nitrogen fixation by peanut nodule.

Future Research plans 1. Validating the RNAseq data by qRT-PCR. 2. Validating the RNAseq data by promoter-GUS analysis. 3. We are generating a database with our RNAseq data and also curating the annotation of gene families, in the diploid peanut genome.

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4. We are generating the orthologue list between peanut, Medicago and Lotus (Medicago and Lotus are model legume). 5. A comparative transcriptomics will be undertaken between peanut and Medicago. 6. We are trying to understand the role of polygalacturonase during the crack invasion of bacteria in the peanut nodule. 7. To increase the nitrogen fixation efficiency of chickpea we have already standardised composite plant generation techniques (when root is transformed and shoot is non- transformed). The Medicago truncatula Numerous Infections and Polyphenolics/Lateral root-organ Defective (LATD/NIP) gene encodes a nitrate transporter which is required for root and nodule meristem development (Veereshlingam et al., 2004; Bright et al., 2005; Liang et al., 2007; Yendrek et al., 2010; Bagchi et al., 2012; Léran et al., 2013). In collaboration with Prof. Rebecca Dickstein (University of North Texas, USA) and Dr. Debasis Chattopadhyay (Staff Scientist, NIPGR) we have generated a pEFa-MtNIP chickpea over expression line, we obtained the T0 plants. The nodule formation and nitrogen fixation efficiency will be evaluated in the T1 and T2 generation.

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Shamprasad Varija Raghu

Ramalingaswami Fellow Mangalore University Email ID : [email protected]; [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : July 01, 2015

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow Color vision enables animals to visually discriminate objects based on their spectral properties. It facilitates efficient object recognition, such as identification of food sources or choosing mates. Color visions in insects have been demonstrated based on associative- learning strategies in Drosophila and behavioral strategies in Butterflies. However the contributions of each photoreceptors types, neuronal circuits, genes and different neurotransmitter systems to color vision have not been conclusively established.

Drosophila can discriminate two colored visual stimuli associated with sugar reward. New experimental set up has been designed in which two color stimulations of different wavelength/intensities can be presented to flies. In collaboration with Dr. Krushnamegh Kunte, National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore a new trichromatic behavioral assay for Butterflies (Papilio Polytes) has been established to test their trichromatic color preference. Currently we are using these robust assays to understand the role of different genes and neural circuits involved in color vision.

Future Research plans

1. Test different human homologous genes in insects associated with color vision 2. Investigate on neuronal circuitry of color vision using different genetic manipulations 3. Analyze the role of different neurotransmitters involved in color discrimination in insects 4. Functional network between different neuronal populations that is responsible for detecting different color stimulus

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Sharmistha Majumdar

Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences & Engineering BT/RLF/Re-entry/43/2013 Indian Institute of Technology-Gandhinagar Email ID [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : May 2015

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow Mobile genetic elements or transposons, which have been found in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, constitute large portions of most eukaryotic genomes and have profound effects on gene expression and genome evolution. However, the biochemical mechanisms governing the transposition reaction are not well understood. The human genome contains ~ 50 genes that were derived from transposable elements and many are now integral components of cellular gene expression programs. Our research focuses on characterising the newly discovered vertebrate homologs (THAP9) of the Drosophila P element transposase (TNP). The TNP protein, which is an active transposase found in fruit flies, is involved in the cleavage and subsequent integration of mobile P-element DNA transposon. P-elements are a family of DNA-based transposons in Drosophila melanogaster that move about the fruit fly genome, cause hybrid dysgenesis and have been used extensively as tools for Drosophila genetics and genomics.

THAP9, is a member of the THAP protein family, which consists of twelve members in humans and is characterized by a conserved amino-terminal THAP domain and a relatively uncharacterized carboxy terminal region. THAP9 shares significant amino acid sequence homology with the THAP domain (involved in zinc-dependent DNA-binding), leucine-zipper coiled-coil dimerization domain, GTP-binding domain and catalytic domain of the Drosophila TNP. Somewhat unexpectedly, we have demonstrated that THAP9 still retains the catalytic activity to mobilize P transposable elements across species. This is the first report, beyond the V(D)J recombination system, of an active DNA transposase in the human genome. The exact cellular function and physiological role of human THAP9 is, however, still unknown and is the focus of my research. Our current investigations include (1) Global analysis of Drosophila P element transposon-related genes as well as other transposon-derived genes in vertebrate genomes, (2) Mechanisms, regulation and functions of the vertebrate transposase THAP9 and its role in DNA binding and cleavage, possible nucleotide binding and oligomerization.

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Future Research plans We are currently trying to understand THAP9’s function by investigating if it is essential, its DNA target sites in the genome, its interaction partners, role of oligomerization and GTP binding and its evolutionary relationship with other identified THAP proteins. The long-term goal of my research is to elucidate the evolution of transposable elements by investigating the mechanism of transposition and its control as well as the possible modification of these functions in specific mobile elements and their derivatives. In the future, I also plan to exploit the transposition function of transposable elements to construct useful tools for genome engineering and gene therapy. It was long believed that transposable elements primarily jump in bacteria and lower eukaryotes (plants, flies). However, this dogma has been overturned with the discovery that human LINE-1 retrotransposition can occur in the human brain, embryonic stem cells and in human cancers (epithelial tumors, colon, lung). . It is exciting to think that human THAP9 maybe another mobile element that has been furtively moving around the human genome.

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Shobi Veleri

Ramalingaswami Fellow BT/RLF/Re-entry/04/2014 CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, INDIA - PIN 695 019 Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : January 01, 2016

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow The cilia are organelles present on almost all cells in human body. They are playing critical role in embryogenesis and are essential for functioning of many organs like brain and eye. The functioning of cilia is depending on ~1000 genes. Some of them are essential for building the cilia e.g. BBS9 and CC2D2A, and others are required for maintaining the cilia e.g. RAB28. The mutations in BBS9 and CC2D2A are known to cause debilitating multi-system disorders in humans. Mutations in RAB28 result in blindness. Currently, these diseases have no cure. To devise therapy mechanism of disease pathogenesis must be understood. I’m investigating the functional role of C2 domain of CC2D2A, RAB28 and BBS9 in cilium. For this, mutations reported in patients for C2 domain of CC2D2A, RAB28 and BBS9 have been mimicked by knockdown method in ciliated cells. The project is in progress. The result of gene knockdown will provide insight on functional role of CC2D2A, RAB28 and BBS9 in cilia that will pave way for development of therapy for ciliopathies.

Future Research plans The current research is expected to give new information on the role of C2 domain of CC2D2A in cilia. It will also give new insight on how C2 domain connects to trafficking vesicles directed to cilium or to cell cycle and ciliogenesis. The role of molecules linking ciliogenesis and cycle will lead to insight on how centrioles are licensed for ciliogenesis or cell cycle. This will be analyzed in detail. The role of BBS9 is not well established in cilia. The insight obtained from current research will be followed up in detail. This is expected to link the trafficking modules like Rabs with BBS in cilia. The analysis of Rab28 will help understand how Rabs maintain the functioning of cilia. Rab28 interacting partners will be identified. Rab28’s role also will be analyzed in neuronal cell culture. This will help delineate the how rabs are utilized in for cilia/neuron development and maintenance. Further research will examine the finer steps of ciliogenesis and disassembly, which has implication for understanding the basis of cancer. Further, a new project is conceived to analyze the role of a cilia specific channel protein in male infertility. This will develop a new direction to understand the role of cilia reproductive biology.

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Sivaprakash Ramalingam

Senior Scientist BT/RLF/Re-entry/45/2013 CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : March 02, 2015

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow

v Human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSCs) lines were created from beta- thalassemia patient somatic cells v Somatic cells from hemophila-B patient was reprogrammed to hiPSCs v Characterization of hiPSC cells confirmed the pluripotency. v Generated sgRNA/Cas9 constructs targeting beta-globin and F9 genes and validated their activity in HEK293T cells using GFP reporter system. v Donor constructs with appropriate homology arms were constructed for beta- globin and F9 gene correction in hiPSCs

Future Research plans I will perform the genetic correction of hemophilia-B mutation in hiPSCs using engineered hF9-specific sgRNA/Cas9 with donor DNA molecule and to accomplish the differentiation of gene-corrected and mutant (control) hiPSCs into hepatocytes. Furthermore, to study the expression of hF9 in hepatic cells. Quantitative PCR will be performed to analyze the hepatic marker genes in differentiated cells.I plan to achieve functional correction of HBB gene mutation in beta-thalassemia hiPSCs using engineered sgRNA/Cas9 and differentiate gene-corrected and mutant (control) hiPSCs into erythroid cells. In vitro differentiation of the SCD-corrected and uncorrected (control) hiPSCs will be done in 2 steps: (1) Cystic EB formation and (2) Erythroid expansion and maturation for 8 days. The HBB gene expression will be analyzed in gene corrected and mutant (control) erythrocytes.

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Soumyadeep Nandi

Ramalingaswami Fellow BT/RLF/Re-entry/48/2013 Institute of advanced Study in Science and Technology Email ID : [email protected]

Availed Fellowship from : February 18, 2015

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow

The mechanism of generation of a wide range of highly ordered and reproducible cell types from a single-cell embryo still remain the area of active research. Albeit all cells in a multicellular organism carry an identical genome, they develop a distinct cellular lineage. Studies have revealed that the maintenance of cell lineage identity is controlled by major determinants, namely the transcription factor (TF), DNA-methylation, non-coding RNA molecules, post-translational modifications of the histones and Polycomb complexes. These epigenetic regulators work in an orchestrated fashion. The TFs do not regulate the gene expression individually. They interact among themselves to regulate the gene expression, a.k.a. cis-regulatory modules (CRM), which is non-random in nature. Despite numerous studies, the catalog of the interacting TFs is yet to be complete. Therefore, to address this problem we have designed a method to determine the CRM in Drosophila. In this method, we have integrated the existing TFs binding site information to the computational prediction. This integration has enabled us to determine few novel CRMs those are enriched in the genome of Drosophila. Recently, with the advent of the technological advancement, we are overwhelmed with the colossal amount of information from genomics. With the emergence of such vast data, we confront the challenge of sequence analysis. Most often biologist tries to infer evolutionary relationship among sequences. The traditional alignment-based method for such studies has certain limitations. A number of studies have proposed non-alignment based method as an alternative approach. We developed an alignment-free algorithm for faster sequence analysis. The novelty of our approach is the inclusion of fuzzy integral algorithm with Markov chain. The method estimates the parameter of a Markov chain by considering the frequencies of occurrence of all possible nucleotide pairs from each DNA-sequence, which is further utilized to calculate similarity among all pairwise combinations of DNA- sequences.

Future Research plans As mentioned above, epigenetic factors such as transcription factor, DNA methylation, non-coding RNA molecules, histone modifications and Polycomb complexes, influencing the gene expression. Recently, from transcriptomic studies of mammalian genomes, the

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presence of an extremely large population of non-coding RNA molecules in the transcripts expressed in cells have been revealed. Presence of such large collection of ncRNA might indicate the regulatory potential of these molecules. Based on the size of these ncRNAs they can be roughly grouped into short RNAs (microRNA or piwi-interacting RNAs), and long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), longer than 200 nucleotides and are transcribed mostly by RNA polymerase II. These lncRNAs contain 5'7-methylguanosine cap and 3' poly(A) tail but lack coding potential. This new class of genes is recently identified in various tissues. The function of the micro RNAs is well studied, whereas, the mode of action of the lncRNAs in gene regulation is not well understood. ENCODE project has annotated thousands of lncRNA in various cells. Studies are yet to be carried out for functional annotation of these lncRNAs. The regulatory potential of lncRNAs can be underscored from earlier studies in X-chromosomal dosage compensation where the mechanism is carried out by the concerted action of lncRNAs and protein complexes. Also, many studies showed that in Drosophila two enzymes in the Male-Specific Lethal complex bind to a conserved domain in roX1 and roX2. Many recent studies have, however, showed the evidence of lncRNA playing important role in normal physiology and in many diseases, such as embryonic stem cell maintenance, differentiation, and development, antiviral response, gene imprinting, cancer progression and vernalization in plants. As a case study, we are identifying and characterizing lncRNA involved in myogenesis. The identified lncRNA would be later studied in light of the other epigenetic regulator to understand the overall mechanism of the differentiation.

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Subhojit Sen

Ramalingaswami Fellow D.O. NO. BT/HRD/35/02/2006 UM-DAE Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences Email ID [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : September 01, 2013

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow Title: Evaluating conserved mechanisms of stress induced gene silencing from humans cancers to Chlamydomonas.

Environmental stress leads to epigenetic silencing of tumor suppressor genes (TSGs), creating a fertile background for cancers to proliferate. Our previous work has demonstrated how oxidative stress links three epigenetic pathways i.e. Polycomb (PRC2/4), HDACs (Histone modifiers) and DNA methylation (DNMTs), to mediate gene silencing in mammalian cells1. Using a modified sequential-ChIP approach to map these epigenetic marks genome-wide in a stem cell model, we uncovered an anti-correlation between stem-cell-specific bivalent chromatin and H2A.Z versus DNA methylation2. Expanding this to a paradigm of environmentally induced cancers (smoke extract) and primary tumors versus senescent cells, we observed differential modules of genes affected by DNA methylation3, an observation harboring prognostic potential. To further understand the common denominator in these epigenetic drivers of cancer, we are developing Chlamydomonas as model to track gene silencing. By studying PEV (variegation) of an antibiotic resistance phenotype, generated using a randomly integrated transgene (PmR), we have developed a three step epigenetic assay which can monitor both de novo as well as maintenance mechanisms (at Step B and C respectively). By classifying responses to inhibitors (HDACi and DNMTi), the clones were grouped into differential bins, effectively demonstrating that transgene silencing in Chlamydomonas is governed by DNA methylation4. In parallel, we have developed novel methodologies to generate nucleosomal ladders in Chlamydomonas5, that serve as substrates for molecular screens [DNA methylation (MSRE, bisulfite mapping) and histone modifications (ChIP)]. Further developing on metal ion stress paradigms (Mn deficiency, Cu or Zn excess), we hypothesize a conservation of the oxidative stress response pathway via DNA damage, that leads to gene silencing in Chlamydomonas. Implications of such a fundamental mechanism are discussed in developing a cost effective high-throughput screen, to enable discovery of novel epigenetically active compounds.

Future Research plans

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1) Molecular epigenetics of Cancer: Developing an understanding of the anti-correlation of bivalent chromatin and H2A.Z against cancer specific DNA methylation in stem cell models versus tumors. 2) Mechanism of Epigenetic phenotype in Chlamydomonas: Since we have uncovered multiple stress pathways that lead to gene silencing in Chlamydomonas, we hope to pin the underlying molecular pathways involved. If conserved, this will help identify core mechanisms that should be useful in targeting tumor suppressor gene silencing in humans. 3) Developing on the epistasis of epigenetic drug interactions: Since the Epigenetic assay can address both de novo as well as long term maintenance modulations, an epistasis of drug interactions to abrogate gene silencing pathways can be worked out. Depending on the combinations which turn out to be synergistic or additive in nature in Chlamydomonas, one can design and test parallel therapeutic strategies on cancer cells. 4) Developing a high throughput assay for drug discovery: By expanding the library of differentially binned clones in the study, different classes of epigenetic responses could be used to set up a high-throughput visual screen for discovery of novel epigenetic compounds from indigenous plants and Ayurvedic knowledge sources.

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Swasti Raychaudhuri

DBT-Ramalingaswami Fellow BT/RLF/RE•ENTRYI43/2012 CSIR Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology Email ID : [email protected]

Availed Fellowship from : November 04, 2013

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow Protein homeostasis in aging and age-related diseases - a systemic approach Specific aims: • Systemic study to define the reason for decline in protein homeostasis in aging. Reduced efficiency of various nodes of the protein homeostasis network triggers widespread aggregation of proteins in diverse age-related degenerative conditions. We blocked the terminal step of protein homeostasis i.e. protein degradation in mammalian cells and studied proteome partitioning events from soluble to insoluble fraction. Chromatin reorganization, induction of heat shock protein transcription and insolubility of respiratory chain subunits highlighted the early events as revealed by proteome redistribution. Sequence analyses followed by microscopy suggest that aggregation of the nuclear-encoded respiratory subunits is facilitated by low complexity regions present in the N-terminal mitochondrial target sequences. Interestingly, these nuclear encoded proteins are also aggregation-prone in presence of other proteostasis-stresses including chaperone inhibitors and protein translocation blockers. However, aggregation of the respiratory subunits does not immediately disrupt mitochondrial function. Complexome profiling experiments revealed that disappearance of small assembly units of respiratory complexes is the immediate consequence of these aggregation events that marks the onset of mitochondrial dysfunction and accumulation of ROS in long term. Redistribution of Histone proteins and their modifications indicated reprogramming of transcription as early adaptive response against this protein-aggregation mediated toxicity. Together, our study suggests that aggregation of mitochondrial precursor proteins in diverse proteostasis stress conditions directly impedes the functional stability and assembly of respiratory chain complexes that provides an explanation for the simultaneous decline of proteostasis and bioenergetics in age-related degenerative conditions.

• Systemic study to define the reasons for proteostasis insufficiency in neurodegenerative disease models. We have developed a cell culture model where a mutated version of alpha-synuclein forms large aggregates in a time-dependent manner. These aggregates are EGFP or mCherry tagged and can be easily monitored by both microscopy and flow cytometry. Toxicity generated by these aggregates can be measured by multiple sensitive assays like LDH assay, MTT assay etc. We are using this cell model to systematically define the reasons for proteostasis insufficiency in neurodegenerative disease models.

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• Monitoring the aggregation of model proteostasis dependent metastable proteins in neurodegenerative disease models. We are using the above-mentioned cell model to monitor the aggregation of proteostasis dependent metastable proteins in neurodegenerative disease models.

• Interactome analysis of metastable PN sensitive proteins in aging and age-related disease models. We are using the above-mentioned cell model to perform interactome analysis of metastable proteostasis sensitive proteins.

Future Research plans Proteostasis of respiratory complex subunits: As mentioned above, we observed that precursors of mitochondrial respiratory chain (RCC) subunits form aggregates in cells exposed to various proteotoxic stresses (proteasome inhibition, chaperone depletion etc.). This deregulates the assembly of the respiratory complexes and perturbs cellular respiration in long term. However, nothing is known about the dynamics, rate-limiting steps, and the specific chaperones and ubiquitin ligases involved in the transport, assembly and turnover of the nuclear-encoded RCC subunits. We would like to work in this direction to investigate explanations for the simultaneous decline of proteostasis and bioenergetics in age-related degenerative conditions. Aims: 1. Identification of potential chaperones and ubiquitin ligases involved in the maintenance and turnover of RCC subunits 2. Validation of the interactions and elucidation of the mechanisms of proteostasis of RCC subunits

Multi-dimensional, high-throughput small-molecule screening platforms for protein-misfolding diseases Several protein aggregation diseases represent a majority of the non-communicable health-setbacks. In each of these diseases a symptomatic protein forms amyloid aggregates and damages nerve cell in various ways. Identification of small molecules that may modulate these aggregations and the resulting cytotoxicity may greatly facilitate the development of therapeutic strategies. We are generating different kinds of protein aggregation models using various cell lines to serve the following aims.

Aims: 1.Development of high-throughput small-molecule screening platforms to identify novel chemical chaperones/modulators of protein homeostasis as drug candidates for protein misfolding diseases. 2.Proof-of-principle screening of small-molecule libraries/validation 3.Technology transfer/Service offer

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Tania Bose

DBT-Ramalingaswami fellow BT/RLF/Re-entry/54/2013 Institute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Pune Univer Email ID : [email protected], [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : October 01, 2015

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow Cohesin is a multisubunit protein complex which holds sister chromatids together and also involved in regulation of chromosome condensation, transcription and DNA repair. Diseases associated with mutations in Cohesin genes are called Cohesinopathies, which are associated with various birth defects that give rise to developmental defects. Most of these mutations are observed in Smc1, Scc2 and Eco1 genes. The exact molecular mechanism of these disorders is not very clear. It is suggested that the developmental phenotypes are not due to chromosome segregation defects, but most likely caused by gene misregulation. We have been able to make mutations in the cohesin gene and studied the cohesin architecture related to nucleolar morphology, telomeric clustering by following the punctae formation of Rap1-tagged with GFP. It shows that both nucleolar morphology and Rap1 clustering are affected in the mutants of the cohesion pathway. We have also been able to characterize the genes responsible for changing telomeric clustering by qPCR. Co-immunoprecipitation has showed that there are defects associated with the proteins that are required for anchoring the telomere to the membrane. We have used immunoblot to look for markers of autophagy and identified that autophgy is downregulated in these mutants. Time kinetics have identified that the mutants of coheisn network proteins has different association and dissociation with the chromatin at different stages of the cell cycle.

Future Research plans We have used the Roberts allele, which is the stronger of the cohesin mutant to do our studies. Here, we find that it typically portrays a stress response mutant, which is affected by ER stress response pathway. Gene expression studies have identified changes in a set of genes involved in ribosomal proteins and unfolded protein response (UPR) and stress regulation. UPR helps a cell in stressed condition survive, by reducing protein synthesis, degrading abnormal and toxic proteins and increasing the expression of chaperones. Diseases not related to Cohesinopathies, like Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Prion disorders, UPR is elevated continuously. With regards to Cohesinopathies, UPR is elevated continuously and altering its level can help in rescuing Cohesinopathies. Cataloguing the genes which are getting differentially translated can help to understand the molecular etiology of the disease. Changing the levels of some of these genes will

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rescue the Cohesinopathy mutants. This will help decipher the mechanism of Cohesinopathies, and identify new pathways and genes for therapeutic targeting against the disease. The Endoplasmic reticulum maintains a balance of protein folding. When this balance is tripped, it activates the UPR pathway. In pathological complications or mutations this causes accumulation of misfolded and unfolded proteins. ER homeostasis is maintained through shut down of protein translation. The UPR acts initially by cell survival. Prolonged activation of the UPR has a proapoptotic role in diseases like retinitis pigmentosa, atherosclerosis and type II diabetes. We have also identified the genes which are rescuing the temperature sensitivity of the cohesion mutant, some of these genes have DnaJ domains, which makes us assume if the cohesion mutant phenotype would also be associated with protein misfolding. We are following up on this work.

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Thangavel Karuppudurai

DBT-Ramalingaswami Fellow (Scientist ‘D’) D.O.NO.BT/HRD/35/02/2006; Dated: 27/10/2014 Molecular Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Animal Behaviour & Physiology, School of Biological Sciences Madurai Kamaraj University Madurai-625 021. Email ID: [email protected]; [email protected]

Availed Fellowship from : January 22, 2015

Research undertaken as DBT- Ramalingaswami Fellow The Drosophila visual system has served as a model for sensory information processing. Using EM reconstruction, single-cell transcript profiling, genetic and behavioral approaches, we mapped the synaptic circuits in the peripheral visual ganglion that extract different visual attributes, such as motion and color. Recently, we identified novel functions of k-iGluRs in a neural pooling circuit in the fly visual system. This circuit mediates the detection of dim ultraviolet (UV) light, and includes a glutamatergic amacrine neuron, Dm8, which pools multiple inputs from UV-sensing R7-photoreceptors and relays to the visual projection neuron Tm5c via k-iGluRs (Figure1). The identification of Dm8->Tm5c glutamatergic synapses for innate UV preference opens the possibility of harnessing the power of genetics and behaviors for studying kainate receptor (k-iGluR) assembly and function in CNS. Many proteins associate with glutamate receptors and regulate key aspects of their biogenesis, localization and function. One such family of glutamate receptor interacting proteins, known as Neuropilin tolloid-like (Neto) proteins, associates with k-iGluR and regulate the strength of synaptic transmission in vertebrate CNS and receptor clustering in Drosophila neuromuscular junctions. Furthermore, the cytoplasmic domains of iGluRs contain multiple phosphorylation and protein-interacting sites, which bind to synaptic scaffolding proteins. The in vivo functions of these interactions are not well understood. In addition, protein interaction studies identified many proteins that interact with iGluR but their functions are entirely unknown. This aim is to systematically identify the modulatory components of k-iGluR that are functionally required in Dm8-to-Tm5c synapses. By single-cell transcript profiling, I identified that Tm5c neurons express Neto-like1, but not Neto/Neto-like2. I found that RNAi-mediated knockdown of Neto-like1 in Tm5c significantly reduced animals’ innate preference to UV light, suggesting that Neto-like1 is essential for the formation and/or functions of the Dm8-to-Tm5c synapses. The interaction between kainate-type glutamate receptors and Neto-like1 will be further characterized

Future Research plans

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1. Characterizing Tm5c’s activity and the requirement of iGluR Clumsy. My previous study revealed that the Tm5c expresses four different k-iGluR subunits and at least one of them, Clumsy, appear to be required in Tm5c for UV preference. I will test the hypothesis that Tm5c activity would reveal the spatial, temporal and spectral tuning of Tm5c neurons and provide insight into the neural pooling mechanism and Clumsy is an essential subunit. I will conditionally knockout the Clumsy from Tm5c neuron and examine the Tm5c activity through functional imaging, biochemistry and microscopy techniques. 2. Determine the functional specificity of k-iGluR subunits and the assembly of functional iGluRs. The assembly and electrophysiological properties of vertebrate kainate-type glutamate receptors have been studied extensively in vitro. How iGluRs with different subunit compositions carry out distinct in vivo functions is not well understood. This aim addresses the issue of functional specification of k-iGluR subunits. First, I will test whether other iGluR subunits can substitute Clumsy for transducing Dm8/L3-to-Tm5c synapses and for UV preference. Second, I will correlate functional specificity in vivo with receptor assembly and channel activity in vitro and synaptic targeting in vivo. Finally, I will identify the domain/sequence that mediates specific functions by domain swapping. Next, I will express different combinations of k-iGluR subunits in a heterologous expression system and attempt to reconstitute functional k-iGluRs. I will inject different combinations of in vitro transcribed k-iGluR RNAs in Xenopus oocytes and carry out two-electrode voltage clamp recording.

3. Determine the interaction specificity of ATD and S1/S2 domains in vitro and in vivo. The objectives are to express the ATD and S1/S2 domains of different iGluR subunits, to characterize their interactions in vitro, and to determine if specific domain interactions correlate with their in vivo specificity. (a) I will express the ATD domains of different k-iGluR subunits as secreted proteins with His-tags (polyhistidine-tag) using the S2 cell expression system. (b) I will express His- tagged S1/S2 domains (linked by a “GS” linker) in E. coli using a modified pET22 vector system.

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DST-INSPIRE Faculty Fellows 153 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Abhijeet Joshi

INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000713 IIT Indore Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : November 02, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Brain associated diseases are poorly treated with currently available methods of therapy. Nanotechnology can greatly assist treatment of diseases associated with brain. We have focused our research in improving permeation of anticancer drugs and antiviral drugs across blood brain barrier by preparing single step ultrasonic atomization technique. In this method polymer lactide to glycolide (50:50) namely PLGA Poly (D, L-lactide-co- glycolide) and Chitosan were used as biocompatible and biodegradable polymers. PVA and PSS were used as stabilizers to produce small sized nanoparticles. Organic phase also contains our drug of interest used to prepare nanoformulation. The polymer along with drug is pumped using syringe pump with a flow rate of 0.5ml/min and 0.3ml/min with the help of Sonozap Ultrasonic atomizer having frequency 130 KHz and 3.5 Watt of power directly into cross linking solution. Piperine and Zidovudine in PLGA and Doxorubicin and Lamivudine in Chitosan with varying volume and concentration were mixed with polymer. The results indicate that prepared nanoparticles have size 50-200nm for Chitosan and 150-300 nm for PLGA which was confirmed using SEM and TEM. The Zeta potential of piperine loaded nanoparticles and Doxorubicin loaded nanoparticles were found -19 and -22 mV, respectively. Encapsulation efficiency of Piperine and Doxorubicin at different concentrations was found to be 23% and 13%. In vitro release experiments are under way.

Future Research plans The nanoparticles formed for brain and viral infection will be tested and evaluated in cell culture and animal models for their efficacy. Apart from this work we have started working in device development area. In this work the aim is to develop optical instrumentation for the quantification of the fluorescence signal. A standard fluorescence system collects fluorescence at 90° to the incident light beam to minimize interference from transmitted and scattered light. This improves the signal to noise and lowers the detection limit by up to a million times as compared to a straight-through, 180° transmission geometry. Different concentrations of FITC (Fluorescein isothiocyanate) dextran 150 kDa and [Ru(bpy)3] {Tris(bipyridine)ruthenium(II)} will be prepared and each sample will be excited by the blue LED near 480 nm wavelength and the emission signal will be recorded by the TCS230 color sensor. The color sensor is having the 64 arrays for the detection of RGB color, 16 arrays for each R, G and B and remaining 16 for the clear or no color.

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The sensor is attached to the Arduino board having a microcontroller to control the data and programming the sensor. First, different samples will be excited by the blue LED (Light Emitting Diode) for 30 seconds and the readings will be taken by the sensor. The color sensor counts the RGB values every second of the light coming from the sample and displays the counts on the serial monitor. The graphs of the counts of photon or intensity versus different FITC concentration will be plotted and a correlation established. The device should be capable of detecting the changes in fluorescence. In another stream of work we aim is to design an image processing tool or algorithm for the quantification of Semen sample collected from the bull or the human for motile and functional sperm cells Matlab image processing software.

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Aiswarya Cyriac

Assistant Professor Award Number IFA 15 ENG 121 Chennai Mathematical Institute Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : October 12, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow As part of the Inspire research project Verification of highly-infinite state systems, we have studied the following: • Verification of distributed algorithms over ring topology against temporal logics. This uses automata theoretic techniques. Particular applications to leader election protocols and distributed sorting algorithms. This method is generic enough to be applied to other distributed algorithms as well as far as pid/uid comparisons are involved. We study the complexity of our verification algorithm and show that it is PSPACE complete. This work has been published in an international journal in 2018 • Verification of database-driven systems such as business artifacts. These systems are highly complex because the data domain is unbounded, the database instances are unbounded, and the configuration graphs are infinite. We show that verification is undecidable as soon as the database schema contains a binary relations or two unary relations. Decidability can be obtained by using recency boundedness as an under- approximation technique. This result was published in the ACM-IEEE conference PODS 2016. Further we show that severe restrictions on schema and query languages will yield decidability for reachability. The precise complexity is studied by making reductions to classical models of infinite state systems such as Petri nets, variants of counter machines and collection of finite state automata. This result will be published in an international conference this year. • Verification of message passing systems with unreliable channels with infinite message pool such as integers. This work was published in the ACM-IEEE conference LICS 2016. • Verification of multi-pushdown systems with integer data. These are abstractions of concurrent recursive programs which use integer data and comparisons to guide control flow. This was published in the international conference on Concurrency theory in 2017. • Using graph automata to model nested words. This was the topic of Masters thesis of Adwitee Roy in 2017.

Future Research plans I plan to continue our work on the verification on highly-infinite state systems along the following lines. • Finding new instances of highly-infinite state systems such as higher-order recursive programs, or distributed games.

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• Developing on the theoretical backbone of graph automata and logics for easier modelling of complex infinite state systems. I plan to take a student next semester to work on this. • Extending the verification of the studied models from reachability to temporal logics or games.

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Akash Katoch

UGC-Assistant Professor (Under UGC-FRP Faculty Recharge Programme) DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001236] Centre for Nanoscience & Nanotechnology, Panjab University (Earlier host institute: IIT Roorkee) Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : November 09, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow The research objective is the development of sensing materials for exhaled-breath-sensor based on metal nanoparticles functionalized metal oxide nanostructures. Selective detection of specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath is a very attractive non-invasive diagnostic tool for the fast and simple recognition of various diseases, including diabetes, leukemia, lung cancer and asthma. The breath diagnosis for above mentioned diseases is largely based on acetone, benzene, toluene, and carbon monoxide etc. breath test. The concentration of these gaseous constituents is on higher side in the breath of patient suffering with specific disease compare to the healthy breath. Semiconductor oxide materials have widely been used in various areas including gas sensing applications because of their ease of detection gaseous species. The practical applications of metal oxide based chemical gas sensors are limited because of low selectivity towards various gaseous species. This limitation of metal oxide based chemical sensors can be overcome by usage of metal nanoparticles. The catalytic metal (Pt, Pd and Au) nanoparticles offers an possibility of selective detection of VOCs of very low concentrations, part per billion (ppb) level, thanks to their catalytic properties. The catalytic properties of noble metal nanoparticles along with electronic sensitization between metal nanoparticle and oxide materials can be useful for selective detection of VOCs effectively. Scope of societal impact: Most of the disease diagnose is normally performed by the invasive technique by taking the blood sample of patient. Alternate to this, gas sensor provide a platform for non-invasive technique for patient diagnose by means of detecting the change in the concentration of gaseous species and VOCs in the breath of enhanced with respect to the patient in the healthy conditions. This metal-oxide based chemiresistive gas sensors can offer greater usability for portable real time breath sensors due to their miniaturized size, low cost, easy fabrication and simplicity of operation.

Future Research plans The future research work will involve detail investigation towards fabrication of sensor for detection of various toxic gases hazardous to humans and cause environment pollution. Along with semiconductor metal oxides an attempt will be made towards synthesis of metal chalcogenides, carbon based materials (e.g. GO and RGO (graphene and reduced graphene oxide)) and thoroughly investigate the performance towards gas sensing

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applications. The focus would be towards fabrication of sensing materials of different shapes at nanoscale capable of detecting a very low concentration of gaseous species of the order of part per billions with higher selectivity.

The modification of materials will be performed and their response towards different gases will be tested. Simultaneously, focus will be on exploring underlying gas sensing mechanism. A facility includes nanomaterials synthesis and gas sensing set up will be established for commencement of research work at one place.

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Amit Kumar Khare

DST-INSPIRE Faculty IFA15 MS-52 Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal Email ID : [email protected], [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : May 05, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow

The research outcomes are following: § Orientation control of the oxygen vacancy channels (OVCs) in transition metal oxide thin films. Demonstration of a novel pathway for controlling the oxygen vacancy channel direction and its implications in inorganic transition metal oxides with brownmillerite (BM) structure. In particular, the orientation of oxygen vacancy channels in BM-SrFeO2.5 epitaxial single-crystalline thin films can be aligned from an in-plane direction to an out- of-plane direction by taking advantage of the small difference in chemical and epitaxial strain between the two phases on SrTiO3 substrates. OVCs along the in-plane and out-of- plane directions within SrFeO2.5 epitaxial thin films is controlled thermodynamically. The orientation control could be achieved via the delicate balance between the thermodynamic phase stability and epitaxial strain in SrFeO2.5 thin films.

§ Plasma dynamics and cations off-stoichiometry in LaAlO3 films grown in high pressures regimes. The indirect effect of oxygen background gas on the La/Al ratio during the growth of LaAlO3 (LAO) films by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is analyzed, in a pressure range between 10-3 and 10-1 mbar. We resort to two complementary investigation methods: Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy and spectrally resolved, time-gated imaging of the laser plume. The first technique allows us to analyze the stoichiometry of the deposited films, and the latter allows us to analyze the plume expansion phase of the PLD process by collecting chemically resolved two-dimensional images of the relevant atomic/molecular species. The comparison between the results obtained by the two techniques allows us to highlight the role of the plume-gas interaction in affecting cations stoichiometry. Our results indicate that, in the considered pressure range, the background oxygen pressure affects the cations stoichiometry of the LAO films, besides determining their oxygen content. § Non-volatile, reversible metal-insulator transition in oxide interfaces controlled by gate voltage and light The field-effect-induced modulation of transport properties of 2-dimensional electron gases residing at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 and LaGaO3/SrTiO3 interfaces has been

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investigated in a back-gate configuration. Both samples with crystalline and with amorphous overlayers have been considered. We show that the “naive” standard scenario, in which the back electrode and the 2-dimensional electron gas are simply modeled as capacitor plates, dramatically fails in describing the observed phenomenology. Anomalies appearing after the first low-temperature application of a positive gate bias, and causing a non-volatile perturbation of sample properties, are observed in all our samples. Such anomalies are shown to drive low-carrier density samples to a persistent insulating state. Recovery of the pristine metallic state can be either obtained by a long room-temperature field annealing, or, instantaneously, by a relatively modest dose of visible-range photons. Illumination causes a sudden collapse of the electron system back to the metallic ground state, with a resistivity drop exceeding four orders of magnitude. The data are discussed and interpreted on the base of the analogy with floating-gate MOSFET devices, which sheds a new light on the effects of back-gating on oxide-based 2-dimensional electron gases.

Future Research plans Some of the future research plans are following:

§ Identification the limiting factors for the carrier mobility, and suggesting possible approaches to optimize the physical properties of epitaxial thin films and hetero-structures based on perovskite based oxides. § Realization of spin polarized current in oxide interfaces and get important insight in it. § Furthermore, still within the period of the project, we expect to have acquired important evaluation results for the realization of potential devices/applications based on perovskite based oxide thin films and will initiate new strategic direction in the area of materials-by-design.

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Amitava Bhattacharyya

Assistant Professor DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000169 Department of Physics, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute, Belur Math, West Bengal Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : January 25, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow The objective of this project is to explore novel phenomena of strongly correlated systems. The focus will be on low temperature novel properties such as quantum criticality, unconventional superconductivity and multi-pole ordering, which will lead to new horizon not only of Kondo insulator/heavy fermion physics, but also of material science.

(i) We will concentrate on: (a) new materials and high quality single crystals, (b) precise temperature-pressure-field (T,P,H) phase diagrams, (c) quantum singularities and Fermiology, (d) the mechanism of unconventional superconductivity including ferromagnetic superconductor, (e) field-induced phenomena. To reach our targets, we will first attempt to grow many new compounds based on Ce, Yb and other rare earth elements with a careful choice of target, using various techniques. Very high quality single crystals can be a breakthrough in this field of research, in particular for unconventional superconductivity. Then, we will measure their low temperature properties with various experimental techniques under extreme conditions, namely low temperature, high field, high pressure. (ii) Understanding the nature of the Kondo insulating state, anisotropic hybridization between conduction electrons and localized 4f-electrons in CeFe2Al10 and anomalous high magnetic ordering temperature and unexpected direction of the ordered state magnetic moment of Ce in CeT2Al10 (T=Ru and Os) caged-type intermetallic systems. (iii) Discovery and synthesis of new strongly correlated electron based TE materials as well as materials which exhibit exotic properties such as, Kondo insulator, quantum critical points and unconventional superconductivity. Materials will be synthesized in polycrystalline as well as single crystal form. (iv) To develop a realistic theoretical model for anisotropic Kondo insulating behaviour in CeFe2Al10 in collaboration with Profs. P. Riseborough (Temple University, USA) and Q. Si (Rice University, USA) to explain our neutron scattering data of CeFe2Al10 single crystal. (v) Our preliminary neutron diffraction studies have shown that anomalous direction of the magnetic moment is very sensitive to electron and hole-doping on the transition metal site in T = Ru and Os compounds and hence we will investigate the effect of this on the spin wave excitations, spin gap formation and CEF excitations. This study will provide

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direct information on anisotropic magnetic exchange interactions and single ion CEF anisotropy. (vi) We will explore the application potential of these caged-type materials in TE devices by measuring, phonon dispersion and TE figures of merit, by measuring thermoelectric power, thermal conductivity and resistivity.

Future Research plans My future research plan is to discovery of new novel materials and understanding the physical properties of strongly correlated electron systems by means of single crystal growth, x-ray, physical properties, thermodynamic, microscopic (Muon spin rotation & Neutron scattering) measurements. Our interests span a wide spectrum of materials, from intermetallic to oxides, especially unconventional superconductors, Kondo Insulators, Heavy Fermion Systems. The origin of high temperature superconductivity can only be understood from the knowledge of unconventional pairing mechanism.

In the study of problems that arise in condensed matter physics, high quality single crystals are essential. A number of materials of interest tend to exhibit anisotropic behaviour, either as a result of their crystal structure and interactions or as a consequence of the application of magnetic fields or pressure. The underlying physics of such materials can only be unravelled by investigations on high quality crystals. Single crystal growth is of strategic importance for the study of the physics of condensed matter within India’s laboratories. Competition in this field is strong between groups in Europe, Japan and the USA. Our experience in this field which has been built up over many years allows us to be at the forefront of investigations of the properties of new and exotic materials as soon as they are discovered.

We propose to expand on our capabilities to tackle the crystal growth of several newly discovered materials, building on our extremely successful crystal growth activities. We will produce high quality single crystals of inter-metallics and related materials. The high temperature solution growth technique will be used to produce single crystals of inter metallic materials using the Arc furnace.

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Animesh Mandal

Assistant Professor DST/ INSPIRE Faculty Award/2016/DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000459 Department of Earth Sciences, IIT Kanpur Email ID : [email protected] / [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 10, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow An integrated geophysical study consisting of Gravity, Magnetic, very low frequency (VLF) electromagnetic and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) surveys has been proposed in the vicinity of hot springs at Atri and Tarabalo in central Odisha, India. The study aims to delineate near-surface as well as deeper structural configuration of these regions (e.g., faults, fracture network etc.) to develop proper understanding of the existing geothermal activities in these area, i.e., understanding about the source of heat, fluid recharge zones, permeable and impermeable horizons, and geologic structures that controls the flow of geothermal fluids. Lack of such detailed subsurface information makes the geothermal resources costly and risky. Thus, the study would help to understand the feasibility of these hot springs for proper development of economic geothermal system.

The survey will be conducted in local scale (High resolution, i.e., in close grid) as well as in semi-regional scale to cover larger area (>200 km2) focusing on shallower and deeper features, respectively. The acquired data will be interpreted using various state of the art software packages as well as advance modeling (e.g., improved compact inversion approach for modelling 2D/3D gravity data) and processing schemes (e.g., Filter assisted BEMD for regional-residual separation of gravity-magnetic data) as developed in MATLAB platform. Therefore, the proposed survey and interpretation methods will give better near surface image and provide an improved subsurface model up to a greater depth. This will effectively delineate the deep structural features and geothermal reservoir, if any.

At present, the high resolution localized study using magnetic, ERT and selected VLF profiles has effectively delineated the existence of near surface fractures near to the hot springs of both the regions and these are continuing beyond ~80 m depth. Based on these understanding, we will now focus on regional scale survey and modelling along longer profiles to understand the crustal configuration, depth extent of these shallow fracture zones, their relations with regional shear zones over these areas and deeper heat sources (if any).

