TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. About ACBI and ACBI Meeting 2022

3

2. International Advisory Committee

5

3. Convener ACBI Meeting 2022

5

4. Sponsors

7

5. Scientific Program

8-12

6. Lectures (Abstract and Biosketch)

13-97

7. Poster Presentations98

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About ACBI and ACBI Meeting 2022
Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) supported by Japan Society for the Promotionof Science (JSPS), was constituted in 2011 to accelerate Asian chemical biology
research and promote chemical biology in emerging Asian countries (Website:
https://www.asianchembio.com/). ACBI conducts conferences, workshops andtraining sessions to foster international collaborations in the emerging area ofChemical Biology. Currently, more than 100 eminent scientists from Japan, Korea,
China, Singapore, UAE, India, New Zealand and emerging countries in Asia
participate in this key international initiative. ACBI meetings have been convened in
Vietnam (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City 2012), Thailand (Bangkok 2013), the Philippines(Manila 2014), Malaysia (Kota Kinabalu 2014), Indonesia (Jakarta 2016), Mongolia(Ulaanbaatar 2017), Myanmar (Yangon 2019) and Indonesia (Jakarta 2019).
For the first time, ACBI meeting will be organized in India at IISER Pune and Goa(Zuri White Sands). Prof. S. G. Srivatsan (IISER Pune) is the convener of the meetingand the international advisory board consists of eminent chemical biologists – Prof.
Motonari Uesugi, Prof. Sandeep Verma, Prof. K. N. Ganesh and Prof. Mugesh. The
conference will be organized in two phases: September 14, 2022 in IISER Pune
campus and September 15-18, 2022 in Goa. The conference aims to enhance thescientific communication among global investigators in chemical biology and promote
the development of molecular biosciences (chemical biology, medicinal chemistry,
molecular biology, structural biology, synthetic biology) and related sciences. About
120 researchers, students (80) and academicians (~40 speakers) working at theforefront of the field will participate in this international meeting.
Venue and Date
IISER Pune Campus: September 14, 2022
Zuri White Sands, Goa: September 15-18, 2022

Conference websites
https://www.asianchembio.com/india-2022
https://www.iiserpune.ac.in/events/3447/international-asian-chemical-biologyinitiative-acbi-meeting-20223

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International Advisory Committee
Prof. Motonari Uesugi

Prof. Sandeep Verma

Deputy Director, Institute forIntegrated Cell-Material Sciences
Kyoto University, Japan

Secretary, DST-SERB, Indian
Institute of Technology Kanpur,
India

Prof. K. N. Ganesh

Prof. Govindasamy Mugesh

Director, IISER Tirupati, India

Indian Institute of Science
Bangalore, India

Convener ACBI Meeting 2022
Prof. S. G. Srivatsan
IISER, Pune

5

6

Sponsors

7

Wednesday, September 14, 2022
Venue:

Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Seminar Hall
Guest House, IISER Pune

08.30 – 09.00

Registration

09:15 – 09.30

Inauguration

Session 1 Chairperson: Prof. Jayant Udgaonkar, Director IISER Pune
09.30 – 10:00

IL1: Prof. Sandeep Verma, Secretary of SERB and Professor at IIT Kanpur
Peptide-based palette in chemical neuroscience and structured materials

10.00 – 10:20

IL2: Prof. Siddhesh Kamat, IISER Pune
A metabolomics approach towards enzyme function annotation

10:20 – 10:40

IL3: Prof. Dhanasekaran Shanmugam, National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) Pune
Chemo-genetic phenotyping of apicoplast mediated delayed death in Toxoplasma gondii

10:40 – 11:00

IL4: Prof. Karishma Kaushik, Savitribai Phule Pune University
Adding a new dimension: Multi-level structure and organization of mixed-species
Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus biofilms in a 4-D wound
microenvironment

11:00 – 11:30

High TEA

Session 2 Chairperson: Prof. M. Jayakannan, IISER Pune
11.30 – 11:50

IL5: Prof. Sun Choi, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea
Comprehensive computational studies of adenosine receptor for the elucidation of
mechanism of action and drug discovery

