Projects
To provide a tangible showcase of my work, I’ve included a portfolio of my most recent projects. Take a moment to explore below, and reach out if you’re interested in learning more about what I have to offer.
Lab Rotation I
Characterization of Plasmodium falciparum hypoxanthine guanine xanthine phosphoribosyltrans-
ferase and its tryptophan mutants by spectrophotometric and mass spectrometric methods to
validate the mechanism of activation
In this project, I contributed by purifying P. falciparum HGXPRT and conducting steady-state and transient kinetics experiments in addition to ligand binding studies by fluorescence spectroscopy to determine the kinetic mechanism of the enzyme. Attempts to determine conformation changes upon ligand binding by mass-spectrometry were also carried out.
Lab Rotation II
Identification of molecular regulators of pexophagy and dissecting the role of septins in selective autophagy
Septins are cytoskeletal elements involved in the initial stages of autophagy. I carried out western blotting based pexophagy assays in knockout and temperature-sensitive yeast strains to determine the essentiality of septins in the process of autophagy. I also generated septin-GFP yeast strains for localization studies.
MS thesis project
Preliminary studies on Plasmodium falciparum adenosine 5’ monophosphate deaminase
I carried out recombinant expression and purification of a purine nucleotide cycle enzyme AMP deaminase, generated polyclonal antibodies in rabbit and performed localization studies in P. falicparum.
Ph.D. thesis project
Biochemical and Physiological Investigations on Adenosine 5' Monophosphate Deaminase and Haloacid Dehalogenase Superfamily Members from Plasmodium spp.
I have carried out the characterization of multiple enzymes (involved in nucleotide and central carbon metabolism), both at in vitro and in vivo ends using a multitude of techniques such as cloning and expression of recombinant proteins, functional complementation assays in yeast, spectrophotometric assays and gene manipulation experiments in the malarial parasite Plasmodium.