Future Research plans

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At present, the high resolution integrated geophysical study has delineated the probable weak zones that may be connected to deeper source and giving the pathway to hot water from depth more than ~80 m. Therefore, more detail and regional scale study is needed to understand the deeper configuration, depth extent of these shallow fracture zones, their relations with regional shear zones over these areas and deeper heat sources (if any). Therefore, the research plan for the coming years will be based on the following aspects: a. Localized micro-gravity survey surrounding ~6 km2 area around the two area to better delineate detail shallow subsurface weak zones. b. Acquisition of more very low frequency electromagnetic, ERT data along some selected profiles to track the conducting zones spatially that act as pathway to flow hot water from deeper region. This will give a denser data and thus helps in more detailed analysis of near surface features. c. Major focus will be given on semi-regional gravity-magnetic survey with station spacing of ~200-300 m along the available roads/paths covering >200 km2 area around these two hot spring zones. d. Interpretation and modelling of the collected gravity-magnetic data. e. On some selected location then deep resistivity study (with profile length ~1000 m) will be performed to understand source/ deeper features more accurately. These will also provide constraint for modelling the gravity-magnetic data for understanding deeper configurations.

After finishing the proposed work around Atri and Tarabalo, we can extend the geophysical study to other known hot springs in the nearby areas (within 50–100 km radius) (such as, at Taptapani, Odisha nearly 100 km SW of the present proposed area) and regional geophysical study with gravity-magnetic (and/or Magnetotelluric) methods can be performed. This regional study will give overall idea about the anomalous zones of interest and tectonic setting (in terms of moho configuration, effective elastic thickness etc.) of the region. Such understanding about the tectonic configuration is necessary not only in the context of geothermal prospect but also to understand the basement configuration and its structural inheritance. This will also provide significant input to the tectonic activity of this region as it is situated in the low to moderate seismic risk zones.

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Anjali Paravannoor

DST-INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001803 Kannur University Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : January 15, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow The proposal was mainly based on the development of safe and environmentally friendly Li ion batteries based on Silicon anodes. By introducing an in-situ coating layer of a garnet based solid electrolyte on silicon nanoparticles, safe aqueous rechargeable Li ion batteries were fabricated with LiMnO2 and LiFePO4 cathodes. A capacity of 78 mAh/g was attained with retention of 76% at the end of 100 cycles. Coin cell prototypes were tested with ionic liquid electrolytes (Pyr14FSI/LiTFSI) also which show promising results in terms of cyclability as well as capacity. Energy industries worldwide including electric vehicles demand novel energy storage systems of high safety, reliability and energy density and low cost. The conventional Li ion batteries include an undesired recipe of high-energy electrodes and highly flammable and toxic organic electrolytes. Being a natural replacement for these non-aqueous solvents, an aqueous electrolyte system emerges with additional advantages of high dipole moment, dielectric constant and acceptor and donor numbers. However, with the very few electrodes lying within the cathodic and anodic limits of water vs Li, the aqueous LIBs could only attain a voltage window of <1.5 V. The present study highlights the interfacial engineering of a Si anode to be used in aqueous electrolyte at a much higher operating voltage and energy density which would be of very high societal impact specially to find EV and HEV applications. In addition to this, asymmetric pseudocapacitors were fabricated based on aqueous electrolyte with operating voltages as high as 2.5V. Novel metal oxide electrodes like PrOx were utilized by exploiting their low wave function to enhance the operating voltage which in turn would improve their energy and power densities. Coin cell supercapacitor prototypes could exhibit energy and power density values of 37 Wh/kg and 4 kW/Kg respectively.

Future Research plans Over the phase of next 5 years, I would like to focus on setting up a low-cost energy storage materials processing unit and testing facility at the School of chemical Sciences, Kannur University. The main objective of the lab will be to design processes of increasing efficiency which could be used to develop and characterize functionally graded materials for energy storage applications, mainly supercapacitors and batteries.

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The current results on aqueous rechargeable Li ion batteries will be taken further by scaling up the system to fabricate pouch cells. Different combinations of cathode materials and Li super ionic conductors with better conductivity will also be explored following the strategy developed. Aligned, 1D silicon nanowires also would be explored for better cyclability. In addition to these, the different mechanisms that strongly influence the life cycle of silicon anode will be examined based on its architecture and composition, which would be strongly supported by surface characterization and electrochemical measurements. Focus will also be given on asymmetric pseudocapacitor systems based on 2 D materials like MaXenes.

The major objectives would be to: 1. Develop a controlled and optimized technique by which a well-defined anode nanostructure will be constructed with an effective interfacial engineering that can be utilized in aqueous electrolytes. 2. Optimize the formulation of a highly operative electrolyte/anode interface to further improve the operating voltage of the ARLIB up to 4V. 3. Fabrication of fully functional coin cell and pouch cell aqueous rechargeable LIB prototypes with specifications of 3.5-4 V stable up to thousands of cycles. 4. Demonstrate an ARLIB of energy density values up to 200 Wh/Kg which would enable them to be used in Electric vehicles

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Ankur Kulshreshtha

DST-INSPIRE Faculty IFA14 LSBM-124 ICGEB-New Delhi Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : March 02, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow I started my DST-INSPIRE project with the objective of engineering stem-cell derived exosomes for therapeutic and delivery purposes. I began with three pronged approach for achieving this objective, a) Engineering of exosomal surface for cell/ tissue specific targeting, b) Engineering exosomal cargo and, c) ability to tune up/down production of exosomes. For engineering exosomal surface, we have created a vector that would allow us to make cell-lines that will produce exosomes with SNAP tag on their surface which would allow us to then attach cell/tissue specific aptamers/peptides to these exosomes to target them towards desired surfaces. For engineering exosomal cargo, we have developed a methodology wherein we can specifically capture certain transcript from the cell and preferentially load them in the exosomes. To tune the exosomal levels, we plan to do a genome-wide CRISPR screen to identify the proteins that regulate exosomal levels. Upon completion of these objectives, we hope to have a system which would allow us not only to target stem-cell derived exosomes to desired surfaces, but may even permit packaging desired cargo for transport at the rates we desire.

Future Research plans As described above that the aim of this project is to be able to develop system for production of modular exosomes. In line, we have achieved partial objectives of the project and are working towards achieving the remaining objectives. We will plan to achieve the following objectives for the remaining duration of this project. For targeted delivery, we have prepared the vector that allows exosomes to have a SNAP tag on their surface, moving forward, we will develop cell lines stably expressing this vector to produce modular exosomes for specific targeting. For cargo selection, we have demonstrated that we can preferentially package a cargo transcript in exosomes by having a MS2 tag on a transcript and have MS2 coat protein on one of exosome associated protein (TAGLN2 here). We have so far tried this with smaller RNA barcodes that are around 80bp in size, in future, we would like to demonstrate this with transcripts of varying size as well. For identification of proteins regulating exosomal levels, we have already prepared a genome wide sgRNA library that has a RNA barcode associated with it. We will use this library to carry out the genome-wide CRISPR screening and further validate our hits.

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Anoop Ambili

Assistant Professor DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001199 Department of Earth and Environment sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali. E-mail : [email protected] ; [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 10, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow The main objective of the project is to contribute for the understanding of the extreme changes in Indian monsoon dynamics using palaeolake sediments from multiple sites in Southern India, (i) Lake Ennamangalam that lies in dominant North East (NE) monsoon domain; and (ii) the Ashtamudi estuary, that has been influenced by both South-West (SW) and NE monsoon. Our investigation on contemporary limnological processes in Ashtamudi estuary provides identification of environmentally sensitive climate proxies which could also be transferable for interpreting palaeodata in similar settings. A number of n-alkane indices (e.g., carbon preference index (CPI), average chain length (ACL), Paq ratio) have been calculated to illustrate the spatial variability by considering separately river dominated northern reaches and marine influenced southern part of the Ashtamudi estuary. The quantitative apportion of organic matter sources in Ashtamudi sediments using compound-specific carbon isotope analysis (CSIA) of long-chain n-alkane shows dominance (53-83 %) of C3 terrestrial plants derived OM. The biomarker (n-alkane) results clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of an integrated molecular and stable carbon isotope analysis for quantitatively assessing OM sources in estuarine environments.

In Lake Ennamangalam, a comprehensive study on sediments (catchment/core) and modern vegetation samples has been undertaken with focus on the reconstruction of past climate during mid to late Holocene epoch using geochemical, sedimentological and lipid biomarkers (n-alkanes) distribution. The retrieved ca. 1.65 m long well dated sediments from the lake Ennamangalam span the past ca. 4800 cal BP. The geochemical and sedimentological investigation reveals three hydrological stages in the region. Based on an overview of regional climate records we observe that during the late Holocene, the moisture in Ennamangalam region was contributed mostly from the NE monsoon.

Future Research plans The Indian summer monsoon shows considerable spatial inhomogeneity (asynchronous maxima in monsoon precipitation) over India due to its internal dynamics and global teleconnections making it impossible to reconstruct a “uniform monsoon precipitation curve” for this vast region. However, high resolution records from climatically sensitive regions (e.g., Southern India) can provide crucial information on past teleconnections. The future perspective of the project is aimed to utilize compound specific n-alkane

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isotopic (δ13C and δ H) analyses on the retrieved core sediments from Southern India to decipher paleovegetation and paleoprecipitation changes.

The compound specific δ H analyses from the core sediments will be used to reconstruct the past temporal variability of ISM and NEM rainfall in the region. The reconstructed climate records from the southern India will be compared with other regional paleorecords to understand the possible mechanism interms of teleconnections for the changes in the climate variability in the region.

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Appala Venkata Ramana Murthy

DST – INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000207 Defence Institute of Advanced Technology Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : November 05, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow From 2015, till now, I am able to establish nano-bio-physics Lab to study the lipid membrane behavior. In 1st year, Most of the energy and time spent in procurement of various initial equipments, selection the research staff and training the manpower particularly on atomic force microscopy for biological experiments like proteins and lipids. At the end of the first year we have managed to submit a manuscript which has been finally published in BBA Biomembranes 2018 on investigation of influence of cholesterol in lipid membranes. In 2nd year, the project assistant has left the project as he joined for Ph.D in IIT Bombay. Again a process of PA selection was intiated and another PA was appointed and a preliminary training has been carried out to her and finally we started investigating of nano mechanical properties fluid/gel phase (DLPC/DSPC) membranes with compositional strength. Unfortunately, she left in 4 months. Again, we have to select one more PA and now she is under training process. Currently (in 3rd year), we are carrying spectroscopic ellipsometry investigation of various fluid and gel phase lipid bilayers in hydrated conditions. Other than, membrane related research we are also carrying numerical simulation studies on scattering properties of various nano structures, shape, size, dielectric environment, geometry dependent studies in various metal, dielectric and meta material structures. (This is as part of M.Tech project)

Future Research plans The following research has been proposed, in coming 2.5 years. In 3rd and 4th year, as per the time plan mentioned in the initial proposal, we would like to started protein incorporation in lipid membranes and investigation using Atomic Force microscopy for its nano-mechanical characterization and to obtain possible correlation between the protein lipid matrix in native conditions.In 4th and 5th year, as per the proposed plan Investigation will start on cell membrane and will be correlated with the comprehensive understating that has been obtained using biomimetic membranes. As the host institute, is not providing any space or facility to carry out bilogy related research I have to explore possible and implementable collaboration around to succeed in this step. Currently, I am also guiding some M.Tech projects, If I get students for M.Tech project I will implement

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some fiber optics based sensors and optical communication based projects (This depends on the dynamics of the Department).

If secured any position & funding, after Inspire the following research plan can be implementable ü Development of Nanoscale-Fluoresce Correlation Spectroscopy for localized detection protein in a lipid membrane ü Development of Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy (TIRF) protein mapping in lipid membrane ü Integration of AFM set up with fluorescence detection to obtain optical and nano mechanical correlation in lipid membrane

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Aravind Kumar Rengan

Assistant Professor IFA15-LSBM135 IIT Hyderabad. Email ID: [email protected]. Availed Fellowship from : August 12, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Multifunctional nanomaterials (having both diagnostic and therapeutic abilities) are being researched for cancer theranostics application. The multifunctional properties of gold nanostructures are well known through their usage in diagnostics as well as in therapeutics. We have started working on gold-coated liposomes that are emerging as novel nanosystems exhibiting both biocompatibility/degradability and excellent photothermal cytotoxicity. Moreover, they are also capable of carrying drug load to the tumors and release when externally triggered by NIR laser. We have found that the photothermal treatment initiates extensive DNA double strand breaks in the treated cells in comparison to the controls. By loading the lipos Au nanoparticles with an NIR dye (ICG/IR780) or drug, they begin to show synergistic cytotoxicity thereby reducing the dosage concentration/laser irradiation time. In the long run, these novel nanosystems shall reduce cancer burden (through their diagnostic and therapeutic value) in an affordable way.

Future Research plans Our research would give the right impetus to pitch in nuclear/optical imaging and PTT modalities in India that can be translated into clinics in the long run. Being a medical doctor, my research would focus on translational aspect. Lipos Au NPs (and similar type of nanoparticles) will be subjected to various toxicological evaluations in rodent/large animal models. These novel nanomedicines could then be taken up for Phase I Human Clinical Trials after getting it approved by the DCGI (Drug Controller General of India). Industrial collaborations would be sorted to prepare these nanomedicines under GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) and tested under GLP (Good Lab Practice) conditions. Furthermore, we would also like to explore various applications of Lipos Au NPs for targeting cancer by improving its efficacy. Lipid polymer conjugates will be employed for achieving passive targeting of these nanoparticles into the tumor. These engineered NPs will be loaded with natural medicinal plant extracts and evaluated for their toxicity and safety in animals. This platform can provide a newer dimension in application of nanomedicine for effective treatment of cancer.

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Arindam Chatterjee

DST-INSPIRE Fellow IFA 15 PH-130 I.S.I, 203 B.T. Road, Kolkata, 700108 E-mail : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 10, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow My primary focus has been understanding the nature of Dark Matter (DM), which comprises of about 26% of the energy budget of our Universe, and manifests its presence via gravitational effects on different scales. Among well-motivated extensions of Standard Model of particle Physics (SM) supersymmetric theories, with conserved R-parity naturally ensures the stability of the lightest R-parity odd particle, thus offering a DM candidate. I have been looking into prospects of neutralino and sneutrino as DM, in the light of current direct detection, indirect detection missions and collider searches. DM particle, being the lightest of the supersymmetric spectrum, affects the decay products of heavier particles and thus at LHC. In particular, within the framework of “natural” supersymmetric scenarios, which admit little or no significant fine-tuning among different lagrangian parameters, I have studied how the nature of LSP (DM candidate) leads to different signatures at the LHC, thus affecting search strategies. The reach of LHC in constraining or probing (“natural”) supersymmetric scenarios depend significantly on the nature of LSP. This offers an indirect probe to the nature of DM within supersymmetric framework and can probe or constrain such scenarios.

Several astro-physical issues can be addressed with self-interacting DM. I am also working on simplified theoretical models, and the viability of probing or constraining such scenarios with direct detection of DM, as well as LHC data. Probing the Dark Sector (DS) interactions with the SM particles will hint whether DM was in thermal equilibrium in the early Universe, and thus have implications on DM production in the early Universe. Inflationary paradigm has been well accepted, resolving several issues, notably horizon and flatness problem. I have worked on simple renormalizable potentials motivated by supergravity, reconstructing the potential parameters using CMB data, which can lead to large tensor-toscalar ratio. Further, I have shown that thanks to the large scalar power at the small scale such potentials can lead to generation of gravitational wave at higher frquencies which can be probed in the future gravitational wave detection experiments. In this context, I have also estimated the abundance of Primordial Black Holes (PBH), and shown that producing adequate PBH as DM would not be viable.

Future Research plans

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In the next five years, my emphasise would be to explore the nature of Dark Matter (DM) using observations from different avenues; namely direct and indirect searches, Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), as well as collider experiments. Within supersymmetric paradigm, I have studied neutralino and sneutrino DM candidates extensively. In the context of LHC, so far the focus has been into cascades involving “prompt” signatures; however, late decaying super-particles can offer very different signatures which has not been explored in detail. Within the realm of “natural” supersymmetric spectra, I am looking into such cases (with collaborators at HRI). Particle spectrum consisting of compressed Higgsinos, as well as right-sneutrino, gravitino and axion-axino can lead to such exotic signatures. Detection of late decaying particles may help us infer the presence of a feebly coupled DM in certain scenarios, and thus, can have implications for production of DM in the early Universe. I shall continue to pursue this direction. While within the simplest DM models, DM does not have large self interaction,

DM candidates with large self-interaction can resolve several isses with small scale structure formation. Fuzzy DM is another interesting possibility addressing similar concerns. I plan to pursue such different types of DM scenarios, from basic model building aspects as well as exploring the possibility of probing or discriminating among these using forthcoming observations and experiments. As a part of this agenda, I am pursuing simplified DM models with large DM self-interactions (with light mediators) with collaborators at IISc. Using collider data, several flavor physics observations, and direct detection data, we are exploring the viable models and observational signatures. Scenarios with light DM (which can have large self-interaction) requires more sensitive direct searches with low threshold or even different strategies to be probed, which I plan to explore further. With increased integrated luminosity at LHC and improved direct detection strategies, it would be possible to constrain Dark Sector (DS) couplings with the SM particles in various “portal” scenarios. Consequently, one can infer whether DM and SM particles were in thermal equilibrium in the early Universe. Non-thermal production mechanisms can generically depend on the initial abundance of the DS particles. I am pursuing avenues of non-thermal DM production after inflation. DM annihilation (and decay) into SM particles, during the recombination epoch, can be probed using precision CMB data. I am working on understanding DM properties using the present CMB data, and would continue to pursue the same. I am a part of a (recently) proposed collaboration (CMBBharat), which plans to send a CMB mission measuring CMB polarization with increased accuracy. As a part of the proposal, we have shown that it has the prospect to significantly improve CMB constraints on DM annihilation. I shall continue to be a part of this collaboration, exploring DM properties using future CMB data.

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Ark Verma

Assistant Professor of Psychology DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001737 Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur -208016. Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 10, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow I began working on the INSPIRE Project starting March 2016. The title of the INSPIRE Project was, “Investigation of Lateralisation of Attentional Processes”. During the course ofthe last few years we investigated whether various aspects of the attentional processes arelateralised to the left or the right hemispheres respectively. However, for the most part we have not found strong evidence for the lateralisation of the attentional processes. Currently, we are in the process of looking at various models of executive functions and investigate whether one can diagnose the relative efficiency of these processes such as task switching, response selection, inhibition etc. and then develop a routine to help individuals cope up with suboptimal use of the executive functions.

Future Research plans Our future research under the INSPIRE project will look to investigate the executive functions such as response selection, inhibition, task switching etc., typically mediated by thefrontal lobes and develop experimental methods to evaluate the same. The idea is to see whether these can be used to diagnose early onset of MCIs in the older adults and pre- senile population.

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Arpita Konar

DST-INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2014/00226 CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Mathura Road Campus, New Delhi-110025 Email ID- [email protected] and [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : July 27, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow During my tenure as an INSPIRE faculty till date, I have prioritized execution of proposed project and have also undertaken few relevant intra and inter institute collaborative ventures. The detailed research activities are as below: 1) INSPIRE project- “Epigenetic regulation of early life trauma and aggressive behavior: Insights into predisposition for criminal mind” Pathological aggression is maladaptive behavioral manifestation that leads to violence and serious criminal activities. I am working on the gene expression and epigenetic changes in the brain of peripubertal stress induced pathological mouse model of aggression. I have established the mouse model and validated at behavioral and molecular level. Further I carried out transcriptome and methylome analysis of male and female mice in brain regions using RNA seq and MeDIP seq respectively and validated the differentially expressed and methylated genes. Expression and activity of chromatin modifying enzymes have also been assessed in vulnerable brain regions of prefrontal cortex and hypothalamus. Presently, I am performing ChIP seq analysis to elucidate changes in histone modifications. All these findings combined with in-silico pathway prediction shall be performed to unravel the master regulator(s) capable of reversing the behavior. The present work when extended in human samples will have a huge societal impact by predicting biomarkers and prevention of criminal behavior. 2) Collaborative projects on drug screening for modulation of neural morphology and cognition.

International: I am working on herbal compound screening for modulation of neuronal morphology and cognitive enhancement in collaboration with Biomedical Research Institute, AIST, Japan. National collaboration: I am working on the functional characterization of nanoformulation of drugs for application in neurodegenerative disorders in collaboration with Centre for Biomedical Engineering, IIT Delhi, India and research paper has already been communicated

Future Research plans Epigenetic signatures in brain underlying trauma induced violent behavior shall be altered via knockout/ over-expression in mice and check for reversal of the behavior. The lead modifications identified in parent animals shall also be investigated in the brain of progeny of future generations. The findings from animal model of aggression shall be translated in human samples to elucidate biomarkers of early life adversity induced

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criminal behavior. In parallel, computational approaches including artificial intelligence algorithms may be designed for prediction purposes. This work if proven successful can be applied for future prediction and prevention of crime through neurobiological interventions. Besides, I am applying for more grants on drug screening of selective epigenetic modifiers for reversal of psychiatric disorders and if funded shall start the same.

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Arpita Mondal

Assistant Professor DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001548 Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India. Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 10, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Understanding the risk of hydroclimatic extremes is important not only from a disaster mitigation point of view, but also for engineering design and management of resources. Such extremes may be exacerbated by climate change and local human interventions, which can invalidate the traditional assumption of stationarity, implying that the past can no longer be a guide to the future. For example, i) urban infrastructure designs use local precipitation intensity-duration-frequency relationships that relate the duration and intensity of extreme precipitation to its return period. ii) The 100-year flood at a site may be treated as the design level for flood protection structures. iii) At locations with limited observations, estimation of design quantiles is achieved by regional frequency analysis techniques that use pooled information from hydrologically similar watersheds. Changing environmental conditions bring into question the assumption of stationarity for all these applications.

In this study, we first present a methodological contribution, by proposing a new index- flood based regional frequency analysis approach under non-stationarity (point (iii) above). The index-flood method has been extended in recent studies to account for non- stationarity but they do not guarantee validation of the important assumption of the index-flood method: namely, that the flood records within a homogeneous region are independent and identically distributed. Based on a suitable transformation, our method satisfies this assumption, and is also able to capture non-stationarity. This work is currently under review in Journal of Hydrology. Thereafter, for all the applications mentioned above (i, ii, and iii), we compute and compare non-stationary risk measures with the traditional stationary estimates considering associated uncertainties, with an aim to aid planners and practitioners. Our results show that uncertainties underline hydrologic design quantiles in a more significant manner under non-stationarity. This work is currently under review in ASCE Journal of Hydrologic Engineering.

Future Research plans Robust estimation of risk of hydroclimatic extremes necessitate consideration of uncertainties in the analysis as well as spatio-temporal dependence of such extremes. To address uncertainty analysis, particularly that under non-stationarity, Bayesian analysis has advantage over classical methods by providing the complete probabilistic distribution of the parameter values. Also, predictive estimates of design quantiles and risk measures

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can be communicated which make allowance for uncertainty in both model parameters and future values of extremes. Therefore, our future goal would be to derive Bayesian estimates of design quantiles or risk under non-stationarity. This would be achieved both for block maxima and peak-over-threshold approaches. We also propose to study the effect of parameter uncertainty on predictive distribution of return levels or risk under non-stationarity.

Further, return level maps, for example, the spatial plot of 100-year daily maximum rainfall, currently do not take into consideration effect of spatial dependence on the changes in extreme precipitation. Bayesian Hierarchical Models (BHM) are a class of models within Bayesian inference where the parameters of prior distribution on the model parameters are themselves dependent on another set of prior distributions called hyper priors. This is different from modelling dependence between extreme observations using principles of multivariate probability distributions and copulas where one is concerned about joint probabilities of extreme weather events. BHM are thus able to produce at-site estimates of return level that are spatially smooth and consistent with regional geography and climatology. Also, estimates of at-site return levels using BHM are more precise due to reduction in overall uncertainty by borrowing strength across spatial locations. We propose a BHM framework for non-stationary frequency analysis of extreme precipitation across India. These return level maps find use in disaster management and mitigation of risk of hydroclimatic extremes.

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Arvind Singh

DST-INSPIRE Fellow DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000164 Geosciences Division Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Navrangpura, Ahmedabad E-mail : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 10, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow My first aim was to understand the impact of dust on ocean biogeochemistry the Arabian Sea. In order to do that, I have participated as the Chief Scientist during 15 April-3 May 2017 onboard ORV Sagar Sampada (SS-359) in the Arabian Sea; cruise was endorsed by the second International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE-2). We have done isotopic incubation experiments at 13 stations on the cruise. We have already analysed all the samples. Our preliminary analysis does not suggest any increase in N2 fixation and primary productivity after the dust addition. In another work, ~2900 observations of aerosol NO3- and NH4+ concentrations, acquired from sampling aboard ships in the period 1995 - 2012, are used to assess the performance of modelled N deposition fields over the remote ocean. Surface particulate NO3- and NH4+ concentrations simulated by the TM4-ECPL (TM4) model were compared to observed concentrations. Dry deposition fluxes of these species predicted by TM4 (ModDep) were compared with equivalent fluxes calculated from the observed concentrations (CalDep) using two commonly applied methods for the determination of CalDep. CalDep was also compared to total dry deposition fluxes of oxidised N (NOy) and reduced N (NHx) from TM4 and the ACCMIP multi-model mean product. In a different research, Indian summer monsoon rainfall (ISMR), which contributes 80% of the total annual rainfall in India, is affected by oceanic, atmospheric and coupled ocean-atmospheric processes occurring at intra-annual to intra-seasonal time scales. Recent studies have shown the strengthening and weakening of Indian summer monsoon (ISM) rainfall based on the changes in the land-sea temperature gradient. Using multiple observational data sets, we have demonstrated that the spatial correlation patterns of summer rainfall and Niño3.4 show a strong negative correlation over the central India (CI) and a positive correlation over the northeast India (NEI) during the strong positive El-Niño periods. Isotope enabled general circulation models (GCM) derived rainfall also showed the similar positive and negative correlation with the Niño3.4 index over CI and NEI rainfall. These GCMs derived oxygen isotopic composition (δ18O) of precipitation showed the negative correlation with the observed rainfall amount over the central India (Fig. 4). Based on our observations and GCM simulations, we have shown that the long term trends in the ISM strength is controlled by the long term variation in El-Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) strength in addition to land-sea temperature gradient. The spatial correlation of δ18O of precipitation with GPCP and isoGSM derived rainfall also

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confirmed ENSO effect on rainfall distribution. Speleothem records from the Jhumar caves (Central India) and Shikar cave (northeast India) showed the inverse variation of rainfall trends during El-Niño periods, which confirmed that these proxies are able to reflect the ENSO effect on rainfall variation.

Future Research plans Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) availability determine the strength of the ocean’s carbon (C) uptake, and variation in the N:P ratio in inorganic nutrients is key to phytoplankton growth. A similarity between C:N:P ratios in the plankton biomass and deep-water nutrients was observed by Alfred C. Redfield around 80 years ago and suggested that biological processes in the surface ocean controlled deep ocean chemistry. Recent studies have emphasized the role of inorganic N:P ratios in governing biogeochemical processes, particularly the C:N:P ratio in suspended particulate organic matter (POM), with somewhat less attention given to exported POM and dissolved organic matter (DOM). We plan to conduct several research expeditions in coming five years in the Indian Ocean to understand the C:N:P ratio in all the nutrient reservoirs.

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Ashima Bhaskar

DST-INSPIRE faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2014/002069 National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : July 29, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB) which kills 1.4 million people annually. Emergence of drug-resistant TB indicates the failure of current anti-TB therapy. Mtb has evolved many strategies to avoid immune surveillance which facilitates its survival, replication, and persistence in the host. Better understanding of the mechanisms by which this pathogen invades the host and evades killing will help in developing newer therapeutics targets. Influence of Mtb infection on histone modifications and chromatin remodeling is still in its infancy. It has been shown that Mtb inhibits the expression of IFN-gamma induced genes including CIITA, CD64, and HLA- DR through histone deacetylation. During Mtb infection there is a significant change in the host transcriptional profile. In our effort to further decipher the influence of Mtb infection on histone modifications, we performed microarray of THP1 cells with and without Mtb infection. Microarray data indicated significant up regulation of a class III HDAC, SIRT2. SIRT2 is mainly found in the cytosol where it regulates microtubule dynamics through deacetylation of α-tubulin at lysine 40. Other cytosolic targets include p65 and FoxO1. It also migrates to the nucleus where it deacetylates histone H4 at lysine 16. Generation of ROS/RNS and induction of autophagy are important host defense mechanisms against Mtb. The fact is well demonstrated by the increased susceptibility of NADPH oxidase (NOX2), nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) deficient mice and Atg5fl/fl LysM-Cre+ mice defective for autophagy in myeloid lineage following Mtb challenge. The most important functions of SIRT2 which may promote Mtb survival are its ability to inhibit autophagy and to induce the expression of antioxidant genes. SIRT2 has also been shown to inhibit iNOS expression. With this background, we aim to delineate the role of SIRT2 during Mtb infection.

Future Research plans 1. Deciphering the Acetylome of host after mycobacterial infection. Post-translational modifications (PTMs) regulate the functional and physical properties of proteins in response to environmental cues. Acetylation is one of the ancient conserved PTMs which occur ubiquitously across all domains of life. Lysine acetylation (Kac) is a reversible PTM, initially discovered on histones but has been observed on a number of other cytosolic and nuclear proteins. Kac are involved in a wide range of cellular functions, including DNA-protein interaction, transcriptional activity,

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protein stability, and enzyme activation. Moreover, Kac and its regulatory enzymes (lysine acetyltransferases [KATs] and lysine deacetylases [KDACs]) have been linked to several major diseases, including cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, cardiovascular disease and various infections. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB) which kills 1.4 million people annually. Mtb has evolved many strategies to avoid immune surveillance which facilitates its survival, replication, and persistence in the host. Better understanding of the mechanisms by which this pathogen invades the host and evades killing will help in developing newer therapeutics targets. Whether and to which extent Mtb is able to manipulate ancient PTMs such as Kac of its host cells would improve our understanding of how Mtb manipulates the host for its own good.

2. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of Mycobacterial persistence. Persisters are multi-drug tolerant phenotypic variants of genetically identical cells. Mtb has tremendous ability to persist for decades in human host even in the presence of effective host defense mechanisms and antibiotics. We aim to dissect the mechanism of persister cell formation in Mycobacteria. Taking cues from studies on E. coli, we would investigate the role of (p)ppGpp regulatory network in Mtb. Furthermore, Mtb genome encodes for 11 serine/threonine protein kinases which play an important role in the adaptation of this pathogen to its environment. To this end, we would examine the role of these kinases in mycobacterial persistence.

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Ashish Kumar

DST INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001572 Inter University Accelerator Center New Delhi Email ID : [email protected], [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 20, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Thermoelectric devices are very strategic and emerging field in current state of art research. Governments and laboratories all over world are putting large in finding alternative energy resources. I have been actively working in wide bandgap semiconductors for last 10 years and now applying the experience for development of thermoelectric devices based on wide band gap semiconductor via a controlled defect engineering method. This study shall focus on taking advantage of thermal and electrical properties of artificially induced defects created by ion beam implantation. Identifying the contribution of different kinds of defects at interface/depletion layer (native and intentionally introduced) and in bulk of semiconductors and developing a theoretical and experimental correlation of defects induced transport properties. Identify potential applications of defects in new areas where the interplay of thermal and electrical properties can be positively utilised for thermoelectric and photovoltaic devices. Development of technology by incorporating modification/improvements steps to reduce the adverse contribution of defects in devices, like improving interface properties by the introduction of high-k layers.

Future Research plans The present research opens the next step to engineer the properties of materials using defects created by ion-solid interactions and other means. Understanding of defect mechanism helps us to understand the ion-solid interaction at nanoscale and controlled implantation can induce unique properties, which are not possible by other means. The present study shall provide a path to various applications where controlled defects induction could be used to tune device parameters. Expending the studies using different ion beams, energies and temperature shall help in development of deeper understanding the existing knowledge. Development of hybrid technology for photovoltaic and thermoelectric properties of GaN for energy harvesting provides further scope of research.

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Askandar Iqbal

DST-INSPIRE FACULTY DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000556 JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA UNIVERSITY Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : September 23, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow My research investigates the role of driver mutations in affecting the cancer metabolism in order to understand if genetic heterogeneity contributes to differential metabolic behavior in cancer cells. To this end, we have cloned different mutations/ wild type and studied their effect on several metabolic parameters. Since cancer metabolism is emerging as a critical therapeutic target, we are also working to evaluate the inhibitory effects of important phytochemicals on the metabolic transformation in cancer cells. We identified new role of curcumin in inhibition of cancer metabolism in variety of cancer cells via down regulation of mTOR/HIF1alpha/pyruvate kinase M2 axis (Scientific Reports, 2018).

Future Research plans In future, I plan to study how the metabolic transformation is linked to non-metabolic cancer features like gene expression, immune-surveillance and epigenetics. Studying the relation between metabolism of cancer cells and the different hallmarks of cancer is another interesting area I would like to focus. Using metabolomics of biological fluids, I am interested in identifying metabolic biomarkers associated with different cancers. To sum up, I am interested in digging deeper in to understanding of cancer metabolism, to help address the challenges in therapeutics and prevention of cancer.

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Athira P.

Assistant Professor DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000382 IIT Palakkad Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 31, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow This project includes mainly two objectives. 1) Water conservation measures for the Vadakarapathy Panchayat, Palakkad, Kerala 2) Climate change studies for the Bharathapuzha river basin, Kerala. There are 7 small watersheds with in the Vadakarapathy panchayat with an area of 50 Km2. The farmers in the region have already adopted different water conservation measures like rainwater harvesting structures, farm ponds, advanced irrigation techniques etc. Still water scarcity is a major issue during summer. The undulating topography of the region and shallow soil thickness are the major issues that reduced the efficiency of all the conservation measures. The containment of water within the aquifer is the major challenge in this region. A subsurface dyke at an optimal location with check dams in the upstream regions will be an ideal solution for extending the water availability in the region. The location for subsurface dyke and check dams are identified by a detailed survey. The modelling studies are going on to analyze the impact of these structures on ground water recharge and water availability. According to the State action council of Climate Change, Palakkad region is a hot spot for climate change experiencing significant variations in the precipitation and temperature patterns.

This project started the climate change studies with a detailed analysis of reasons for climate change in the region. The global warming might be one major reason for variations in temperature pattern. The current study tried to analyze the impact of land use change on climatic variables. The landuse variations over last 30 years (1990-2010) were analyzed. There is a significant increase in urban area from 1990 to 2010, significant changes occurred after 2000. The urban extend in percentage increased from 6 to 15 within a decadal period. The wet cultivation (Paddy and Sugarcane) has reduced significantly from 39% of total area to 27% within two decades. The deforestation is another significant trend that observed in the study area, there is a reduction in forest cover from 15% of total area to 8% over two decades. These changes in landuse will definitely affect the micro-climate and hydrology of the region. The watershed management policies for the region should be based on the future climatic and landuse projections. Hence, a landuse change modelling study has been conducted as part of the

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project with a cellular automata based model called SLUETH. The project is continuing and started working on the climate change modelling part.

Future Research plans The climate change modelling studies is the next component of the current project. Further, the impact analysis of landuse change and climate change on the hydrology of the watershed is of at most importance since it is an agricultural based watershed. This will help in proper planning of the available water resources and adaptation of conservation measures for a sustainable development. This work will be a part of the current project. The inter relationship between landuse change and surface air temperature variations will be another area of research which can be further explored. A decision support system for participatory watershed management will be a further extension of this project. The support system should be able to help the farmers and the Governmental and non- governmental agencies for planning water conservation measures and crop selection for different seasons based on the climatic conditions. The major components of the system will be a water conservation module, a crop growth module and a climate forecast module.

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Atreyee Bhattacharya

Assistant Professor Award Number- DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000721 Affiliation - IISER Bhopal Email ID : [email protected] ; [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : October 1, 2015.

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow (1) Geometric realizations of finite groups of mapping classes on surfaces: Jointly with Drs. Kashyap Rajeevsarathy and Shiv Parsad, we have been working on geometric realization of finite cyclic subgroups of the mapping class groups of surfaces. We have recently submitted one research article based on the this project to the journal Algebr. Geom. Topol. (2) Quadratic curvature functionals: Jointly with Dr. Soma Maity, we are working on certain Riemannian functionals related to different notions of curvature and trying to understand stability of their critical points. We are about to submit a research article based on this project

Future Research plans (1) Geometric realizations of finite groups of mapping classes on surfaces: (Joint with Drs. Kashyap Rajeevsarathy and Shiv Parsad) We have been working on geometric realizations of finite cyclic subgroups of the mapping class groups of surfaces. We have recently submitted one research article based on the this project. Our future goal is a complete and explicit understanding of the geometry of the fixed point set (as a Riemannian submanifold of the Teichmuller space) for the action of an arbitrary finite subgroup of the mapping class group of a given closed surface.

(2) Quadratic curvature functionals: (Joint with Dr. Soma Maity) We have been working on Riemannian functionals related to curvature quantities and the stability of their critical points. We have recently finished a research article where we study the critical points (of quadratic curvature functionals) that are product of Einstein metrics. We would like to completely classify the stable critical points that correspond to compact irreducible locally symmetric spaces.

(3) Rigidity of Warped product metrics: Warped product metrics are generalizations of Riemannian product metrics. In future, we would like to understand the rigidity and stability of certain warped product metrics as critical points of curvature functionals.

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Avijit Jana

DST-INSPIRE Fellow IFA 15 CH-171 Department of Applied Biology CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : November 02, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow We have demonstrated ‘Aggregation Induced Emission + Excited State Intramolecular Proton Transfer (AIE + ESIPT)’-assisted photorelease of an anticancer drug by a p- hydroxyphenacyl (pHP) phototrigger with realtime monitoring of drug release in vitro. (Avijit Jana*; Chem. Com. 2018, 54, 168-171.). We have developed a new fluorescent o-Hydroxycinnamate derived drug delivery system (DDS) which can serve as the self monitoring phototrigger for prompt image-guided uncaging of drugs with alcohol functionality. (Avijit Jana*; Org. Biomol. Chem. 2017, 15, 8544-8552). We designed a new redox-responsive xanthene-coumarin chlorambucil-based FRET- guided theranostics for “activatable” combination therapy with real-time monitoring of the course of the drug release. (Avijit Jana*; Chem. Com. 2017, 53, 9109-9112). We designed a new coumarin polycaprolactone polymeric nanoparticles for both light and tumor microenvironment activated cocktail drug delivery (Avijit Jana*; J. Mater. Chem. B 2017, 5, 1734-1741). We have developed a new drug delivery system using Biotin- Carbazole-Dicyanovinyl- Chlorambucil conjugate. This conjugate is a multifunctional single molecule appliance composed of thiol-sensor Dicyanovinyl functionality; Carbazole derived phototrigger and the fluorescent reporter, chlorambucil as the anticancer drug, and biotin as the cancer- targeting ligand (Avijit Jana*; Chem. Asian J. 2016, 11, 3482-3486). We have synthesized a new fluorescent photoremovable protecting group (FPRPG) based on acetylcarbazole framework for the first time release of single and dual (similar or different) substrates from single chromophore. Further, we constructed photoresponsive dual DDS to release of two different anticancer drugs simultaneously (Avijit Jana*; J. Org. Chem. 2016, 81, 11168-11175). We have demonstrated an aggregation induced excimeric NIR emission in aqueous media from a suitably substituted perylene monoimide (PeIm) dye. Controlled entrapment of the dye into pluronic F127 micellar system to preserve its monomeric green emission in aqueous media was also established. The aggregation process of the PeIm dye to form organic nanoparticles (NPs) was evaluated experimentally by the means of transmission electron microscope. Tuning the morphology along with the formation of colloidosomes by the controlled selfaggregation of PeIm NPs in aqueous suspension was demonstrated

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successfully. Finally, both excimeric and monomeric emissive PeIm NPs as well as PeIm colloidosomes were employed for the bioimaging in vitro (Avijit Jana*; ACS Appl. Mater. Inter. 2016, 8, 2336–2347).

Future Research plans Our future research plans for next five years are as following-

1) We will be working on synthesis and characterization of new fluorescent RPGs based on perylene, coumarin and carbazole chromophore. 2) Photophysical properties of all the designed PRPGs will be investigated in details. 3) Two photon absorptivity and two photon cross section for all the designed PRPGs will be investigated. 4) Photochemistry of all the designed PRPGs will be investigated under both one photon and two photon irradiation conditions. 5) In vitro and in vivo bio imaging will be carried out using all the designed PRPGs to understand internalization and bio-distribution pattern. 6) Drug release studies along with pharmacokinetics of the released drug will be investigated on both in vitro and in vivo model.

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Bata Krishna Das

Assistant Professor DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001094 Department of Mathematics, IIT Bombay, Powai, Mumbai Email Id: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : February 11, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Summary of my research contributions is divided into two parts. The first part concerns with the study of isometric dilations for pairs of commuting contractions. The existence of isometric dilations for such pairs is known but the structure of the dilating isometries are neither explicit nor tractable in general. However, considering the class of pure commuting pair of contractions we find their explicit isometric dilations, which turns out to be Berger-Coburn-Lebow type pair of isometries. This explicit isometric dilation helps to establish a sharper von-Neumann inequality on an algebraic variety of the closed bidisc, and to obtain a necessary and sufficient condition for a pure contraction to be product of two contractions. The second part deals with the study of submodules and quotient modules of the Hardy space over the polydisc. One aspect of this consideration is the study of essential normality which is a much studied object in operator theory and function theory. It also establishes important connections between operator theory, algebraic geometry, homology theory and complex analysis through the BDF theory. An added benefit of this is also the study of boundary representations. The other aspect is the rank of submodules of the Hardy space over the bidisc. In general, it is a very difficult problem to compute the rank of a submodule and there is no unified approach to such a problem. However, considering a class of submodule namely, co-doubly commuting submodules, we show that rank is always 2, provided none of the associated inner functions are constant.