11.50 – 12:10

IL6: Prof. Young-Tae Chang, POSTECH, Korea
Universal strategy for live cell distinction by fluorescent imaging probe

12:10 – 12:30

IL7: Prof. H. N. Gopi, IISER Pune
Attenuating the A42 aggregation and its cytotoxicity by designed hybrid peptide foldamers

12:30 – 12:50

IL8: Prof. Ankona Datta, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR, Mumbai)
Chemical tools for tracking autophagy

12:50 – 13:00

Dr. Aparna Ganguly, Royal Society of Chemistry

13:00 – 16:30

Lunch followed by Students’ poster session(including tea and coffee break)Session 3 Chairperson: Prof. Srinivas Hotha, IISER Pune
16:30 – 16:50

IL9: Prof. Pinaki Talukdar, IISER Pune
Artificial ion transport as a tool to target cancer

16:50 – 17:10

IL10: Dr. Janesh Kumar, CSIR-CCMB Hyderabad

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Emerging insights into functions and modulation of kainate receptors
17:10 – 17:30

IL11: Dr. Amrita Hazra, IISER Pune
Engineering the biosynthesis of unnatural vitamin B2 analogs-probing the molecular basisof nucleobase specificity

17:30 – 17:45

Closing remarks and vote of thanks

19:30 – 22:00

Dinner9

September 15 to 18, 2022
Venue: Zuri White Sands, Goa

Thursday, September 15, 2022
15.30 – 16.30

Registration

16:30 – 16:45

Inauguration and opening address by ACBI members
Prof. Motonari Uesugi and Prof. Sandeep Verma

Session 1 Chairperson: Prof. Kenji Monde, Hokkaido University, Japan
16:45 – 17:10

IL1: Prof. Motonari Uesugi, Kyoto University, Japan
Self-assembling bioactive small molecules

17:10 – 17:30

IL2: Prof. Ruchi Anand, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
Decoding origins of antibiotic resistance via deciphering the mechanism of targeting ofpathogenic ribosomal methyltransferase

17:30 – 17:50

IL3: Prof. Vishal Rai, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal
Human nature inspires precision engineering of proteins

17:50 – 18:10

IL4: Dr. Niti Kumar, Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow
Probing into unique genome and proteome maintenance pathways for design ofalternative antimalarial intervention strategies

18:10 – 18:20

Dr. Ajit K Sharma, Royal Society of Chemistry

19:00 – 22:00

Dinner (Sponsored by The Royal Society of Chemistry)

Friday, September 16, 2022
Session 2 Chairperson: Prof. Kazuya Kikuchi, Osaka University, Japan
09.30 – 9:55

IL5: Prof. Kenji Monde, Hokkaido University, Japan
Malabaricone C, an inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the SAR & mechanism studies

09.55 – 10:20

IL6: Dr. Souvik Maiti, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi
Biophysical insight into FnCas9 Editor Linked Uniform Detection Assay (FELUDA):FELUDA-V2

10:20 – 10:40

IL7: Prof. Harinath Chakrapani, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research,
Pune
Chemical tools to modulate the cellular sulfane sulfur pool

10:40 – 11:00

IL8: Prof. Ishu Saraogi, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal
Identification of small molecules for therapeutic applications

11:00 – 11:30

Tea BreakSession 3 Chairperson: Dr. Anil Kumar Mishra, INMAS Delhi
11.30 – 11:55

IL9: Prof. Kazuya Kikuchi, Osaka University, Japan
In vivo multicolor imaging with fluorescent probes revealed dynamics and function of
osteoclast proton pump

11.55 – 12:20

IL10: Prof. T. Govindaraju, JNCASR Bangalore

10Alzheimer’s disease: pathophysiology, diagnostics and therapeutics
12:20 – 12:40

IL11: Prof. Reji Varghese, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research,
Thiruvananthapuram
Circularly polarised luminescence enabled highly specific detection of potassium ionsusing DNA-based sensors

12:40 – 12:50

IL12: Prof. S. G. Srivatsan, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune
Probing nucleic acid conformation and recognition using nucleoside analogs

12:50 – 13:00

Thermo Fisher Scientific

13:00 – 14:30

Lunch

Session 4 Chairperson: Prof. H. N. Gopi, IISER Pune
14:30 – 14:55

IL13: Prof. Hiroki Oguri, University of Tokyo, Japan
Chemo-enzymatic synthesis of tetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloids and their analogs
exhibiting potent anti-cancer activities

14:55 – 15:20

IL14: Prof. Manickam Jayakannan, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research,
Pune
Synthetic Polymer Nanoscaffolds to Breach Blood Brain Barrier

15:20 – 15:40

IL15: Prof. Shobhna Kapoor, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
Chasing the functions of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Glycolipids during Infection using
Chemical Proteomics and Membrane Biophysics

15:40 – 15:50

Dr. Paidi Yella Reddy, Sapala Organics Pvt. Ltd, Hyderabad
A Journey Towards Large-Scale Manufacturing and Modified Phosphoramidites for
Therapeutic Oligonucleotides.

15:50 – 16:00

Ms. Ruta Nachane, Cytiva India
Sense and sensitivity : Screening and characterisation of fragments against WT GPCR
targets using Biacore Systems.

16:00 – 16:30

Tea BreakSession 5 Chairperson: Prof. Sandeep Verma, Secretary SERB and Professor at IIT Kanpur
16:30 – 16:55

IL16: Shri. Sanjeev Kumar Varshney, Adviser & Head International Cooperation,
Department of Science & Technology (DST). Government of India

International Scientific Cooperation and Funding Opportunities from DST
16:55 – 17:30

Building the future Chemical Biology community in Asia
Prof. Motonari Uesugi, Prof. Sandeep Verma
Followed by discussion

19:30 – 22:30

Banquet Dinner (Sponsored by American Chemical Society)

Saturday, September 17, 2022
Session 6 Chairperson: Dr. Souvik Maiti, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi
09.30 – 9:55

IL17: Prof. Takeaki Ozawa, University of Tokyo, Japan
Imaging and controlling G-protein coupled receptors activities in living cells

09.55 – 10:20

IL18: Prof. Eylon Yavin, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

11Bright FIT-PNAs: Sensitive probes for RNA detection
10:20 – 10:40

IL19: Dr. Dhiraj Bhatia, Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar
DNA based programmable nanodevices to instruct biological systems

10:40 – 11:00

IL20: Dr. Dharmaraja Allimuthu, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
Finetuning electrophiles reactivity to induce target selectivity

11:00 – 11:30

Tea BreakSession 7 Chairperson: Prof. Eylon Yavin, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
11.30 – 11:50

IL21: Prof. Srinivas Hotha, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune
Chemical glycan editing

11.50 – 12:10

IL22: Prof. Suvarn Kulkarni, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
Bacterial rare sugars: what can we do with them?

12.10 – 12:30

IL23: Prof. Rajesh Viswanathan, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research,
Tirupati
Biomimetic Total Synthesis of Marine Anticancer Alkaloids

12.30 – 12:50

IL24: Dr. Shailja Singh, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Discovery and Development of medicines for Malaria: progress, challenges andrecommendations

13:00 – 14:15

Lunch

14:45 onwards: sightseeing, city tour and dinner

Sunday, September 18, 2022
Session 8 Chairperson: Prof. Ruchi Anand, IIT Bombay
09.00 – 09:20

IL25: Dr. N. Ayyadurai, CSIR-CLRI
Building Biomaterials through Genetic Code Expansion

09.20 – 09:40

IL26: Dr. Sudeshna Manna, University of Utah, USA
Breaking riboswitch speed limits through engineering and rational design of an RNAbased biosensor

09:40 – 10:00

IL27: Prof. Meital Reches, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Peptide-based functional assemblies and coatings

10.00 – 10:20

IL28: Prof. Sun Choi, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea
Comprehensive computational studies of adenosine receptor for the elucidation of
mechanism of action and drug discovery