Future Research plans There are several problems in the dilation theory which I would like to pursue. I will describe one of them which is related to what I have already described in the summary of my research. The method we adopted to obtain explicit isometric dilations for pairs of commuting contractions may be used to obtain isometric dilations of some class of n- tuples of commuting contractions. As the isometric dilation of an n-tuple of commuting contractions, for n strictly bigger than 2, does not hold in general. So my future research plan is to find a tractable class of n-tuples of commuting operators which has isometric dilations. Existence of any such class will lead us to the study of their von Neumann inequality which also does not hold in general (for n strictly bigger than 2). I have also planned to continue my research in the theory of submodules and quotient modules of the Hardy modules over the polydisc. We have already studied essential normality and

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boundary representations for different classes of quotient modules. But there are still several classes of quotient modules whose boundary representations are not known. For instance, I would like to consider the class of Clark quotient modules. This is an interesting and well-known class of quotient modules first studied by D. Clark. Essential normality of these quotient modules are known and I would like to study the boundary representations of the C*-algebra generated by the corresponding module maps.

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Bhuvana T

Inspire Faculty Fellow IFA 13- MS-36 Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur Email ID [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : February 01, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Development of membrane-less fuel cells using flow-through electrodes is one of the most promising technologies because of the high demand for portable, small and efficient power supplies. My proposed work is on fabrication of three dimensional electrodes for microfuel cells. Ni foam has a three dimensional network and is highly conducting. One of the flow-through electrodes is developed using polyaniline and reduced graphene composite coated on Ni foam and tested as anode for enzymatic glucose fuel cells. Reduced graphene has been functionalized with carboxylic groups and amino groups to improve bonding of enzyme onto the electrode. Further, a cross linker is also introduced to have chemical bond between the electrode and enzyme. The electrochemical studies demonstrated that the composite performed better than the pristine and promising when functionalized as enzymes where covalently bonded to the electrode surface. Another new electrode material for vanadium redox flow battery has been developed based on the tire waste. Turbostratic carbon derived from tire-waste is coated on carbon paper and tested for its electrochemical performance. The half-cell and static full cell study have shown promising results and fabrication of flow cell is in process. This is an importance piece of work as micro scale portal power application devices are in great demand. These will ultimately replace battery because of long operation period before recharging and fuel can be replenished easily. Apart from the proposed project, I have developed interest in understanding adhesion between two solid surfaces as the adhesion between two solid surfaces comes into play when two surfaces are brought together and pulled apart with a finite applied force. Further the role of surface tension and surface energy during the interaction of liquid drop with soft membrane is being studied.

Future Research plans The initial test results using turbostratic carbon derived from tire-waste as electrode material for vanadium redox flow battery has been encouraging. Efforts are made to fabricate flow cell using the three dimensional flow-through electrodes. This involves assembly of all components of micro fuel cell into a single microfluidic channel and its walls. The co- laminar flow to maintain sufficient separation of fuel and oxidant streams without a membrane.

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Interactions between two solids, interaction between solid and liquid is of great interest. A liquid drop on a solid elastic thin film causes deformation. The deformed shape is governed by equilibrium of tensions exerted by the various interfaces and the solid film, a form of Neumann’s triangle. There are few studies on the role of substrate elasticity on wettability but a careful experimentation to understand the role of substrate elasticity on the spreading and retraction behavior of water droplets still not fully understood. Experiments are designed to understand above stated interaction between soft solid and liquid.

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Chandra Mouli Pandey

DST-INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000932 Delhi Technological University, Shahbad Daulatpur, Delhi Email ID [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : February 04, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Work done till date: i) Efforts towards Infrastructure Development • Major equipment indented: (Electrophoretic deposition unit, Hydrothermal vessel, High speed centrifuge, Deep freezer, Electrochemical Assembly • Procurement of chemicals and glassware: Common solvent, metal salt, biomolecules, etc. ii) We have synthesized and characterized nanostructured materials namely multiwall CNT, carboxy graphene, polyaniline nanotubes (PANI-NT), PANI-NT-MoS2 Nanocomposites, Zinc oxide-decorated graphene sheets (rGO-ZnONPs), nanostructured Iron oxide (nFe2O3) decorated graphene sheets, Molybiduim oxide (MoS2) graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposite, MoS2/GO/TiO2 nanocomposites. iii) Thin films of the above nano-structured materials were fabricated on the conducting substrate through electrophoretic deposition and Langmuir-Blodgett deposition. iv) Immobilization and optimization of nucleic acid and antibody molecules onto the nanostructured thin film v) Electrochemical biosensing studies related to the detection of cancer biomarkers (BCR- ABL), breast cancer biomarker (EpCAM) and E. coli in water, reproducibility, stability, repeatability and selectivity studies. vi) We have fabricated PDMS microchannels and patterned three electrode system on ITO coated glass substrate that will be used for the electrochemical detection in the microfluidic devices. Results: SEM, TEM, AFM, XRD, XPS, FT-IR, UV-Vis and electrochemical studies (CV and EIS) studies reveals successful synthesis, functionalizations and biomolecular conjugations of the above mentioned nanomaterials. • The nanostructured multiwall CNT modified microfluidic-based DNA biosensor chip were used for detection of cancer biomarkers, PANI NT and PANI NT-MoS2 were used for detection of BCR-ABL gene, Zinc oxide-decorated graphene sheets (rGO-ZnONPs), nanostructured Iron oxide (nFe2O3) decorated graphene sheets, Molybiduim oxide (MoS2) graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposite, MoS2/GO/TiO2 nanocomposites are being used for the detection of EpCAM biomarker (Breast cancer). The electrochemical methods (CV and EIS) have been used for the sensing studies and these sensors are found superior as compared to some of those existing reports.

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• The carboxy functionalized GO has been used for the detection of water borne pathogen (E.coli).

Future Research plans In the last 24 months we have successfully prepared some nanomaterials namely multiwall CNT, carboxy graphene, polyaniline nanotubes (PANI-NT), PANI-NT-MoS2 Nanocomposites, Zinc oxide-decorated graphene sheets (rGO-ZnONPs), nanostructured Iron oxide (nFe2O3) decorated graphene sheets, Molybiduim oxide (MoS2) graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposite, MoS2/GO/TiO2 nanocomposites and utilized them for cancer biomarker and E.coli detection. Results of these studies have been published in international journals of repute. In the coming years the research work will be related to the preparation of other graphene-metal (Au/Pt/Pd) derivatives, characterization and their implementation to the detection of cancer biomarkers especially EpCAM, CEA, and CYFRA-21-1. Further, our plan is to fabricate GO based microfluidic (MF) channel by patterning on ITO and gold coated glass substrate. Soft lithography technique has been adopted for PDMS microchannels and conductive microelectrode fabrication. The major advantage is that the design will provide fully automated fluidic operations and the assay will only requires the introduction of microlitre amounts of sample by the end user, thus facilitating its operation and vastly reducing the reagent consumption and assay time. After the successful fabrication of the MF device, it will be used for the electrochemical detection of various breast cancer biomarkers. The electrochemical sensing studies, selectivity, repeatability, reproducibility and stability studies will be performed. The graphene based nanomaterials will be used to enhance the current sensitivity and efficiency of this microfluidic biosensor. The fabricated GO based MF biosensing device will be utilized in the real patient sample analysis and the results will be compared to the conventional technique mostly used in the hospitals/clinic. Effort will also be made towards the development of paper based MF devices where SU-8 which is an epoxy-based negative photoresist, will act as hydrophobic wall and the liquid will flow through these MF channel through the capillary action of the Whatsman paper. The major advantage is no requirement of the external syringe pump that is essential to enable flow of liquid in plastic/glass MF channels due to their hydrophobic nature. The other advantage of the paper based MF device is that it is far more cost effective, flexible, disposable and environment friendly. Beside this, my aim is to improve the state of art POC devices efficacy such as detection limit, sensitivity, selectivity, detection time and long term functional stability by structural innovation brought in through the recent developments in nanotechnology.

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Chetna Singhal

Assistant Professor DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000793 Department of Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering, IIT Kharagpur Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : October 06, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Multiplicity of networks are available for use by the heterogeneous UEs. Multimedia data has specific QoS requirements (delay and jitter for VoIP and video, reliability for file transfer) based on the application under consideration. Additionally, unicast or broadcast delivery requires varied approaches. With the increase in the usage of intelligent devices that have the capability to act as local hot-spots or relays, new avenues arise wherein the existing devices can participate in the data delivery mechanism over wireless. We have studied and developed the following in context of heterogeneous networks:

1) Optimized network integration solutions for the broadband heterogeneous networks 2) Network selection approach with UE-side and network-side constraints with the aim to increase energy efficiency and improve QoS 3) Resource allocation scheme among the dense or sparse heterogeneous networks for heterogeneous users 4) Handover mechanisms between networks due to mobility, load, or service requirement conditions 5) Schemes and architecture for infrastructural and ad-hoc wireless networks to cater to the multimedia delivery with QoS constraints while optimally allocating resources and providing robust service to heterogeneous users 6) Architectures, protocols, and device participation models for device to device communication in ad-hoc, relaybased, and local hotspot based wireless networks Seamless connectivity is critical for mobile users that receive multimedia broadcast content over heterogeneous wireless networks. Network selection and handoff decisions are driven by pricing scheme, competition between network operators to maximize revenue, and competing users to maximize their QoS. To this effect, handoffs and network selection need to be improved for better userexperience under highly mobile user settings. In addition, user preferences, service priorities, usage scenarios, differential service pricing, and network availability needs to be accounted for while selecting the best service provisioning strategy for a particular user. The green communication avenues benefit the service providers by reducing their operation cost and is also advantageous towards improved environment. Hence, more research is required towards service providers’ cooperation and network entities consolidation in order to reduce effective energy consumption at service providers’ side

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while providing substantially good multimedia broadcast services to the users. The research undertaken as INSPIRE faculty paves way for next generation of efficient multimedia services over wireless networks.

Future Research plans The following are the key objectives of the future research plans: i) Solutions for dense urban scenarios with heterogeneous users, targeting: - large number of simultaneous connections - connectivity to mobile users with dynamic network selection - support of real-time multimedia services - connectivity and multimedia services in remote areas ii) Inclusion of features such as device-to-device (D2D) within dynamically self-organizing network paradigm iii) Real-time multimedia streaming with QoS/ QoE guarantee iv) Mobile edge computing paradigm with provision for RAN selection v) Developing resource allocation strategies and overall architecture to support all of the above vi) Campus level experimentation with lots of users to validate the proposed solutions. Overall, the key objectives will be completed under the following three phases: 1) Developing architecture for multi-RAN heterogeneous networks with features like D2D, SDN, and RAN selection. The advent of next generation (NGN) heterogeneous wireless networks necessitates the development of architectures that integrate the multiple RANs and heterogeneous network system. Features like device-todevice (D2D), software defied network (SDN), and seamless RAN selection, need to be incorporated in the architectures for improved quality of service (QoS) / quality of experience (QoE) guarantee. All these pose unique challenges while developing an integral and unifying framework, that will be identified and are solved during this phase of the project. 2) Devising efficient resource allocation strategies in NGN wireless networks for real time multimedia service in dense urban environments. Real-time multimedia service has stringent QoS requirements. Dense urban scenarios further strains the existing limited resources. Hence, efficient resource allocation strategies are necessary to cater to such scenarios in upcoming NGN wireless networks. These will be devised in this phase of the project. In this regard, theoretical framework will be developed and solved analytically. Heuristic algorithms will be developed for scalable solutions and extensive simulation based study will be conducted for proof of concept for all relevant scenarios. 3) Experimental validation of the proposed solution. Mobile applications will be developed for deployability of the proposed framework into experimental setup. Campus-wide experiments will be conducted with a large number of users (volunteers). This will enable us in validating our analytical and simulation based results.

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Dhanya Rajendran

Assistant Professor IFA 15/MA 72 IIT Goa Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : April 04, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow As an INSPIRE faculty at ISI Bangalore centre I have published one paper and submitted two papers. In a paper accepted in Proceedings of Royal Society Edinburgh, 2017 we have proved that Gaffney inequality is valid in Lipschitz domain under more general boundary conditions. The result was known only in smooth domains and only when the normal or thetangential component of the gradient is zero. This is a joint work with Gyula Csato and Olivier Kneuss. In a single author work recently submitted I have proved the existence of a continuous branch of positive solutions emanating from positive infinity for a infinite semiprostone problem. The proof uses stability analysis, local bifurcation theorem known as Crandall –Rabinowitz theorem. A complete bifurcation diagram for an infinite semipositone problem is known only in one dimension or in case of simple semipositone problem in case of a ball. In both those works the problem reduces into an ODE and the results are obtained using shooting methods. But here we consider the PDE in any arbitrary domain and hence the results are reallystrong. Thirdly I have worked with on a singular elliptic equation in the exterior of a ball with nonlinear boundary condition. We established a three solution theorem for the same using a Amman’s fixed point theorem. This is a joint work with Ratnasingham Shivaji and Byunjae Son.

List of Publications: 1 On the boundary conditions in estimating $\nabla \omega$ by $div \omega$ and$ curl \omega$ .(Accepted for publication in Proceedings A of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 2017.)(Joint work with Gyula Csato, Olivier Kneuss) 2 On positive solution curves of an infinite semipositone problem. (Under Review) 3 A three solution theorem for a singular differential equation with nonlinear boundary conditions. (Joint work with Byunjae Son, R Shivaji) (Submitted)

Future Research plans In the next five years I wish to expand my area of research more into non-local elliptic operators, the existence and multiplicity results for fractional laplace operators with singularities, infinite semipositone problems for nonlocal operators etc. Also I wish to understand the bifurcation phenomenon for infinite semipositone problem for p- laplacian. The other problems of interests include a strong comparison principle for p-laplacian with a singular term, higher eigenvalues of weighted N-laplacian, Fucik spectrum etc.

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Dip Kumar Singha

Assistant Professor DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001681 Department of Geophysics, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221005 Email ID [email protected] & [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : October 10, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Estimating pore pressure and stress magnitude are very challenging and difficult job in deep sea water. Hence, to understand of geomechanical behaviour in deep offshore basin is crucial task and which contribute significant supports deep well drilling. The well log and seismic data were collected from CSIR-NGRI, Hyderabad for gas hydrate bearing sediments in Mahanadi basin below sea floor depth 1500m. The following works have been carried out: (1) The well data are analysed in order to estimate pore pressure and other stress magnitude such as effective stress, vertical stress and horizontal stress. The gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ) and bottom simulating reflector (BSR) are correlated and identified. The relation between effective stress and velocity of P-wave is established with high value of good correlation. (2) The poststack seismic data are used to identify the BSR and free gas below it. The P-wave and density are calculated from poststack inversion from two seismic lines. After that the vertical stress is mapped on the two seismic lines in time section. The effective stress in seismic section is also calculated from established relation of effective stress- velocity of p-wave in well log data. Finally, the pore pressure is predicted using the seismic data in the gas hydrate bearing sediments. The average predicted pore pressure (PPG) and vertical or overburden stress gradient (OBG) are found 10.15 MPa/km and 10. 41MPa/km in GHSZ and little high pressure is observed in free gas bearing zone. The results are very good and prepared to publish in a good international journal. (3) The natural fracture and breakout are noticed and marked from micro-image log data. High dip amount of natural fracture are appeared in the sediments. It is trying to understand the nature of the natural fractures from attributes of the seismic data.

Rock physics modeling of sandstone reservoir from gas fields of on shore, Krishna- Godavari (K-G) basin was carried out and published in journal. Different natural fracture and breakout were computed from formation micro-image log data in K-G basin and hence, the orientation of minimum and maximum horizontals stress in support of direction of plate movement in N-E direction. The porosity from pre-stack seismic data and several attributes have been computed in gashydrate bearing sediments of K-G basin.

Future Research plans The following targets will be achieved in next session:

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(1) Elastic parameters such as Young modulus, Shear modulus, Bulk modulus, shear modulus and poisson’s ratio from 2D-seismic will be calculated and interpreted. (2) The differential stress, minimum and maximum horizontals stress are to be estimated to understand the occurrence of natural fracture and other geomechanical behaviour in the deep offshore. (3) Rock physics template will be used for the different lithologies (gas hydrate and free gas) expected in the area instead of using additional log data to aid interpretation. (4) The rock physics model will be analysed by geological constraints such as pore pressure, temperature, lithology, mineralogy, burial depth and diagenesis. (5) Trying to establish rock physics and geomechanical lab in the department. The core sample in oil/gas or unconventional basin will be used for computing the rock strength, velocity, porosity and permeability constrained if the core sample data will be available.

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Eshu Singhal Sinha

DST-INSPIRE Faculty Award Number: DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001752 Department of Biotechnology, Panjab University, Chandigarh Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : November 05, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow 1. Establishing the culture conditions for U266B1 cells: Human multiple myeloma (MM) cell line U266B1 was procured for conducting the proposed work. Unfortunately, the cells were not growing well and accumulated debris. Hence, optimization of culture conditions for U266B1 cells was done sequentially by increasing FBS concentration in RPMI medium, supplementation with 2mM L-glutamine and finally addition of GlutaMAX to complete medium. With supplementation of GlutaMAX, the cells started growing healthily and there was no accumulation of debris in the culture flasks. Hence, we are maintaining U266B1 cells in RPMI medium containing 12% FBS and 2mM GlutaMAX.

2. MTT assay to determine the effect of HGF on proliferation of multiple myeloma (MM) cells: Single chain form of HGF failed to have any effect on proliferation of U266B1 cells. However, when heterodimeric form of HGF increased the proliferation of MM cells by 25% as compared to the untreated cells at 72 hrs of stimulation with 40 ng/ml of HGF.

3. To determine if HGF induces drug resistance in MM cells: ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are known to be one of the major causes of multidrug resistance in cancer therapy. The members of this family efflux cytotoxic compounds across the membrane by using energy from ATP hydrolysis. We determined the effect of HGF on the levels of ABC transporters ABCG2, ABCC1 and ABCB1 by RT-PCR. An increase in expression of drug exporter genes ABCG2 and ABCB1 was observed at 48 hrs of HGF treatment as compared to control cells.

4. To determine if HGF induces phosphorylation/activation of c-MET in MM cells: HGF induced phosphorylation and activation of c-MET receptor as determined by Western Blot analysis using Phospho-Met (Tyr1234/1235) monoclonal antibody.

5. To determine the effectors molecules activated by HGF in MM cells: Western Blot analysis was used to determine if HGF induced activation of Gab-1, AKT and c-Src. The results demonstrated that HGF induced activation of Gab-1, AKT and c-Src as indicated by phosphorylation of Gab-1 at Tyr-472, AKT at Ser-473, and c-Src at Tyr-416.

Future Research plans

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1. To determine if HGF induces drug resistance in MM cells: The effect of HGF on the expression of ABC transporters ABCG2, ABCC1 and ABCB1 at protein level will be analyzed via Western blot analysis. Subsequently, the ability to efflux different drugs including doxorubicin, etoposide and bortezomib will be analyzed in HGF treated cells as compared to control cells.

2. To determine whether HGF/c-MET signaling regulates Btk, c-Src, AKT, PYK2 or STAT3 activation in MM: For this MM cell lines will be treated with HGF for different time points. Thereafter, Btk, PYK2 and STAT3 activation will be determined by Western blot analysis using Phospho-BTK (Tyr223), phosphor-PYK2 (Tyr402) and phosphor- STAT3 (Tyr705) antibodies.

To determine whether HGF mediates activation of Btk, c-Src, AKT, PYK2 and STAT3 in MM via c-MET, the effect of blocking c-MET receptor on Btk, PYK2 and STAT3 activation will be evaluated. Subsequently, the involvement of each one of Btk, PYK2 and STAT3 in the activation of remaining molecules will be determined by blocking the respective effector via its pharmacological inhibitors. To rule out the nonspecific effects of pharmacological inhibitors, the effect of siRNA-mediated blockade of target molecule expression on HGF-induced BTK, c-Src, AKT, PYK2 and STAT-3 activation will be analyzed.

3. To determine the signaling mediators that are recruited to c-MET upon binding of HGF to c-MET: HGF mediates different cellular functions in different cells because of its ability to activate multiple cytoplasmic signaling mediators which are recruited to c-MET receptor upon binding of HGF to c-MET receptor. Therefore, investigation of signaling mediators that are recruited to c-MET upon its binding with HGF will be done. 4. To determine the involvement if any, of HGF/c-MET signaling or Btk, Gab-1, c-Src, AKT, PYK2 or STAT3 in inducing MM progression and/or drug resistance.

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Fatima Shahab

DST-INSPIRE Fellow IFA14-ENG96 ITMMEC, IIT Delhi, Hauz Khas,Delhi-110016 Email ID : [email protected], [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : January 30, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Eco-friendly materials like jute, cotton, coir, dried banana leaf are being widely used in noise control applications. These materials are abundantly available in our country and are cheap as well. Noise generated at a machine source reaches the receiver through an air-borne or/and a structure-borne path. Usually in order to implement any path noise control, acoustical materials are used. These acoustical materials can be broadly classified into two important categories one being the sound absorber and other being the sound barrier. The sound absorption in a material is dependent on few important physical parameters of the material like its porosity, bulk density, fiber diameter, thickness etc. Many physical models based on wave propagation in bulk materials is available. However while developing eco-friendly materials for sound absorption; the optimum physical parameters for the best sound absorption are not readily available which has been well validated for such materials. For sound barrier material the mass of the material plays a significant role in its noise attenuating properties. However the eco-friendly materials have a low density in comparison to conventional barrier materials like elastomers, bitumen sheets etc. In order to use the eco-friendly plant based materials, they need to be manufactured into rigid panels of appropriate density so that they have comparable sound attenuation properties similar to that of traditional sound blocking materials. These materials have many potential applications, like in home appliances, automobiles, building acoustics and machineries. In many applications the issue of thermal, chemical and environmental stability of these composite materials need to be understood and methods to improve them need to be addressed. This project will open a new paradigm in eco-friendly materials towards their use for noise control. With the growing awareness amongst customers of products towards noise, the availability of an established technology towards noise control using eco-friendly materials would in the long run reduce the carbon foot print.

Future Research plans My experience of over 3 year at IIT Delhi consists of being a faculty of graduate level courses (Maintenance Planning and Control, Diagnostic Maintenance and Condition Monitoring, Reliability Engineering and Reliability, Availability and maintainability Engineering). However, I have had considerable research experience in the areas of machinery condition monitoring and noise control during my masters, PhD and

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postdoctoral assignment. I also had the privilege of interacting with the industries in the areas of my expertise and delivering lectures at industries and academia. Recently, three of my student from IIT DELHI had completed their M. Tech in the areas of Reliability and Machinery Condition Monitoring. At present, 4 M. Tech student working with me in the areas of Machinery Condition Monitoring and Reliability and 1 PhD student sponsored by awarded DST Inspire faculty grant working in the general areas of machinery noise control. The research involves acoustical characterization of naturally occurring fibrous materials and experimental validation of the same. Research is also focused towards the manufacturability of such eco-friendly naturally occurring fibrous materials for increasing their product life cycle.

Based on my above background and experience I would like to continue my research in the areas of machinery condition monitoring, Reliability and maintenance, Industrial Noise Control, Development of ecofriendly Noise Control Materials and non-destructive testing for product reliability. I also have plans to offer new courses in the areas of non- destructive testing for product reliability. Additionally, I plan to upgrade the existing laboratories for Environmental Stress Screening, setup facilities for thermal and humidity cycling on experimental Estimation of product reliability. I have a strong experimental background, which I would like to bring into the department, and establish it as a world class center in lines of those which I had witnessed at some of the leading universities in the United States of America.

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Garima Mishra

INSPIRE Faculty IFA-14/PH-106 Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : July 29, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow I am exploring the underlying mechanism involved in binding and rearrangement of protein-DNA complexes, which are quite complicated system, and are crucial steps for cellular machinary. Owing to the large size of these complexes, an all atom simulation of these systems are computationally demanding. Keeping in view of this, I have recently developed some coarse-grained models for these complexes and validated those against experimetal findings. The developed model considers the energetic heterogeneity in DNA, which results the formation of bulges of different size and at different location depending on DNA sequence. Using this model, I showed the existence of a length scale upto which the unzipping force penetrates through DNA from force end. Experimental studies using single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer shed some light over dynamic activity of different types of SSB proteins. However, the mechanism by which a protein migrates along ssDNA still remains unclear when considering its extensive ssDNA interactions. Based on protein-ssDNA model, I found faster dynamics of ssDNA along the protein interface if the interfacial residues are of electrostatic nature (while retaining its structure). My model suggests that the heterogeneous binding interface of protein-ssDNA is designed to control the dynamics of these complexes. I also showed that the sliding of ssDNA along protein does not require simultaneous breaking of all the contacts (energetically unfavored); rather the ssDNA breaks only few contacts with protein interface resulting in bulges as ssDNA moves. This is an important finding as it provides a direct evidence of reptation mechanism for protein movement along ssDNA as has been proposed in recent experiments.

Future Research plans Primarily, Escherichia coli Single-Strand Binding (SSB) protein binds to single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) with high affinity to secure the stored information in ssDNA and forms a very stable SSB-ssDNA complex. Subsequent act of SSB has to recycle (i.e., their dissociation from and reassociation with ssDNA) as well as relocate itself to different location of genome. SSB can be translocated with a diffusion mechanism along a long single-stranded DNA or through a strand exchange pathway. Strand exchange of SSB allows SSB to hops onto a different strand or redistribution to a distant segment. We have studied the diffusion mechanism of SSB over long ssDNA and role of protein interface on diffusion. It would be interesting to explore how the strand exchange takes place and what

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sort of transient intermediate states are formed by competing ssDNA with pre-ligated ssDNASSB complex. The complementary nature of base-pairing gives the self-organization ability to DNA, and make it an attractive component in nanoassembly. The application of these nanoassembly, e.g. nanomaterials, drug delivery and biosensing, requires the characterization of mechanical properties of these material. The first measurements using magnetic tweezers (Nano Lett. 2011, 11, 5558–5563), directly measure the bending and torsional rigidities of four and six helix bundles tubes, showing that the bending rigidities greatly increases while the torsional rigidities are only moderately augmented compared to duplex DNA. However, comparably high twisting rigidities is reported in another experiment (ACS NANO. 2014, 7, 6700-6710). It is important to note here that, these measurements utilize different approaches to measure the rigidities. I am planning to carryout the exact characterization of mechanical

DST-INSPIRE Faculty Fellows 208 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Geetharani K

Assistant Professor DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000785 Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore-560012 Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : February 01, 2017

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Organoboranes are important in medicinal chemistry and they are often used as synthetic intermediates for transition-metal catalyzed cross-coupling, conjugate addition and many other reactions due to their stability and ease of handling. The attribution of the 2010 Chemistry Nobel Prize for palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions to Prof. Akira Suzuki and other pioneers recognized the great importance of organoboranes in this revolutionary class of C-C bond forming processes. Recently, remarkable advances have been made in the use of boronic acids in molecular recognition, materials science, and catalysis. VelcadeTM, the first commercialized boronic acid containing drug as an anticancer agent has marked the growing status of boronic acids as an important class of compounds in chemistry and medicine. Considerable effort has been committed to the preparation of organoboranes using precious metals (such as Pd, Rh, Ir, etc.) and more recently, using non-precious metals (Cu, Ni, Fe). High cost, human toxicity, and limited natural abundance are few drawbacks associated with precious metals. These drawbacks have sparked interest for the development of cost effective earth abundant, less toxic metals or even metal free catalytic systems to promote selective synthesis of organoboranes efficiently. Our current research mainly focuses on the development of base metal catalysts (Co, Fe) or main group catalysts for the synthesis of organoboranes. Recently, we developed an efficient cobalt-catalyzed borylation of aryl halides, including aryl chlorides with bis(pinacolato)diboron affording the aryl boronates in good yields. Also, we found an easily prepared iron (II) amide compound enables the selective hydroboration of carbonyls in absence of any additives.

Future Research plans My research group is mainly focus on the development of cost effective, earth abundant, less toxic base metal catalysts or main group catalysts for the synthesis of organoboranes, which are important synthetic intermediates in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, liquid crystals, and organic light-emitting diodes as exemplified by the Suzuki–Miyaura cross- coupling reaction. Based on our preliminary results, in future, we will be mainly focusing on the development of metal free or main roup catalysts for the synthesis of organoboranes. Also, we are planning to synthesize organoborane derivatives for bio- medical applications. Boronic acids tend to strongly interact with bases and nucleophiles because of the boron open shell and thus its strong Lewis acidity. Numerous enzyme

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inhibitors have been reported that take advantage of this property. Especially prominent are inhibitors of hydrolytic enzymes that bind to the boronic acid inhibitor partially through interactions with the enzymatic nucleophile needed for its native functions.

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Girijesh Kumar

DST-INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001300 Department of Chemistry, Panjab University, Chandigarh-160014, India Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : November 04, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow During the first two months, the required chemicals have been procured from Alfa Aesar and Sigma Aldrich Chem. Pvt. Ltd. (rare chemicals), however, solvents and reagents were purchased from the local authorized dealers. Next six months, followed by the synthesis and characterization of three new organic building blocks; 2,7-bis(3,5-di(pyridin-X-yl)- 4H-1,2,4-triazol-4-l)benzo[lmn][3,8]phenant- hroline-1,3,6,8(2H,7H)-tetraone (where, X = 2, NDI-PyTz-1; 3, NDI-PyTz-2 and 4, NDI-PyTz-3). In remaining period, we have explored the electrochemical behavior, DFT calculation, thermal as well as their photophysical properties to corroborate their electronic properties. A single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that NDI-PyTz-1 exhibits an overall 3D architecture through the various π–π interactions between the naphthalenic moiety and triazole moiety. The CV, DFT and photophysical study results suggested that all these synthesized organic building blocks are potential candidate for the semiconducting material.

In second year we have synthesized several interesting porous framework materials such as [Co2(dpmndi)(bdc)2]•DMF(1), [{Zn(bpna)(bdc)}•CH3OH]α(2), [{Cd(bpna)(oba)}•CH3OH]α (3), [{Cd(µ-3-bpna)(µ-1,2-nipa)}•DMF]α (4), [Zn3(dpmndi)(oba)3]•H2O•CH3OH]α (5) and [{Cd(dpmndi)(bdc)}•CH3OH]α (6)along with the isostructural [Co3(ina)4(OH)(H2O)3]•H2O•NO3 (7) using the solvothermal protocol. A single crystal X-ray analysis reveals that 1 adapts an overall (5)-connected 3D framework architecture with tts- type topology. Whereas, 2 and 3 show a 3D network and 3D layered architecture, respectively. Compound 4 exhibits (4)-connected 2D network with the sql topology and point symbol of {44.62}. The 3D network of MOF 5 may best described as uninodal (6)-connected network as suggested by topological analysis. The topology of this net is not contained in the Topos Topological Database, thus MOF 5 possesses a new topology with point symbol of {44.610.8}. The 3D framework of 6 is composed of Cd3 cluster. Whereas, compound 7 is found to be isostructural with the previously reported MOF [Co3(ina)4(OH)(C2H5OH)3]•NO3•C2H5OH•3H2O by Chen and co-workers. Compounds 1 and 7 exhibits very good magnetic and gas sorption behavior for CO2. Whereas, 2–6 show excellent fluorescence behavior.

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Future Research plans In future we will synthesize more naphthalene diimide and anthracene derived flexible and rigid struts such as 4,4'-(9,10-anthracenediyldi-2,1-ethynediyl)bispyridine, N,N'-bis(4- pyridylmethyl)-1,4,5,8-naphthalenetetracarboxylic diimide, N,N'-bis(4-benzoic acid)- 1,4,5,8- naphthalenetetracarboxylic diimide, N,N'-Bis(4-Phenyl-pyridine)-1,4,5,8- naphthalenetetracarboxylic diimide, and N,N'-Bis(biphenyl-4-carboxylic acid)-1,4,5,8- naphthalenetetracarboxylic diimide.

Subsequently their utilization in the construction of electron rich porous functional materials (PFMs) leading to their application as chemo-sensor and shape and size- selective catalyst. The continuing study will help to find a promising platform for this newly synthesized electron rich PFMs in biomedical applications which is recently started to appear. The utilization of unique physical and chemical characteristics of PFMs could be of immense help in the drug storage and delivery, nitric oxide storage and delivery, imaging, anion recognition and sensing. As in the domain of health, one of the important challenge is the efficient delivery of drugs in the body using non-toxic nanocarriers. In this context, the continuous development and implementation in terms of ability to tune the porosity for better drug interactions and high loadings can promote the design of novel structures and that could be serve as nanocarriers for delivery and imaging applications. In literature, few reports are available where Fe–MOFs and Zr–MOFs have successfully used as nanocarriers for efficient controlled delivery of challenging antitumoural and retroviral drugs against cancer and AIDS. However, till date, there are no reports available where, naphthalene diimide and anthracene derived struts based electron rich PFMs have used for such type of biomedical studies.

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Girish C M

DST INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000107 Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Cochin Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : October 01, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow • Integrated molecular diagnostics: combining Raman spectroscopy with mass spectroscopy for molecular diagnosis of oral cancer Raman spectroscopy can provide a rapid method for classification of tissue based on their biochemical changes, as in healthy versus tumor, with a high accuracy. However, the molecular information pertaining to the alteration of proteins, lipids and other metabolite expression profiles cannot be identified from the spectral data. Here, we make use of mass spectrometric analysis of tissue to identify the impaired molecular profile and thereby correlating it with Raman spectroscopic data for the molecular screening of oral tumors.

Future Research plans • Raman spectroscopy-based diagnostics- development of portable device for oral cancer diagnosis, its clinical validation and translation • Detection of circulating tumor cells • Nanotechnology based immunotherapeutics in oncology • Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy

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Hari Prasad Dasari

Assistant Professor IFA13_ENG_48 Chemical Engineering Department, National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, Mangalore, Karnataka Email ID: [email protected] or [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : February 19, 2014

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Carbon deposition is one of the major reason for deactivation of the SOFC and SOEC anode materials using hydrocarbon fuels. The novel anode materials should be resistant to carbon deposition. The carbon deposition can be reduced by introducing oxygen storage capability materials as anode materials. In order to screen the oxygen storage capability materials as SOFC anode material it has been tried to find out carbon oxidation activity which can be directly correlated to the oxygen storage capacity of the material. Currently, we tested ceria based materials (GDC, SDC and PDC) which have high oxygen storage capacity. Synthesis and solubility limit of the solid-solution of ceria based materials also plays key role in obtain the effective oxygen storage capacity so various synthesis methods and study on the solubility limit is also undertaken. Currently, we are testing Ni-GDC, NI-SDC and Ni-PDC anode materials for carbon oxidation reaction.

Future Research plans: Over the next five years I would like to do further research in the following areas. Catalyst development for CO and Soot oxidation reactions (This will help the automobile sector in India to decrease the air pollutants (SOOT and CO)). Catalyst development for thermo-chemical hydrogen production. Development of novel electrolyte materials for SOFCs with enhanced ionic conductivity. Conversion of CO2 effluent in to syngas using SOEC technology.

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Hitesh Kulhari

Assistant Professor and INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000594 Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : February 17, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow We are developing Manganese-based nanocarrier systems for the efficient and targeted delivery of anticancer drugs and genes. Apart from delivering drugs this system may also be utilized for MRI imaging. Therefore, this research work will develop innovative material systems aimed to improve delivery and hence the therapeutic efficiency of chemotherapy. Till date, we have synthesized and characterized three different biocompatible material-conjugated manganese nanocuboids. Through the development of novel biomaterials, this project would advance diagnostic imaging and drug delivery technologies and help to generate further insights in nanobiotechnology addressing the priority goal to maximize India's competitive advantage in critical sectors such as medical technologies.

Future Research plans Currently my research work is focused to develop Novel Drug Delivery System for anticancer therapeutics. As this area of research needs further exploration of the formulations for better cancer chemotherapy, I would like to continue designing of pharmaceutical formulation. However, the research work would be more focused towards product-oriented research. Apart from nanoparticle-mediated delivery of anticancer therapeutics, I would like to focus on co-amorphous formulation development of oral anticancer agents for improving their bioavailability, efficacy and reducing their toxicities.

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Indra Sekhar Sen

Assistant Professor IFA13-EAS-09 Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur Department of Earth Sciences Kanpur Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : February 17, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow I have established the Quadrupole Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer and nutrient analyzing facilities at IIT Kanpur. I am working on the hydrological dependence of Ganga River on Himalayan glaciers. I quantified the temporal variability in contributions of snow and ice melts over seasonal to inter-annual timescales. To trace current contributions from glacial meltwaters, I have developed a hydro-geochemical model for snow/ice meltwaters to the headwaters of the Ganga River. The model uses time-series observations of water discharge, physical (temperature, turbidity, and conductivity) and chemical (major ion and trace element concentrations, pH, dissolved oxygen, hydrogen and oxygen, as well as strontium isotopes) parameters of water samples near glaciated Ganga headwaters. I also apply long- lived radioactive isotopes such as 187Os/188Os, 206Pb/204Pb, 207Pb/204Pb, and 208Pb/204Pb to trace source(s) of dust and pollutants in the atmosphere. I am trying to integrate back trajectories generated using a Lagrangian Particle Trajectory Model (LPDM) using meteorological fields generated by a mesoscale model over Himalayan region and highly precise 187Os/188Os isotope data to substantiate the applicability of Re-Os isotopes in aerosol source apportionment studies, and better understand the long-range transport of atmospheric dust in India.

Future Research plans In future, I would set up a QQQ-ICPMS facility at IIT kanpur so that long-lived radioisotopes can be measured in-house, and I don’t have to depend on collaboartors. I would contoinue to work on low tempertaure geochemistry.

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J. INDU

Assistant Professor DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001570 IIT Bombay Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 10, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow 1. Objective 1 of the research proposal has been completed. Estimated Sampling uncertainty of microwave precipitation estimates from the Global Precipitation Measuring Mission (GPM) satellite orbital data products. The data products were processed to estimate sampling error over the Ganga Basin and the Mahanadi basin of India. A book chapter on the introductory work has been communicated. A journal paper on this work is currently under preparation.

2. A large scale physical based semi-distributed macro scale hydrological model namely the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model was set up. The model has been calibrated and validated from to simulate hydrological fluxes over the Mahanadi basin. The PhD student working on this project ( who joined in January 2016), for this work has received the prestigious AGU student travel grant to present the research at the AGU fall meeting 2017 in New Orleans, USA.

All the input files have been created for the entire Mahanadi basin. Study period of 2003- 2007 has been used for calibration with 2002 being the initialization period for the model. The model is validated for the period 2009-2011. The model is set to run at 0.5 degrees resolution. Hence the basin gives total of 74 grid cells. A three soil layer VIC model is considered to run the model in water balance mode. Calibration of the VIC hydrological model is an iterative process involving the change of sensitive model parameters to obtain best possible match between the observed and simulated values. Six model parameters of the VIC-3L model need to be calibrated because as they cannot be determined well based on the soil information (Yuan, 2004). These six model parameters are the depths of the upper and lower soil layers (di, i=2,3); the Variable Infiltration Capacity curve parameter(bi) which defines the shape of the Variable Infiltration Capacity curve; and the three subsurface flow parameters (i.e., Dm, Ds, and Ws, where Dm is the maximum velocity of base flow, Ds is the fraction of Dm, and Ws is the fraction of maximum soil moisture. Coefficient of determination (R2) was estimated between the observed with respect to simulated stream flow for the gauging stations Tikarapara, Kantamal and Sundergarh for calibration and validation respectively.

Future Research plans

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Knowledge regarding the sampling uncertainty contribution from GPM orbital data products and its propagation through hydrological enables the data developers to improve the performance of their algorithms and data users to assess model simulation outputs that result in a more reliable prediction. In order to broaden the application of microwave based GPM orbital products in hydrological applications, a thorough investigation regarding the nature and magnitude of sampling errors and its propagation through hydrological model is essential. Hence, the future research plans shall involve: 1. To study the manifestation of precipitation sampling uncertainty in simulated hydrological fluxes using the set up VIC model. 2. The remaining gauging stations of the Mahanadi basin are to be calibrated and validated. 3. To formulate expressions to model the non-linearly varying component of sampling uncertainty that percolates and inflates the overall model uncertainty.

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J Krishna Murthy

INSPIRE FACULTY DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000299 Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : March 01, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Investigating and understanding the zero-field-cooled (ZFC) spontaneous-positive and field-cooled (FC) conventional-negative exchange bias effects in epitaxial-bilayers composed of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO) with ferromagnetic and Eu0.45Sr0.55MnO3 (ESMO) with A-type antiferromagnetic (AF) heterostructures respectively. A temperature dependent magnetization study of LSMO/ESMO bilayers grown on SrTiO3 (001) manifest FM ordering (TC) of LSMO at ~320 K, charge/orbital ordering of ESMO at ~194 K and AF ordering (TN) of ESMO at ~150 K. The random field Ising model has demonstrated an interesting observation of inverse dependence of exchange bias effect on AF layer thickness due to the competition between FM-AF interface coupling and AF domain wall energy. The isothermally field induced unidirectional exchange anisotropy formed at the interface of FM-LSMO layer and the kinetically phase-arrested magnetic phase obtained from the metamagnetic AF-ESMO layer could be responsible for the spontaneous exchange bias effect. Importantly, no magnetic poling is needed, as necessary for the device applications. The FM-AF interface exchange interaction has been ascribed to the AF coupling with (coupling constant between AF spins) for the spontaneous positive hysteresis loop shift, and the field-cooled conventional exchange bias has been attributed to the ferromagnetically exchanged interface with (coupling constant between FM spins).The second objective which I have proposed is to study the electric-field control of magnetization by changing the direction of canted spins and interface exchange-coupling.

In the microelectronic devices the power density increases exponentially as per the Moore’s law that can induces overheating problem. To overcome this thermal management issue and improve the efficiency of processers, the promising approach is purely electric-field control of devices, which cause much less Joule-heating than magnetic devices that are switches with electrical current. The deposition of artificial ferromagnetic and ferroelectric with strong magneto-electric coupled heterostructures have attracted much attention due to their entanglement in electric-field control of magnetization which has been characterized through the exchange bias effect by external voltage.

Future Research plans

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Ø I have successfully completed half-of the work proposed to the Inspire Faculty program. For the second part, I am investigating the effect of substrate strain and electric-field induced spontaneous and conventional exchange bias effects in the magnetic bilayer composed of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO) with ferromagnetic (FM) and Eu0.45Sr0.55MnO3 (ESMO) with A-type antiferromagnetic (AF) heterostructures, respectively.