10.20 – 10:40

IL29: Prof. Young-Tae Chang, POSTECH, Korea
Universal strategy for live cell distinction by fluorescent imaging probe

10:40 – 11:00

Closing remarks and vote of thanks

11:00 – 11:30

Tea Break and Departure

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Lectures (Abstract and Biosketch)
September 14, 2022
Venue:

Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Seminar Hall
Guest House, IISER Pune

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL1

Peptide-based Palette in Chemical Neuroscience and Structured Materials
Sandeep Verma
Department of Chemistry, Center for Nanoscience
Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
E-mail: sverma@iitk.ac.in
Abstract: This lecture will touch upon certain aspects of our ongoing research
involving peptide-based systems with exciting prospects in delivery of gaseousneurotransmitters (NO and H2S), stem cell modulation, and structural coloration. With
the advantage of easy chemical manipulation, stimuli-responsiveness, andbiocompatibility, in addition to facile integration of such molecules on surface
engineered platforms, we have tried to break new grounds in research with useful
applications. Some of the recent results in these directions will be shared.

References and notes:
1. Chem. Sci., 2021, 12, 16085-16091.
2. Chem. Commun., 2021, 57, 7422-7425.
3. J. Colloid Interface Sci., 2021, 594, 326-333.
4. ACS Infect. Dis., 2020, 6, 2441-2450.
5. Chem. Commun., 2020, 56, 3043-3046.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Professor Sandeep Verma
Department of ChemistryCenter for Nanoscience
Mehta Family Center for Engineering in Medicine
IIT Kanpur, Kanpur 208 016 (UP)Prof Sandeep Verma has been associated with IIT Kanpur since 1997 and hecurrently serves as the Secretary, Science and Engineering Research Board. His
research interests include chemical neuroscience, stem cell engineering, and new
antibiotics. With over 200 publications and several patents to his credit, his work has
been recognized by Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, Distinguished Alumnus Award of
Banaras Hindu University, Goyal Prize in Chemical Sciences, and Swarnajayanti
Fellowship, to name a few. He is an elected Fellow of all major academies of scienceand engineering: Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences,
National Academy of Sciences, and Indian National Academy of Engineering. He is an
Associate Editor of Chemical Communications (RSC, UK) and serves on the Editorial
Advisory Board of ChemBioChem (Wiley).

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

IL2
A Metabolomics Approach Towards Enzyme Function Annotation
Siddhesh S. Kamat
Department of Biology,
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune,
E-mail: siddhesh@iiserpune.ac.in
Abstract: Our research group is interested in studying the biological mechanisms oflipid signaling and metabolic pathways in the mammalian nervous and immune
system. To achieve their goals, the group integrates aspects of chemical biology,
biochemistry, molecular and cell biology, immunology, animal and/or cellular models,in conjunction with advanced mass spectrometry (LC-MS) based metabolomics andproteomics techniques. The long-term goal is to identify and understand as-of-yet
uncharacterized signaling and metabolic pathways in vivo, annotate enzymes andreceptors that regulate their biology and provide new insights and therapeuticparadigms for various human diseases. In this talk, I will discuss our LC-MS based
metabolomics approach towards mapping functions to enzymes in a couple ofphysiological processes namely phagocytosis and glucose metabolism.

Figure.

References and notes:
1. Pathak, D. et al., ACS Chemical Biology 2018, 13, 2280-87.
2. Rajendran, A., et al., Biochemistry 2020, 59, 183-96.
3. Mehendale, N., ACS Chemical Biology 2021, 16, 2757-65.
4. Rajendran, A., J. Biological Chemistry 2022, 102128, Online.

16Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Siddhesh S. Kamat
Associate Professor
Department of Biology
SwarnaJayanti Fellow & EMBO Young Investigator
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune
E-Mail: siddhesh@iiserpune.ac.in
Homepage: https://www.kamatlabiiser.com

Dr. Siddhesh Kamat is currently an Associate Professor, a SwarnaJayanti Fellow, andan EMBO Young Investigator, in the Department of Biology at IISER Pune. He
completed his B. Tech. from the Institute of Chemical Technology (former UDCT) in
2007, and a Ph.D. from the Department of Chemistry at Texas A&M University in2012. Before joining IISER Pune as an Assistant Professor in 2016, he was the 9th
Irving S. Sigal Postdoctoral Fellow of the American Chemical Society at the
Department of Chemical Physiology, The Scripps Research Institute. He is therecipient of a DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance Intermediate Fellowship (2016), theYoung Scientist Medal from the Indian National Science Academy (2019), the Merck
Young Scientist Medal (2019), an EMBO Young Investigator Award (2020), the CDRI
Award for Excellence in Drug Research (2021), the SwarnaJayanti Fellowship (2021)
and was recently inducted as a Member of the Guha Research Conferences (2022).
His lab is interested in studying the biological mechanisms of lipid signaling andmetabolic pathways in the central nervous and immune systems using chemical
biology approaches.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL3

Chemo-Genetic Phenotyping of Apicoplast Mediated Delayed Death inToxoplasma gondii
Dhanasekaran Shanmugam
Biochemical Sciences Division, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL),
Pune, E-mail: d.shanmugam@ncl.res.in
Abstract: Toxoplasma gondii is a promiscuous human pathogen capable of infecting
any type of nucleated cell. The parasite replicates by an endodyogeny mechanism toform new daughter cells, within the mother cell, which subsequently egress out andinvade new host cells to continue virulent proliferation. For continued replication, theduplication, segregation and proper assembly of cellular organelles within the newly
forming daughter cells is essential. Certain antibiotics, such as the ciprofloxacin andclindamycin, disrupt DNA and protein synthesis in the apicoplast organelle of T.
gondii, resulting in their death. These inhibitors targeting apicoplast house-keepings
functions kill the parasites by a “delay-death” mechanism i.e., parasite die after
completing one round of apparently normal intra-vacuolar replication within the hostcell. A characteristic phenotype preceding “delay-death” of the parasite is thecomplete loss of the apicoplast organelle in the newly formed daughter cells. The
mechanistic details of this phenomenon are poorly understood. In our studies, wehave identified novel delayed-death inhibitors and revealed the target and mechanismof action for some of these inhibtiors. Here, I will be present the detailed
characterization of one such inhibitor, which acts by targeting the parasite
dihydrofolate reductase enzyme. Further, we have generated a transgenic parasite
line in which the delayed-death phenomenon can be controlled with a genetic switch.
Using this system, apicoplast-less parasites can be generated and used to study theeffect of apicoplast loss on metabolic and other molecular functions in the parasites.

Figure: Genetic switch mediated loss of apicoplast in T. gondii parasites.
Normal apicoplast

Loss of apicoplast

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Dhanasekaran Shanmugam
Senior Principal Scientist
Biochemical Sciences Division
CSIR National Chemical Laboratory, Pune
E-Mail: d.shanmugam@ncl.res.in
Homepage: http://academic.ncl.res.in/d.shanmugam/home

Dhanasekaran Shanmugam has more than 20 years of experience in infectious
disease research and is at present heading the molecular parasitology and pathogen
genomics laboratory in the Biochemical Sciences Division, CSIR-National Chemical
Laboratory, Pune. He obtained his PhD from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore,
where he studied heme metabolism in the malaria parasite. He later become a
postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, in Prof. David S.
Roos’s laboratory, where he worked on apicomplexan parasite genomics and carriedout biochemical and genetic studies on the Toxoplasma gondii parasite. His researchinterest are on studying metabolic processes and identifying new inhibitors of theapicomplexan parasites Plasmodium falciparum and Toxoplasma gondii. His lab
employs chemo-genetic approaches to study inhibitor mechanism of action andidentify their targets. Recent projects in the lab are focused on using metagenomics
and genomic surveillance approaches (using Oxford Nanopore Technology) to study
animal pathogens with zoonotic potential. His lab has contributed to SARs-CoV2 viralgenome sequencing and variant identification in clinical samples from Pune region.
Similar approach has been employed by his group for profiling the prevalence of drug
resistance genotype of human malaria parasites and bovine theileriosis parasites fromclinical samples. A metagenomics approach for identifying bovine mastitis associatedbacterial pathogens from milk samples has been developed by his group.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL4