In addition to the above proposal, I am also working in four different obejctives: Ø Low-dimensional and geometrically frustrated magnetic materials have been received renewed research interest because of their unique magnetic and electronic phases. I am motivated to work in 3d-5d transition metal based quasi one-dimensional spin-chain A3BBˈO6 (A= Ca, Sr, B= Fe, Co, Ni, Cu etc.; and Bˈ= Rh, Pt, Ir) compounds and to investigate its multiferroic and magnetocaloric properties. I prepared Sr3(Co/Ni)IrO6 one-dimensional spin chain compounds and observed that temperature and magnetic field induced various magnetic phases. To understand the origin of such complex magnetic behaviour, need to obtain the neutron diffraction and µ-spin resonance (µSR) measurements with temperature and magnetic fields.

Ø There is currently a great interest in designing and exploring of new multiferroics with coupling between magnetism and ferroelectricity, find applications in magnetic sensing, high-freqency tunable electronics and low-power data storage. The challenege is to find a strong coupling with low-hysteresis near to room temperature. In this regard, I motivated to work in 3d and 4d transition metal oxide based multiferroics with a goal to find large magnetoelectric coupling at ambient temperature.

Ø Multicaloric effect in single-phase magnetoelectric multiferroics: In single-phase multiferroics due to the intrinsic magneto-electric coupling a direct application of electric/magnetic fields can also change the magnetization/polarization. In this regard I want to investigate; multiple caloric effects like, magnetocaloric and electrocaloric effects in B3TeO6 (B= transition metal ions) and RMn2O5 (Gd, Dy and Y) systems, magnetically as well as electric-field induced the total adiabatic temperature changes.

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Jaswinder Singh Maras

DST-INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000064 Department of Molecular and cellular Medicine, Institute of liver and biliary sciences Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : September 11 , 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow As a DST Inspire fellow at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences I have worked on Proteomic and Metabolomics investigation to identify candidate biomarkers for Acute Liver Failure and Acute on Chronic Liver Failure. we have collected Plasma and Urine samples of Acute on chronic liver failure (ACLF; n=200), Acute liver failure (ALF; n=100), Decompensated liver cirrhosis (DLC; n=100) and healthy controls (HC; n= 50). We first screened plasma samples of ACLF to identify Biomarker of severity, Protein expression profiling was performed and validated in ACLF patients and controls. A total of 417 proteins were identified of which 100 were>2 FC differentially expressed. Higher levels of sCD163 and lower levels of He-Hp complex seen in Non survivors-ACLF>>ACLF- HE>>ACLF>>DLC>>HC (p<0.05) suggested hyper-activation of CD163 signalling cascade. Frequency of rCD163 was higher on the perivascular (CD11b+ CD14+ CD45+) and Microglia macrophages(CD11b+CD14−CD45−) phenotype in ACLF-HE>>ACLF. So we could that levels of sCD163 was increased in ACLF patients, more so in HE or higher severity. Higher levels of sCD163 on microglia macrophages suggests breakdown of blood- brain barrier in ACLF-HE and can serve as a candidate biomarker for early prognostication. We also worked the Urinary metabolome in ACLF:Biomarker of Non- Response to corticosteroid. Urines samples of 140 ACLF and controls were analysed on an high resolution mass spectrometry. Raw-data were processed by XCMS and annotated using CAMERA, SPI and KEGG, HMDB, METLIN. A total of 212 features were annotated. A total of 9 urinary metabolites L-acetylcarnitine(12-fold), octanoylcarnitine(4-fold), decanoylcarnitine(4-fold) decenedioic acid(3-fold), alpha-ketoglutaric acid(2-fold) and decreased levels of glycerol-3-phosphate(2-fold), and N-acetyl neuraminic acid(2-fold), linked to mitochondrial functions significantly discriminated ACLF-NR from R. Baseline urinary L-acetylcarnitine(>2,500 ng/mL) distinctly identified both NRs and NS(AUROC >0.98, OR >10, p<0.01). Urinary metabolome signatures can predict pre-therapy steroid response and disease outcome in SAH patients. We also worked on the role of Iron overload mediated and inflammation in Severe alcoholic hepatitis: To understand this, a transcriptomic profile of liver and Peripheral-Blood-Mononuclear-Cell(PBMC) was studied in SAH patients with and without hepatic iron-overload. Our results show that iron-overload in hepatocytes/macrophages is due to an increase in expression of iron- loading receptors and CD163 signalling cascade. Increase in labile iron pool induces expression of iron-loading, oxidative-stress and inflammatory genes together with

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expression of CD163 and ADAM17. These events could be inhibited with iron chelation or with ADAM17-blockade, proposing a potential therapeutic strategy for SAH patients with iron overload. My group also worked on Immunomodulatory role of Albumin after post translational modification. We examined post translational modification in circulating albumin in severe alcoholic hepatitis and their contribution to neutrophil activation, intracellular stress, and alteration in associated molecular pathways. We found that there is a significant increase in albumin oxidation, and albumin acts as a pro-oxidant; this promotes oxidative stress and inflammation in SAH patients through activation of neutrophils. We could also show that Modification Patterns of Urinary Albumin Correlates With Serum Albumin and Outcome in Severe Alcoholic Hepatitis and Molecular Ellipticity of Circulating Albumin-Bilirubin Complex Associates With Mortality in Patients With Severe Alcoholic Hepatitis.

Future Research plans Till date, we have collected a total of 200 ACLF, 100 ALF, 100 DLC and 50 HC controls and have performed Plasma and Urine proteomics and metabolomics experiments in a derivative cohort setting. Analysis of the results from the proteomics and metabolomics experiments would give us an insight on the following research question. • Proteome and metabo phenotype of ACLF and ALF patients • What are the pathophysiological differences between ACLF and ALF • What are the differentially expressed proteins or metabolites capable of early diagnosis of ACLF or ALF from DLC or healthy controls • Can plasma and urine proteome profile help in differentiating Survivors from non survivors, Responders of corticosteroid from Non Responders, Patients with sepsis and without sepsis, With iron overload and without iron overload • Can plasma and urine Metabolome profile help in differentiating Survivors from non survivors, Responders of corticosteroid from Non Responders, Patients with sepsis and without sepsis, With iron overload and without iron overload • We would also perform integration of the proteome and metabolome profile in ACLF and ALF to get a deeper insight in the diseases pathophysiology.

In the same line, we have recently published “Baseline urine metabolic phenotype in patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis and its association with outcome in “hepatology communication” Which was supported with the editorial (Can we reliably predict response to corticosteroid treatment in severe alcoholic hepatitis?) In which the editorial team clearly mention the utility of our study and stated that we were the first to provide convincing evidence for the ability of urinary metabolome signatures to predict steroid response in patients with SAH prior to starting therapy. In the same manuscript, we tried to integrate the results of baseline urinary metabolite profile with the transcriptomics profile. We next plan to do the integration of proteomics and metabolomics profiles of ACLF patients this work would take place in 2018-2019. Results of this work would enable us to indentify pathophysiological differences in ACLF and ALF patients.

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Jyoti Goel

DST-INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000943 HEPP Building, CSIR-NPL, Delhi, KS Krishnan Marg, New Delhi Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : September 1, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow We emphasized on the Pt/Co–rGO synergy, each component in binary hybrid of Platinum and cobalt significantly contributed to the specific roles: platinum nanoparticles served as the active sites for fuel oxidation reaction in fuel cells. Co facilitated the oxidative removal of carboneous poisonous species from adjacent Pt sites and rGO served as a conducting material for speedy electro-catalysis. Aucore/PtShell-rGO catalysts were prepared using surface chemical reactions. The immobilized and covalently bonded Au/Pt nanoparticles on rGO nanosheets exhibited enhanced electrocatlytic behavior towards direct ethylene glycol PEM fuel cell. Pt atoms were observed to be attached on rGO using cysteine, which acted as linker in controlling the loading of nanoparticles of about 10.1 nm. The engineered electrocatlyst based on surface chemical reactions of Aucore/PtShell-rGO catalysts presented improved interfacial electron transfer and enhanced stability. The increased activity of chemically immobilized Au/Pt, as compared to non-chemically immobilized Au/Pt and Pt/Co–rGO nanocatalysts is a due the presence of tailored electron transfer pathways of covalent bonds integrating Au/Pt nanocatalysts onto the graphene nanosheets, and also due to the synergetic electronic effects of thin layer of outer Pt shells on the inner Gold core structure. Enhanced electro catalytic oxidation of ethylene glycol is observed as higher specific current and increased stability of Cys- Aucore/PtShell-rGO nanocatalysts compared to Aucore/PtShell-rGO and Pt/Co–rGO synergy. The complete cell test using direct ethylene glycol fuel cell (DEGFC), single cell set up presents 56% increase in power density and 81 % increase current density using Cys-Aucore/PtShell-rGO electrocatlyst as compared to Pt/Co–rGO synergy.

Future Research plans To improve the performance of direct ethylene glycol fuel cell (DEGFC), it is required to develop an anode catalyst that can oxidize ethylene glycol (EG) completely to obtain CO2. It has been seen that using Pt catalysts at the anode side at ambient temperature leads to poor fuel utilization and emission of significant amount of poisonous products due to the incomplete oxidation of EG in DEGFCs. Increasing the platinum loading on the carbon support will increase the probability of re-adsorption of the intermediates, leading to more complete oxidation. The second solution is using platinum alloys with other metals, e.g., Ru, Ir, Re, Mo, Sn or others. These bi-metallic systems are very efficient for complete oxidation of simple alcohols (methanol and ethanol) and are widely used in direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs). Investigation of new non noble anode electro-catalysts for the

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conversion of EG into carbon dioxide, and producing electrons can result in increase in performance of DEGFCs. The mismatch in activity of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell towards membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and rotating disk electrode (RDE) is dependent on one of the major factor, as providing high heat, mass and electron transfer rate along with the transfer of catalysts over MEA, which is aimed to improve by optimizing MEA fabrication parameters. The challenges focuses to tackle is translating performance in the advancements to the technological application in DEGFCs from RDE studies and highlighting further research on this process step. Fundamental advances in the understanding of optimal catalyst layer design are expected to pave the way to performance-oriented engineering of unsupported electrocatalysts implementable in the catalyst layers of a technical MEA for DEGFCs.

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Kayambu Namitharan

DST-INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001003 SRM Research Institute, SRM IST, Chennai-603203, India Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : October 01, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow We focus on the development of new synthetic methodologies for better organic synthesis, applicable solution of complex molecules synthesis, including transition-metal free organic reactions. So far we have developed three new methodologies and the same are listed below:

1. Copper-Catalyzed Ring-Expansion Cascade of Azirines with Alkynes: Synthesis of Multisubstituted Pyridines at Room Temperature. 2. Transition-Metal-Free In Situ Generation of Terminal Alkenes: Synthesis of Multisubstituted Acrylamidines via Tandem sp3 C−H Olefination/sp2 C−H Arylation Reactions. 3. Copper-Catalyzed Sulfonyl Azide-Alkyne Cycloaddition Reactions: Simultaneous Generation and Trapping of Copper-Triazoles and -Ketenimines for the synthesis of Triazolopyrimidines.

Future Research plans: We will be working on alkyne activation using base metals for New Synthetic Methodologies for new molecules and new Knowledge. Other goals include the development of heterogeneous catalysts for industrially useful selective organic transformations. In particular, Borrowing Hydrogen Reactions for N- and C- alkylations using alcohols as alkylating source

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Ketankumar Patel

Assistant Professor DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/0005081F9 IISER Mohali, Sector 81, Mohali Email ID: [email protected] ; [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 10, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow The major aim of my INSPIRE project is to understand the implications of Quark-Lepton unification in the theories with higher spacetime dimentions. We have made following progress in this field. A grand unified theory has been constructed in six-dimensional spacetime in which the three generations of quarks and leptons arise from flux compactification. This provides a very constrained model of flavour without any symmetry which has often been implemented in order to get a predictive framework of flavour. By quantitative investigations, we have shown that such a framework leads to a viable explanation and explains several features of observed fermion masses and mixing pattern. The proposed framework also naturally explains the matter-antimatter asymmetry observed in the universe through the mechanism called Leptogenesis. Understanding the origin of a peculiar pattern of fermion masses and mixing has been one of the major aims of constructing new theories and framework beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. In one such approach, we have recently proposed a flavoured version of clockwork mechanism. In this setup, it is shown that the observed flavour pattern can be obtained without any unnaturally small or large parameter in the fundamental theory. By introducing N pairs of vectorlike fermions, as clockwork gears, for each generation of the standard model fermions and setting up a characteristic clockwork potential, it is shown that the intergenerational mass hierarchies are determined by N. The mechanism is shown to lead to a generalized version of the Froggatt-Nielsen mechanism as an effective description. We have also investigated other aspects of beyond Standard Model physics such as the viability of Discrete symmetry based frameworks in explaining the neutrino masses and mixing patterns and its connection to the naturalness of electroweak symmetry breaking under the INSPIRE programme.

Future Research plans: The specific topics I would like to investigate under my research plan are the following. - Phenomenological investigations of different variants of supersymmetric SO(10) grand unified theory in six dimensions with magnetic flux: Because of quark-lepton unification and multiplicity arising from flux quantization, this theory offers a very predictive

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framework for flavour as well as for supersymmetry breaking mechanism. There exist different variants of this theory based on different orbifolds, boundary conditions and filed content. I would like to construct concrete, predictive and realistic models based on this theory and would like to explore their phenomenological consequences. Such models lead to predictions for the mass scale of light and heavy neutrinos, CP phases in the lepton sector and the spectrum of new particles at the low scale if any which can be used as probe for such theories.

- 5D interpretation of the flavoured clockwork mechanism: Very recently we have implemented the recently proposed clockwork mechanism into the standard model flavour sector and shown that it leads to a generalized version of Froggatt-Neilsen mechanism as an effective description. The 5D theories with flat or wrapped extra dimension and with fermions in the bulk also lead the similar results. This motivates one to look for constructional and quantitative similarities between two theories. I would like to explore this issue and its consequences.

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Kiran Ramakant Gore

DST-INSPIRE Faculty 201500002971 Department of Chemistry,University of Mumbai, Vidyanagari, Santacruz East, Mumbai-400098, India. Email ID: [email protected] or [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : October 12, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow 1. I have joined as DST INSPIRE Faculty at Department of Chemistry, University of Mumbai from 12th Oct 2015. 2. Firstly, Mr. Rahul Ramesh Nikam was appointed as a project fellow through proper screening on the above project w.e.f. 1st April, 2016. 3. All chemicals, reagents, glasswares and equipments required for project have been purchased and utilised. 4. U.V. cabinet. Heating mantles, magnetic stirrers have been purchased and utilised. 5. Samsung refrigerator has been purchased for storage of compounds at -20 oC. 6. Oil vaccum pump, Rotary evaporator for synthesis work has been purchased. 7. After completion of research laboratory set up, synthesis, optimisation and scale up of (Dibenzyl Sugar Intermediate, ~ 50 gm) was carried out from D-Glucose in 8 steps. All the compounds till dibenzyl Intermediate were well characterised. 8. Further, various attempts were carried out in order to synthesize the 4’-C-Histamine modified sugar/ nucleoside intermediate. 9. In another attempt, we have also synthesized 4’-C-aminomethyl-2’-O-TBDMS-Uridine intermediate in order to synthesize 4’-C-Histaminyl-Uridine nucleoside via reductive amination strategy. 10. We also attempted to convert histamine amino group to good leaving group via diazotisation method. 11. Also, In addition to this attempt, we also tried Sommelet reaction to convert histamine amine to aldehyde group in order to carry out reductive amination. 12. Finally, we have achieved the 4’-C-Histaminyl modified dibenzyl sugar from dibenzyl sugar intermediate using Histamine free base (purchased from Sigma Aldrich). 13. We have successfully synthesized 4’-C-Histamine modified uridine nucleoside from dibenzyl sugar in four steps. All the precursors were characterised using 1H-NMR. 14. Further scale up of 4’-C-Histamine modified uridine nucleoside is currently in progress. 15. During this period, we have published a critical review in siRNA research field, “Journey of siRNA: Clinical Developments and Targeted Delivery.” in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics (Impact factor, 2.338).

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Future Research plans 1. After successful synthesis of 4’-C-Histamine modified uridine nucleoside in 12 steps, we will further carry out the synthesis of 4’-C-Histamine-2’-O-Methyl modified uridine phosphoramidite. 2. We will also carry out the synthesis of 4’-C-Histamine-2’-O-Methyl modified cytidine phosphoramidite in future. 3. After complete synthesis of both 4’-C-Histamine-2’-O-Methyl modified uridine phosphoramidite and 4’-CHistamine- 2’-O-Methyl modified cytidine phosphoramidite, these phosphoramidite compounds will be incorporated into small interfering RNAs using solid Phase DNA/RNA synthesizer. 4. The 4’-C-Methylhistaminyl-Uridine and Cytidine modified siRNAs will be used to carry out the UV melting study to check effect of chemical modification on the stability of siRNA duplex. 5. The 32P labelled modified siRNAs will be incubated in human serum which will give information regarding the effect of chemical modifications on half-life of siRNAs in serum. 6. The gene regulation study using dual luciferase reporter assay (DLRA) assay using HeLa cell culture will help to understand the positional effect of chemical modifications on gene silencing efficiency of siRNAs. 7. Finally after all experiments done, the data from all above studies will be analysed and collected together to write the manuscript.

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Komal Bapna

DST-INSPIRE Fellow DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001258 National Physical laboratory, K.S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : September 16, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow During the initial 2 years of Inspire Faculty Award project, on the study of electronic and magnetic properties of some single-layered cobaltate based compounds, the single phase Sr2-xRExCoO4 (RE= La3+, Gd3+, Nd3+) doped bulk compounds using solid state reaction route have been synthesized. The first ever electron momentum densities in bulk Sr1.5La0.5CoO4 and Sr2CoO4 samples were studied using 20 Ci 137Cs Compton spectrometer. The data analysis is in progress. The momentum densities, energy bands, Fermi surface topology and spin magnetic momentum of undoped SCO has been studied using density functional theory within FP-LAPW approach, employing various exchange- correlation potentials to see how they affect the electronic and magnetic response of these cobaltates. Single phase epitaxial thin films of La and Gd doped SCO compounds have been grown successfully. The structural, electrical and magneto-transport properties of single phase epitaxial thin films of La and Gd doped SCO compounds were measured and the results were studied well. Further characterization of these films is in progress. The momentum densities and the energy bands for the RE doped SCO (RE=La, Nd, Gd) are further being analyzed with the same approach. Besides this, I was also engaged in studying electronic and magnetic properties of Ga doped CoFe2O4, Cr doped NiFe2O4, intermetallics LaNi5, ZrFe2 and Sc doped ZrFe2 etc. These materials have immense application in spintronics based devices.

Future Research plans I will look into the electronic, magnetic and thermo-physical properties of Sr2- xRExCoO4 (RE= La3+, Gd3+, Nd3+) with varying doping concentration. Similar properties will be investigated for their film counterpart with different thickness. DFT calculations will be performed with various exchange correlations under Wien2k code. Resonant photoemission spectroscopy and valence band spectroscopy will be explored to determine the coupling among the constituent ions. The electronic structure will be studied independently using three different techniques viz. Compton profile, valence band spectroscopy and XAS and the correlation between the results will be investigated. Although the system is predicted to be half metallic, there is no experimental report to measure the spin polarization which has an immense importance for the device application. I, therefore, wish to measure the spin polarization using the point contact Andreev reflection technique as possible.

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Mahadev B. Pandge

DST-Inspire Fellow IFA 15 PH-124 Dept. Of Physics and Electronics, Dayanand Science College, Maharashtra. Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 10, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow We carried out a detailed analysis of a young merging galaxy cluster MACS J0553.4-3342 (z=0.43) from Chandra X-ray and Hubble Space Telescope archival data. X-ray observations confirm that the X-ray emitting intra-cluster medium (ICM) in this system is among the hottest (average T = 12.1 ± 0.6 keV) and most luminous known. Comparison of X-ray and optical images confirms that this system hosts two merging subclusters SC1 and SC2, separated by a projected distance of about 650 kpc. The subcluster SC2 is newly identified in this work, while another subcluster (SC0), previously thought to be a part of this merging system, is shown to be possibly a foreground object. Apart from two subclusters, we find a tail-like structure in the X-ray image, extending to a projected distance of ∼1 Mpc, along the north-east direction of the eastern subcluster (SC1). From a surface brightness analysis, we detect two sharp surface brightness edges at ∼40 (∼320 kpc) and ∼80 arcsec (∼640 kpc) to the east of SC1. The inner edge appears to be associated with a merger-driven cold front, while the outer one is likely to be due to a shock front, the presence of which, ahead of the cold front, makes this dynamically disturbed cluster interesting. Nearly all the early-type galaxies belonging to the two subclusters, including their brightest cluster galaxies, are part of a well-defined red sequence.

Future Research plans: My research interest is focused on Clusters of galaxies and large-scale structure formation process; Observational cosmology; X-ray and radio astronomical studies of thermal ‘shock and cold fronts’ and ‘radio relics and halos’ in clusters; X-ray emission from galaxy clusters; High energy radiative processes in galaxy clusters. The nearly smooth Universe that emerged from the Big Bang evolved due to gravity, leading to the structures observed today. Mergers between galaxy clusters, the most massive haloes in the cosmos, play a fundamental role in this evolution by releasing the largest amount of energy since the Big Bang. Futute study will carried out to shed new light on the physics of heating and particle acceleration that shapes the Universe's large-scale structure.

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Maibam Birla Singh

DST-INSPIRE Fellow DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001148 Dept. of Chemistry NIT Manipur, Langol, Imphal 795004, Manipur, India. Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : September 9, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow The research was undertaken to develop understanding of ionic liquids dynamics at electrified interfaces employing electrodes which may be heterogeneous, rough and porous in various electrochemical systems like batteries, fuel cells or supercapacitors in two aspects: (i) electrolyte aspect –pertaining to ionic liquids and (ii) the electrode aspect- to understand and designed high surfaces nanoporous electrodes with multi-geometrical length scales. We have devised a mean field level free functional (Landau-Ginzburg type) approach to model the response of ionic liquids under impressed potential field similar to in electrochemical devices. We have obtained preliminary analytical results pertaining to asymmetrical (in size) ionic liquids [1]. The time of response under an electric/potential field is also analyzed. We also wish to compare will full numerical computer simulation (which is yet to be done). On the electrode aspect, we have successfully model high surface area hierarchical porous electrode with bimodal porosity. The electrode/electrolyte modelling was undertaken at an integrated multi-length scale and multi-physics level via ion transport Nernst-Planck-Poisson Equation. Our results and finding have been published [2]. Another research work was undertaken was relaxation dynamics at electrified interface near heterogeneous interface [3]. Also we have worked on impedance model of electrolyte layer under a thin electrolyte film [4].

[1] Maibam Birla Singh, Theory of Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy of Interfacial Phase Separation in Asymmetrical Room Temperature Ionic Liquids (manuscript under preparation). [2] R. Kant, and Maibam Birla Singh, Theory of the Electrochemical Impedance of Mesostructured Electrodes Embedded with Heterogeneous Micropores, published in J. Phys. Chem. C 2017, 121, 7164−7174. [3] Maibam Birla Singh, Theory of Electrochemical Relaxation near Electrified Heterogeneous Surfaces (manuscript under preparation). [4] Maibam Birla Singh, B. I Gabriel, M.S. Venkatraman, I.S. Cole, C. G. Moorthy, B. Emanuael, Theory of impedance for initial corrosion of metals under a thin electrolyte layer: A mixed charge transfer-diffusion model (manuscript to be submitted).

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Future Research plans: The future research plans are as under: (1) To obtain a full numerical simulation response of ionic liquid dynamics: Since for any electrochemical devices the time response in charging/discharging is paramount to applications we will aim to corroborate with already obtained analytical results and probe the slow viscous ionic liquids. (2) Simulation of effect of variation of charge density and size poly-dispersity. This will be done to enhanced electrochemical window of ionic liquids. We wish to employ LAMMPS to achieve our understanding. (2) Calculation of the power and energy density of ionic liquids/porous electrode system: This will be done both analytically and computationally employing COMSOL multi- physics software. The aim is to use the findings obtained and optimized the material geometrical designed. (3) Experimental measurement of thermal (phase transition in ionic liquids and analogous system like deep eutectic solvents). This will be aim to resolve yet unsolved glassy behaviour of supercooled ionic liquids and anomalous Wien effect recently observed. Also this will help understand the possible applications of ionic liquids in replacing present polymer electrolytes employed in Li-ion batteries. (4) Development of theory of phase transition in charged complex fluids. (5) To enhance the performance of energy storage and conversion devices using ionic liquids-porous electrode electrified interface by better design, cell configuration, develop better understanding as guiding principle and develop prototypes for technological applications.

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Manas Ranjan Sahoo

Assistant Professor DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001574 School of Mathematical Sciences, National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhimpur-Padanpur, Odisha Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : October 30, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow The main research carried out after joining as inspire faculty are described below.

1. Radially symmetric shadow wave solutions to the system of multidimensional pressureless gas dynamics are introduced, which allow one to capture concentration of mass. The transformation to a one-dimensional system with source terms is performed and physically meaningful boundary conditions at the origin are determined. Entropy conditions are derived and applied to single out physical (nonnegative mass) and dissipative (entropic) solutions. A complete solution to the pseudo-Riemann problem with initial data exhibiting a single delta shock on a sphere is obtained.

2. We studied the large time asymptotic for solutions to the viscous Burgers equation and also to the adhesion model via heat equation. Using generalization of the truncated moment problem to a complex measure space, we constructed asymptotic N-wave approximate solution to the heat equation subject to the initial data whose moments exist up to the order 2n + m and i-th order moment vanishes, for i = 0, 1, 2 . . . m − 1. We provided a different proof for a theorem given by Duoandikoetxea and Zuazua , which plays a crucial role in error estimations. In addition to this we described a simple way to construct an initial data in Schwartz class whose m moments are equal to the m moments of given initial data.

3. We studied a non-strictly hyperbolic system of conservation laws when viscosity is present and when viscosity is zero, which has been studied by many authors. We show the existence and uniqueness of the solution in the space of generalized functions of Colombeau for the viscous problem and construct a solution to the inviscid system in the sense of association. Also we construct a solution using shadow wave approach and Volpert product which was partially determined as vanishing viscosity limit in one of my previous paper.

4. We introduced a concept of entropy weak asymptotic solution for a system of conservation laws and construct the same for a prolonged system of conservation laws which is highly non-strictly hyperbolic. This is first done for Riemann type initial data by

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introducing δ, δ’ and δ’’ waves along a discontinuity curve and then for general initial data by piecing together the Riemann solutions.

Future Research plans Systems of conservation laws in one space dimension as well as in multi space dimension are very important topics in physics as well as in mathematics. The study of such systems are very important as they appear in applications in many real world problems. Also the mathematical theory of shock waves is beautiful in itself. If the system is strictly hyperbolic and initial data has small total variation, then the existing theory by Glimm and Lax confirms the existence of weak solutions. Such a strictly hyperbolic model with small total variation initial data is not always expected. In that case, i.e., when the initial data is large or the system is not strictly hyperbolic, the existing theory does not apply. The complication is the appearance of product of distributions. Our proposal is to address some such problems.

1. We want to study non-homogeneous problem for the one dimensional model for large scale structure formation of universe. 2. We are interested to get existence and uniqueness of solutions for elastodynamics system which is a non-conservative system. 3. Interested on the initial-boundary value problem for pressure less gas dynamics system in one space dimension, which is important in itself as well as for multidimensional model, because an artificial boundary is created when we search for radial solutions.

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Manoj Kumar Tripathi

Assistant Professor DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000449 Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : October 01, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Flows involving multiple fluids and phases are common in industrial as well as natural processes. Experiments involving multiphase flows such as in bubble coloumn reactors may be expensive and only yield average properties of the fluid motion. Therefore, accurate computer simulations are very useful in understanding such flows and designing equipments involved in their handling and processing. Although there has been considerable progress in simulations of multiphase flows, there are several types of flows which cannot be accurately simulated such as moving contact line flows, flows with surfactants, and evaporation. The complexity of such flows is compounded by the influence of non-Newtonian rheology, electric and magnetic forces and the presence of moving solid boundaries. Several of these physics are modelled for certain flow regimes such as creeping flow, spherical interface assumption, and zero Marangoni number. Direct numerical simulations of even relatively simple systems representing such flows have still not been achieved. One of the important aspects of multiphase flows interacting with solid boundaries is the correct modelling of moving contact lines. Despite so much experimental and numerical data available, the problem of contact line motion is far from developed, and would itself take a long time to be understood. Even after a simple model, which agrees with experiments and theory, is developed and implemented in a numerical code, there are several additional physics to be added to this problem to perfect the understanding of moving drops on a solid surface, in its entirety. Some of the remaining problems are: - Marangoni convection: Some preliminary work has already been done to this end. - Phase change: This would include solidification and evaporation in moving drops due to heat transfer from the surface. A numerical tool able to simulate these aspects of multiphase flows would significantly improve the understanding of such flows and help in the progress of industries relying on such flows.

Future Research plans After developing a code for accurately computing Marangoni flows within VOF framework, I will be extending the work to liquid bridges. The plan is to simulate the flow and heat transfer in liquid bridges in contact with solid walls. This would also require a

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model for contact line dynamics on the walls. To the best of our knowledge, no universal macroscopic model for contact line motion exists.

However, for a fixed contact angle, a Stokes flow model can be used to simulate the flow at subgrid scales. A few papers have described this process for very simple systems such as a plate being pulled steadily from a liquid bath, but a complete implementation of this promising model is lacking. It remains to be tested whether a Stokes model with slip has any benefit over a Stokes model with no-slip condition at the wall from which a velocity boundary condition may be derived in a region slightly removed from the wall. It needs to be tested for highly unsteady cases whether a Stokes flow subgrid model is valid. Also, a numerical model for dynamic contact angle may be generated for high capillary numbers along the lines of Cox and Voinov, or Shikhmurzaev’s model. It is also planned to implement a boiling as well as an evaporation model for deforming drops in the VOF framework. Later, a fluid-solid interaction model will be implemented to compute these complex phenomena for moving solids within multiple fluid regions. It is also planned to parallelize these codes for faster computations.

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Mousomi Bhakta

Assistant Professor DST/INSPIRE/04/2013/000152 Dept. of Mathematics, IISER-Pune Email ID: mailto:[email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 18, 2014

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow After joining IISER-Pune with INSPIRE faculty award on 18/08/2014, I completed some of the ongoing project and started and completed some new projects. In the ongoing project I studied fourth order equation (biharmonic equation) with Rellich potential/Hardy potential and critical nonlinearities. In those I studied existence/nonexistence of weak solution in various type of domains and the blow-up phenomenon. In another existing project I proved existence of infinitely many sign changing solutions of an Hardy-Sobolev type equations with critical Sobolev and Hardy- Sobolev exponent. Then I started the new projects with Sanjiban Santra (from Mexico). With him I have started working in Hardy equation with critical and supercritical exponents. In that project we completely classified the singularity of solution at origin and then we studied the asymptotic profile of solution and showed how the solution blows up and concentrates at origin. Then I started the new area: nonlocal semilinear elliptic equation with my Ph.D student, Debangana Mukherjee.

In four joint works with her, we have proved multiplicity of solutions of nonlocal elliptic equation with different type of concave-convex nonlinearities for fractional Laplacian type equation, p-fractional Laplacian type equations, (p,q) fractional Laplacian type equations. We also established the existence of sign changing solution in the fractional and p- fractional case with concave-critical nonlinearities. In another project with Mukherjee and santra, we studied profile of solutions for nonlocal equations with critical and supercritical nonlinearities and established how concentration phenomenon of the solutions occur and using that we have proved the local uniqueness property of solutions.

In a joint project with D. Mukherjee, we have worked in nonlocal scalar field equations and proved existence of solution and established various qualitative properties of the solution. We also characterised the asymptotic profile of solution when the vanishing parameter goes to zero in all the three cases of nonlinearities: critical, subcritical and super critical. In a joint project with Phuoc Tai Nguyen (from Czech Republic), we have established apriori blow up estimates of nonnegative solutions of nonlocal semilinear elliptic equations. our solutions included any viscosity solution/distributional weak solution/ classical solution which may have singularity at the boundary. Next we have also proved existence, multiplicity, regularity properties of positive solution of equations with fractional Laplace operator and with power type nonlinearities and measure boundary trace.

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Future Research plans: With my former Ph. D. student D. Mukherjee I would like to study the multiplicity of solutions of p-fractional type equations with “jumping” nonlinearities at 0 or at infinity. In that project we would like to prove existence of at least three solutions: one positive, one negative and one sign changing solution. In another project with my Ph.D student Souptik Chakraborti, we like to study the multiplicity of positive solutions to p-fractional type equations with concave-critical nonlinearities along with sign changing coefficient functions. In a joint research project with Phuoc Tai Nguyen (from Czech Republic), we have just started studying isolated singularities of nonlocal elliptic system of equations with source term. In that project we like to completely classify the singularity of solution, that is when the isolated singularity is removable and when it is not removable then what is the exact blow up rate of the solution. We are also interested proving the existence and multiplicity of solutions with measure boundary data. With another joint project with Sanjiban Santra (from Mexico), we are interested in studying the blow up profile of solution with 1/2 Laplacian in \mathbb{R} with large exponent type nonlinearity.

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Mrinmoyee Basu

DST Inspire Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000239 Birla Institute of Technology Pilani Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : November 02, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow In the last two years, initially I have started working on electrocatalytic water splitting having the aim to develop efficient, stable 2D nanostructure electrocatalysts for both hydrogen and oxygen evolution reaction (HER and OER). Further we can decorate these materials as co-catalyst on the semiconductor surface for the application of photoelectrochemical water splitting. We have already developed few efficient and stable catalysts like 2D sheets of NiCo2O4/NiO, Co3O4/Co3S4, NiFe2O4 and 2D nanoplates of CoFe2O4 for OER in alkaline condition. Here, we have observed that 2D sheets of NiCo2O4/NiO is more efficient compared to nanowires of NiCo2O4. Similarly, 2D nanostructure of NiFe2O4 and CoFe2O4 are more active compared to their respective 3D nanostructures. Stability of the all the catalyst were checked with the help of chronoamperometric study and also by consecutive LSV scan of 1000 cycles. NiCo2O4 can generate unaltered current density up to 11 h. Whereas, 2D nanostructure of Co3O4/Co3S4 and CoFe2O4, NiFe2O4 are stable up to 1000 consecutive run. Presently, we are working on the double layer hydroxide of nickel, cobalt and Iron.

In case of HER we have developed CuS/Ag, Ag2S/Ag, MoS2/C3N4, MoS2/Ag, Pd and AgPd, MoSe2/Pd and Rh catalyst. These developed catalysts for HER showed efficient activity with high stability in 0.5 H2SO4. We are also developing few more efficient catalysts for HER, e.g., metal doped thin sheets of MoS2, MoS2/MoSe2 heterostructure and hydrothermally Li-intercalated MoS2 and MoSe2. 2D nanosheets of CoXSy, NiXSy and CoNi(1-x)Sy were synthesized following a simple hydrothermal method which shows efficient activity towards HER in 1.0 M KOH.

Presently, we are also developing methods for the direct synthesis of thin sheets of ZnO, WO3 following electrodeposition method for the application of photoelectrochemical water splitting. We are also trying to use the electrocatalytically or photoelectrochemically generated hydrogen for other chemical reaction.

Future Research plans: Final aim of our research is to develop a catalyst which can effortlessly generate efficient current density with the requirement of minimum potential through electrochemical water splitting and stable for longer period of time. Hydrogen generated from laboratory through electrocatalytic or photoelectrochemical can be commercialized and the process will be economic. Developing such catalysts, we will prepare the heterostructures of

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efficient catalysts and suitable semiconductors for photoelectrochemical cell, so that the heterostructure can generate significant photocurrent under zero bias with uniform stability. Ultimately, generation of hydrogen which can be used as an alternative fuel in near future is the main focus of our research. Keeping dream to use H2 either generated electrocatalytically or photoelectrochemically in automobile industry. We are also planning to carry out different hydrogenation reactions or reduction and oxidation reactions utilizing generated H2 and O2. Major issue in the present research is the stability of the developed catalyst. Commercialization or proper utilization of the generated H2 and O2 are possible only when we have a stable catalyst with optimum current density. Many ways can be unveiled for the utilization of the generated hydrogen. We can also think reduction of CO2 to methanol electrocatalytically as CO2 is being considered as the most significant pollutant for environment.

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Narendra Reddy Chreddy

DST-INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000674 Crop Protection Chemicals Division CSIR-IICT Hyderabad Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 10, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Seven small molecular organic materials denoted as ICT1, ICT2, ICT3, ICT4, ICT6, ICT7 and ICT9 have been synthesized and their thermal, photo-physical, electrochemical and photovoltaic properties are explored. All the materials have good solubility (up to 25 mg/mL) in most common organic solvents and have excellent thermal stability. They have broad and intense visible region absorption and have suitable HOMO and LUMO energy levels for PC71BM acceptor. Bulk heterojunction solar cells with ITO/PEDOT:PSS/blend/Al structure are fabricated using these materials. The BHJSCs fabricated by spin cast of ICT9:PC71BM showed highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.34%. The impact of the chemical modifications of the donor materials on the photo-physical, electrochemical , electronic, structural and photovoltaic properties are explored to develop efficient donor materials to harvest solar energy. Various parameters like the chemical structure, solvent additive, device fabrication and device architecture are optimized to enhance the PCE. Apart from these, the importance of the energy level alignment to tune the charge transport characteristics of the small molecule organic materials is also explored by synthesizing two materials namely BCDDPP and BCPzDP. All these research outputs are published in various international journals

Future Research plans: Apart from the efficiency, stability and environmental friendly processing of solar cells is an important area to look at. Most solar cells developed suffer from poor device stability due to donor/acceptor phase separation. Moreover, small molecule solar cells have poor mechanical stability. My future research plan is towards the development of donor and acceptor materials for all polymer solar cells. All polymers solar cells have high mechanical stability over the small molecule solar cells and the present work place I am at has adequate facilities and sufficient equipment to develop materials for all polymer solar cells. And also my plan is towards the development of eco-friendly solvent processable materials. Since the common solvents used for the solar cell device fabrication like chloroform, THF or chlorobenzene are environmentally hazard. So the development of new polymer materials that can be processable with water are very important to reduce the environmental damage. SO in future I will work to develop new donor/acceptor materials for all polymer solar cells processable with eco-friendly solvents.

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Natarajan Velmurugan

DST-INSPIRE Fellow DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000033 (LFA15-LSPA31) CSIR-North East Institute of Science and Technology, Jorhat, Assam Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : October 26, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Principal investigator (PI) joined as a DST-Inspire Faculty in National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai on 26th October 2015. Soon after the joining, PI was offered regular appointment as Scientist in CSIR-North East Institute of Science and Technology (CSIR-NEIST), Assam. Thus, PI was resigned from NIOT-Chennai wef 04.03.2016 and joined CSIR-NEIST from 21.03.2016. Further, DST has approved the transfer of INSPIRE Faculty Award for implementation from NIOT-Chennai to CSIR-NEIST on 21.06.2016. Following it, unutilized research grant was transferred from NIOT-Chennai to CSIR- NEIST on 09.09.2016. Project Assistant (PA) recruited in this project and PA started to work from 1st Dec. 2016. All the ongoing work details are given below:

PHENOTYPIC CHARACTERIATION OF HAPTOPHYTES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF LONG-CHAIN FATTY ACIDS Strains and culturing conditions: Haptophytes strains, Emiliania huxleyi NIES-2874 and Isochrysis galbana NIES-2590 were procured from NIES, Tsukuba, Japan. The strain NIES-2590 showed better growth in modified ESM artificial seawater medium with supplement of soil extracts. On the other hand, we have also isolated indigenous microalgal strain from Bay of Bengal for the production of long-chain fatty acids. Axenic culture of indigenous strain was cultured in modified 6 different artificial seawater media, Walnes, f/2, ESM, Chry, MNK and TMRL. Better growth was obtained in ESM than other tested media. Identification of axenic culture is in progress.

BIOPROCESSING TECHNIQUES FOR SCREENING OF LONG CHAIN FATTY ACIDS Aim of this part is to identify and isolate high-lipid content phenotypes from heterogeneous (Axenic) population. Optimization of Staining Conditions: For both strains, I. galbana NIES-2590 and indigenous isolates, better efficiency was achieved using combination of BODIPY-DMSO. FACS Screening and Sorting: We have established flow cytometry based HTS and isolation methods for selecting particular phenotypes from heterogeneous (axenic) haptophyte populations. GC-MS and Elemental Analysis:

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Bioprocessing methodology and results were validated using GC-MS and elemental analysis.

Future Research plans Prediction of alkenones biosynthesis pathway via integrated “-omics” approaches: In order to gain an insight into highly stimulated intracellular alkenones accumulation in haptophyte resulting from the adaptive evolution, an extensive integrated “-omics” application of newly isolated artificial high-alkenones content population will be performed. Functional classification could show the differentially expressed proteins and metabolites during adaptive evolution. Comprehensive “-omics” analysis can provide clear insight into the mechanisms of haptophyte alkenones biosynthesis. By transcriptome, proteome and metabolome analyses, we will find out differentially expressed genes involved in the alkenones biosynthesis, differentially expressed proteins related to alkenones biosynthesis and metabolites associated with alkenones biosynthesis, respectively. Thus, we will possibly optimize the metabolic pathway by using detailed knowledge obtained from integrated “-omics” approaches.

Development of efficient transformation technique and isolation of efficient promoters: Inducing the uptake of foreign molecules by cells has been widely perceived as a difficult process, because the complexity of cell membrane which normally prevents the passage of large size molecule into the cells, unless specific mechanisms are employed to bypass these barriers. For efficient metabolic engineering, control of protein expression is very important issue. Thus, several different and high-performance promoters should be isolated and developed. By using different types of pre-treatment methodologies in combination with shot-gun techniques, we can establish an efficient transformation technique for haptophyte, further large-scale library will be made and the library will be screened by FACS-based technology.

Reconstruction of alkenones biosynthesis pathway by metabolic engineering By using the “-omics” knowledge and the transformation techniques and promoters which will be developed, the expression level of important factors will be controlled, so that the alkenones biosynthesis pathway can be engineered. By using these, we will develop haptophycean microalgae strain which can directly produce very high amount of C18- hydrocarbons as jet fuels, ultimately.