Adding a new dimension: Multi-level structure and organization of mixedspecies Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus biofilms in a 4-D
wound microenvironment
Karishma S Kaushik
Department of Biotechnology, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune
E-mail: karishmaskaushik@gmail.com
Abstract: Biofilms in wounds typically consist of aggregates of bacteria, most often Pseudomonas
aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, in close association with each other and the hostmicroenvironment. Given this, the interplay across host and microbial elements, including thebiochemical and nutrient profile of the microenvironment, likely influences the structure and organizationof wound biofilms. While clinical studies, in vivo and ex vivo model systems have provided insights into
the distribution of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus in wounds, they are limited in their ability to provide a
detailed characterization of biofilm structure and organization across the host-microbial interface. On
the other hand, biomimetic in vitro systems, such as host cell surfaces and simulant media conditions,albeit reductionist, have been shown to support the co-existence of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus
biofilms, with species-dependent localization patterns and interspecies interactions. Therefore,
composite in vitro models that bring together key features of the wound microenvironment could provide
unprecedented insights into the structure and organization of mixed-species biofilms. We have built afour-dimensional (4-D) wound microenvironment consisting of a 3-D host cell scaffold of co-cultured
human epidermal keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts, and an in vitro wound milieu (IVWM); the IVWM
provides the fourth dimension that represents the biochemical and nutrient profile of the wound infection
state. We leveraged this composite 4-D wound microenvironment to probe the structure of mixedspecies P. aeruginosa and S. aureus biofilms across multiple levels of organization such as aggregate
dimensions and biomass thickness, species co-localization and organization within the biomass, overallbiomass composition and interspecies interactions. In doing so, the composite 4-D wound
microenvironment platform provides multi-level insights into the structure of mixed-species biofilms,
which we incorporate into the current understanding of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus organization in thewound bed.
Figure: Proposed fine-tuned model of the structure and organization of mixed-species P. aeruginosaand S. aureus biofilms in the wound bed.
Proposed fine-tuned model of the structure and organization of mixed-species P. aeruginosa and S. aureus biomass in the wound bed
Initial colonization of wounds

Observations in chronic wounds

Prolonged
non-healing stateLong-term effects of bacterial virulence factors,
immune factors and tissue remodeling

Early effects of growth of the co-pathogens
influenced by the milieu and substratum

Likely to consist of randomly mixed
P. aeruginosa and S. aureus in close proximity

Non-random distribution of P. aeruginosa andS. aureus in the wound bed

Formation and development of mixed-species biomass under wound-like conditions
The concomitant growth of the co-pathogens
P. aeruginosa and S. aureus could result inregions of proximity in the wound bed

P. aeruginosa migrates to the deeper regions of
the wound, while S. aureus remains as aggregatesin the upper regions of the wound bed

References and notes:
1. Kadam, S,; Madhusoodhanan, V.; Dhekane, R.; Bhide, D.; Ugale, R.; Tikhole, U.; Kaushik,K. S. Biofilm 2021; 3, 100047.
2. Dhekane, R.; Mhade, S.; Kaushik, K. S. bioRxiv 2022.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.14.491929v1.full

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Karishma S Kaushik
Assistant Professor / Ramalingaswami Re-entry Fellow
Department of Biotechnology
Savtribai Phule Pune University, Pune
E-Mail: karishmaskaushik@gmail.com
Homepage: https://www.karishmakaushiklab.com