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Naveen Kumar Gautam

DST-INSPIRE Faculty fellow DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001/777 Embryotoxicology Laboratory, CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (CSIR-IITR), Lucknow Email ID: [email protected]; [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : November 02, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow 1. Project awarded from DST as “INSPIRE Faculty fellow project”: Deciphering molecular mechanisms and association of genetic variants in diabetic nephropathy Summary of research work: Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a common cause of end-stage renal disease worldwide. DN is characterized by glomerulosclerosis and tubulointerstitial fibrosis resulting in albuminuria and alterations in absorption and secretion. Current work has the aim to investigate underlying mechanism and association of genetic variants in the progression of diabetic nephropathy (DN). To understand the underlying mechanisms of diabetic nephropathy, genetically tractable Drosophila model is used. Type 2 diabetic (T2D) condition was induced in adult Drosophila by feeding 1M high sucrose diet (HSD) and impacts of prolonged diabetic condition were analyzed on its renal organs, nephrocytes, and Malpighian tubules. Nephrocyte filters hemolymph through nephrocyte diaphragm (nd) similar to podocyte slit diaphragm (sd) in the glomerulus and Malpighian tubules (MTs) play role in absorption, reabsorption, and secretion similar to tubular part of the nephron. Feeding of HSD for 20 days causes structural impairment in the MTs and nephrocytes. MTs are thinner in width and nephrocytes are smaller in size in HSD fed flies as compared to control. Cytoskeleton organization was altered in the MTs of HSD fed flies as compared to control. Feeding of HSD leads to impaired insulin signaling and AGE (advanced glycation end products) accumulation in MTs of HSD fed flies. Elevations in the ROS (reactive oxygen species) level and SOD and catalase activities were observed in MTs of HSD fed flies as compared to control. Alteration in the function of nephrocyte and MT was observed in HSD fed flies as compared to control. A number of genes and pathways altered in diabetic nephropathy were also altered in MTs of HSD fed flies. Above data suggest that Drosophila can be used as a model for diabetes mediated renal dysfunction. Scope of societal impact if any: Understanding molecular mechanism of diabetes- mediated glomerular and tubular dysfunction will be helpful to identify the new target/s for the development of early biomarker and appropriate therapeutics to prevent the disease. Genetic association study will be helpful to access genetic risk for the progression of disease in north Indian population. Future Research plans

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Project 1: Deciphering molecular mechanisms and association of genetic variants in diabetic nephropathy In continuation of the above project work following studies will be done in the next year: • Identifying interactors of insulin receptor involved in the progression of tubular nephronic dysfunction in diabetic flies • Identifying human orthologues of genes that have a role in renal impairment in diabetic flies • Identification of environmental chemicals that may aggravate diabetes and renal dysfunction in Drosophila • Collection of the blood samples from diabetic nephropathy patient after informed consent with institutional ethical clearance and the anthropometric as well as biochemical data will be recorded

Project 2: Development of Drosophila as an alternative animal model for assessment of xenobiotic mediated renal toxicity and study the protective role of Hsps in the xenobiotic mediated renal toxicity Apart from the above project work, a new study on the assessment of xenobiotic nephrotoxicity was designed as per the mandate of the host institute. In the present study known nephrotoxicants Cd and Hg was selected for the development of Drosophila model. Protective role of Hsp in xenobiotic mediated renal toxicity will also be observed by using Drosophila model.

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Naveen Kolar Purushothama

Assistant Professor DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000928 IIT Tirupati Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : January 21, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow INSPIRE Faculty award enabled me to investigate research problems that are related to the general topic of Performance Analysis of Wireless Networks. A brief summary of the problems that I am currently working on is given below.

1. Infrastructure-Based Wireless Networks: These are futuristic networks comprising two types of nodes, namely sink and relay nodes; relay nodes are used to extend the network coverage by providing multi-hop path to the sink nodes that are connected to an infrastructure backhaul. The aim of this work is to characterize coverage and percolation properties of these networks. Towards this direction, we have results, both theoretical and simulation-based, that provide valuable insights into the behaviour of these quantities. This understanding will be useful to optimize the cost and performance of the network, right at the deployment phase.

2. Mobile-Data offloading: In order to meet the ever growing demand for mobile data, 5G cellular standards researchers have been envisioning the idea of offloading cellular traffic onto small-cell networks e.g., the WiFi network. The offloading could be achieved either by dynamically assigning cellular users to WiFi network, or by sharing the WiFi spectrum (popularly referred to as LTE-Unlicensed). In either case, the rate available at the WiFi network has to be rationally shared by the cellular operators. Simultaneously, the WiFi operator has to be appropriately incentivized for the rate provided. Using techniques from auction theory, we have devised mechanisms for achieving the above objectives. In particular, we derive Nash equilibrium solutions and obtain bounds on the price of anarchy (or efficiency loss).

3. Bandit Algorithms: These are specific instances of the more general machine learning problems. In bandit algorithms the objective is to learn, as soon as possible, the best option among a given set of actions. We have contributed here by designing algorithms that are efficient than the state-of-the-art.

Future Research plans: I conduct research on topics that are broadly related to wireless networks. In particular, I am interested in modeling and performance analysis of wireless networks using techniques from stochastic processes, control, optimization and game theory. As new

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wireless technologies (e.g., LTE, IoT, ICNs) are emerging, there is an enormous interest on these topics from all quarters, including policy makers to personnel in industry and academia. Hence, for the next few years I intend to continue working on these topics including the problem of mobile-data offloading and infrastructure-based wireless networks (mentioned in my research summary; see previous section). In addition to this, I would like to gradually explore other application domains, particularly smart grids and transportation networks, that are also relevant in the Indian context. These various network application instances can be viewed in unison using the lens of network science (or complex networks); the long-term objective is thus to contribute to this general theory of network science, where the holy grail is to design self-organizing algorithms. In a different but related direction, I am also interested in building systems and test-beds. Towards this, I intend to set-up a WINE Lab (Wireless Networks Lab) at IIT Tirupati where students can test and implement algorithms developed from our lab. I initially plan to start the WINE Lab by procuring the following equipment: • Telos-B wireless motes and Zolertia RE-MOTE • Ettus USRP (Universal Software Radio Peripheral) • Arduino and Raspberry Pi boards • Spectrum analyser. The lab will be gradually expanded by incorporating more equipment

DST-INSPIRE Faculty Fellows 248 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Naveet Kaur

Scientist, DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000545 CSIR-Central Road Research Institute Email ID : [email protected] | [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : March 4, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Objective: Integrated piezoelectric energy harvesting and structural health monitoring in real life structures using piezo patches Work Done- Piezo-electric Energy Harvesting Aim is to trap the ambient vibrations in the bridges due to traffic movement and converting it to useful energy using piezoelectric patches. Piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH) was surface bonded on the road and moving vehicular load was applied over it to explore its energy harvesting potential. Effect of different road surfaces, vehicular speeds and vehicular loads including car, loaded truck have been explored. Different size of piezo patches in the PEH have also been explored. Increasing speed and weight of vehicle increases the piezoelectric energy generation. Larger area of the piezo patch and higher stiffness of the road surface increases piezoelectric energy generation. Work Done-Structural Heath Monitoring: Feasibilities of using PZT sensors for post tensioning force loss in bridges. Piezo sensors were installed on the anchor block and loading was applied in steps using compression testing machine. Studies were extended to real life bridge in which sensors were installed on the anchor block before pre-stressing of the girder. EMI signature of the piezo before and after the pre-stressing was acquired. Calibration curves for the piezo installed on the anchor block have been generated.

Future Research plans: • Dynamic FE analysis of bridges for modeling energy harvesting applications of piezo sensors and compare the results with actual experimental measurements in field. • Installation of sensors in the real life bridges for SHM and Energy harvesting. • Static and Dynamic Testing of real life bridges to perform their health monitoring • Measurement of vibration data of real life bridges to estimate the power generated by surface bonded and embedded PZT patches using the analytical model. • Fabrication of Concrete Vibration Energy Harvester (CVEH) and evolving suitable embedding technique in lab environment. • Evaluation of CVEH and the embedding technique on real-life structures for energy harvesting • Integrated electronic circuit for enhancing & simultaneous storage of power generated by prototype.

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• Development of a piezo-sensor diagnostic solution for civil structures o Fatigue Monitoring o Steel-Concrete connections

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Neeti Tripathi

DST-Inspire Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001190 Department of Physics, School of Physical sciences (SoPS), Doon University, Dehardun, Uttarakhand Email ID : [email protected] or, [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : January 13, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow The proposed research work under DST-Inspire Faculty scheme deals with the fabrication and optimization of metal-halide (ABX3 type, where A is organic cation: CH3NH3 +, B is meal: Pb, Sn, and X is halide: Cl, Br, I) based solar cells. The various steps towards the optimization are being examined in our laboratory, such as development of transparent electrode materials, metal-oxide based charge transporting layers, morphology and grain growth of perovskite crystals, junction characteristics and charge carrier recombination mechanism. The major part of the work includes the modification of the opto-electronic properties of light absorber perovskite layer by modifying the elementary constituent of perovskits. The synthesis rout opted making the complete solar cell is solution based spin-coating process. In this direction we first started investigated the properties of TiO2, ZnO and NiO in the thin film form. Thin film of doped metal-oxides have been prepared by spin coating and the effect of doping element were studied to fulfill the requirement (conductivity, transparency, morphology) of ideal charge transport layer in the solar cell structure. Simultaneously, we have also been optimizing the perovskite layer by using the different combinations of provskite precursor’s solutions, concentrations, inclusion of additives, annealing conditions etc. It is important to mention that, lead-halide perovskite materials is difficult to process in ambient conditions due to it’s moisture sensitivity. Therefore, we first paid attention for the room-temperature processing of lead-halide perovskite materials under ambient conditions. Our preliminary results on additive mixing with lead-halide perovskite are very encouraging, which shows the good stability of leadhalide perovskite thin films in ambient. This work had great societal impact as it is directly related to solve the energy problems in daily public life.

Future Research plans After completing the first stage of optimization the inorganic (metal-oxide based) charge transporting layers for perovskite solar cells, my future work will be focused on developing the new architectural framework for lead-halide materials for efficient light absorption in the solar cell devices. Recently, hybrid perovskite compounds have allowed preparing highly efficient solid-state solar cells (>20%). Those compounds can be used either as inorganic sensitizers deposited on porous semiconductor, or as light absorber and electron transporting material at the same time. Taking into account the balance between the maximal light absorption and charge transfer inside the materials, we intend

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to optimize further light collection and monitor charge transfer at the interfaces, by designing the perovskite photonic crystals with controlled interfaces. This photonic structure will increase light collection, light scattering and reduce reflexion losses, as well as favour organic electrolyte infiltration. The interpenetration of electrolyte and photoanode will enhance charge separation at the interface. At the end of the tenure, we believe to come up with specific “design rules” to for the fabrication of highly efficient and stable large area (> 5 cm2) perovskite solar cell. It is expected to find and study an optimized structure based on photonics crystal to control and enhance the absorption of light by the 3- dimensional structuration of perovskite. In later stage, efforts will be devoted to interfacial engineering using polymer materials or, additives to suppress the surface recombinations. To fabricate a solar cell with mixed porous TiO2/perovskite and mixed porous NiO/perovskite photoanode. Following objectives are set to obtain in the future research.

v To fabricate a perovskite-only porous photoanode with photonic structure. v To establish the effect of photonic structuration on conversion efficiency. v To evaluate cells durability (thermal ageing and light soaking). v Modeling/simulation of device parameters in reference to the ideal solar cell characteristic. v To extend the device areas further to demonstrate the perovskite PV modules

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Neha Arya

DST INSPIRE FACULTY FELLOW DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000700 Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : February 01, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Two-dimensional (2-D) in vitro culture and animal models are crucial gold standards in the cancer research to study disease pathophysiology and as screening platforms to test putative drugs. Due to the disadvantages associated with both platforms, there is an urgent need to develop in vitro 3-D models that can faithfully reproduce in vivo conditions of cancer origin and metastasis. Using tissue engineering approach, we attempted to develop in vitro models of breast cancer using 3-D biodegradable scaffolds based on natural polymers. Breast cancer very often metastasizes to bone; approximately 70% of the patients suffering from breast cancer have demonstrated evidence of bone metastasis. Thus, to mimic the metastatic microenvironment of breast cancer (i.e. bone which is a complex tissue comprising nano-hydroxyapatite and collagen), we attempted to generate in situ mineralization on collagen hydrogels. Since serum proteins promote apatite-like mineral formation under physiological conditions, we understood the effect of fetal bovine serum (FBS) on in situ mineralization as a function of time and serum concentration. As a next step, effect of mineralization on proliferation of breast cancer cells was performed and influence of mineralization on breast cancer metastasis is currently being investigated. Thus, natural polymers-based in vitro tumor models show potential to be developed as biomimetic models of breast tumors for studying biology and pharmacology of these cancers.

Further, during metastasis, breast cancer cells encounter spatial gradients of varying stiffness during their movement from the region of softer tissue (mammary epithelium) through extravasation in the blood stream paving their way into the hard tissue (newer bone microenvironment). Therefore, understanding cancer cell migration over mechanical gradients is of grave importance and can provide insights into preferential behavior of cell migration over different substrate stiffness profiles. I am working towards the development of mechanically graded 3-D substrates with an aim to predict cancer cell behavior during metastasis for the development of better treatment protocols.

Future Research plans Broad focus of my future research is to explore biomaterials (scaffold design and fabrication) for applications in tissue engineering (in vitro three dimensional (3-D) disease models) and drug delivery (nanoparticles, hydrogels and drug-polymer conjugates for cancer therapy). My long-term goal is to improve precision in cancer diagnosis and

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treatment through enhanced relationship between bench-side research to bed- side applications. In the next five years, I will be focusing on the following research projects: A) Developing tissue engineered models with a focus on breast cancer B) Understanding the effect of mechanical and chemical cues in cancer cell metastasis using tissue engineering strategies. C) Understanding the effect of biophysical cues on epigenetic landscape of breast cancer and D) Development of stimuli responsive polymeric devices for drug/growth factor delivery to the target site.

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Nidhi Adlakha

DST Inspire Faculty Fellow 000413 Jawaharlal Nehru University Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : September 01, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Lignocellulosic biomass is the most abundant source of organic carbon on earth. It mainly consists of three major biopolymers: cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, which are present in interwoven linkages. In order to achieve sustainable biomass deconstruction into fermentable sugars, it is necessary to overcome the chemical and structural complexity of biomass through the development of more efficient enzyme preparations. The hydrolytic enzymes used today are basically fungus based preparations owing to its potential to secrete copious amount of enzymes. The production of these biomass hydrolyzing enzymes needs the presence of inducer in the medium. However, even the available enzyme preparation methods utilizing fungal species also lack knowledge of a global inducer which can enhance enzyme production. For example, the best inducers of plant cell wall-degrading enzyme expression by filamentous fungi are insoluble substrates that include plant polymers. However, the use of insoluble substrates to induce enzyme secretion is not ideal for industrial processes, because these naturally inducing substances cannot enter fungal cells. It is believed that oligosaccharides released from polymers and their derivatives function as the actual molecules that trigger enzyme induction. One of such example is cellobiose, the major soluble end product of cellulose hydrolysis, moderately induces cellulase gene expression and activity in Hypocrea jecorina. However, in other study, it has been pointed out that cellobiose is unable to induce cellulase gene expression, instead responded to cellotriose or cellotetraose. Thus, the precise nature of “true inducer” responsible for overexpression of cellulolytic enzymes is still unknown. In this proposal I will like to identify novel inducer from the plethora of metabolites produced during decomposition of complex cellulose and will like to understand regulation mechanism of enzyme production using this inducer. Further we will develop a platform for heterologous enzyme production using the inducer regulated promoter system in T. reesei.

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Future Research plans: In future, I will like to continue towards developing fungal enzyme overexpression system based on the novel induction pathways identified in this project, which will be useful for both basic research, as well as to industry. I will like to extend the project towards establishing a fungal protein expression facility, where the signalling mechanism involved in cellulase production will be studied in detail. Further, the aim will be to modulate the signalling pathways for enhancing the enzyme production and also to synthesize non hydrolysable inducers for catalysing expression of enzymes/ proteins. I will like to establish my own lab for understanding molecular and cell biology of fungal system and other important strains.

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Nidhi Pareek

Assistant Professor IFA14-LSPA-27 Central University of Rajasthan, Bandarsindri, Rajasthan Email ID [email protected]; [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : September 01, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Chitin metabolizing products are of high industrial relevance in current scenario due to their wide biological applications, relatively lower cost, greater abundance and sustainable supply. Biological production of chitooligosaccharides (COS) with defined degree of polymerization and acetylation or deacetylation is still in its infancy due to the lack of availability of potential microbial strain capable of producing industrially competent enzyme preparations. Another major concern is the elucidation of mode of action of enzymes and characterization of the heterogeneously produced oligomers. The project will generate new knowledge and process innovation to overcome these issues by developing an efficient bioprocess, which will serve as an excellent entry point for bioconversion of chitin residues into pharmacologically active products viz. N- acetylglucosamine and COS. The improved method for producing well-characterized COS will also help to create a knowledge base for understanding the mechanism of exerted bioactivities. The proposed research project will also generate new knowledge on the bio- control potential of the chitinolytic enzymes and their degradation products.

Future Research plans: Future research plans will mainly focus on cloning and expression of Humicola grisea chitinase in suitable vectors. Chitin binding proteins from other bacterial sources will be analyzed to develop a combined pretreatment strategy for chitin deacryatallization and subsequent enhancement in production of chitooligosaccharides. Enzyme immobilization on polymeric nano-matrices will be attempted to improve the physico-chemical characteristics of enzyme and also to explore their mode of application to biocontrol. Since, chitin is a co-polymer of acetylated and some deacetylated glucosamine units and has variability in processivity that may affect the production of chitooligosaccharides. Hence, mode of action of purified chitinases on crystalline chitin and its variable forms will be attempted. The process of COS production will be studied to identify bottlenecks in the system that limits the enzyme action.Developed enzyme preparation both crude and purified will be evaluated for the bioconversion efficiency. Effects of various process parameters on production of oligos viz. enzyme:substrate ratio, temperature, incubation time, and additives will be evaluated using statistical methods to derive optimum conditions.

Produced oligosaccharides will be characterized using chromatographic methods (thin layer and high performance liquid chromatography) and MALDI-TOF analysis. Since,

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chitinases have also been observed to possess antimicrobial activity. Hence, both extracellular chitinases and COS will be evaluated for their bio-control potential against phyto-pathogenic fungi. Purified COS with different degree of polymerization will also be evaluated for anticancer activity and as drug delivery carriers.

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Nirat Ray

Assistant Professor IFA 15 PH-131 IIT Gandhinagar Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : October 23, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow My research is focused on functional materials, build using nanoscale building blocks such as quantum dots and wires. As disorder is expected to play a key role in the transport properties of such materials, I began getting involved in research on molecular organic semiconductors. Our results suggested a carrier density dependence of all parameters relevant to device applications such as the carrier mobility and the transport energy. I fostered collaborations with institutes in India and abroad, to explore new classes of materials and novel electronic phenomenon. I worked with the Buljan group in Ruder Boskovic Institut in Croatia on closely packed Ge quantum dots formed in an ITO matrix by magnetron sputtering. As synthesized, the system showed semiconducting behavior, but on annealing, a resistivity change of more than seven orders of magnitude was observed, and the system showed metallic behavior as evidenced by the temperature dependence of the resistivity. The arrangement and size properties of the quantum dots remained the same before and after annealing, and the determined electrical properties were attributed to the crystallization of the ITO matrix in the presence of Germanium. A more controlled understanding of the switchability between these two phases would open doors to many novel device and switching applications.

Future Research plans My vision for the future has been to leverage my expertise in nanofabrication and transport in the broad area of artificial solids. Artificial solids, or metamaterials, are structures whose properties are determined by their constituent nanoislands, rather than the atomic composition, yielding properties not found in nature. Different classes of materials, hold promise for new physics as well as potential for high efficiency, low-cost devices. However, these goals can only be met by a thorough investigation of charge transport in these materials, including but not limited to charge transport mechanism, trap dynamics, effects of disorder and noise statistics, which would be one of the key goals moving forward. Some examples of materials under investigation are quantum dot arrays, nanowire networks, artificial spin ice systems, and vanderwaal's heterostructures. A few key goals include:

1. To fabricate and design novel artificial or designer solids, with electrical properties different from the individual components.

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2. To gain an understanding of the role of disorder in these new materials, and in turn possibly gain access or identify routes to access novel phases inaccessible in natural materials. 3. To utilize the insight gained and inform other systems and enhance the performance or lead to novel spintronic/optoelectronic devices.

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Nirmal Kumar Rana

Assistant Professor DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001413 Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur Email ID: [email protected], [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : November 02, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow The application of tandem oxidation/Michael-aldol approaches for the asymmetric synthesis of functionalized cyclohexanes has been studied. A series of tetra-substituted cyclohexanes via iminium activated Michael followed by base promoted aldol reaction and in situ catalytic oxidation of allylic alcohols merging with asymmetric Michael/aldol were achieved in good yields and excellent stereoselectivities. These methods could easily be scaled up without any loss of efficiency. The products were transformed to a number of useful molecules, highlighting the versatility and synthetic value of the present protocols. It was also used in the enantioselective formal synthesis of ABT-341 (Scheme 1). We have also developed a chiral bifunctional squaramide catalysed enantioselective domino Michael-/hydroalkoxylation reaction of trans-α-alkynyl-nitroolefins with N- arylpyrazolinones for the construction of tetrahydropyrano[2,3-c]pyrazoles. The products were obtained in synthetically viable yields with excellent stereoselectivities. The newly developed domino process is found to be compatible with a wide variety of 1,3-enyne and pyrazolinones and the products can undergo a number of synthetic transformations (scheme 2). Very recently, we have established an efficient synthetic route to carbocyclic spiro-pyrazolones via domino Michael-Michael reaction under mild conditions. The domino products were obtained in moderate to excellent yields and diastereoselectivities. The newly developed process is compatible with a wide variety functional groups. This protocol could easily be carried out in gram-scale without any loss of efficiency. The products could undergo a number of useful transformations, showing the versatility and synthetic value of the present methodology (Scheme 3). Further studies to enhance the scope of these methods and related reactions are currently underway.

Future Research plans:

We aim to execute the following enantioselective reactions within next few years. The substituted cyclohexanes 4 are of particular interest because of having six vicinal chiral centers and the compound could be transformed into several complex molecules. In principle, the compound 4 could be prepared either by a tandem reaction or by one-pot sequential reaction (Scheme 4).

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It is envisioned that to achieve the desired substituted cyclohexanes, three simple starting materials (1, 2, and 3) are required to react in a specific sequence. Another major target of this proposal is to achieve stereodivergency. Since set of catalysts (catalyst 1 and catalyst 2) would be used to construct three new bonds and six stereogenic centers involving Michael-Michael-aldol reactions, by choosing appropriate combination of chiral catalysts, it might be possible to switch the enantiofacial selectivity. After establishing the methodology, it is planned to utilize these scaffolds for the synthesis of architecturally interesting molecule and biologically active multi-substituted cyclohexanes.

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Nisha Pawar

DST-INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001025 Physics Department Indian Institute Of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur-721302, West Bengal Email I D: [email protected] or [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : December 09, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Self assembly is an important and interesting Phenomenon in the field of soft matter and Biophysics. It plays a key role in living cells and various technological applications. Understanding the self assembly in colloids, biopolymer and nanoscale system defines the pathways to create new devices with excellent applications. This project was started with such motivation. One of the objectives of proposal was to understand the supramolecular assembly and find some interesting applications. In this direction I have observed various interesting results which have been published in eminent Journal. In brief below are the summary of few interesting results: 1. Self assembly of core-shell liposome kind of nanoparticle: Anisotropic colloidal particle has found to form a liposome kind of assembly with curcumin nanoparticle. The Liposomal assembly contains an important curcumin nanoparticle in the core and anisotropic colloid along the shell. Hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions were found to coexist with soft interfacial region. The theoretical model was used to explain the role of different forces in the complex system. The dimension of colloidal particle beautifully tunes the assembly of core-shell liposome kind of assembly. The work has been published in an eminent Journal of RSC. 2. Development of imaging tools: Particle tracking code has been established in order to understand the dynamics of anisotropic colloidal particle in the presence of external field. Dynamics of standard polystyrene particles has been determined with the code which verifies the working of routine. 3. Self assembly of protein: Elastin is an important hydrophobic structural protein which plays significant role in providing elasticity to wide variety of tissues in living system. The assembly of hydrophobic protein has been deeply probed in different environment. An interesting transition temperature (299K) was observed above which hydrophobic interaction among protein molecules became dominant. Role of different forces in the assembly has been deeply investigated. DLVO based theoretical model showed that hydrophobic interactions facilitated by the binary solvent (ethanol-water), and the repulsive double layer screening, provided sufficient energy to overcome interaction between hydrophobic domains in the protein molecule, and allow for the self-assembly to occur. The work has been published in PCCP.

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4. Glucose sensitivity towards Structural Protein: Elastin has shown sensitivity towards glucose. Vast theoretical and experimental investigations has been performed to understand the mechanism of sensitivity. Work has been recently communicated in eminent journal.

Future Research plans Self- assembly of living biological materials including cytoskeleton, organelles, cells and tissues posses an interesting challenge. My long term goal is to understand the supramolecular assemblies of colloids, biopolymers and nanoscale system and develop them for different applications. In addition, my aim is to uncover the general principles which govern the self organization in living cells. My approach will be to quantitative experiments, theory and development of new methods. Below is the discussion of few projects of my interest: 1. Self Assembly in biological Systems (a) As we know, nanoparticle and other nanomaterials have entered essentially all areas of our everyday life. However, our knowledge about response of these nanomaterials with biological cells remains unexplored. Once, the nanomaterial enters the biological milieu, they will come into contact with huge variety of biomolecules, proteins and lipids. Now it would be interesting to probe the transport and rheological properties of nanoparticle in such complex biological milieu. (b) Microtubulin forms a main component of cytoplasm of living cells. It self assembles in the matrix of cytoplasm during different phases of cell division cycle. It is responsible for causing various kind of intracellular organizations. Hence, it would be interesting to learn about the dynamics of self assembly of microtubulin in the complex milleu of cytoplasm in presence and absence of “energy and DNA”. Idea is to understand different transitions in the complex environment using wide range of experimental and theoretical tools. It will help to understand the self assembly in biological cells. 2. Physics of Complex fluids and Active matter Active colloid is a suspension of micro sized particles that are self propelled. These can be living bacteria, synthetic self propelled beads (such as polystyrene particles half coated by platinum placed in hydrogen peroxide solution). These colloids are intrinsically non equilibrium in that they continually transduce free energy from their surroundings to engage in activities such as growth and self propulsion. My interest is to understand both active particles in the form of bacteria as well as synthetic colloidal swimmers. 3. Development of Advanced Microscopy

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Nishad Matange

DST-INSPIRE Faculty Fellow DST/INSPIRE/04/2014/001887 Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : June 15, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow I have initiated a research programme that investigates the fitness effects of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria. In particular the programme focusses on two aspects. Firstly, what are the repercussions of the fitness costs of drug resistance associated mutations for the selection of drug-resistant bacteria? Secondly, what are the mechanistic origins of fitness costs and how do they alter the potential for drug resistance? In order to address these questions two experimental systems have been selected, namely rifampicin-resistance and trimethoprim-resistance in E. coli. Both systems lend themselves well to experimental evolution as well as mechanistic studies which allows one to ask a variety of questions.

Key findings so far are as follows: 1. At sub-lethal drug concentrations, which nonetheless act as selection pressure for resistance, costly rifampicin-resistance conferring mutations are by-and-large selected against. Other phenotypic adaptations such as the formation of small colony variants act as alternative adaptive pathways of adaptation to low drug pressure. These adaptations can change the fitness effects of different resistance-conferring mutations to different extents and alter the mutational spectrum of resistant bacteria derived from low-drug environments.

2. Certain trimethoprim resistance-conferring mutations are costly due to destabilisation of the target protein, dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) hence resulting in fitness costs. This trade-off between function and structure is mediated by a set of intra- protein hydrophobic interactions. Surprisingly, these interactions seem to not be conserved across evolution. Thus, while E. coli DHFR is innately trimethoprim sensitive but stable, DHFR from other pathogens like S. aureus is innately more resistant to trimethoprim but has a lower stability. These differences hence represent divergent evolution of a conserved family of enzymes that are likely to result in different potentials for the acquisition of drug resistance.

Future Research plans Over the next five years I have the following specific research plans: 1. Understanding the mechanistic basis for the formation of small colony variants upon rifampicin exposure. Small colony variants are a medically relevant problem in bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus. During my work, I have isolated small colony variants of E. coli that are formed in response to low concentrations of rifampicin. In

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order to understand the genetics basis of this phenotype, genome sequencing is being planned. Upon analysis of genome sequences, genetic tools will be used to verify the correlation between any identified mutations and the small colony phenotype. Further transcriptomics analysis of the isolates small colony variants will be performed using methods like microarray/RNA seq in order to understand why these isolates form small colonies and also how they are able to resist rifampicin at low doses. 2. Extending the study on DHFR stability-resistance trade-offs, I plan on performing an extensive mutational study to understand how stability impacts the potential for acquisition of resistance in bacterial DHFRs. In this regard, saturated mutant libraries will be generated in DHFR from different bacteria that are predicted to have different inherent stabilities and trimethoprim resistant mutants will be isolated quantitatively in each of these backgrounds. Biochemical/biophysical analysis will follow for ‘interesting’ mutants to understand why certain mutants are precluded in high/low stability backgrounds. 3. The idea of the ‘potential’ for resistance is an emerging concept in the field. With regards to a gene, it has been equated loosely to the ability of a gene to generate drug resistant alleles through mutation. I plan on initiating some studies related to this idea using rpoB and DHFR genes as study systems. 4. Since all my studies so far as part of the INSPIRE project have been performed in E. coli, I plan to initiate some complementary studies in Staphylococcos aureus and Mycobacterium bovis BCG, both of which are clinically more relevant than E. coli.

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Peer Abdul Haseeb Shah

DST INSPIRE FACULTY DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001575 (IFA15 LSBM-143) UNIVERSITY OF KASHMIR, SRINAGAR Email ID: [email protected] ; [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : October 28, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Study of human fungal infections is very important to control the widely expanding fungal infections worldwide. Studies related to fungal infections are generally overlooked and limited research is focused on the study of human fungal infections. Invasive candidiasis is the fourth most commonly isolated blood stream infections worldwide with mortality rates exceeding 40%. In India itself there is very high mortality rate due to nosocomial fungal infections in which Candida infections are one of the predominant players. Thus the study of fungal infections, its possible mechanism and the strategies to prevent fungal infections in India is the important requirement of time because there is very high mortality due to human pathogenic fungi and different nosocomial infections which we see day to day in different hospitals leading to high mortality.

Till now we have been studying few novel compounds, which can act as possible antifungal agents. One group of compounds, which are nitrostyrene derivatives, is showing very good antifungal activity. These compounds show promise towards the development of antifungal molecules since they block the activity of drug transporters, which have been shown to be involved drug efflux leading to drug resistance. These compounds block the activity of ABC and MFS transporters equally and thus can be effective against pathogenic fungi. These molecules also show synergy of action with known antifungal molecules and can be used at very low concentrations to control fungal growth. Furthermore, these compounds have been reported to show least cytotoxicity on different human cell lines and thus are good potential candidates for drug development

Future Research plans: In future we are planning to work upon understanding the molecular mechanism of drug transport employed by drug transporters of pathogenic fungi. How these transporters control the drug efflux. What are the mechanistic features of this drug transport and how can we control or minimize the drug efflux? We would be checking at the possible posttranslational modifications in membrane proteins. What are the possibilities of presence of these modifications in membrane proteins involved in drug resistance? Does the presence or absence of these post translational modifications impact the drug resistance of the pathogenic fungi. Possible ways to modify these protein modifications and their overall impact on drug resistance due to pathogenic fungi will be evaluated.

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Pitambar Patel

DST - Inspire Faculty DST/INSPIRE FACULTY AWARD/CH-174/2015 DST - Inspire Faculty Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : November 24, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Transition metal catalyzed cascade reaction allows the formation of C-C and C-N bond in one pot for the synthesis of numerous natural product and synthetic building blocks. Due to their mild conditions, step and atom economy and broad functional group tolerance, transition metal catalysis has gain tremendous importance both in academic as well as in pharmaceutical industry. On the other hand, nitrogen-containing heterocycles represents a key structural component that occurs ubiquitously in many biologically active natural and unnatural compounds as well as in optoelectronic functional materials. Consequently, practical and atom economical synthesis of various N-heterocyclic compounds from simple starting materials is critical to the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries. Given the low cost and wide variety of commercially available starting materials as starting materials for N-heterocyclic compounds synthesis, we have successfully synthesized a diverse array of nitrogen containing heterocyclic compounds from the reaction of readily available starting materials with α-diazocarbonyl compounds in presence of metal catalyst.

In this context, we successfully documented the first report on Ir(III)-catalyzed indole and oxindole synthesis from acetanilide. The reaction gives easily separable by-products like nitrogen gas, water, and acetone. Further the catalytic system was applied for the synthesis of isoquinolinediones and isoquinolinones derivatives from benzamide. Based on same principle, we have synthesize functionalized isoquinoline and 3-oxo-2-phenyl- 2,3-dihydrocinnoline-4-carboxylic acid derivative in one pot using transition metal catalysis.

Future Research plans:

Efficient, cost effective and environment friendly organic transformations have become an important challenge to today’s synthetic community. In this regards use of earth abundant cobalt and iron as alternative to precious metal is a major step. To address this issue, my future research will focus on following topic:

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(i) First row transition metal complexes and its application in catalytic reaction: In the present century, the transition metal catalysis has been attracts both academic as well as industrial researcher. However, most of the reported transition metal catalyzed reactions limited mainly to the precious and costly 2nd and 3rd row transition metals such as Pd, Rh, Pt, Ru, Ir, Os etc. In this context, my initial concern is to replace the precious metal catalysis with low cost and earth abundant first row metal catalyst. Initial focus will be on design and synthesis of various Cobalt and Iron complexes, with variations in both electronic and steric properties of the ligand. By tuning the electronic and steric propertied of the metal center, it will be used for various C-C and C-Het. bond forming reactions. Also process for the synthesis of commercially important API and fine chemicals also will be carried out. (ii) Study of reaction mechanism: To study the stability and reactivity of first row transition metal complexes. Isolation of reaction intermediates, isotopic labeling study, and study of reaction kinetics using modern spectroscopic techniques will be done. (iii) Total Synthesis: Synthesis of various bio active natural products and molecules will be carried out utilizing our own developed methods in a step and atom economy way. Drug molecules such as Ondasetron (Suppression of the nausea and vomiting caused by cancer chemotherapy and radiotherapy) and Sunitinib (Cancer chemotherapy); Fungicides such as boscalid (developed by BASF) etc will be synthesized.

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Pramod Kumar Kushawaha

Assistant Professor IFA13-LSBM-80 Central University of Punjab, Bhatinda Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : December 01, 2014 to December 23, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Interferon- γ (IFN-γ) has central role in cell-autonomous immunity that confer sterilizing immunity-how do actually kill the pathogens or at least restrict their growth. It is an important T helper 1 (Th1) cell cytokine that strongly suppresses the growth and survival of intracellular pathogens and play crucial roles in induction and regulation of innate and adaptive immune responses. Stimulation of innate immune cells such as macrophages and dendritic cells by IFN- γ results in robust gene expression of a number of effector molecules. Prominent among these are immunity-related GTPases such as the Mx proteins, the small GTPases or immunity-related p47 GTPases (IRGs), and large GTPases or p65 guanylate- binding proteins (GBPs). Furthermore, GBPs have recently been shown to induce antibacterial responses involving phagocytic oxidases, autophagic effectors, and inflammasome. GBPs are also reported to restrict the growth of intracellular as well as cytosolic microorganism. The main questions to be addressed here is what are the host effector pathways solicited by different GTPases to restrict microbial replication? This type of studies could reveal novel drug/vaccine target against intracellular pathogens.

Future Research plans: Interferon- γ (IFN-γ) has central role in cell-autonomous immunity that confer sterilizing immunity-how do actually kill the pathogens or at least restrict their growth. It is an important T helper 1 (Th1) cell cytokine that strongly suppresses the growth and survival of intracellular pathogens and play crucial roles in induction and regulation of innate and adaptive immune responses. Stimulation of innate immune cells such as macrophages and dendritic cells by IFN- γ results in robust gene expression of a number of effector molecules.

Prominent among these are immunity-related GTPases such as the Mx proteins, the small GTPases or immunity-related p47 GTPases (IRGs), and large GTPases or p65 guanylate- binding proteins (GBPs). Furthermore, GBPs have recently been shown to induce antibacterial responses involving phagocytic oxidases, autophagic effectors, and inflammasome. GBPs are also reported to restrict the growth of intracellular as well as cytosolic microorganism. The main questions to be remaining answered about GBPs are:

Ø What are the surface structures recognized by GTPases on membrane compartments harboring different bacteria, protozoa and viruses?

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Ø How do IFN-inducible GTPases detect cytosolic pathogens? Ø Does detection uniformly lead to inflammasome activation or autophagic engulfment? Ø Does detection uniformly lead to inflammasome activation or autophagic engulfment? Ø What are the pathogen-encoded tactics used to evade them?

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Prasanthkumar Seelam

DST-INSPIRE faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/00145 CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad, Telangana - 500007 Email ID: [email protected] or [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : October 05, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Donor-Acceptor Based Heterojunctions Fused zinc diporphyrin-anthracene (FZnDP) as a excellent electron donor which absorbs in NIR region and permits a charge/electron transfer complex with the electron acceptor, perylene diimide (PDI) forms nanospheres leading to nanorods for heterojunction applications. Meanwhile, few donor-acceptor derivatives such as porphyrin, triphenylamine and Indoline as a electron donor groups covalently linked with the electron acceptor moiety like benzothiadiazole have been designed and synthesized. These derivatives exhibit excellent opto-electronic properties which forms various well-ordered one dimensional (1D) nanostructures, thereby assist to generate high charge carrier species and photoconductivity. These results were published in Chemistry Asian Journal, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics and Journal of physical chemistry C. Sensor Technology: Recently, porphyrin-ferrocene based donor-acceptor systems extensively investigated by designed and synthesized of few tetratolylporphyrin attached ferrocene system. Absorption spectra revealed selectivity of reversible and irreversible protonation in halogenated solvents and mineral acids. TEM and AFMs suggested crystalline flower like morphology from the joining of 2D micro sheets with average diameter of 1 µm – 2 µm upon methanol vapour diffusion approach (MVD). Electrochemical properties of H2TTP-Fc films revealed ease of oxidation when compared to solution state as a result high current generation at less work function. These novel features aid to design efficient organic redox active materials for environmental protection and energy related applications.

Future Research plans During two years, I developed various donor-acceptor or redox materials and studied their optical, electrochemical and self-assembly properties. In addition to that, external stimuli such as pH, light, heat, temperature, pressure, solvent, and mechanical stress applied onto the redox active materials and observed the visual colour changes upon interaction with toxic solvents and halides. Therefore, these results facilitate to detect the environmental pollutants and biomedical applications.

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Coming years, these materials applied to the technological applications for finding the appropriate solutions for energy related applications and sensor technology. Moreover, these materials possess biomedical applications for untreatable diseases thereby detailed investigation necessary to find the suitable redox active materials for solar energy, sensor technology and biological applications for existing problems pertaining energy, environment, security and applications.

Proposed Work Hole Transporting Materials for Perovskite Solar Cells:

Increasing energy demand and environmental safety in world to look for alternative sources. In this context, solar cells received significant advantages for the consumer, the producer, and the environment. Despite number of existing solar cell technologies, organic and hybrid based solar cells have the potential of solving the problem, through facile inexpensive fabrication, and enabling new device functionalities (e.g., mechanical flexibility, optical transparency). Particularly, perovskite (methylammonium lead halide) solar cells reached the efficiency of 22.1% with spiro-OMeTAD as HTM. Stability and Pb toxicity are the major challenges in commercialization of PSCs. In addition, organic HTMs are another potential hurdle in the future commercialization of PSCs because of their relatively high cost and tedious synthetic protocols, thus, novel HTM necessary to overcome this issue. For this purpose, we will design and synthesize the low cost and easy synthetic HTMs, mixed metal halides and further study their opto-electronic properties and apply into the device fabrications.