Karishma S Kaushik, MBBS, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor/Ramalingaswami
Re-entry Fellow at the Department of Biotechnology, Savitribai Phule Pune University,
Pune. After completing her MBBS and MD in Clinical Microbiology/Infectious Disease
from the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, India, and PhD from the University ofTexas at Austin, USA, she returned to India on the Ramalingaswami Re-entry
Fellowship (March 2018-March 2023), Department of Biotechnology (DBT),
Government of India. In doing so, she is one of very few physician-scientists leading a
research group in India, the ‘Human Relevant Infection Biology’ Group. Her
independent research group investigates complex infection microenvironments, forwhich they adopt a holistic approach to the infection state, that focuses on both thehost and pathogen aspects. The vision of our group has three broad focus areas build human-relevant infection platforms, investigate host-pathogen interactions inchronic infection states (with a focus on biofilms), and develop composite infection
therapeutics. In doing so, their work provides (1) human-relevant preclinical infection
models that bridge the gap between reductionist in vitro and in vivo animal testing (2)clinically- relevant insights into the infection state, and (3) novel and composite
infection therapeutics that target the microenvironment as a whole. With this, they are
one of very few groups in India and across the world focusing on building animalalternatives for infection studies, and developing therapeutics that move beyond
conventional antibiotics. Her group is funded by the Ramalingaswami Fellowship(March 2018-March 2023), the Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award (IYBA, DBT,
2020-2023), in addition to international funding collaborations namely, the Africa-India
Mobility Fund (India Alliance, partnering with Nigeria), Royal Society International
Exchange Grant (a UK collaboration) and India-Belgium Networking Grant. In addition,
my research group is committed to public engagement and contributing to the larger
science ecosystem in India, and led the development of India Biofilms Society, anational group of biofilm researchers across India, and their science outreach programfor children ‘Talk To A Scientist (TTAS), funded by the IndiaBioscience Outreach
Grants.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL5

Comprehensive Computational Studies of Adenosine Receptor
for the Elucidation of Mechanism of Action and Drug Discovery
Sun Choi
Global AI Drug Discovery Center, College of Pharmacy and Graduate School of
Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea
E-mail: sunchoi@ewha.ac.kr
Abstract:
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are known as both gatekeepers and molecularmessengers of the cell through the conversion of extracellular signals to cellular
activities. In order to elucidate allosteric modulation and associated intra-molecularsignaling of GPCR, we employed network centrality analysis to the apo- and agonistbound forms of A2A adenosine receptor (A2AAR) to reveal the locations of
microswitches, which are crucial for GPCR activation. Moreover, critical long-range
communications were discovered to exist between the extracellular ligand binding site
and intracellular G protein binding site in the agonist-bound form only. Recently, we
discovered novel modulators of A3AR and identified that only minute chemicalchanges can crossover the boundary between agonistic and antagonistic effects. To
investigate this effect, A3AR homology models were generated based on ligand
pharmacological profiles. To account for the protein flexibility, the binding modes werepredicted through multiple receptor conformations (MRCs). The results showed thatthe H-bonding with T94 is critical for the agonistic activity of A3AR. Remarkably, thenetwork analysis also confirmed that T94 is important for signal flow in the receptor.
Taken together, our structure-based studies employing both MRCs and network
analysis can offer useful insights into the allosteric modulation of GPCRs, which canthen be utilized as a powerful tool in structure-based drug discovery.

Reference:
1. Lee, Y.; Hou, X.; Lee, J. H.; Nayak, A.; Alexander, V.; Sharma, P. K.; Chang, H.; Phan, K.;
Gao, Z.-G.; Jacobson, K. A.; Choi, S.*; Jeong, L. S. Subtle Chemical Changes Cross theBoundary between Agonist and Antagonist: New A3 Adenosine Receptor Homology Models
and Structural Network Analysis Can Predict This Boundary. J. Med. Chem. 2021, 64(17),12525-1253.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker

Prof. Sun Choi, Ph.D.
Global AI Drug Discovery Center,College of Pharmacy and Graduate School of
Pharmaceutical Sciences
Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Korea
E-mail: sunchoi@ewha.ac.kr
Homepage: http://caddsc.ewha.ac.kr/