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Pratyusha Chattopadhyay

INSPIRE Faculty IFA-13 MA-24 INDIAN STATISTICAL INSTITUTE Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : November 01, 2013

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow As an INSPIRE Faculty, I have worked on the following four projects. We assume R is a commutative ring with 1. Project 1: Equality of elementary linear and symplectic orbits with respect to an alternating form (Appeared in Journal of Algebra 451(2016) 46-64) Let φ be an invertible alternating matrix of size 2n. Spφ (R) is the isotropy group of φ . L.N. Vaserstein gave examples of symplectic matrices Cφ(v), Rφ(v) ∈ Spφ (R), where v ∈ R2n-1. We denoted by ESpφ (R) the subgroup of Spφ (R) generated by Cφ (v), Rφ (v). It is shown that the group of symplectic transvections of a symplectic module coincides with ESpφ (R) in the free case. Equality of orbits of unimodular elements under the action of the linear group, symplectic group, and symplectic group w.r.t. an invertible alternating matrix is established. Project 2: Gram-Schmidt-Vaserstein generators for odd sized elementary groups (Available at http://arxiv.org/abs/1511.08688) The Gram-Schmidt process is a method for orthonormalising a set of vectors in an inner product space. A similar process exists due to L.N. Vaserstein, in the symplectic group. Let φ be an invertible alternating matrix of size 2n. Then L.N. Vaserstein's method permits one to transform an elementary matrix of even size 2n by an elementary matrix of size 2n - 1 so that it is a (elementary) symplectic matrix w.r.t. φ. We collected all these odd sized elementary matrices and denoted this subgroup generated by Eφ (R) ⊆ E2n-1(R). Our main result is the following observation: For an invertible alternating matrix φ of size 2n, the subgroup Eφ (R) coincides with E2n-1(R). This is proved by using a well-known Local-Global argument of D. Quillen. We also proved a relative version of the above theorem w.r.t. an ideal of the ring R. Project 3: Equality of orthogonal transvection group and elementary orthogonal transvection group (Submitted, available at - https://arxiv.org/pdf/1710.02879.pdf) H. Bass defined orthogonal transvection group of an orthogonal module and elementary orthogonal transvection group of an orthogonal module with a hyperbolic direct summand. We also have the notion of relative orthogonal transvection group and relative elementary orthogonal transvection group with respect to an ideal of the ring. According to the definition of Bass relative elementary orthogonal transvection group is a subgroup of relative orthogonal transvection group of an orthogonal module with hyperbolic direct summand. We showed that these two groups are the same in the case when the

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orthogonal module splits locally. Note that previously an absolute version of this result was proved by A. Bak, R. Basu, and R.A. Rao. Project 4: An analogue of a result of Tits for linear and symplectic transvection groups (Submitted, available at - https://arxiv.org/pdf/1803.00918.pdf) Let R be a commutative ring with 1. Let Eij (λ) := In + eij(λ), 1 ≤ i ≠ j ≤ n, λ ∈ R, where eij(λ) ∈ Mn(R) has an entry λ in its (i, j)-th position and zeros elsewhere. En(R) is the subgroup of SLn(R) generated as a group by the elements Eij (a) ∈ R, 1 ≤ i ≠ j ≤ n. For an ideal I of R the relative elementary linear group En(I) is the subgroup of En(R) generated as a group by the elements Eij(x), x ∈ I, 1 ≤ i ≠ j ≤ n. The relative elementary linear group En(R, I) is defined as the normal closure of En(I) in En(R). B. Nica while proving the so called “true relative of Suslin's normality theorem" also gave an elementary proof of the fact that the group En(R, I2) is a subgroup of En(I). This result is a special case of a result of J. Tits, which was originally proved in the much general context of Chevalley groups. H. Bass introduced a very important class of groups, called Transvection groups, in the study of projective modules and their K-theory. We proved analogues of the above mentioned result of J. Tits for linear transvection group and symplectic transvection group. We also obtained an elementary proof of a special case of Tits's result, namely the case of elementary symplectic group ESp2n(R), using commutator identities for generators of ESp2n(R). Future Research plans I am interested in the area of classical algebraic K-theory and commutative algebra. Here I will sketch my research plan on which I would like to work in the near future. There are three main themes in my near future research plan. We assume R be a commutative ring with 1.Subintegral extension and orbits of unimodular elements. This question originates from a result of J. Gubeladze. Let R be a commutative ring with 1. A row v = (v1, …, vn) ∈ Rn is said to be unimodular if there are elements w1, …, wn in R such that v1w1 + …+ vnwn = 1. We will call an extension of rings A ⊆ B subintegral if B is integral over A, Spec(B) → Spec(A) is a bijection, and for all Q ∈ Spec(B), AP / PA P ↪ BQ / QBQ is an isomorphism, where P = Q ⋂ A.Gubeladze's result: Suppose A ⊆ B be noetherian subintegral ring extension and suppose u,v are unimodular elements in A of length n,2 ≤ dim(A) ≤ 2n – 4. If u and v are in the same elementary linear orbit of the ring B, then they are in the same elementary linear orbit of the ring A. I would like to try to generalize this result of Gubeladze to the case of projective modules. Let p,q be two unimodular elements in the A-projective module P. We want to investigate if 1 ⊗ p and 1⊗ q are in the same orbit under the action of Trans(B ⊗AP), then will p,q be in the same orbit under the action of Trans(P)? Here Trans denote group of transvections of finitely generated modules as defined by H. Bass. A true relative of Suslin's normality theorem : A symplectic analogue B. Nica proved a true relative of Suslin's normality theorem for the elementary linear group. Previously A.A. Suslin proved En(R, I) is normal in GLn(R), for � ≥ 3. Nica's theorem says that En(I) is normal in the group generated by the set {g ∈ SLn(R) : g mod I is diagonal matrix}, for � ≥ 3. V.I. Kopeiko showed that the relative elementary symplectic group ESpn(R, I) is normal in the elementary symplectic group ESpn(R), for � ≥ 2 and Kopeiko-

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Suslin showed that the relative elementary orthogonal group EO2n(R, I) is normal in the elementary orthogonal group EO2n(R), for � ≥ 2. Due to the above theorem of Kopeiko and Suslin, we believe there should be analogues of true relative of Suslin's normality theorem for the elementary symplectic group and elementary orthogonal group. I would like to work on this problem. Pre-stabilization for elementary symplectic group Recall that K1(R) is defined as the quotient GL(R) / E(R), where GL(R) := ∪nGLn(R) and E(R) := ∪nEn(R). We similarly define the direct limits GL(R,I) := ∪nGLn(R,I) and E(R,I) := ∪nEn(R,I). The quotient GL(R,I) / E(R,I) is denoted by K1(R,I). We consider the natural maps … → GLn(R) / En(R) �(�)→ GLn+1(R) / En+1(R) �(�+1)→ … K1(R). In the study of stabilisation we look for the least positive integer n such that all f(i) become isomorphism for � ≥ n. This n is called the stability bound for K1(R). The injective stability bound for K1(R) is the least positive integer n such that f(i) is injective whenever � ≥ n. The above results are called stability results. The results that are related to the maps and their properties below this stability bound are called pre-stabilization results. L.N. Vaserstein's pre-stabilization theorem: Let R be a noetherian d-dimensional ring and A be a commutative ring which is finitely generated as an R-module. Let I be an ideal of A. Then the kernel of the surjective homomorphism GLd+1(A,I) → K1(A,I) is the smallest subgroup H of GLd+1(A) normalized by Ed+1(A) and containing all matrices of the form (1+DY) (1+YD)-1, where D = diag(q,1,..,1) for some q ∈ A, Y ∈ Md+1(I), and (1+DY) ∈ GLd+1(A,I). Inspired by the above pre-stabilization theorem of Vaserstein, and stabilization theorems in the symplectic case due to Vaserstein, R. Basu-R.A. Rao we strongly believe that there should also be a pre-stabilization theorem in the symplectic case. I would like to work on this problem.

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Priyanka Hannah P.

Assistant Professor (DST-Inspire) IFA15-LSBM154 INSTITUTE OF NUCLEAR IMAGING AND MOLECULAR MEDICINE, Omandurar government estate, chennai. Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : December 22, 2017

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Deregulation of the bi-directional communication between the neuroendocrine-immune network leads to the development of age-associated diseases and cancer. The interplay between these systems is more complex in females due to cyclic variations in the estrogen levels with menstrual cycle and age. We have shown that estrogen alters immune reactivity through the modulation of specific signaling molecules and cytokines. Stress is a potent neuroendocrine-immune modulator that mediates its effects through several mechanisms, most importantly, through sympathetic cascades involving norepinephrine and the adrenergic receptors. Our studies show that activation of adrenergic receptors leads to immunosuppression through distinct intracellular signaling pathways. We have proposed that the cancer-associated reprogramming of metabolic enzymes involved in glycolysis, Kreb’s cycle and mitochondrial electron transport chain may be differentially altered in ER+/- cells through β-2 -adrenergic receptor transactivation. ER (+) MCF-7 and ER (-) MDA MB-231 cells were treated with varying concentrations (10-3 M, 10-6 M and 10-9 M) of a specific β2-AR agonist, terbutaline and a non-specific AR antagonist, propranolol for 2,4 and 6 days.

In vitro incubation of MCF-7 and MDA MB-231 cells with various concentrations of β2- AR specific agonists and antagonist exerted specific effects on activities of metabolic enzymes involved in glycolysis, Kreb’s cycle and mitochondrial respiratory chain, production of NO, and expression of IL-6 and p-Akt. Activities of enzymes such as hexokinase, pyruvate kinase, cytochrome c oxidase, and production of nitric oxide (NO) were enhanced in MCF-7 cells treated with β 2 -AR agonist while glutathione peroxidase, creatine kinase, IL-6 production and p-Akt expression were enhanced in MDA-MB- 231 cells. This differential regulation may be mediated through the involvement of IL-6, p-Akt and the AMPK pathway involving LKB-1 and SIRT.

Taken together, cancer associated metabolic reprogramming may be modulated by β₂-AR- mediated signaling mechanisms that are dependent on the estrogen receptor status.

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Future Research plans

1. Assess the role of adrenergic agonists and antagonists on cellular metabolic enzymes in vitro: Design: Cancer cell lines (MDA MB 231, T47D and MCF-7) will be cultured and treated with adrenergic agents specific for AR-α1; -α2; -β1 and -β2 for 24, 48 and 72 hours. Post incubation, the proliferation, expression of pro-angiogenic molecules (IL-6, VEGF A, VEGF C), activities of metabolic enzymes (hexokinase, phosphofructokinase, pyruvate dehydrogenase, citrate synthase, ATPases and thiolase) and expression of signaling molecules (p-AMPK (T172), LKB-1, mTOR and p-SIRT-1) will be assessed.

2. Assess the role of ventromedial hypothalamus in the integration of exercise and energy metabolism in cancer in vivo: Design: Mammary tumors will be induced in young, middle-aged and old female SD rats using DMBA; old spontaneous tumor bearing rats with appropriate age-matched controls. Rats will be divided into two groups.One group will be made to run on a treadmill for 40 mins/day/8 weeks; while the other group will receive no exercise. The animals will then be sacrificed and the progression of mammary tumors, serum hormone levels, muscle metabolic enzyme activity, expression of signaling molecules, immune markers, transporter proteins and VMH corticotropin releasing hormone, norepinephrine levels, and tyrosine hydroxylase expression will be assessed. 3. Assess the role of exercise and energy metabolism integration in cancer related fatigue in breast cancer patients: Design: Breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, radiotherapy and in remission will be categorized into employed and unemployed women and will be analyzed psychometrically (GAF Scale, MADRAS, CGI). Further, peripheral blood will be collected and hormone levels will be assayed. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells will be isolated and immune markers, metabolic enzymes, and molecular markers will be assessed and the data obtained will be correlatively analyzed against psychometric scores.

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Prosenjit Saha

Inspire Faculty Award Number: DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000742 Affiliation: Inspire Faculty, School of Materials Science and Engineering, IIEST-Shibpur, WB, India-711103 Email ID: [email protected], [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : October 09, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow 1. Polymeric Biomaterials 2. Natural fiber based composites 3. Polymer based water purification 4. 3D Bioprinting Research facilities being established 1. Developed of the synthesis and fabrication facilities for polymeric biomaterials 2. Developed the fabrication and mechanical properties evaluation facilities for natural fiber based composites 3. Developed the fire-retardant property measurement facilities for polymeric materials 4. Developed 3D Bioprinting for tissue engineering 5. Developed simple nanotechnology based sand filter for domestic uses

Other Research Grants awarded as PI: 1. Early Career Research Grants from DST-SERB of INR 42.00 Lakh (2016-2019) 2. DST SYST (Scheme for Young Scientists and Technologists) grants of INR 21.04 Lakh (2017-2020)

Research Grants awarded as Co-PI: 1. Grants of INR 78.80 Lakh from ministry of Textiles (2017-2019) Future Research plans • Polymeric nanocomposites: Synthesis, Characterization and Applications • Processing and biofabrication of Polymers using electrospinning and 3D printing for Artificial skin, bone substitute/ Artificial implant/Drug Delivery, • Multifunctional and multicomponent polymeric nanomaterials for water purification • Fire-retardant green polymer biocomposites using jute fibers • Use of waste rubber for fabrication of magnetic nanoparticle reinforced nanocomposites for EMI shielding application

I am intensely seeking a permanent faculty position in India (preferabily at my Host Institute) with the intention of pursuing my teaching and research career in the field of Materials Science / Polymer Science and Engineering / Nanomaterials / Nanobiotechnolgy / Biomaterilas Engineering. I strongly believe that DST could provide me the great environment for the same. I look forward for a long and fruitful association with DST and Host Institute, where I intend to continue with the exhilarating task of discovering and solving new problems in my chosen field of research and teaching.

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Rahul Garg

Assistant Professor DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000020 Office-209, Department Of Mathematics, Iiser Bhopal, Bhauri, Bhopal-462066 Email ID: [email protected] or [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : October 26, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow (1) Bochner Riesz means: Jointly with Dr. Jotsaroop Kaur, we have been working on the problem of Localisation of Bochner Riesz means corresponding to the sub-Laplacian on the Heisenberg Group. We have recently submitted one research article based on the this project to Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. (2) Lattice Point Counting problem on the Heisenberg groups: We continue to work on the problem of counting lattice points on the Heisenberg groups with respect to the Cygan-Korányi norms. As reported last year, we have already obtained some pointwise estimates for the orthonormal basis of the Heisenberg nilmanifold corresponding to joint eigenfunctions of right-invariant differential operators. We have been working on the decay estimates of the eigenvalues in the eigenfunction expansion of the characteristic function of the unit ball in the Cygan-Korányi norm. This project is continuing with satisfactory progress.

Future Research plans: (1) Bochner Riesz means: (i) Jointly with Dr. Jotsaroop Kaur, we have been working on the problem of Localisation of Bochner Riesz means corresponding to the sub- Laplacian on the Heisenberg Group. We have Photo recently submitted one research article based on the this project to Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. We are continuing to work on this project. (ii) We are also studying Localisation of Bochner Riesz means in the context of the Heisenberg motion group, and also those corresponding to Hermite and Special Hermite expansions. (iii) We have been working on (weighted) boundedness of square functions for the Bochner Riesz means in the context of Weyl transform, and also corresponding to Hermite and Special Hermite expansions, and have already obtained some interesting results in this direction. (2) Lattice Point Counting problem on the Heisenberg groups: We continue to work on the problem of counting lattice points on the Heisenberg groups with respect to the Cygan-Korányi norms. We have already obtained some pointwise estimates for the orthonormal basis of the Heisenberg nilmanifold corresponding to joint eigenfunctions of right-invariant differential operators. We have been working on the decay estimates of the

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eigenvalues in the eigenfunction expansion of the characteristic function of the unit ball in the Cygan-Korányi norm. This project is continuing with satisfactory progress. Rajeev Kumar

Inspire Faculty IFA15-MS51 CSIR-Advanced Materials and Processes Research Institute, Bhopal Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : May 02, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Project title- Light weight carbon foam as an electrode for lead acid batteries

In order to use battery based system in heavy vehicles and renewable energy storage, a significant advancement in energy storage density, power density, cycle life and environmental compatibility is required. The present grid-scale energy-storage sector is dominated by lithium-ion batteries, because of their higher energy density & specific power and long cycle life. However, there are some serious concerns regarding Li-ion batteries, such as safety risk, limited resource supply, high cost and lack of recycling infrastructure. This necessitates the development of an alternate battery system with lower environmental concerns, economical and higher energy density. In this concern, lead acid batteries are still one of the most reliable, economical, and environmentally friendly options.

However, electrodes in the lead acid batteries suffer from the problem of heavy weight, corrosion, poor thermal stability and diffusion of electrolyte in one dimension which ultimately affect the output power

To overcome these problems of lead acid batteries, efforts are going on worldwide. The material scientist and technologist are looking for materials, which have light weight, high active surface area, corrosion resistance, and thermally stable in both hot and cold environment. Among all carbon materials, carbon foam is one of the lightweight (<0.5 g/cc), highly porous (> 85%), which have highly resistive to corrode good electrical and thermal conductivity (>100 W/ (m.K)) with high surface area and have recently attracted a lot of attention owing to their potential applications in various field. The aim of the proposed work is to develop the suitable light weight porous carbon foam from thermosetting and thermoplastic polymers using polyurethane (PU) foam as a template. The carbon foam electrode is coated with active materials (lead oxide) and improved output power by controlling the structural morphology to overcome the problem of lead electrode.

Future Research plans

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In India, no initiatives have been taken to develop light weight carbon foam for lead acid battery technology. In future lab-scale developed methods will be transfer to industry so that large scale production can be made at lower or affordable cost. The lightweight carbon foam-lead acid battery will be useful for various applications such as telecommunications, renewable energy, uninterruptible power supply (UPS), electric/hybrid vehicles, grid scale energy storage for distributed generation and Military and Municipal Applications. Additionally, the carbon foam will be used for electronic package cooling, vehicle cooling, electromagnetic interference shielding, catalyst support, support for hydrogen production and water purification system. As well as such products will be extended to others applications under collaborative research program for revenue generation. It will be a great initiative under “MAKE IN INDIA” programme. And also it will have billions and billions of dollar market.

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Rajni Garg

DST INSPIRE FACULTY FELLOW DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001170 JNCASR, JAKKUR, BENGALURU / MICROBIOLOGY AND CELL BIOLOGY DEPT, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : November 02, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Ever since I started my research career, my major research is focussed on Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the highly infectious pathogen, inflicting millions since its discovery more than a century ago. It is fascinating to work on this intriguing pathogen. In my stint as INSPIRE faculty, our team along with Dr. Lal Pathlabs Pvt. Ltd, developed a novel multiplex PCR based technique for diagnostics of TB, with an efficacy equivalent to GeneXpert system. Currently, I am working on dormancy proteins, which are key regulators of fate of Mtb inside the host. With recent advances in finding out niches for dormant TB, I would like to develop effective targeting strategies to target dormant mycobacteria. My long-term goal, is to look for dormancy markers in certain patients, which make them more susceptible to reactivation of TB. Apart from mycobacterial dormancy, I am also working on nucleoid associated proteins (NAPs) of Mtb, which play a global role in fine tuning the gene regulation of Mtb. Our working hypothesis is that some of these NAPs may be involved in chromosome partitioning/segregation apart from their role in chromosome organization.

Future Research plans: Over the next five years, I would like to elucidate detailed role of various mycobacterial NAPs in gene regulation of Mtb. This is an attempt to understand the choreography of Mycobacterium virulence mechanisms as a function of regulation by NAPs. These NAPs are druggable as some of them are unique to Mtb. With resurgence of TB in the form of deadlier infections caused by Multi-drug resistant (MDR) and extensively drug resistant (XDR) bacteria, there is an urgent need for more promising drugs as well as vaccines to immunize the masses against this disease. NAPs work in collaboration with topoisomerases and DNA gyrases, to regulate the mycobacterial chromosomal architecture and function and my research involves thorough investigation of their role in mycobacterial gene regulation and pathogenesis.

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Ramendra Sundar Dey

SCIENTIST B DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000337 Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), Mohali Habitat Centre, Sector 64, Phase-10, S.A.S. Nagar, Mohali- 160062, Punjab Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : Not availed

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Recently, we have developed few-layer graphene (FLG)-like nanosheets from an agricultural waste biomass: peanut shell (PS). A well-known elementary method was used for the achievement of FLG sheets from renewable sources, is introduced in this study. The Peanut shell-derived FLG (PS-FLG) possesses remarkably high specific surface area (2070 m2 g−1) that exhibited a high specific capacity of 186 F g−1. The highest energy density of 58.125 W h Kg−1 and highest power density of 37.5 W Kg−1 was achieved by the material. Solid-state-supercapacitor was fabricated with this material for the possible use of low-cost, high-energy promising energy storage device (Sci. Rep., 2017, 7, 615239).

In another work, we have demonstrated a facile approach for growing porous electrochemically reduced graphene oxide (pErGO) networks on copper wire, modified with galvanostatically deposited copper foam. The shape of the voltammogram retained up to high scan rate of 100 V s−1. The wire-based supercapacitor is scalable and highly flexible, which can be assembled with/ without a flexible substrate in different geometries and bending angles for illustrating promising use in smart textile and wearable device (Sci. Rep., 2018, 8, 640). One-step coelectrodeposition-assisted assembly of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) for the ultrasensitive electrochemical impedance sensing of DNA hybridization was demonstrated. This study presents a promising electrochemical sensing platform for the label-free ultrasensitive detection of DNA with possible application in cancer diagnostics and the preparation of a self-healable nanohybrid thin film with a 3D alternate-layered nanoarchitecture (Nanoscale, 2018, 10, 1196).

Future Research plans: Our research interest is focused on nanocarbon-based hybrid materials for state-of-the- art energy storage and conversion system for renewable energy generation. Currently we are looking for self-sustainable energy storage devices starting from waste/biomass materials. We are in progress in developing a hybrid supercapacitor with battery or biofuel cell for clean and self-sustainable energy storage devices, paper-based biofuel cell.

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Our group has recently developed three-dimensional graphene-polymer composities for pattern micro-supercapacitor. The manuscript will be communicated soon. We are working on CNT-carbon onion composites for the non-enzymatic glucose sensors. Our intention is to developed non-enzymatic biofuel cell based on nano-carbon composites. We are very close to developing the biofuel cell and its hybridization with supercapacitor. We are continuing our work on the biomass-derived nano-carbon for energy storage and hybrid energy storage applications. We are looking for commercialization of our high surface area few-layer graphene material for low cost energy storage device.

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Ramesh Kasilingam

DST-INSPIRE FACULTY DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001525 Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : September 24, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Much water has flown ever since Milnor's discovery of non-equivalent smooth structures on a topological 7-sphere in 1959. In my thesis, I have considered the effect of taking connected sum on the smooth structures of Hyperbolic Manifolds and Projective Spaces. Following this work, I have considered the effect of taking connected sum on the smooth structures of a closed (n-1)- connected 2n-manifold M2n, where n=4,8, and the real projective 7-space. In particular, I have given a diffeomorphism classification of closed smooth manifolds in the tangential homotopy type of M2n . I have also showed that the real projective 7-space has, up to diffeomorphism, exactly 28 distinct differentiable structures with the same underlying PL structure of the real projective 7-space and 56 distinct differentiable structures with the same underlying topological structure of the real projective 7-space. Following this work, we have classified all smooth manifolds homeomorphic to the complex projective m-space, where m is less than or equal to 8. This classification has been done by computing the inertia group of the complex projective m- space. The calculation of the inertia group for an arbitrary manifold has proven to be a hard problem in general but there are results in certain cases. We have showed that there are infinitely many values of n for which there exist non-trivial elements in the inertia group of the complex projective 4n+1-space. This is the first example of a non-trivial inertia group among the inertia groups of complex projective spaces. The same analogue results have been done for quarternionic projective spaces also. As an application, we have constructed examples of closed negatively curved Riemannian 18-manifolds, which are homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to complex hyperbolic manifolds. Further, we have also discussed free smooth actions of the unit quarternionic sphere on homotopy spheres and proved that for n = 2, 4, no such action exists on a non-trivial exotic sphere, while for n = 3, there is an exotic 15-sphere which supports such an action.

Future Research plans 1. Following the results in my past research, I plan to determine the group structure of the inertia group I(C P n × S1) of the product C P n × S1. 2. In particular, I am interested to know whether the kervaire sphere in dimension 4n+1 lies in the inertia group I(C P 2n × S1) ?(Already the case n=1 would be good).

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3. For the product C P n × S1, Brumfiel (1971) showed that the inertia group coincides with the homotopy inertia group by using the fact that every homotopy self-equivalence of C P n × S1 is homotopic to a diffeomorphism. 4. Now I am interested to know a general geometric criterion for a manifold to ensure that the homotopy inertia group equals the inertia group ? In particular, I plan to know that for kahler manifolds, or say grassmannians, the homotopy inertia group equals the inertia group. 5. Computing the inertia groups of C P n × S1 have some interesting applications to symplectic topology. A direct consequence of a main result of Kreck's modified surgery theory (1999) is that the connected sum M # Σ of a closed simply connected manifold M of dimension 2m ≠ 4 with a homotopy sphere Σ is diffeomorphic to M provided Σ represents zero in a suitable bordism group. 6. Therefore, Kreck's modified surgery theory allow us to study the inertia groups via B- Bordism theory. So, I plan to study Kreck's modified surgery theory and by using this theory, I am interested to classify all simply connected 8-manifolds and their geometric structures. 7. One of the areas of applications of surgery and Kreck's modified theory that are developing most rapidly is that of applications to differential geometry. I would expect to see further growth in this areas, especially in the areas of applications to positive ricci curvature and to complex geometry, symplectic and contact topology. 8. In particular, I want to study how the existence of complex and symplectic structure does depend on smooth structure. Hence, the following problems seem to be very interesting. 9. It is known that for any m ≥ 5, there are smooth manifolds which are homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to the standard torus Tm. The simplest examples of exotic tori are obtained as connected sums of the standard tori with homotopy spheres. Namely, Tm # Σm, where Σm is any exotic m-sphere. I plan to solve whether Tm # Σm admit a complex structure and symplectic structure or not ?.

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Ranjan Patra

DST-INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000522 Panjab University, Chandigarh Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : February 08, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow This project is aimed at understanding the reaction mechanism of nitrene transfer reactions involving various spin states of biomimetic model complexes, in order to exploit that knowledge to the prediction and design of new catalysts of practical use. Indeed direct C-N bond formation using a nitrene transfer may lead in one step to aminations of C-H bonds, aziridinations or sulfimidination, yielding amine derivatives of utmost importance in various fields such as biomolecules syntheses, pharmacology or agrochemicals. There is thus a need to better understand how the electronic and structural parameters of the catalytic active species control the efficiency and regioselectivity of these nitrene transfer reactions. Several efficient catalytic systems have been reported but most rely on noble metals, especially rhodium. Their replacement by more ecologically and economically friendly first-row transition metal analogues has fueled a considerable amount of work in the past decade. In particular, by analogy with Fe(IV)-oxo active species involved in heme or non heme oxygenases, the ability of high valent Fe (IV)-imido species to promote nitrene transfers has been recently investigated both experimentally and theoretically. There are three possible electronic states of Fe(IV) complexes, from low spin (S=0), to intermediate spin (S=1) and high spin form (S=2). In non heme enzymes promoting oxene transfers, it is well established that the reactive intermediate is an Fe(IV)-oxo in a high spin (S=2), whereas most of the models exhibit an intermediate spin state. The same knowledge is not yet acquired for Fe(IV)-imido species and the influence of the electronic properties on the reactivity still needs to be deepen, with two main objectives : v Gain a better understanding of the electronic structure and spin states of the active species, i.e. a high-valent Fe bonded to an imido group v Model the reactivity channels of the nitrene transfer in order to decipher the molecular parameters controling the activation barriers and the regioselectivity of the transfer. In the present project, the investigations will be mainly focused on the comparison of various Fe(IV) complexes already experimentally characterized, for their activity in aziridination reactions.

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Future Research plans This four systems have been already experimentally investigated for aziridination and other reactions (amination, sulfimidation). In particular, complex 1 has been already thoroughly studied in the by de Visser for HAT processes and transfer in C-H bonds and on sulfides. On the other hand, complexes 3 and 4 have been investigated experimentally and theoretically for aziridination and other nitrene transfers reaction. The interest of this set of complexes is that it illustrates different features, i.e. different molecular charges, different coordination number and different ground spin states. This will allow to obtain a more general rationalization of the various mechanisms than simply studying one type of complex. Preliminary reactivity studies have been performed for comparing between complex 1 and 2 to evaluate the potentialities of the systems in representative nitrene transfer reactions. They have led to several interesting observations. (i) Both the complexes active not only in pure nitrene transfer reactions (sulfimidation, aziridination) but also in amination of aliphatic substrates (ethylbenzene, toluene, cyclohexane) that involve an H atom abstraction/rebound process. (ii) This activity is observed in rather mild conditions: room temperature, 2 hr and a catalyst/reagent (PhI=NTs)/substrate ratio 1/20/200 which does not involve a huge excess of substrate. (iii) Complex 2 is much more reactive than complex 1. Owing to the structural similarity this reactivity is unlikely to be rooted in the electronic environment of Fe(IV). Therefore it suggests a strong electronic dependence of the activity which would be disfavored by strongly donating substituents. The work to be done will be mainly based on two objectives. The first one will be to get insights in the electronic structure of complexes 1 and 2, using DFT methods, in order to know more on their spin state ordering and the spin density localizations. Reactivity pathways will be established on such species in order to identify the intermediate and transition state (TS) species and the energetic landscapes for aziridination on a styrene substrate.

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Ravi Bhatia

Assistant Professor IFA 15 Ph-124 Guru Jambheshwar University of Science & Technology, Hisar Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : November 06, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow I had proposed a research project on growth of novel nanomaterials by low cost methods for their suitability in certain energy harvesting devices. To achieve the objectives mentioned in the project, the description of the research methodology to be undertaken is as follows. The most appropriate method would be chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of mixture of methane and argon over nickel or copper films. Similarly, CVD is a suitable method for the synthesis of h-BN as well. For the large-scale synthesis of high-quality h- BN nanosheets, CVD of ammonia borane (at ~1000 °C) over the copper film will be preferred by controlling the surface morphologies of the copper catalysts. It has been reported that control of morphology the copper foil is much critical for the formation of the pure h-BN nanosheets as well as the improvement of their crystallinity. Further, good quality h-BN can be synthesized on platinum foil through a low-pressure CVD method. An electrochemical bubbling-based method can be used to transfer the grown h-BN layer from the platinum foil onto an arbitrary substrate. MoS2 based 2D nanostructures can be grown either by using ammonium thiomolybdate solution in a polar solvent adopting solution technique or sulphurization of molybdenum oxide at elevated temperatures. It is believed that 2D nanomaterials have great potential to revolutionize the world of low power electronic devices, and/or can rather introduce self powered devices as well, that will significantly reduce the consumption of conventionally produced power. The research work proposed in this document is based on controlled synthesis of 2D layered materials towards their possible applications in the fabrication of high performance electronic, optoelectronic, and energy harvesting devices.

Future Research plans: My future research plan includes the exploration of novel nanomaterials for realizing the device application by studying their relevant physical properties. For example, carbon nanotubes-based polymer composites can be used in electromagnetic shielding applications for space shuttles owing to their extraordinary electronic properties and phenomenally low density. Also, these composites can be explored for field emission devices; my own previous research results are quite encouraging in this direction. Further, I would like to explicitly explore the water filtering characteristic of 2D materials and their hybrids because of their extremely high specific surface area and fantastic adsorption properties. In addition, it is to be mentioned that the thrust of current scientific research

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at global level has recently focused on addressing the energy issues by development of novel energy harvesting devices. The working principle of these devices is basically the conversion of mechanical or thermal energy to electrical energy utilizing novel designs. The low cost fabrication with high efficiency is highly desirable for their practical use in daily life. Recent advancements in the development of such energy harvesting devices have been made in the form of Piezo and Tribo-electric nanogenerators. The working of Piezoelectric nanogenerators is based on converting external kinetic energy into electrical energy via action by a nano-structured piezoelectric material whereas Tribo-electric nanogenerators convert the external mechanical energy into electricity by a conjunction of triboelectric effect and electrostatic induction. These nangenerators will have exciting applications in the Flexible electronics and Sensors applications.

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Ritesh Singh

INSPIRE Faculty IFA15-CH-179 CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad Email ID [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : September 28, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow 1) Direct functionalization of unactivated C—H bonds into C—N bonds are of immense interest and ideal organic transformations for the construction of N-containing heterocycles from cheap, and readily available raw materials. An effective strategy for such transformation involves transition metal catalyzed direct C— H bond nitrene/ metal nitrenoid insertion, where relatively weaker C(sp3)—H bonds (3o>2o>1o) are preferentially activated via outer sphere C-H insertion mechanism. In stark contrast, aryl C(sp2)—H amination via metal nitrenoid insertion garnered little attention due to lack of chemo/regioselectivity. We for the first time demonstrated that Rhodium(II) catalytic system could chemoselectively functionalize aromatic C-H bonds in presence of readily available and weaker C(sp3)—H bonds in high yields using aryl carbamate substrates via Rh-nitrenoid insertion through insitu generation of iminoiodinane as nitrene source. Thus, providing a novel route for a privileged scaffold, benzoxazolones, in two steps from commercially available starting materials. (Ritesh Singh* ACS Catalysis, 2016, 6, 6520–6524)

2) In view of especial emphasis in current research scenario for the development of sustainable chemistry, with focus on utilization of Ist row metals for such transformations, we recently demonstrated for the first time that Fe(III)(TPP)Cl serves an effective catalyst for promoting arene C-H amidation through intramolecular cyclization of N-Tosyloxyarylcarbamate substrates. The reaction proceeds via nitrene (outer sphere pathway) C(sp2)—H insertion to yield benzoxazolones with excellent yields (up to 96%) under external oxidant free condition at ambient temperature. The method is operationally simple and scalable with high functional group tolerance. Preliminary experimental data indicates involvement of aromatic electrophilic substitution mechanism for this aryl C—H amidation transformation, distinct from operating mechanism reported previously in aryl C—H amination using azide based substrates. DFT studies provide support for the preferential C(sp2)—H bond amidation in the presence of weaker C(sp3)—H bonds. (Ritesh Singh* Manuscript submitted)

3) LSD1 inhibition-triggered dual functional anticancer agents. Lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1) has been regarded as a target protein for cancer therapy. LSD1 removes the methyl group from mono- and dimethylated Lys4 of histone H3 through

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flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD)-dependent enzymatic oxidation. It is overexpressed in various cancer cells and tissues.Thus, LSD1 is a promising target for anticancer therapy. We designed and synthesized a molecule with new architecture, bearing ACPA (Aryl Cyclopropyl Amine) and FDA approved HDAC inhibitor SAHA, showing potent anticancer activity via dual functional inhibition. (Ritesh Singh* Takayoshi Suzuki*, Manuscript under preparation)(In collaboration with KPUM, JAPAN during IF tenure)

Future Research plans: My future research plans for next five years are as follows- 1) Development of sustainable methods for more challenging intermolecular arene C-H ami(n)dation using, earth abundant, non-toxic, first row transition metals especially iron. Such developed methods would be then utilized for accomplishing pharmaceuticals and bio-relevant natural products in highly efficient manner. 2) Bio-catalytic versions of industrially relevant chemical transformations would be developed, which would make synthetic routes for valuable fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals greener, sustainable and cost efficient. 4) Transition metal free routes of biologically important scaffold like oxindoles would be developed through a novel approach.

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Rudranil Basu

DST-INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000220 Theory Division, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, 1/AF Bidhannagar. Kolkata- 700064 Email ID: [email protected] or [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : November 17, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow My research work as an Inspire Faculty focuses on various aspects of quantum gravity and holographic duality for asymptotically flat space-times. Reparametrization of local coordinates, which is an unphysical local symmetry of general relativity, gives rise to infinite physical symmetries and associated conserved charges at the asymptotic infinity. In a 3 dimensional gravitating system, these symmetries are organized into the BMS3 group. From the point of view of a quantum field theory localized on the two dimensional null boundary of the space-time, this symmetry group is of paramount importance as is Lorentz group for Minkowski field theory. During my work as Inspire Faculty I have in recent past and in ongoing present works have worked on representation theory of BMS3 group which directly gives quantum states of the theory at the boundary. One of the key successes of this line of work is finding entanglement entropy of a subsystem in the boundary theory. This result has also been verified from a bulk gravitational side, using the holographic conjecture, which also addresses the issue of time variation of the said entropy in a dynamical situation. From quantum gravity perspective, the duality has been employed in understanding thermodynamics of cosmological horizons using tools of the boundary field theory. Another very important aspect in the context of holographic duality is to establish it beyond a conjectured aspect in as many as possible situations. To this end, couple of of my present ongoing works are on classifying all possible theories of gravity with supersymmetry with consistent dual field theory at boundary. In a recent published work and in another ongoing project with a student under my supervision I also dealt with an explicit model of a field theory which is dual to 4 dimensional asymptotically flat space- time towards a renormalization scheme for the field theory to understand a key questions in quantum gravity. General Impact: The impact of my work as Inspire Faculty is in terms of contributions towards innovative shared knowledge of fundamental theoretical and mathematical physics in the Indian perspective.

Future Research plans 1) Background of this research path has already been set up by myself. We have observed an infinite amount of conformal symmetry in certain gauge theories at Galilean limit. This observation is important mainly from the perspective of integrability. If a model has

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infinite amount of symmetry, there is a very positive chance of it being an integrable system, at least classically. Integrability of a physical model gives one the power to make predictions of a theory up to exact precision. Conformally invariant gauge theories with maximal super-symmetries at large colour limit has been proved to be integrable. This is the only integrable model closest to describing strong interactions of nature. With these motivations, it becomes obvious for one to probe into question of integrability Galilean gauge theories. There are few steps planned for achieving this goal. For example, primarily this requires to identify these as classically integrable system via constructing lax pairs. The next immediate goal of quantum integrability requires various steps. This long term project would is expected to result in to at least 4 publications with a feasible timeline of 4-5 years.

2) Superconformal field theories are still very active topics of research owing to their rich mathematical content and implications to quantum gravity description of black holes. The later is realized in the holographic perspective of AdS/CFT duality. But gravity theories on asymptotically flat spaces don’t predict (relativistic) conformal invariance in their field theory dual. Rather, the symmetry is named as BMS (after its discoverers). Likewise super-gravity theories for the flat case should have supersymmetry on top of BMS symmetry. Field theories with this type of supersymmetry have not been studied in literature. However they do possess enormous possibilities to uncover. Very recent ongoing studies by myself reveals various properties regarding flexibility of R-symmetry of these super Lie algebras, which are very much restricted in case of the relativistic super- conformal algebras.

Along these lines, a definite project proposal of classifying all BMS super-algebras is in order. Apart from these, modular properties, studying characters of super-BMS lie- algebras and relating them to alternatives moonshine proposal are some of the essential mathematical features that should be worked upon. These parts of the project will be presented in 4-5 articles in a span of 5 years.

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Sandeep P More

DST INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001337 Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai Email ID [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 10, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Currently working as DST INSPIRE Faculty Fellow in the Department of Fibres & Textile Processing Technology at Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai. The research mainly includes synthesis of organic molecules and their applications in Organic Electronics, Smart Textiles and Functional Dyes. Organic Electronics: There are different ways to enhance efficiency of Organic Electronics devices such as Solar Cells, Light Emitting Diodes, etc. and Multiple Exciton Generation (MEG) is one of the cutting edge research theme being applied into Organic Electronics. There are several molecules reported which theoretically shows Singlet Fission phenomenon and Acenes are one of them. Currently, we are dealing with synthesis of variety of Pentacene Dimers and it’s application as electron donating/accepting material in Solar Cells. The initial computational studies are done and the manuscript based on these results is under preparation. The initial experimental results obtained so far are very interesting and may open up new field in the area of Singlet Fission. Smart Textile: Work in this area from our side includes synthesis of photochromic, thermochromic and electroluminescent colorants. As a part of the project we are also developing facility for OLED, OPV device fabrication on textile substrate. For the prototypes, conventional methods such as Screen Printing, Layer by Layer deposition and Spin Coating techniques are being utilized successfully. Functional Dyes: We have currently developed some dyes with very interesting properties e.g. flame retardancy. Development of such dyes will help to carry out dyeing and finishing in the same bath during textile manufacturing process which will minimize the load on effluent drastically. Biosensitisers for Solar Cells: We have found some novel sources for natural pigments and dyes which can be utilized for Dye Sensitized Solar Cell. Basic device fabrication was carried out in our lab and now we are exploring more into it.

Future Research plans The future research includes the continuation of the INSPIRE project i.e. synthesis of pentacene dimers and its applications in solar cells as well as there are some new research areas opened up during the implementation of the same project which needs to be taken forward to a fruitful conclusion. The future research plan for each research field is as follows, Organic Electronics: The future research plan includes the synthesis of pentacene dimer following the route schematically represented in the proposal. In order to have donor-acceptor system in the same molecule, different types of acene molecules will be dimerised using certain types of connectors such as, cyclophan, squaric acid, etc. Some of

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the connectors which can be dimerised using transition metal complex protocol and the selection of different metals will be used. Some of the metals may result into electroluminescent material which will be utilised for OLED fabrication. Apart from the simple acene derivatives, some azaacene derivatives are planned which showed promising results in the initial computational studies. This area will also include incorporation of natural dyes/pigments in Dye Sensitised Solar Cells (DSCC). The initial results obtained from some pigments were very promising hence through study of some colorants is planned in future.

Smart Textile: The fabrication of OLED and DSCC using printing, coating methods was successful on glass and polymer substrate. In future the similar fabrication methods will be applied for Textile substrate. The research includes development of a binder which will improve washing fastness of the device fabricated on textile. The plan includes synthesis of an acrylic binder with certain modifications which will lead us to firm and transparent lamination of device on textile surface.

Functional Dyes: Based on the results obtained from previous molecules, couple of dendrimeric systems containing more percentage of Nitrogen and Boron are planned.

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Sandip Singh

Assistant Professor DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000794 Mathematics Department, IIT Bombay Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 31, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow I have been trying to provide a complete answer to the following question of Peter Sarnak: Characterise the hypergeometric differential equations for which, the associated monodromy groups are arithmetic or thin? In the same direction I wrote a paper with J. Bajpai and S. Thomson titled "Commensurability and Arithmetic Equivalence for Orthogonal Hypergeometric Monodromy Groups" in which we compute invariants of quadratic forms associated to orthogonal hypergeometric groups of degree five. This allows us to determine some commensurabilities between these groups, as well as to say when some thin groups cannot be conjugate to each other. In another ongoing project with J. Bajpai, we have found some more examples of arithmetic (symplectic) monodromy groups.

Future Research plans I am trying to settle down the question asked by Peter Sarnak to determine the hypergeometric differential equations for which the associated monodromy groups are arithmetic or thin. I am also looking at some of the cases of nonhypergeometric groups.

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Sanjay S. Latthe

Assistant Professor in Physics DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000281 Department of Physics, Raje Ramrao Mahavidyalaya, Jath Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : September 14, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow (1) Considering the high optical transparency, cheap cost, good mechanical properties like strength and toughness, the polycarbonate (PC) is one the potential candidate which can replace glass from various industrial applications. We have adopted a novel and simplistic approach to prepare self-cleaning yellow superhydrophobic polycarbonates by simple nitric acid treatment to attain yellow colour polycarbonate (PC) and subsequent surface silylation by methyltrichlorosilane (MTCS) for superhydrophobicity. The surface silylation by MTCS provides morphologies from nanofibers to nanospheres depending on reaction times. The yellow superhydrophobic PC showed self-cleaning properties, where the dust particles from the surface were easily taken away by rolling water drops. We have published this result as well as applied for a Chinese Patent. (2) The superhydrophobic silica coatings were prepared by spin deposition technique from a mixture of hydrophobically modified silica nanoparticles and polystyrene. To enhance the adherency of the coating on the substrate and also to improve the durability of the coating, polymer is especially utilized in the coating solution. The consequence of number of spin deposited layers on the wettability of the coatings was precisely studied. An anti-corrosion performance of the superhydrophobic coating was also confirmed. We have published this result. (3) Candle soot, the hydrophobic carbon nanoparticles can be chiefly collected from the candle flame. The candle soot nanoparticles, titania and silica nanoparticles were incorporated in the polymers and these nanocomposites were coated on the different substrates for self-cleaning applications. These research results were published in the conference proceedings and book chapters. Also I have contributed in two research papers with my collaborators from Japan and Saudi Arabia. One research article is under revision. Self-cleaning superhydrophobic coatings can find potential industrial application for self- cleaning door and window glasses, windshields of automobiles, roadside mirrors, glassware, sport equipment’s, solar panels, apparels and many.

Future Research plans The addition of polymer even at low loadings in the inorganic phase can improve the overall properties of the composite coating, especially the mechanical durability and optical transparency of the coatings. Such a durable and transparent SH coatings can be

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applied on diverse surfaces like glass, plastic, wood, fabrics and metals and so on for excellent self-cleaning and anti-corrosive applications. This research work can be extended further by undertaking various industrial applications. This research work is not only limited to the self-cleaning coating on glass and anti-corrosive coating on metals, but other potential applications include a variety of objects and places, such as shoes, goggles, electrical equipment’s, clothing, hospitals, kitchen and bathroom products, and much more. Apart from this, the proposed experimental methodology can be utilized for other industrial applications like: (1) Polymer-Nanocomposite Membranes for Efficient Oil-water separation, (2) Polymer-Nanocomposite SH Coatings for Prevention of Ice Accumulation, (3) Polymer-Nanocomposite SH Coatings for Anti-fogging Applications, (4) Polymer-Nanocomposite SH Coatings for Drag-Reduction, (5) Polymer-Nanocomposite SH Coatings for Anti-fouling Applications.

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Saraswati Nayar

INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000296 RAJIV GANDHI CENTRE FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY, Trivandrum, Kerala Email ID: [email protected], [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : November 02, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Hormones are the driving molecules for many physiological and developmental processes in the plant. Extensive research is being carried out in Arabidopsis and Rice model systems in this area. The research related to hormones in lower plants such as algae is still in the initial period. The presence of hormones in algae has been reported (Tarakhovskaya, 2007) and recently its presence has been supported by Stirk et al, 2013. The presence of genes related to cytokinin, auxin and jasmonic acid in Chlorella spp. leads to the question about what kind of role they have in the development of these lower plants. I am working on orthologues of three Arabidopsis genes in Chlorella which have been well characterized in higher plants for their roles in hormone biosynthesis and signaling. I have been able to standardize growth conditions for the alga I am working on. Also I have been able to clone all of these genes in the desired overexpression, silencing and localization vectors, along with standardizing the transformation of this alga and selection of the transformants. Further analysis of the transformants will reveal whether these genes have similarity in function to their higher plant counterpart. Thus it will be interesting to find out what the exact role of these three genes is in case of unicellular microalga Chlorella. The data generated here will be significant as it will have application to real life in terms of increasing alternative fuel sources as well as targeting the current problem of heavy metal pollution.

Future Research plans: Some potential genes for hormone biosynthesis and signaling have been identified in Chlorella in the present study. It will take time to characterize them as various experiments and validations will be required to pin point the exact role of these genes in Chlorella. I have selected three potential hormone related genes for further characterization, which is underway. Also more experiments will be required to validate their potential in the process of phytoremediation and for its use in bio-diesel production. These experiments will be carried out over the next few years. References: 1. Tarakhovskaya, E.R. et al. (2007) Phytohormones in algae. Russ. J. Plant Physiol. 54, 163–170 2. Stirk, W.A. et al. (2013) Auxin and cytokinin relationships in 24 microalgal strains. J. Phycol. 49, 459–467

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Sarathlal K V

Inspire Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001210 Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : February 01, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Engineering of magnetic properties of ultrathin films by means of modifying surface and interface is an interesting topic from both fundamental and technological point of view. In this work correlation between structure, morphology and magnetic properties of thin films deposited on well ordered nanopatterned templates ( nanoripples and nanocones ) of Si and GaSb prepared by low energy ion beam erosion have been addressed. Two different approaches or geometry of ion beam erosion have been used in this work (a) oblique angle and (b) normal incidence ion beam erosion. Well ordered nanorippled substrates of Si(100) with different wavelengths ranging from 25nm to 70 nm have been prepared by Ar ion beam erosion at an angle 65 degrees from the surface normal of Si by varying ion energy from 300 eV to 800 eV. Well-ordered nanocones have been produced on GaSb (100) templates using normal incidence ion beam erosion. Experimental parameters like energy, ion fluence have been varied to tune the depth and diameter of the nanocones. Further, we have employed such nanopatterned substrates as a template to grow magnetic thin films.

In the case of Permalloy thin films grown on nanorippled Si(100) substrates, strong uniaxial magnetic anisotropy (UMA) with magnetization in a direction normal to the ripple wave vector has been observed. Strength of the magnetic anisotropy ( K) is found to be gradually decreasing with increasing ripple wavelength values. Magnetic anisotropy energy variation with film thickness also examined. A detailed growth study of Py films on nanorippled Si have been done using in-situ micro grazing incidence small angle x- ray scattering ( insitu µGISAXS , P03 beamline, PETRAIII, DESY, Hamburg) during the film deposition. It has been found that film growth is highly anisotropic along and normal to the ripple wave vector. Also, the visibility of multiple side bands in GISAXS data corresponding to the ordering of nanostructures for larger value Permalloy film indicating that the film is replicating the morphology of the substrates up to larger extends. Nanocones of GaSb templates also have been used to grow Py films. A detailed film thickness , nanocone diameter and depth dependant magnetic studies have been done.

In principle , we have used large area nanopatterned templates produced by cost effective and single step method ion beam erosion to engineer magnetic properties of thin films which is found to be having potential applications in the area of data storage, magnetic sensors etc.

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Future Research plans I. In last a few years, magnetic vortex or magnetic Skyrmions hold promise for information storage because of their robustness to perturbations. Theoretically it has been proposed that response of such systems can be manipulated in efficient manner by curvature driven effects. One of the method to tune or tailor exchange and magneto static interactions at the nanoscale is to deposit magnetic thin films onto curvature templates with various shape and structural arrangements. In this proposal as a continuation to our running study, we will deposit Permalloy(Ni80Fe20) thin films on two kind of curved templates prepared by two different approaches, (i) large-area arrays of cone shaped nano-objects prepared by Ar+ ion beam erosion in GaSb(001) substrates and (ii) closely packed array of silica nano spheres on Si(100) substrate prepared by well-known drop casting method. We will study how the curvature driven modifications occur to the magnetostatic coupling of vortex circulation and polarity in soft magnetic closely packed cap arrays. Different deposition geometries as well as different sizes of nanospheres and nanocones will be employed. Despite many magnetic nanostructures that have been experimentally and theoretically studied so far, a deeper understanding of the relationship between the domain pattern, shape, and atomic microstructure is still lacking mainly in three-dimensional structures. In our case we will study the growth of thin films on such curvature templates in order to correlate the geometry and the shape for different thickness regimes to the interesting magnetic properties. For these measurements, we will use µGISAXS in combination with a portable in-situ RF-sputter deposition chamber available at P03 beamline of PETRAIII(Granted research proposal at DESY, Hamburg under India @DESY program ID : I-20170758 'In-situ GISAXS study of the growth of Permalloy thin films on curved templates" ). II. We will investigate geometry induced changes of the magnetic properties of ferromagnetic Co/Pt multilayers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy(PMA) deposited on three-dimensionally curved templates having different dimensions. In spintronic devices having such ferromagnetic(FM)/ nonmagnetic systems (NM) especially heavy metals like Pt, the ferromagnet induced magnetic moment in the nearby nonmagnetic material significantly influences the spin transport properties. Our proposal to determine such magnetic proximity effect in Co/Pt multilayer system using X-ray resonant magnetic reflectivity technique has been approved by DESY, Hamburg (Proposal ID : I-20170759 'Study of magnetic proximity effects in Pt/Co/Pt trilayer system using x- ray resonant magnetic reflectivity). We will study the spatial distribution of magnetic moments across the interfaces for different Pt as well as Co thicknesses.

III. We will try to engineer curvature induced perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in thin ferromagnetic films like Co without an additional heavy metal layer. We are expecting that the dipolar interaction and surface curvature can produce perpendicular anisotropy which can be controlled by engineering special types of periodic surface structures.

DST-INSPIRE Faculty Fellows 303 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Satyajit Guin

INSPIRE Faculty (Mathematics) DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000901 Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali Email ID- [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : December 08, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow My mathematical research is in the area of Noncommutative Geometry, main motivation of which is to extend the commutative duality between spaces and functions to the noncommutative framework. Work done by me over past few years as INSPIRE Faculty concerns about the differential calculus of Connes, the Yang-Mills functional, and noncommutative complex geometry. Associated to every spectral triple there is a differential graded algebra (dga) due to Connes, which generalizes the classical de-Rham complex on manifolds. Lack of monoidality of this dga has been investigated, and a suitable subcategory of the category of spectral triples has been proposed on which this dga is indeed monoidal. Also, a comparison between this dga and the dga of Frohlich et al. is done in a very precise sense using the quantum double suspension. Notions of subadditivity and additivity of the Yang-Mills functional have been formulated, and under a natural hypothesis on spectral triples it is proved that the Yang-Mills functional is always subadditive. Necessary-sufficient condition for additivity is also found, and behaviour of critical points under additivity of the Yang-Mills functional has been investigated. Noncommutative complex geometry, initiated by Frohlich et al. has been investigated, and a class of examples of noncommutative complex (in particular Kaehler) geometry have been produced in the context of C*-dynamical systems with strongly continuous even dimensional Lie group action. These include all the noncommutative even dimensional tori as special case. Note that noncommutative two torus was the only known example of noncommutative complex geometry. Supersymmetric N=1 and N=(1,1) spectral data have been investigated, and a natural choice of tensor product of N=(1,1) supersymmetry has been established. Naturality is obtained by demanding certain extension procedure to be multiplicative.

Future Research plans 1. A long term goal of mine is to establish the equivalence of the Yang-Mills approaches. Investigation for the case of noncommutative tori and quantum Heisenberg manifolds, along with the vision described in Connes’ book, lead us to believe that this question has positive answer. However, before proving the general case it is necessary that we establish

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this equivalence for few more examples or for a class of examples. This will give a better understanding before attacking the general case. 2. The Yang-Mills functional always comes with an inbuilt question that what are its critical points. This is of immense importance because of the identification of Yang-Mills functional with energy functional in Physics literature. All the critical points for the case of noncommutative two-torus have been computed by M. Rieffel and a family of critical points for the quantum Heisenberg manifolds is obtained by S. Kang. My plan is to compute these critical points of Yang-Mills functional for a certain family of examples. 3. Recently, the notion of subadditivity for the Yang-Mills functional has been formulated, and it is proved that the Yang-Mills functional is always subadditive. This motivates to investigate for construction of a “dimension-like” invariant for spectral triples in terms of the Yang-Mills functional.

DST-INSPIRE Faculty Fellows 305 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Saurav Bhaumik

Assistant Professor DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000707 Indian Institute of Technology Bombay Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 10, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow I studied with Arunava Mandal the density of the image of the individual power maps for connected Lie groups, and found that it could be interpreted in terms of the regular elements, and also separately in terms of the Cartan subgroups. Let G be a connected Lie group. We studied the density of the images of individual power maps Pk:G→G:g↦gk. We gave criteria for the density of Pk(G) in terms of regular elements, as well as Cartan subgroups. In fact, we proved that if Reg(G) is the set of regular elements of G, then Pk(G)∩Reg(G) is closed in Reg(G). On the other hand, the weak exponentiality of G turned out to be equivalent to the density of all the power maps Pk. In linear Lie groups, weak exponentiality reduces to the density of P2(G). We also proved that the density of the image of Pk for G implies the same for any connected full rank subgroup. The results become more important for non-linear Lie groups.

Future Research plans: 1. Role of Higgs bundles in the classical Geometric Langlands program 2. Role of Higgs bundles in the geometry of higher dimensional varieties, in terms of Hitchin-Simpson correspondencce

DST-INSPIRE Faculty Fellows 306 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Seenuvasan Vedachalam

DST-INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000328 Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu-620 015, India Email ID: [email protected] or [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : October 01, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow My current project is focused on synthetic organic chemistry for sustainable development in chemical transformations, especially the discovery of new, efficient synthetic methods for carbon–carbon bond formation reaction. Our aim to develop organocatalytic mediated small nucleophilic molecules by undergoing through atom economic, operational simplicity and the possibility of the development of non-traditional retro- synthetic bond disconnections. A standard example for such a strategy is the inversion of traditional reactivity of functional groups (Umpolung). In other words, electrophilic aldehyde functional group acts as a nucleophilic nature which creates new development's in organic synthesis. Recently N-heterocycle carbene catalysts (NHCs) plays an emerging role in umpolung concepts on both carbonyl and non-carbonyl system which emphasis diverse reactivity. Like many other important discoveries in organic chemistry, the idea of an NHC is a result of investigations through proper disconnection approach likely to find understandable mechanistic pathway. Especially it can give the space to D0, D1, D2 and A0 synthons from corresponding aldehydes reacts with various counter electrophiles and nucleophile likely to provide new discovery in organic chemistry. Next apply this developed methodology to synthesize various heterocycle molecules, Medicinal active molecule, sugar intermediates, natural products and electrochromic materials, etc. Recently we have developed NHC catalyzed Coates Claisen reaction for the synthesis of enantioselective Secoiridoids natural product. Also, we have developed NHC catalyzed C- glycosylation for the synthesis of Sceleropentaside A and yet to communicate. Also, we have developed green synthesis of chromone (Also applied for the synthesis of T-614 drug molecule synthesis) and functionalized chromones for the application of cancer cell treatment. Also, we are developing the Iridoid based natural product synthesis which is the potent compounds possess various biological application such as antioxidant, anti- inflammatory, anti-atherogenic, anti-cancer, antimicrobial, antiviral and anti-HIV properties. Also, it has enormous application towards neurodegenerative diseases. Apart from that we are developing new COF-NHC catalyst for the sustainable development in organic transformation.

Future Research plans The research plan (for the next two years’ time frame) is to continue my DST-INSPIRE project on Sustainable Organic transformation for the application of Total synthesis and

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Drug development. I would like to develop various NHC catalyzed transformation for the synthesis of N, O, S containing heterocycle compounds. We are mainly focusing on sugar and Iridoids based natural products synthesis for various biological application especially, neurodegenerative disease. Also planning to study antioxidant, anticancer, anti-Parkinson and anti-Alzheimer studies of the synthesized compounds through collaboration. One of my long-term research prospective is develop novel methods in Organic synthesis with fascinating structural features, such as internalizing into the biological system with low cellular toxicity and develop new drug candidates. The synthesized molecules will be extensively study the NMR and HRMS, X-Ray analysis and compared its biological properties to their known drug candidates. Furthermore, depending on the intrinsic properties in different biological system, and find out the multifunctional diagnostic and therapeutic applications. The synthetic organic chemistry are the areas of ever-growing research because of the constant need of advanced drug discovery program with superior properties for several biomedical applications. The current project will be extended various biomedical application from small molecule to biomolecule in future.

DST-INSPIRE Faculty Fellows 308 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Selvakumar Karuthapandi

Inspire Faculty IFA 15-CH-187 CSIR-Central Electrochemical Research Institute Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : December 07, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow The proposed research activity emphasizes on the development of supramolecular enzyme mimetic molecular/material systems for catalytic and sensing applications. In summary, under inspire faculty fellowship, implementation of metallophthalocyanine based electro- catalytic systems on the graphene-based electrode materials and their application in discriminatory biothiol sensing has been achieved. Metallophthalocyanine and metallophthalocyanine embedded GO/rGO materials, named CuPc (1), MnPc (2), GO- CuPc-PDA (3), GO-MnPc-PDA (4), rGOCuPc-PDA (5), rGO-MnPc-PDA (6), (where CuPc = Copper phthalocyanine, MnPc = Manganese phthalocyanine, GO = graphene oxide, rGO = reduced graphene oxide, PDA = polydopamine) have been synthesized and both surface and bulk characterized. The synthesized materials were dip coated over the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) surfaces to yield an array of six electrodes (1'-6'). Each of the electrodes has shown distinct voltammetric oxidation current signals towards the different biothiols, such as Cysteine (Cys), Glutathione (GSH), and Homocysteine (Hcys). The collective response of the electrode array was analyzed using chemometric analysis, such as linear discriminant analysis (LDA), which enables the simultaneous detection of Cys, GSH, and Hcys in the phosphate buffer. However, the application of electrode array technique to the biomarker detection is complicated due to the non-specific interferences of protein components present in biofluids. We have demonstrated a proof-of-principle that such interference in discriminatory sensing of thiols can be circumvented via combining cross- reactivity of the electrode array with selective thiol reporting process of redox indicators (RIs), such as ascorbic acid (AA), dopamine (DA), and uric acid (UA). The discriminatory ability of the electrode array towards different biothiols and their concentration (in µM) spiked in goat plasma sample is clearly evident from the LDA canonical score plot between the variates F1 and F2 axes. We believe that the analytical methods combining the chemometric techniques will facilitate the rapid monitoring of disease biomarkers and advancement of studies targeting to understand pathophysiological events.

Future Research plans We will be engaged in the following research activities that would impart diverse knowledge/skills to the researchers and students who contribute to our research; a) Supramolecular chemistry of main group elements: The structural and functional role of chalcogen bond donors (also halogen, pnicogen, tetrel) in the formation of surface bound- assemblies and self-assemblies in solution and Lewis acid catalysis is in the early phase of development. We focus on this particular aspect with special interest on the use of

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chalcogen bond donors in catalytic aromatic fluorination process and development of stimulus-responsive supramolecular receptors affording chalcogen/halogen and pnictogen bonds for the molecular recognition process. b) Understanding physico- chemical properties of main group compounds using chemometrics: Chemometrics is a new discipline that uses the mathematics, statistics, and computer science to understand the structure and reactivity of chemical systems. Currently, we employ chemometric methods to understand the chalcogen bond dependent conformational diversity of arylchalcogen derivatives including the macrocyclic aromatic systems such as chalcogen- containing phthalocyanines. Also, we use this technique in discriminatory sensing of biomarkers. c) Controlling random reactivity in pattern recognition sensing using main group redox systems and porous materials: The major problem of the use of cross- reactive sensor array in clinical diagnostics is the interference of bio-fluidic components that host a large number of proteins. Therefore targeting a specific class of analytes, through the use of a label/a redox reporter, from a pool of other analytes is desirable. We have an interest to develop methods and unique molecular/material systems to address this problem. Two possible methods could be (i) combining random cross-reactivity with selectivity, (i) using the principle of size exclusion. In the first method, we wish to introduce chalcogen compounds as selective reporters of thiols in electrochemical sensing. In the second aspect, we would like to employ main group porous materials as size exclusion element.

DST-INSPIRE Faculty Fellows 310 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Shail Pandey

DST INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001698 Department of Physics, National Institute of Technology Jamshedpur Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : March 23, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow I am studying Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP) which is often utilized for various material-processing, nanoparticle-synthesis and bio-medical applications. Conventional CAP employs high voltage DC sources for plasma generation, hence many times direct plasma irradiation is not practical. Also, it is not shock-proof. Microwave-generated CAP can offer solution to these problems. Owing to its versatile applications, this source is therefore selected for this project.

Before proceeding with the experimental development, the source need to be optimized. A Monte- Carlo simulation in this direction has been developed which shows that plasma ignition within a quartz tube of diameter less than 4 mm is difficult. Therefore, tube of diameter 8 mm is selected for further study. As the plasma dynamics is controlled by electron energy distribution function (EEDF), time evolution of EEDF along the tube filled with noble gases (Ar, He, Ne) is investigated first. The result shows that the plasma initially evolves with transient phase where electron density and energy keeps on increasing with time, followed by the equilibrium phase at t ~ 200 ns where EEDF relaxation is observed. Ar and Ne plasma shows higher ionization and higher energy electrons than He plasma and can be relied for use in high-temperature treatment of surfaces as well as for smaller size nanoparticle formation, while applications requiring weakly ionized plasmas should opt for He. These results have been presented in two national conferences.

Based on these results, experimental set-up has been finalized. The quotations of required equipment (magnetron as 2.45 GHz microwave generator) and components (waveguide components, mass flow controller, spectrometer, monochromator) are being negotiated for purchase. The diagnostics of CAP will be carried out by Langmuir probe characteristics and Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES) which has been tested for low pressure (~ mTorr) plasmas. The analysis of OES at high pressure is under investigation.

Future Research plans

The installation of experimental set-up of microwave plasma sources will be continued. Once the major components and equipments are purchased, the installation will finally be completed. The properties of plasma will then be investigated under different combinations of microwave power, gas flow and gas species (argon, helium, nitrogen). Plasma density and electron temperature will be investigated using Langmuir probe I-V

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characteristics and Optical Emission Spectroscopy (spectrum of light collected by an optical fibre and a spectrometer is analyzed). A grid of measurement points can be used to get axial and vertical information. Once the system is characterized fully, the repeatability of data will also be confirmed.

Next, the microwave power will be modulated in pulsed form. Pulsing of the input power give flexibility in adjusting plasma parameters by adjusting suitable combination of pulse parameters i.e. peak power, pulse-on time and its duty cycle, even if the gas species and its flow rate is fixed. The system will again be characterized for various combinations of pulse parameters, gas species and its flow rate. The repeatability will be confirmed. Once the characterization is finished, these plasmas will then be used to interact with samples. To begin with, it will first be interacted with man-made polymer materials with poor adhesion and wettability properties like teflon and polyamide 12 (PA 12 - wide range of applications in domestic and housing outlet). The interaction of CAP with biomedical samples (like cancer cells) will then be investigated. Finally effect of magnetic field on effluent plasma will also be studied. Some collaborations (IIT Kanpur and KIIT Bhubneswar) are in process. A paper, "Evidence of electromagnetic standing wave within magnetically confined low pressure plasma", and a project, "Non-invasive diagnostics of Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet for biomedical applications", under SERB Early Career Research Award, are under preparation for submission.

DST-INSPIRE Faculty Fellows 312 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Shima P D

DST-INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2014/001995 Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu-620 015, India Email ID: mailto:[email protected] Availed Fellowship from : July 20, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow My current project is focused in the area of advanced functional magnetic nanocomposites. The research involves synthesis, characterization, thermosphysical and biophysical studies of superparamagnetic graphene/graphene oxide-based ferrite nanocomposites, magnetic colloidal nanoparticle clusters and multifunctional magnetic core-shell nanostructures. The excellent mechanical, electrical and thermal properties and large specific surface area of graphene (G) and graphene oxide (GO) qualify stable G/GO- based nanofluids for thermal engineering applications. In particular, nanofluids that contains ferrite nanoparticle-loaded G/GO nanosheets which combine the unique thermal properties of G/GO and the superparamagnetic behaviour of ferrite nanoparticles could be excellent nano-engineering coolants. Furthermore, one-atom thick two-dimensional plane of G/GO provide a large specific surface area for the immobilization of drugs and thus G/GO-based ferrite nanocomposites are excellent candidates for targeted drug delivery applications. Large surface area and magnetic separation also make them promising candidates for environmental remediation (to remove heavy metal ions, dyes and aromatic compounds from waste water). Towards these goals, one of the objective of the current project is fabrication of multifunctional superparamagnetic G/GO-based Fe3O4 and MnFe2O4 nanocomposites having high water dispersibility, superior thermal and magnetic properties to exploit them for thermal engineering, environmental remediation and biomedical applications.

Another objective of my INSPIRE project is on colloidal nanoparticle clusters (CNCs). I am particularly interested in examining the fundamental as well as applied properties of magnetic CNCs. Even though several synthesis routes have been attempted for magnetic cluster structures, a facile strategy for the synthesis of superparamagnetic CNCs with high water dispersibility, controlled cluster size and uniformity is still a major challenge. Towards these goals, one of the objective of my INPSIRE project is the fabrication of superparamagnetic CNCs & multifunctional nanostructures containing CNCs having controlled size & uniformity, high water dispersibility and superior magnetic properties to exploit them for thermal engineering, environmental remediation, biomedical and sensor applications.

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Future Research plans The research plan (for the next two years’ time frame) is to continue my DST-INSPIRE project on advanced functional magnetic nanocomposites. One of my long-term research prospective is on hollow magnetic nanostructures because of their fascinating properties, such as large surface area, low density, and high loading capacity. Because the void space can be used as the storage for various drugs, biomolecules and functional nanoparticles, hollow nanostructures could also serve as imaging contrast agents, drug delivery carriers, and anodes for lithium ion batteries. The surface area of hollow nanostructures is significantly larger and the density is much lower compared to their solid counterparts of same composition/size and these properties makes hollow nanostructures promising materials for catalysis either as support materials or as active catalysts. Relatively large surface area and high porosity of hollow nanostructures are well suitable for waste water treatment and environmental remediation such as adsorption of organic pollutants, degradation of dyes and removal of heavy metal ions. Furthermore, depending on the intrinsic properties of different compositions, such as magnetic /optical/catalytic properties, hollow nanostructures could find many other applications, such as sensing, multifunctional diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Multifunctional upconversion luminescent magnetic nanoparticles are another long-term research prospective. Because of the potential benefits of multimodal functionality in biomedical applications, there is huge research interest on multifunctional upconversion luminescent and magnetic nanoparticles which exhibits upconversion fluorescence alongside superparamagnetism. Such structures could provide a platform for multimodal imaging and controlled drug delivery. The nanoparticles/nanocomposites are areas of ever-growing research because of the constant need of advanced functional materials with superior properties for several technical applications. The current project will be extended beyond the limits of magnetic nanomaterials to metal/semiconductor/oxide nanomaterials in future.

DST-INSPIRE Faculty Fellows 314 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Siddhesh B. Ghag

DST-INSPIRE Faculty IFA15 LSPA-32 UM-DAE Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, Mumbai Email ID: [email protected] ; [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : December 02, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Banana is the fourth most important food crop after the major cereal crops and is the staple food of the people in the developing regions of the world. India is the largest producer of banana with a production of about 29.7 million tonnes. Fusarium wilt disease [caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc)] is one such disease which is spreading rampantly and devastating banana plants in the major banana growing regions. There are recent outbreaks of the Fusarium wilt infections in India caused by the most virulent strain, the tropical race 4. Moreover, there is no known resistant cultivar of banana which can substitute present day bananas. Foc enters the banana plant through the roots, induce necrosis in the infected tissues and manifests wilting phenotype. Interaction of this fungus with plant tissues activate several unique transcription factors (such as SGE1, FTF1 etc.) that further triggers the expression of effector genes, phytotoxin genes, factors inducing necrosis etc. The aim of this research project was to functionally annotate SGE1 and its associated partners. In silico sequence analysis revealed that the N- terminus contains a TOS9 and a Gti1_Pac2 family domain. The C-terminal region however does not represent any conserved domain but have an unusual long proline- glutamine repeat stretch probably required for transcriptional activation. Sge1 belongs to the same group as Histoplasma capsulatum Ryp1 and Candida albicans Wor1 which are key regulators of dimorphic switching. Generation of a deletion and complementation mutant strain would help in elucidating the functional role of this gene in Foc. These strains will be tested for their pathogenicity by infecting the susceptible banana cultivar. Concurrently, identifying the interactors of SGE1 in activating the effector genes during colonization on banana plants will accelerate in understanding the importance of multiprotein complexes required for activating genes during infection. Ultimately, all the outcomes of these studies will congregate and aid in efficient management of this disease.

Future Research plans The primary purpose of any pathogen infecting the host is to derive nutrition, grow and propagate. This indicate that the nutrition genes and pathogenicity genes are closely knit. The deletion and complementary strains (∆FocSge1 and c∆FocSge1) generated will be studied with respect to different nitrogen and/or carbon source utilization and drawing

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the inference to understand the in vivo in planta infection conditions. Further, the importance of Sge1 gene in penetrability of Foc will also be studied using an in vitro penetration assay. We speculate that different transcription factors triggered during infection act as co-activator of each other in regulating effector genes. This study will help in identifying the complexes which regulate the effector genes during infection in susceptible banana plant. One of the effector genes identified is six1 which is regulated by SGE1. Understanding the regulation of six1 gene in ∆FocSge1 and c∆FocSge1 strains and further generating mutants of six1 will help in deducing the functionality of six1 gene in pathogenesis. Moreover, the production of toxins in ∆FocSge1 and c∆FocSge1 will further reveal the role of Sge1 in toxin biosynthesis required during infection.

DST-INSPIRE Faculty Fellows 316 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Smritimoy Pramanik

Assistant Professor Award Number: DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000345 Affiliation: University of Calcutta Email ID: [email protected]/[email protected] Availed Fellowship from : November 09, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Initially, literature survey was carried out to understand recent developments in the field of naturally occurring drug molecules and their delivery. Initiatives were taken to order minor instruments, consumables and other necessary items and to appoint one man power (Project Assistant). Scientific part has been initiated through the photophysical property of curcumin in the presence of cationic surfactants of varying hydrophobic chain length. Curcumin is well known for its medicinal use as anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiamyloid, anti-Alzheimer, anticystic fibrosis. However, the main drawback of using curcumin as a drug is its very low solubility in human blood- system and lack of bio-availability. For this purpose we have used hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTAB) and dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) as a series of cationic surfactants in order to increase the solubility of the drug molecule and to assess the role of hydrophobic interaction. The photophysical properties of curcumin in the presence of those cationic surfactants have been investigated by employing UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy and steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy. Increase in absorbance and fluorescence intensity with increasing concentration of each of the surfactant indicates that curcumin binds with the surfactant studied. However, relative increases of absorbance and fluorescence intensity were depended on the hydrophobic chain length of the surfactant. From the plot of absorbance and fluorescence intensity against surfactant concentration, curcumin-surfactant premicellar metastable aggregate formation before CMC was revealed. We have also estimated the binding constant and free energy change of curcumin-surfactant complex formation. Our results indicate that surfactant can be used as dissolving agent for curcumin in aqueous solution. Estimated binding constant values suggested that curcuminbinds with CTAB much more tightly (4.42x105 L mol-1) than TTAB (3.35x105 L mol-1) and DTAB (2.35x105 L mol-1), indicating the possibilities of making regulated drug delivery systems based on curcumin and cationic surfactant with desired hydrophic chain length

Future Research plans Our preliminary study revealed that the hydrophobic interaction significantly regulates curcumin-surfactant interaction. In the next step, it will be interesting to address the role of hydrophilic region of surfactants in the curcumin-surfactant interaction. Consequently,

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it will be straightforward to understand the way Hydrophile-Lipophile Balance regulate curcumin-surfactant interaction. In this context, we also have a plan to explore the effect of diketo modified derivative of curcumin on their interaction with surfactants. Subsequently, we have a plan to study the interaction of curcumin and derivatives of curcumin with nucleic acids. The main aim for this study is to reveal the binding mechanism and thermodynamics of curcumin-nucleic acids interaction. For drug-nucleic acid interaction it is important to reveal sequence specificity or structure specificity. For this purpose we could utilize oligonucleotide sequences which have the ability to form defined secondary structure under experimental conditions.

DST-INSPIRE Faculty Fellows 318 DST-DBT Joint Conclave 2018

Sneha M. Pinto

DST-INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000444 Center for Systems Biology and Molecular Medicine, Mangalore Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 11, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is characterized by persistent respiratory symptoms, progressive airflow obstruction and is primarily mediated by prolonged inflammatory response. It is the fourth leading cause of mortality worldwide with cigarette smoke exposure (CS) being the most important risk factor. Respiratory infections further exacerbate COPD progression by increasing levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines which in turn activate the innate immune response. In the recent years, Interleukin-33 (IL-33), has been reported to play diverse roles in the regulation of immune responses. Emerging evidence suggest elevated expression of IL-33 in pulmonary diseases including asthma, allergic rhinitis and COPD. However, the precise role by which IL-33 exacerbates COPD still remains to be explored. To investigate the mechanism of CS- induced changes in the bronchial epithelial cells, I developed in vitro acute and chronic CS-induced cell line models. Primary bronchial epithelial cells (HBE) were exposed to varying concentrations of CSC for 48h and upto 20 days. A dose-dependent decrease in cell viability was observed in both upon CSC treatment. Further, differential expression of both IL-33 and ST2 receptor was observed in the CSC-treated cells and the expression correlated with the levels in the HBE obtained from COPD donor. Quantitative proteomic analysis of chronic CSC-treated cells resulted in the identification of ~5000 proteins of which ~200 were differentially regulated. To investigate IL-33-induced changes in the proteome and secretome of HBE derived from normal and COPD patients, cells were temporally stimulated with IL-33. The whole cell lysates as well as the secretomes have been harvested for differential proteomic and phosphoproteomics analysis. The findings will be validated in patient samples for which I have established clinical collaboration and have obtained Institutional ethical clearance for collection of patient samples. I have also obtained intramural grant from the host institution to identify proteomic and metabolomic markers for the prediction of disease progression in mild-to-moderate COPD. Additionally, I have also completed and published the development of network map of IL-33 signaling pathway obtained from published datasets.

Future Research plans This study would be the initial step towards understanding the molecular mechanism associated with IL-33 and its role in COPD. In addition to the quantitative proteomic analysis upon chronic CSC treatment, the changes in the phosphorylation and acetylation will be investigated to systematically analyse the regulatory mechanisms. Further, comparative analysis of the proteome expression derived from acute and chronic CSC

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treatment will be carried out along with the proteome obtained from bronchial epithelial cells derived from normal and COPD donors. This analysis will provide an increased understanding of the role of transcription factors and signaling pathways in regulating IL- 33 expression. Additionally, an integrated analysis of the CS-induced miRNAome, epigenome and transcriptome datasets obtained from public repositories will be carried out which will enable generation of interaction networks based on the activated signaling modules. Some of the targets identified can serve as potential therapeutic targets and will be further validated using in vitro and in vivo assays. Similar approaches will be employed to delineate mechanisms of signaling mediated by other pro-inflammatory cytokines. Some of the novel secretory proteins identified in the secretome analysis will be further validated in serum of patients diagnosed with COPD and categorized based on GOLD guidelines (based on assessment of symptoms and airflow limitation) as GOLD0, GOLD1 and GOLD4. This will enable our effort towards identification of early detection biomarkers for COPD. The ethical clearance has already been obtained and I have initiated the process of sample collection. As a part of the intramural grant, metabolomic profiling of sputum and serum samples obtained from COPD patients will be carried out to identify key metabolites that correlate with clinically relevant COPD subtypes. Further, the findings will be correlated with FEV1/FVC (Forced Expiratory Volume/Forced Vital Capacity) to assess how these may predict disease progression.

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Snehanghsu Patra

Assistant Professor (DST Inspire Faculty) Award Number: DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000741 Centre of Excellence for Green Energy and Sensors Systems Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology- Shibpur Email Id: [email protected]/snehangshu.patra@cegess. iiests.ac.in Availed Fellowship from : November 04, 2015 - present

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow In the present of context of global warming, rising pollution and depletion of conventional energy sources, my research theme is focused on tackling this global issue. Thus, we investigated following research directions: (a) Development of novel, energy efficient electrode for artificial photosynthesis system. The developed electrodes were bi- functional in nature which produces H2 by splitting water from an alkaline electrolyser. The “membrane free” alkaline electrolyser was developed to nullify the resistance offered by membrane, thus enhancing the efficiency of the electrolyzer. A patent followed by high quality publication will be submitted in near future. (b) We have also designed photoelectrodes (BiVO4/FTO) which enable rate limiting water oxidation with high photocurrent density of 5-6 mA. cm-2, far better than the reported literature value (1-2 mA. cm- 2), though exact reason is yet to be discovered. Interestingly these electrodes were fabricated through a galvanic deposition process (generally driven by the chemical potential, no external energy is needed). (c) In parallel, the CO2 conversion to usable fuels/chemicals by the enzymatic biocathode is being investigated due to their nearly cent percent product specificity and high turnover rate. These biocathodes exhibited direct electron transfer (DET) for reduction of aldehyde to alcohol. Further studies are being conducted for their application of bioreactor. (d) Last but not least, for Solar PV grid integration, we are developing solar rechargeable Vanadium Redox Flow Battery (VRFB) for large scale storage. It involves stepwise fabrication of laboratory scale cheap, highly efficient (energy efficient > 85%) and long term stable VRFB from the scratch by optimizing the electrode quality, electrolyte as well as flow cell design.

Future Research plans In future, the research plans are to continue for developing above mentioned thematic keeping the system level fabrication in priority. The CEGESS at IIEST is recognized as DST solar hub. Thus my research directions has significantly shifted from basic science to engineering as per as the demand of CEGSS, IIEST. My focus will be concentrated on development of green energy devices through continuous research and development. The following are point wise discussion to state the future research interest in little details;

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1. We envisage a huge surge in search for alternative fuel economy. H2 is being projected as the prime mover of the next generation; scientist thus cannot shy away from this domain. H2 can best be obtained in high efficacy from electrolyzing H2O, even though the anodic oxidation rate to produce O2 is slow. Since, most of the R&D is focussed on splitting water with high quality electrocatalyst or catalyst to overcome such huge energy barrier (1.23 V or 237.2 KJ. mol-1. Thus development and optimization of membrane less electrolyzer is one of the main researches thematic my laboratory would be interested in. 2. Electrochemical energy storage system for intermittent solar energy is in high demand. My aim to develop indigenous VRFB for large scale photovoltaic power plant. Though we are at infancy, we believe that we would be able to fabricate such VRFB through constant R&D in collaboration with potential industry, for example with whom we are now progressing electrode development. 3. We would also like to unravel the mystery of making high quality photoelectrode for sluggish water oxidation kinetics. Or to search for an alternative electrochemical photoactive redox system to construct a photoelectrochemical cell (PEC). 4. We are also interested in R&D of fabricating bio-battery in order to exploit the untapped energy in city waste water.

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Sony Reddy

Assistant Professor (DST-INSPIRE) DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001395 School of Biotechnology, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology Email ID: [email protected], [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : January 04, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow The lab is interested to understand the process of host erythrocyte modification mediated by P. falciparum; currently emphasizing on the role of chaperones (DnaJ family) in parasite protein trafficking and host cell modification. In this regard, our lab has made recombinant proteins and antibodies against the predicted DnaJ domains of 2 of the PEXEL (Parasite Export Element) positive DnaJ proteins (PF3D7_1102200, Pf3D7_1401100) and the RESA domain of another DnaJ protein-Pf3D7_1149200; as well as few other organellar marker proteins (KAHRP-Knob, SBP1- Maurer Cleft, PfHsp70x- J dots, PV1- Parasitophorous vacuole). The antibodies generated against each of the proteins have been tested for their specificity and were able to recognize the recombinant as well as the native parasite proteins. Using the antibodies we have observed two of the DnaJ proteins (PF3D7_1102200, Pf3D7_1401100) to get exported into the host erythrocyte, displaying a specific punctate staining. Additionally, Far-western analysis suggested Pf3D7_1401100 to interact with 250 kDa and an approx 400 kDa protein band in erythrocyte ghost and supernatant fractions respectively. The interaction needs to be confirmed by further experiments. Our further experiments are targeted to: i) generate conditional knockdown parasites for these proteins ii) perform protein interaction and proteomics studies to identify interacting partners and iii) exactly map the subcellular localization of these proteins. We have also been successful to establish an in-vitro blood stage P. falciparum culture facility at the host institution (support from DST-SERB), as well as standardize proteomics experiments, in association with KIIT-TBI.

Future Research plans Though our current research work is targeted to unravel the mechanisms of parasite protein export, the greater goal is to identify new drug targets or drugs to combat the ever-increasing resistance to the anti-malarial drugs by the malaria parasites. In this regard the key strategies/methodologies we would like to develop and use would be: 1. Unravel the important functional mechanisms, which the parasite uses for its survival in humans. A proper understanding of the mechanisms is expected to lead us to identification of novel druggable targets. Our focus would be on targeting those proteins and mechanisms that help in parasite protein trafficking, folding and their degradation.

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2. Utilize the knowledge of traditional Indian herbal practices currently being utilized as well as documented in Indian scriptures and make a dedicated effort to identify new drugs from them. We have started with submitting a grant to NIF (National Innovation Foundation) and also will try to approach SERB ayurvedic program. 3. Utilize metabolomics and proteomics approaches, to understand the mechanism of action and resistance to the current anti-malarial drugs, utilizing both in-vitro culture as well as murine models.

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Sougata Roy Chowdhury

DST-INSPIRE FACULTY DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000561, Dated August 10, 2015 DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF CALCUT Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : November 02, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Title: Patterning of T-Cell Recruitment to the Tumor Microenvironment during Breast Cancer progression: A Special Focus on Treg Trafficking, Homeostasis and Associated Chemokine Signaling: Social impact and Genesis of the hypothesis It is evident from research outcomes that metastases-associated deaths are predominant in breast cancer. Recent developments on early diagnosis using mammographic screening and the implementation of adjuvant therapies may have reduced breast cancer associated deaths in decent numbers, although new markers for prognosis are of utmost importance for patients with higher risk of developing metastases or recurrence. Targeting either specific immunomodulators and/or intervening molecular mechanisms is thought to be a potential therapeutic option. Key Addresses • Conflict between Pro-tumor and Anti-tumor response: As a part of immune response, tumor-infiltrating immune cells exhibit both pro-tumorigenic and anti- tumorigenic effects within the tumor microenvironment. The cross-talk between pro- tumor and anti-tumor immune response becomes the primary determining factor for tumor progression. The holistic pattern of T-cell subset trafficking, infiltration, activation, recruitment and cross-talks within tumor microenvironment is still fully unresolved. • Trafficking of tumor infiltrating T lymphocyte cell subsets: During tumor onsets, recruitment of matured/differentiated cytotoxic T (Tc) cells and effector T (Teff) cells provide anti-tumor immune response resulting in lower rate of tumor proliferation. But T cell-mediated cytokine signaling facilitates antigen-specific trafficking, infiltration and recruitment of Tregs to the tumor microenvironment leading to tumorigenesis, although the underlying mechanism is yet to be clearly portrayed. • Cross-talks between adaptive and innate immunity: Previous researches establish the cross-talk between tolerogenic dendritic cells (DCs) and regulatory T cells (Tregs) as a part of peripheral tolerance and that between mature DCs and Teff as a part of primary T cell response in cancer. Now, it is reported that even during maturation process DC releases Treg-attracting chemokines for further recruitment of Tregs leading to cancer progression. Therefore, T cell/DC-mediated signaling could be a crucial determinant for cancer prognosis. Hypothesis and Execution: We will try to accumulate evidence showing that interactions between DC and Tregs play a crucial role in the balance between immune response and tolerance through the stages of breast cancer progression. Thus, we need to investigate the

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major cross-talk between DC subsets and CD4+ Tregs/T follicular helper cells (Tfh)/Th17 subsets. Simultaneously, we will be accounting Tfh/Treg ratio and Tfr (T follicular regulatory cells) subpopulation, a distinct effector phase of Treg, in the tumor infiltrating CD4+ T population. Furthermore, we will try to unfold the driving signaling mechanism regulated by Tfh/Treg ratio towards cellular survival through the stages of disease progression. For that, we will investigate the co-expression status and transcriptional regulation of CXCL13 (Tfh marker) and CXCR5 (marker of both Tfh and Tfr) and its signaling axis, which will be further explored with its effects on epithelial to mesenchymal transition of cells, metastasis and cellular survival. Simultaneously, our in vivo functional validation under different manipulated conditions will help us to understand the prognosis value of Tfh/Treg ratio and CXCR5/CXCL13 coexpression during pulmonary metastasis. Additionally we will quest for specific cytokines/chemokines which are responsible for attracting M2 macrophage, Th2 and Treg subsets. This above mentioned investigation for breast tumor prognosis is yet undone, novel and assumed to be rational and researchworthy. Inference In nutshell, this study with outstretched objectives will dissect a novel, relevant and important finding of humoral immune response to investigate its value of prognosis, and to predict the disease progression and tumor fate for future chemotherapy with more precision. This investigation is yet undone, novel and assumed to be researchworthy. Future Research plans Over High affinity antibodies result from interactions between B cells and T follicular helper (Tfh) cells in germinal centers (GCs). Recent studies have identified an effector subset of T regulatory cells termed T follicular regulatory (Tfr) cells that specifically control GC responses by suppressing Tfh and B cells. The discovery of Tfr cells has shed new light on pathways regulating humoral immunity that enable potent and specific responses to pathogens while restricting autoimmunity.Both Tfh and Tfr together play a crucial role in determining the fate of humoral immune response during disease pathogenesis. Till date, we have information on the cross-talk of Tfh and Tfr cells in circulation and lymph nodes in many diseases other than cancer. We are absolutely clueless in the context of cancer progression until one recent report showed that tertiary lymphoid structure (TLS) within tumor microenvironment contains Tfh cells and tumor- infiltrating CD4+ Tfh cells predict breast cancer (BC) survival. The limited number of studies of Tfr cells published to date has pointed to a central role for these cells in controlling the GC reaction and downstream B cell responses. Further studies of Tfr cells should provide insights into the pathogenesis of diseases in which antibodies can be protective and may suggest new strategies for modulating humoral immune responses. We, in our preliminary studies, have identified the presence of Tfr-like cells within the breast tumor microenvironment. We believe that the occurrence of CXCL13-secreting Tfh might be influencing the intra-tumoral accumulation of Tfr-like cells and/or regulating the transcriptional machinery of adjacent Treg cells to express Tfr-associated surface receptors. Here, we propose that cross-talk between intra-tumoral Tfh and Tfr-like cells may stand as one of the decisive factors in determining tumor fate. Thus, the future focus of our research team will be the following: A. Dissecting the cross-talk between T follicular regulatory cells (TFR), T follicular helper cells (TFH) and B cells during humoral immune response in breast cancer Focus: Understanding the contribution of T follicular

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regulatory cells (TFR) in defective functions of T follicular helper cells (TFH) and B cell response in cancer B. Understanding the proteomic landscape and metabolic status of effector and helper T cells in breast cancer Focus: To investigate the primary metabolic status of intra-tumoral Tfh and Tfr-like cells; to observe the state of metabolic reprogramming during Tfh/Tfr interaction, especially in the context of glycolysis and fatty acid metabolism. C. Understanding metabolic reprogramming and T-cell plasticity Focus: To understand the immune response and plasticity of metabolically reprogrammed TFH cells during differentiation, expansion and activation

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Subramanyan N Varanakkottu

Assistant Professor DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000544 NIT Calicut (Physics)Kerala Email ID: [email protected] or [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : February 04, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow The major objective of the project is to realize stimuli-controlled droplet manipulation for digital microfluidic applications. In spite of the reported temperature dependent tunability in wettability of Poly(N isopropylacrylamide) PNIPAAm grafted surfaces for below and above lower critical solution temperature (LCST = 32 °C), the macroscopic transport of water droplets is inhibited by the large contact angle hysteresis. In this project we adopted a new approach to realize on-demand, fast and reconfigurable droplet manipulation over a PNIPAAm grafted structured polymer surface using temperature- induced wettability gradient. A thin layer of PNIPAAm was grown on PDMS surfaces using Benzophenone-initiated, UV-mediated graft polymerisation. Three types of PDMS surfaces were used for PNIPAAm grafting: flat as well as micropatterned surfaces. The presence of PNIPAAm layer was verified using FTIR analysis. The experiments show an unprecedented control over both water contact angle and contact angle hysteresis. The study reveals that the PNIPAAm grafted on intrinsically superhydrophobic surfaces exhibit hydrophilic nature with high contact angle hysteresis below 30°C, and superhydrophobic nature with ultra-low contact angle hysteresis above 34°C. The transition region between 30°C and 34°C is characterized by a large change in water contact angle (~100°) with a concomitant change in contact angle hysteresis. By utilizing this “transport zone” wherein driving forces overcome the frictional forces, we demonstrate macroscopic transport of water drops with a maximum transport velocity of approx. 40 cm/s. The theoretical calculations on the force measurements (wettability force, Marangoni force, Drag force and Hysteresis force) concur with dominating behavior of driving forces. Upon removing the temperature gradient, the surface goes back to uniform wetting regime where the drop remains in its equilibrium contact angle (hydrophilic if T < LCST, and superhydrophobic if T > LCST). The results are published in reputed ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces (ACS Appl Mater Inter 9, 28046-28054). At present, fabrication of patterned smart surfaces is being investigated.

Future Research plans The first major objective of the project was to fabricate a low hysteresis surface having stimuli responsive wettability properties. This has been achieved by designing the patterned surfaces with optimal solid-liquid contact area, and then casting Poly(N- isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM)on the surface. PNIPAM exhibits higher water contact angle if the temperature is above 32°C, and the contact angle decreases below this temperature. Following this protocol, a superhydrophobic smart surface with contact angle less than 2° was fabricated. To realize stimuli-controlled droplet transport, temperature gradient was applied on either side of the substrate, and the drop direct

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towards the more wettable side (cooler side). This is the first report on achieving stimuli- controlled droplet transport on such surfaces (Banuprasad et al, ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 9, 28046). At present research is dedicated towards the fabrication of patterned smart surface which could be actuated using light. For this, surface initiation for the polymerization was controlled using a deep UV light beam in such a way that surface grafting is inhibited in the UV exposed area. Different surface wettability patterns could be realized by using optical masks. In the next phase, investigations on different liquids such as acidic and basic solutions will be carried out. Furthermore, studies will be dedicated for understanding wettability switching in confined media. Ample scope is there for extending this project with programmable optical components to realize dynamic and reversible optofluidic systems. In addition, wettability studies on polymer surfaces is proposed to be extended to biological systems such as proteins and DNA, which could be of interest for future biochemical analysis systems. Possibility of programming the surface with light could be utilized for realizing bio-molecular micro-arrays.

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Sudarshan Gujar

Assistant Professor DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001174 F-104 IIT Bombay, Powai Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : August 17, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow I have worked on a few projects after undertaking the INSPIRE fellowship. In a paper with Nitin Nitsure, we proved the existence of a schematics Harder- Narasimhan stratification for a family of principal bundles with a reductive algebraic group over a field k of characteristic zero, parametrized by a Noetherian k-scheme . The stratification is by the Harder-Narasimhan type of the principal bundle. As a consequence we proved that Principal bundles with a given Harder-Narasimhan type form a Artin locally-closed substack of the stack of all Principal Bundles. In another paper, we worked on Higgs numerically flat vector bundles on smooth, projective varieties and proved properties for them analogues to those of ordinary nef bundles. We also associate a Tannakian category to such objects and study some and make conjectures about the properties of the associated fundamental group scheme. In yet another paper, we were interested in the following question : If a vector bundle on a smooth, projective variety has the property that restricted to every smooth curve it admits a regular connection, does the ambient bundle admit a regular connection. We showed that this is not in general the case and exhibited a rank 4 vector bundle on a certain smooth surface which has the desired property on every smooth curve, but has non- vanishing second chern class and therefore does not admit a connection on the ambient variety. We also prove some positive results for special varieties.

Future Research plans: In the coming years I would like to continue my work on Principal Bundles. I wish to explore questions about vector bundles on specific higher dimensional varieties. An important technique, which also has proved useful in my earlier work , will be to restrict these objects to suitable lower dimensional varieties and extract information about them. A specific topic here I wish to explore is the essential dimensions of moduli space of vector bundles on specific surfaces. I am also pursuing a research project on the study of Affine Surfaces. It is almost ready and should be submitted in another month. Here an important theme is to understand affine surfaces by looking at vector bundles (and especially the tangent bundle) on suitable compactifications.

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Sudheer Siddapureddy

Assistant Professor DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001778 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Dharwad, Karnataka Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : December 03, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Heat transfer to bodies engulfed to pool fires is an essential parameter in designing the protecting cases for hazardous materials like transportation packages. A fire research lab is designed and built at IIT Patna. This lab is large enough for performing pool fire experiments of diameters (d) as large as 0.3 m. The fuel pans are made up of mild steel with 2.5 cm height and 2 mm thickness. Physical experiments are performed on a 0.13 m di-tert-butyl peroxide (DTBP) pool fires. High heat release rates, high velocities and high emissive powers portray the combustion of DTBP. This makes exceptionally hazard for bodies engulfed in DTBP fire accidents. The time averaged central maximum temperature is measured using a thermocouple tree with k-type thermocouples. The time averaged mass burning rate is measured from the volume of fuel burnt and the total burning time. The measured mass burning rate is a 2.72 gm/s or 205±4 gm/m2 s. Thus, the 0.13 m DTBP fire is of 98 kW capacity. This is far higher than a 0.13 m diesel fire (~0.5 kW). The flame height is measured by inspecting the recorded video with some image processing. The flame height form 0.13 m DTBP fire is 6.1d while it is 2d for hydrocarbon fires. The measured values are in line with the established literature. A bi-directional probe is manufactured for measuring the flame velocity. Several attempts have been made to measure the pressure difference at the 6.35 mm tubes. Even a low density liquid has been used in an attempt to measure the pressure difference. However, even a pressure amplified manometer is not able to predict the pressure difference. This shows that the velocities are of the order of 2 m/s for a 0.13 DTBP pool fire. Numerical fire simulations are performed using an open source code, fire dynamics simulator. The pool is simulated with the mass flow rate of fuel vapour in kg/m2 K. Mixed is burnt combustion model is employed. It is assumed that soot, CO2 and H2O are the only species participating in radiation. The simulation results are validated. The thermal response of bodies engulfed in DTBP pool fires is studied numerically. Bodies engulfed in DTBP fires experience two times higher heat fluxes than in diesel fire. Nearly, 30% of the net heat flux is due to convection. Safety standards to bodies in hydrocarbon fires are not adequate for DTBP fires. These results can be applied for a conservative estimation of heat interaction to bodies engulfed in different DTBP pool fires. Multiple pool fire experiments are performed. Two mild steel cylindrical pans of 0.3 m diameter are placed close to each other. The distance between the pans is varied and diesel is used as the fuel. Longer flame heights are observed even when the flames are not merging, i.e., outside the limiting distance. The flames started merging when the separation distances are less than 0.8 m.

Future Research plans

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Small scale multiple pool fire (MPF) experiments will be performed on 0.3 m and 0.5 m cylindrical pans with diesel as the fuel. Radiative heat flux sensors are placed on the fuel surface. The fuel level is maintained constant to avoid the lip effect. This would give the mapping of influence of radiation from one fire on to another fuel surface. A correlation would be established for predicting the flame heights of MPFs. Mass burning rate for multiple pool fire is modelling and a semi-empirical relation would be formulated. This relation would be extended to accommodate different sizes and fuels. Large scale MPF experiments would be performed on 0.7 m, 1.0 m and 2.0 m cylindrical pans with diesel as fuel. Other fuels namely gasoline, hexane will also be used for performing MPF experiments. Fire numerical simulations would be performed for multiple pool fires. The mass burning rate from the semi-empirical relation would be given as the boundary condition. After validation, fire simulations would be performed for large scale multiple pool fires. The adiabatic surface temperature (AST) would be measuring using plate thermometer readings. This data would be compared with the AST of standalone pool fires. Heat transfer to bodies engulfed in multiple pool fires would be measured by simulating the calorimeter using a cylinder packed with insulation. Simple 2D numerical simulations would be performed to estimate the heat transfer to bodies in fire using AST as the mixed boundary condition.

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Sunil Kumar

INSPIRE Faculty IFA15-MS49 Indian Institute of Technology Indore Email ID [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : November 30, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow • The primary focus of our group is on the development of solid electrolytes as a mean to have safer, cheaper, and better performing electrochemical energy storage systems. In this regard • We have synthesized various polymorphs of LiZr2(PO4)3 (LZP) and systematically investigated the effect of processing conditions and dopants in a bid to stabilize the single phase high conducting rhombohedral structure. • Low temperature synthesized monoclinic LZP showed room temperature Li+ conductivity ~2.27x10-6 Ω-1m-1 which was increased to 1.83x10-4 Ω-1m-1 for 25% Al3+ substitution for Zr4+. • LiZr2-xSnx(PO4)3 system was investigated for the crystal structure, ionic conductivity, and electrochemical properties; and certain compositions showed excellent Li+ conductivity ~1x10-2 Ω-1m-1 which is in the range of values reported for state-of-the-art phosphate and oxide electrolytes. • Ceramic-in-polymer composites [PVDF+LiTFSI with LZP (acting as the filler)] thick film to be used as the solid-electrolyte in lithium cells were fabricated in a bid to reduce the sold electrolyte-lithium metal interfacial resistance. • We are systematically studying the effects of various dopants and processing on the microstructure (esp. domains), crystal structure, and physical properties of K0.5Na0.5NbO3 -based lead-free piezoceramics. • We have synthesized novel pseudo-binary solid solutions with different end members such as Bi(Zn0.5Ti0.5)O3, Ba(Al0.5Nb0.5)O3, Ca(Zn1/3Ta2/3)O3, etc. via different synthesis routes. • Rietveld analysis of x-ray diffraction data was carried out to confirm the formation of stable perovskite phase for these materials. • The Crystal structure for K0.5Na0.5NbO3-Bi(Zn0.5Ti0.5)O3 solid solution was found to transform from orthorhombic to a cubic Pm-3m through mixed orthorhombic and tetragonal phases with the increase in Bi(Zn0.5Ti0.5)O3 content. • Orthorhombic-tetragonal (O-T) polymorphic phase boundary (PPB) near RT was found around x≈0.02. Nature of PPB was confirmed by the temperature dependent x-ray diffraction studies. Sample with the composition

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0.98(K0.5Na0.5NbO3)-0.02(BiZn0.5Ti0.5O3) showed excellent piezoelectric properties (d33 = 109 pC/N, high TC, etc.)

Future Research plans • The overarching goal of our current project is to systematically investigate and understand the fundamental questions related to Li-ion conduction and associated impact on the charge/discharge capacities, columbic efficiency, electrochemical stability and cycleability of solid electrolytes based rechargeable lithium batteries. The future work in this project includes but is not limited to: • Achieve the better densification of selected ceramic compositions (via the use of sintering agents, spark plasma sintering, etc.) • Systematical investigation of the anisotropic thermal expansion of rhombohedral phases to avoid the inter-grain micro-cracks observed in LZP related ceramics. • Characterization of phase purity, glass transition behavior, etc of salt-in- polymer samples using DSC, FTIR, and other techniques. • Test the chemical and electrochemical stability of prepared solid electrolytes against lithium metal anode, cathodes, and organic electrolytes. • We have also prepared and characterized few cathodes [Li(Ni,Mn,Co)O2, Li(Mn,Ni)2O4, etc.] and anode (Li4Ti5O12, etc.) materials; these will be tested for compatibility with selected solid electrolyte materials. • Fabrication of all-solid-state lithium batteries by employing the identified ceramics and polymer-ceramic composites as the solid electrolyte/separator. • Study the effect of battery charging/discharging cycles on the structural and electrochemical properties of the solid electrolytes. • Regarding the other project on lead-free piezoelectric, we plan to: • Optimization of sintering conditions for KNN-BAN system. • Effect of synthesis conditions on the domain structure. • Attempt to reduce the leakage current that is observed in some compositions. • Unipolar and bipolar strain-electric field measurement. • Investigations on the extrinsic contribution to the electromechanical properties of the identified system will also be carried out.

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Swagatika Sahoo

DST-INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000036 Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai-600036 Email ID : [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : January 04, 2016 – January 06, 2021

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Title of the project: Systems biology for enumeration of clinical heterogeneity of metabolic disorders

Genome-scale metabolic network reconstruction and modeling is the most preferred systems biology methods to interrogate the phenotypic properties of the target organism. They serve as excellent platforms to identify the precise disease-driving factors as well as their interrelationship [1]. The proposed project involves, the following objectives, (i) expansion of the human metabolic network with detailed lipid and hormone metabolism to model metabolic disorders of these, (ii) building organ-specific metabolic models, i.e., brain, kidney and skeletal muscle from the expanded network, and model organ-specific metabolic disorders, and (iii) identification of the specific compensatory/adaptive mechanisms employed by the cell to counteract the diseases modeled above, and predict therapeutic measures with respect to novel dietary formulations/medication.

In line with the above objectives, the human metabolic network has been expanded to the most recent version, i.e., Recon 3D [2]. It includes 13,543 metabolic reactions 4,140 unique metabolites, and 3,288 genes. The model was integrated with metabolite and protein structural information, which enabled identification of mutational hotspots, and their responses to targeted drug therapies.

Subsequently, disease modeling was performed in two different studies, i.e., (i) to study Autism involving brain [3], and (ii) retinoblastoma (RB), affecting the eye [4]. A novel hybrid modeling technique was developed integrating steady-steady modeling (i.e., COBRA) and semi-detailed kinetic modeling methods (i.e., physiologically-based pharmacokinetic model, PBPK). The effect of gut bacteria-derived toxins (i.e., superoxide and hydrogen peroxide) were analyzed on brain and gut, and effective dietary treatment options (i.e., antioxidants) were predicted that could improve autistic symptoms. The second study involved building RB- specific metabolic models from patient’s RNAseq data. This is first ever work that identified RB-specific survival strategies (i.e., preferred lipid and amino acid metabolism) using mathematical modeling approach. Further, secretion profiles of the model have been experimentally validated, and synthetic lethals (i.e., metabolite transporters) were predicted as potential drug targets for cancer treatment.

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Future Research plans The major focus of my research includes, finding easy and robust medical diagnostics, as well as, predicting cost-effective therapeutics for the metabolic disorders. In line with such goals, following are the long term aims.

Extension of the developed methods to study other gut bacteria-associated diseases, e.g., short bowel syndrome (SBS). However, the modeling is done for a bacterial community, represented by genome-scale models of ten microbes implicated in SBS [5]. These models are then combined with the enterocyte model [6], in order to identify the metabolic factors leading to bacterial overgrowth, a hallmark of SBS. This study is an ongoing work [7] and will be used to predict effective dietary options for SBS.

Further, efficient model building algorithms will be developed, in order integrate and analyze ‘multi-omics’ data sets. Particularly, capturing the true expression values of the genes/proteins, and further, supported by metabolomics data. Such an attempt is currently being done for building condition-specific metabolic models for kidney and skeletal muscle [8].

The future work shall aim at establishing constraint-based reconstruction and analysis methods for diagnosis and therapy of metabolic disorders. This will be done by further expansion of human metabolic network for its reaction and genetic content. Using this to develop whole-organ models, wherein, expression networks (i.e., signaling and regulatory networks) will be integrated with metabolic network. Additionally, contents of such whole- organ models will be improved by inclusion of kinetic parameters. Finally, collaboration with experimental and clinical groups will be strengthened for model validation and applications. References 1. Palsson, B.O., Systems Biology- Properties of Reconstructed Networks. 2006, USA: Cambridge University Press. 2 Brunk, E., et al., Recon3D enables a three-dimensional view of gene variation in human metabolism. Nat Biotechnol., 2018. 36(3): p. 272-281. 3. Palukuri, M.V., et al., Framework for modeling the interplay between diet and gut bacteria in autism. NPJ Syst Biol Appl., 2018. Manuscript under consideration. 4. Sahoo, S., et al., Systems analysis of retinoblastoma in Indian population. Manuscript submitted, 2018. 5. Pereira-Fantini, P.M., et al., Unravelling the metabolic impact of SBS-associated microbial dysbiosis: Insights from the piglet short bowel syndrome model. Sci Rep, 2017. 7: p. 43326. 6. Sahoo, S. and I. Thiele, Predicting the impact of diet and enzymopathies on human small intestinal epithelial cells. Hum Mol Genet, 2013. 22(13): p. 2705-2722. 7. Kailasanathan, R. and S. Sahoo, Systems approach to study the biochemical factors driving the pathogenesis in Short Bowel Syndrome. Manuscript in preparation, 2018. 8. Priyesh. and S. Sahoo, Development of algorithm for building tissue-specific metabolic models of Kidney and Skeletal Muscle. Manuscript in preparation, 2018.

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Tawqir Bashir

DST-INSPIRE Faculty Fellow DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000350 University of Kashmir, Hazratbal- 190006, J&K. Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : November 13, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Understanding the role of prey-predator relationship to determine ecological drivers of human-carnivore conflict requires a multi-scale approach. The first step towards this involves generating sound baseline information on the patterns of occurrence and distribution of carnivores, prey and the livestock. As a preliminary step towards this extensive ecological research in the least explored Pir Panjal range of Kashmir Himalaya, multiple field surveys (n=35) were carried out along natural trails, ridges and nullahs, to maximize possible area coverage. Information on carnivores and prey was collected based on sightings and signs (feces) and camera traps (deployed recently). Laboratory analysis of carnivore fecal samples was also done to know about their food habits. Information was also recorded on the distribution and extent of livestock grazing, and the occurrence records of depredation by carnivores. Preliminary results of the study indicated the occurrence few major species of carnivores (n=7), mountain ungulates (n=3), galliformes (n=3), and raptors (n=4), besides other small mammals and birds in the area. Red fox was the most abundant carnivore (sign encounter rate=0.94±0.128/km) followed by brown bear (0.68±0.07), leopard (0.54±0.07), wolf (0.46±0.11), marten (0.36±0.13), and black bear (0.32±0.14). Food habit analysis of leopard feces (n=36) showed occurrence of domestic cattle and wild ungulates in its diet, while red fox (n=42) and marten (20) fed on rodents, fruits and insects. Brown bear (n=24) on the contrary, fed on plant matter, and occasionally on livestock, while wolves (n=19) primarily fed on livestock and domestic cattle. Livestock grazing was seasonal in the area occurring primarily during the summer. High encounter rate of livestock (197±92 animals/km) with an average herd size of 582±84 animals indicated over exploitation of the areas’ habitat. Such overstocking often resulted in depredation incidents by carnivores (personal observation) thereby causing economic loss and casualties with severe impact on the human society.

Future Research plans After generating the baseline information from the proposed study, more intensive, continuous and design based camera trap sampling, occupancy based surveys of carnivores and prey, prey-preference analysis of carnivores and their relationship with spatio-temporal patterns of livestock distribution, with reference to depredation patterns will be the prime focus of future research. Further new research proposals are in preparation with an idea to extend this research at a landscape level for the entire Pir Panjal range encompassing other protected areas of the range. Moreover, to understand

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movement patterns of carnivores and their prey at finer scale, a much needed satellite telemetry study might also be undertaken in future. This would further help in understanding their social organization and ranging behavior particularly that of conflicting species and help in effective conflict management. There is an immense scope for genetic study on major carnivores and ungulates of the area which will help in answering various ecological questions such as connectivity with other populations, routes of migration, dispersal patterns, as well as help in understanding the genetic status, gene flow, and level of genetic variation in the populations, and overall contribute towards efficient conservation of the species in the area. Study to identify high conflict zones and areas susceptible to human-carnivore conflict can also be undertaken in future with the use of remote sensing and GIS tools. Identification of high conflict zones can be followed by studies emphasizing on capacity building of forest personnel and awareness among local people to minimize conflict. Continuous long-term monitoring of biological and anthropogenic factors can further help in understanding various ecological mechanisms and impacts of climate change on the species and their ecosystem.

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Vaibhav Vaish

INSPIRE Faculty Fellow DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000120 Indian Statistical Institute, Bengaluru Center. Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : February 04, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow My primary interest has been to construct motives related to Shimura varieties. Some of my constructions are of even wider interest. An important problem in the subject asks for the construction of motives representing intersection cohomology of (the Baily-Borel compactification of) Shimura varieties. Partially this was solved by Wildeshaus, but important properties (e.g. Hecke actions) were left out. It is of wide interest to ask for a motivic construction satisfying these properties and there are several works in specific cases, e.g. modular curves (Scholl'94), Hilbert-Blumenthal varieties (non-constant coefficients) (Wildeshaus'12) and (constant coefficients) (Vaish'16), Picard modular surfaces (Wildeshaus'15), arbitrary Picard modular varieties (Cloitre'17, preprint) and, most recently, Siegel threefold (Wildeshaus'17, preprint). The interest here is not merely technical - intersection cohomology contains useful arithmetic information - e.g. it is the natural playground for automorphic representations.

In (Vaish'18, preprint) I construct the motivic intersection complex (constant local- system) for arbitrary Shimura varieties in dimensions ≤ 3, most Shimura varieties of dimension 4, and a few more e.g. the Siegel 6-fold. For Siegel 6-fold I can even work with a few non-constant local-systems. Part of my work goes beyond Shimura varieties. In (Vaish'18) I compute the relative Picard motive for any variety. As an application (Vaish'17, preprint) I construct the motivic intersection complex for arbitrary threefolds. At the heart of the construction is ``punctual gluing’’ of t-structures (similar to usual gluing, but in this novel formulation amicable to more applications). This yields new constructions for relative Artin motives, prove that relative version of Ayoub’s 1-motivic t- structure restricts to compact objects and even recovers some invariants of singularities motivically. The method is also applicable to weight structures. For example, it yields a simpler construction of the weight structure in the relative setting beginning with the corresponding construction over a field (originally, independently by Hebert and Bondarko).

Future Research plans

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The methods towards construction of the intersection complex of threefolds should be more general than presently proved. A slightly more careful tracking of our calculations should allow us to show that the intersection complex is of Bondarko weight 0, in particular a Chow motive, for arbitrary threefolds (and not merely Shimura varieties).

While the present method does not extend to all locally symmetric varieties (presently one depends on explicit computations of motivic cohomology groups which are not known in all cases), it is quite likely that some suitable modification does. The construction for Siegel sixfold will be particularly useful if we can accommodate intersection complexes for local systems arising out of arbitrary Kuga-Sato families. This is a broader problem one hopes to make progress in.

Motivically, one needs to explore more closely the role of rigid analytic motives of Ayoub in the setting. It has a clear connect with the t-structure for the Morel's weight structure with "identity" as weight profile – a motivating example are results of Thuillier'07 which relate boundary complex (in turn, whose cohomology can be systematically recovered in our setting) to the rigid analytic constructions.

More generally, one wants to make some progress in the following conjecture due to A. Nair: in (Nair'13) he constructs a morphism from the cohomology of the compact dual of a symmetric space to the cohomology of the reductive Borel-Serre compactification (actually a suitable limit of the cohomology, as level varies) of the associated locally symmetric variety. The conjecture is that this morphism is motivic. Here rigid analytic motives come into picture as one hopes to use the theory of perfectoid spaces, in particular use the fact that the period map is defined at the level of perfectoid spaces (at least for Siegel varieties, see Scholl'15).

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Vasundhra Bhandari

DST INSPIRE Faculty IFA15 LSBM147 National Institute of Animal Biotechnology Email ID [email protected], [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : February 09, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow My project is focused on surveillance of vancomycin susceptibility and deciphering the mechanism of vancomycin resistance operative in Staphylococcus aureus. Vancomycin resistant S. aureus (VRSA, MIC ≥16 µg/mL) have been reported across the globe. All the reports indicated cell wall thickening as a primary change in VRSA. Therefore, we are working on characterizing the role of membrane transglycosylases involved in imparting vancomycin resistance. Surveillance of antibiotic susceptibility in clinical isolates of S. aureus obtained from human and animal infections was performed. Our results showed methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) isolates from both human and animals with vancomycin MIC of ≥ 2 µg/mL, which is considered borderline sensitive.

We have generated a lab resistant vancomycin resistant S. aureus (Van-R) by a stepwise increase in vancomycin concentration, and have developed an isolate with a MIC ≥32 µg/mL. The Van-R isolate will be utilized to study the mechanism of vancomycin resistance. Simultaneously, screening for vancomycin resistant clinical isolate is continued to identify clinical isolate of VRSA. We found an increase in cell wall thickening of the lab generated isolate in comparison to wild type isolate, indicating the role of cell wall machinery in developing resistance. Comparative gene expression analysis of the known (n=2) and putative transglycosylases (n=3) among Van-R and wild type was performed using real time PCR. Increased expression of ≥4 fold was observed for 2 known IsaA and SceD and 2 putative transglycosylases, however, no change was observed for the remaining one transglycosylase. Further, comparative proteomics among Van-R and WT type isolate is ongoing to identify other membrane transglycosylases or membrane genes involved in Vancomycin resistance.

Future Research plans Along with working on the leads obtained from the current Inspire project, my future research interest focuses on antimicrobial resistance mechanism operative in Gram- positive and Gram-negative bacteria causing life threatening infections using “One Health” approach. The foremost interest is surveillance of antibiotic susceptibility in prevailing bacterial populations to detect resistance emergence in the field. To investigate their resistance mechanism and further carry out functional genomics study: i.) To understand the role of genes or pathways involved in antibiotic resistance, ii.) To identify new drug targets, iii.) To develop inhibitors against them, iv.) To develop quick and reliable diagnostic tool, which can used in field and hospitals by clinicians and

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veterinarians without the need of culturing the bacteria for effective diagnosis. Another parameter, I am interested in is understanding the transmission of bacterial pathogens from animal to human or human to animal.

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Vinayak G Rane

DST INSPIRE faculty INSPIRE/04/2015/001701 Bhabha Atomic Research Centre Email ID [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : September 01, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow The basic theme of my INSPIRE project is to improve the sensitivity of EPR spectroscopy by exploiting the phenomenon of electron spin-polarization (ESP). Towards this direction, the present work examines the intrinsic liquid domains (LD) in ice which have been proposed to be existing in very small amount (~10-8 at 272 K). Surprisingly, conventional EPR spectroscopy itself reveals evidence of LD domains in ice. So these were first examined for the manifestation of Binary Phase (BP) diagram of spinprobe water system. This is because EPR involves addition of an external spinprobe in water and thus the pure system of water is transformed into a binary system of spinprobe-water, which also predicts the existence of LW domains in ice, upto the eutectic point. In order to simulate the resulting EPR spectra, spin exchange was incorporated in the stochastic Liouville equations and the resulting equation was solved numerically. The temperature dependent EPR spectra with two different spin probes, TEMPO and TEMPOL, were recorded for water. The experiments revealed that upto 1 mM concentration, the EPR experiments followed the predictions of phase diagram and no LD were seen below the eutectic temperature (~ 273 K). However, for concentrations smaller than 0.25 mM, LD were seen upto 15 degrees below the eutectic temperature. Spectral analysis revealed that EPR evidences are in fact manifestation of confinement effect on the LD formed during freezing. A modification is proposed in the existing phase diagram (for small concentrations) to account for the confinement effect which then explains the EPR evidences of mobile domains in ice. The present work highlights the importance of taking cognizance of the possibility of spin probes affecting the host systems, when interpreting the EPR (or any other probe based spectroscopic) results of phase transitions of host, as its ignorance may lead to serious misinterpretations.

Future Research plans From the results of the present work carried so far, it could be concluded that the spin probe acts, not like a passive reporter of the behaviour of the solvent (water) and its environment, but as an active impurity to influence the solvent. It is imperative to test the above conclusion in other solvents too as the BP diagram is applicable for any solute- solvent system. Towards thus direction I plan to perform experiment in ethanol-TEMPO system. The choice of this solvent is based on its organic nature since if the solute induced LD model is proved in ethanol, it can be generalised to both aqueous and organic solvents.

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Importantly, the model would also be applicable to any solute based spectroscopy which is carried out to obtain information of the host solvent. Interestingly, the above model also restricts the use of EPR to probe intrinsic LD of ice as the solute itself will induce LD in ice whose amount is orders of magntitude larger than the intrinsic LD of ice.

However, if EPR is done without addition of any external probe, then one could ideally examine for their evidence. Towards this direction, I plan to do pulse radiolysis experiments since it does not involve addition of any external probe. Here, a beam of electron creates paramagnetic defects in the system (such as H•, and OH• radicals in ice). The dynamics of the defects would give evidence for such intrinsic LD of ice. Importantly, such conditions are expected to produce ESP which could be exploited to detect trace amount of LD.

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Vineet Vashista

DST-INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/001077 5/205 Academic Block IIT Gandhinagar, Palaj Gandhinagar Email ID: [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : November 26, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow The main objective of this work is to develop a cable-driven gait rehabilitation robotic system for gait rehabilitation of patients with neurological disabilities. This work is subdivided into following three aims, 1. Development of a portable sensor system for gait characterization and performance measurement 2. Development of a cable-driven robot and a control strategy 3. Integration of the cable-driven robot and portable sensor system for gait rehabilitation

The major scientific contribution from this work for this period are described below,

Portable Sensor System: One of the major activity under this project is the development of a Portable Gait Characterization System. This system is proposed to help in the study of human gait pattern to analyse and evaluate the walking performance. Following activities have been accomplished. a. A pelvic sensor unit is developed that contains a micro-controller, an accelerometer, and the battery. b. Two foot sensor units, one for each leg, are developed. In each unit, there are two force sensitive resistor (FSR) pads mounted on the shoe insoles, a micro-controller, and an inertial measurement unit (IMU). c. The pelvic unit is used to calculate the frequency of walking. An adaptive frequency oscillators (AFO) based approach is developed. d. Gait events, such as heel-strike and toe-off, are computed to quantify the gait phase. e. Another important gait parameter to compute is the gait phase. Data from the pelvic and foot sensor units are analyzed in real-time to compute the value of gait phase.

Cable-driven robot: As part of this work, a wearable cable-driven robot to apply external forces on the human leg for assistance and training is to developed. We have conducted the stiffness analysis of a cable driven leg exoskeleton (CDLE) architecture to understand the role of system parameters on the stiffness performance indices.

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Future Research plans The main objective of this work is to develop i) a portable sensor system, and ii) a cable- driven robot. The overall goal of the work is to develop a wearable system for gait characterization, training, and performance measurement. In this regard, we have developed a portable sensor system and are in the process of developing online gait characterization algorithms. Further, a prototype of the cable-driven wearable suit is being developed. The proposed activities for the next one year include following steps.

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Vishal Bhardwaj

DST-INSPIRE Faculty DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/000810 Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Mohali Email ID: [email protected] or [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : January 18, 2016

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Applied and successfully defended the membership of IISER Mohali to Belle and Belle II Collaborations. Worked to measure the precise inclusive branching fraction for χc1 and χc2 from B decays, estimated the ψ' feed-down component using Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. Search for the direct CP violation in the D0 → KS KS using the full Belle data. Measured ACP(D0 → KS0 KS0) = (-0.02±1.52±0.02±0.17)% and branching fraction of (1.321±0.023±0.036±0.044) x 10-4. Here, the first error is statistical, while second (third) are systematic uncertainty (control sample uncertainty). Till now, this is the most precise measurement. This suggest that NP contribution doesn't seems to be high in the D0 → KS0 KS0 decay mode. We push the limit in the SM region. In our search for B → Y(4260) K decay mode, we used charged as well as neural B decay mode. We didn't find any significant signal using the current statistics and performed simultaneous fit in order to provide the best Upper Limit (@ 90% CL) till now. This study suggests that Y(4260) is not a normal charmonium and has unique nature. Most probably it is either tetra-quark or an admixture state. In order to understand the nature of X(3872), we started study on X(3872) →J/ψω. We found huge background coming from the fake omega candidates. To reject these backgrounds, we utilized the omega Dalitz variable X and Y to suppress the background. This clean up our signal sample. Further, we started search for the dark photon in the Belle data. Dark photon is hypothetical particle of the dark matter. It can couple to photon through kinetic-mixing model. We started the search using D* → D0 A' (where A' is light dark photon which can decay into e+ e-). I also implemented the TensorFlow to suppress the continuum background for study of B -> (K ππ) γ for the first time. Using which we are able to achieve an impressive background reduction at cost of minimum signal loss. I worked on the data quality monitors for the data collected by the Belle II detectors. Built "MiraBelle" tools which can check Belle II cosmic and beam energy data. Currently, working to automatize it.

Future Research plans Rare b→sγ FCNC transitions are expected to be sensitive to NP effects. In SM, b→sγ are forbidden at the tree level. However, they do proceed at loop level, with internal W bosons diagrams.

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Gronau et al, suggested to measure the up-down asymmetry of the photon direction relative to the Kππ plane in the Kaonic resonance rest frame.

LHCb observed non-zero up-down asymmetry (AUD) in the B+→ K+π+π- γ decay mode. This is not enough to provide any quantitative measurement of the photon polarization. Currently, I am working to measure this AUD. From the current MC simulation studies, it seems that at Belle we expect sensitivity of around 5-9% in each bins of M(K+π+π-). Further, if one utilizes the neural π0 mode, which is expected to have large asymmetry of 30%, we get our sensitivity of around 5-10%. I plan to measure AUD asymmetry. In somewhat similar mode B+→ K+ π+π- l+ l- (where l is mu or electron). We plan to measure R(K+π+π-) ratio for the first time. Preliminary studies are promising. If we find the deviation in the same bins as that of R(K) or R(K*), it will have huge implication for the New Physics beyond the standard model. With one of my student, I am also working on the Lepton Flavour Violation modes in Upsilon(2S) data collected by Belle.

Currently, I am also working on the data quality monitors for Belle II. Coming five years are going to be an exciting time for the flavour physics. So, I plan to work more on the rare B decays and more on EWP modes. Earlier, I was focusing on precise measurement of sin2φ1 or T-violation, but the recent trend suggests that coming 5-7 years is exciting period for LFV /LFU. So, I want to focus more on that. No one knows if some exciting is found there. Along with this, I will continue my efforts also on the charmonium sector. Once Belle II accumulate 5 ab-1 data, we expect to find many states (which are predicted but missing), or the states which are not expected.

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Yatendra Kumar Satija

DST-INSPIRE Faculty IFA-14/LSBM-126 Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Center for Biomedical Research, University of Delhi Email ID- [email protected] Availed Fellowship from : June 11, 2015

Research undertaken as DST-INSPIRE Fellow Project Title: Manipulating Tumor Suppressor p73, Implications in Combating Cancer

The first objective was detecting and deciphering PTM codes under genotoxic stress conditions. To address this, immunoprecipitation was performed using nuclear extract from HCT116p53null cells and eluates were sent for MS analysis to detect residues on p73 which has undergone phosphorylation. We successfully detected few phosphorylation sites and currently performing their validation. Further, antibodies will be generated against particular phosphoresidue for checking status in tissue sample of cancer patients. The second objective was to find out novel downstream targets of p73 which have anti- metastatic functions upon DNA damage. p73 knockout HCT116p53null cell line was generated using CRISPR-Cas9 technology. Using RT Profiler PCR Array, we identified several novel downstream targets of p73 which have anti-metastatic functions such as Cell Adhesion Molecules, ECM Protease Inhibitors, Microtubule Associated Proteins, etc. We identified NAV3 and TIMP3 as direct transcriptional targets of p73. p73-binding motifs was identified and verified within their promoter regions. Both NAV3 and TIMP3, rapidly gets induced by etoposide treatment in p73-dependent manner. We performed migration and invasion experiments on control and knockdown cells. Expression profile of EMT markers were checked by real time qPCR and westernblot. Our results demonstrate that NAV3 and TIMP3 are key players in p73-dependent suppression of metastasis upon genotoxic stress. To check the expression of p73 and other associated proteins in colorectal tissues, we are performing immuno-histochemistry at NIP-ICMR in collaboration with Dr. Fouzia Siraj. Interestingly, we identified FER1L4, a long non-coding RNA, as downstream target of p73. FER1L4 is known to be downregulated in gastric cancer cases. We are delineating its role in colon cancer. We are trying to delineate the pathway through which p73 mediates its anti-metastatic role by identifying novel downstream targets of its tumor suppressive pathway. They can potentially be used as prognostic markers and novel targets for anti-metastasis therapy.

Future Research plans Under first objective, we will decipher PTM codes under hypoxia conditions also. Stability and activity of p73 will be analyzed under various PTMs signatures. Site directed mutagenesis will be used to make non-phosphorylatable and phosphomimetic construct.

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Antibody will be raised against specific PTMs. Additionally, PTMs will be deciphered in colon cancer patient samples using immuno-histochemistry.

Under second objective, we will perform RNA-sequencing on control and p73 knockdown cells to identify other novel p73 targets. Furthermore, we will try to identify natural compounds which can elicit p73-mediated tumor suppressive functions. Accelyrs discovery studio 4.0, a commercial software will be used for the in silico analysis. After screening of small-molecule modulators, IC50 of compound will be evaluated using MTT assay. Toxicity and activity assays will be used to determine to their effectiveness. The ultimate aim is to provide basis for the re-activation of tumor suppressor p73. A very important issue with p73 biology is the bilaterality of p73 protein. p73 exist in multiple isoforms due to alternative promoter usage at N-terminal and splicing at C- terminal. The TA and ΔN isoforms have antagonistic functions and their ratio plays a crucial role in tumorigenesis. Therefore, p73 exhibits functional dichotomy in regulating the downstream transcriptional program. By identifying mechanism responsible for this bilaterality, the offset can be rebalanced in cancers. Our aim is to identify the modulators (splicing factors/lncRNAs) which determine the isoform patterns and thus regulate tumor-suppressive/ pro-tumorigenic isoforms of the p73. The work provides extensive insights regarding anti-metastatic role of p73. Thus, our work establishes p73 as metastasis suppressor, unlike p53, which is a classical tumor suppressor.

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