Dr. Sun Choi is a professor at the College of Pharmacy and Graduate School of
Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea. After receiving her
Ph.D. degree in Medicinal Chemistry from the State University of New York at Buffalo,
USA, became a Postdoctoral Fellow in Prof. Richard B. Silverman’s laboratory in
Department of Chemistry and Drug Discovery Program at Northwestern University,
Evanston, IL, USA. She joined computer-aided drug discovery industry and worked asa molecular modeler and computational chemist at the molecular design group in
Tripos, Inc., St. Louis, MO, USA. Then, she joined Ewha Womans University as afaculty member, where she is currently working as a full professor, Ewha Fellow, andthe director of Global AI Drug Discovery Center. The core of her research focuses on
the state-of-the-art technologies of computer-aided drug design, cheminformatics,
computational medicinal chemistry, biomolecular simulations including protein
dynamics and allostery, big data and artificial intelligence (AI)-based drug discovery.
Based on these computational methods, she has been conducting multiple research
projects targeting therapeutically important enzymes, GPCRs, and ion channels alongwith protein-protein interactions. Active interdisciplinary collaborations are on-going for
drug discovery in various diseases such as cancer, virus, pain, cardiovasculardisease, neurodegenerative disease, osteoporosis, etc. Since 2011, her lab has been
designated as the National Leading Research Lab (NLRL) by the Korean government.
She has disseminated her research in prestigious journals such as Cell Metabolism, J.
Am. Chem. Soc., Theranostics, Journal Medicinal Chemistry. She is the President of
the Korean Biophysical Society and the Chair of the Scientific Program Committee ofthe Asian Federation for Medicinal Chemistry (AFMC) International Medicinal
Chemistry Symposium 2023 (AIMECS 2023).

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL6

Universal strategy for live cell distinction by fluorescent imaging probe
Young-Tae Chang
Department of Chemistry, POSTECH, Korea.
E-mail: ytchang@postech.ac.kr
Abstract: Discrimination of each cell type in multicellular organism is the mostimportant first step to figure out the complex cell community and control theirregulation. The current gond-standard method of cell distinction is through establishedantibodies for biomarkers on the cell surface. To surrogate the antibodies, we havedeveloped small fluorescent probes for live cell distinction. In addition to theconventional binding targets i.e. proteins and carbohydrates: Protein Oriented Live-cell
Distinction (POLD) and Carbohydrate Oriented Live-cell Distinction (COLD), we haveextended the scope of biomarkers to transporters, via Gating Oriented Live-cell
Distinction (GOLD) and lipid composition of the cell membrane, via Lipid Oriented
Live-cell Distinction (LOLD). The intrinsically complex nature of life requires further
orthogonal strategy for higher dimension of cell discrimination. Recently, we further
expanded to novel chemical biology approach of Metabolism Oriented Live-cell
Distinction (MOLD) to enrich the toolboxes and strategy choice. The design andmechanism elucidation for various immune cells will provide the new insight for cellselective probe development. Eventually, the multi-dimensional layer of cell distinction
strategy will be the basis of characterizing extremely complex cell communities

Reference
1. Liu, X.; Chang, Y. T.* Chem. Soc. Rev. 2022, 51, 1573-1591.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Young-Tae Chang
Professor
Department of Chemistry
POSTECH, Korea
E-Mail: ytchang@postech.ac.kr
Homepage: http://ytchang.postech.ac.kr/

Young-Tae Chang was born in Busan, Korea, in 1968. He studied chemistry at
Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Korea and received his
B.S. in 1991. After one and half years of army service in Korea, he started his
graduate study at POSTECH and received a Ph.D. in 1997 under the supervision ofProf. Sung-Kee Chung, working on the divergent synthesis of all possible
regioisomers of myo-inositol phosphates. He did his postdoctoral work with Prof. Peter
Schultz at UC Berkeley and The Scripps Research Institute. In 2000, he wasappointed assistant professor at New York University and promoted to associatedprofessor in 2005. He received the NSF Career award in 2005 and his researchinterests have been chemical genetics, molecular evolution, and artificial tongues. In
September, 2007, he moved to National University of Singapore and Singapore
Bioimaging Consortium (SBIC). He was a full professor of Chemistry and leader ofMedicinal Chemistry Program of NUS, and Lab Head of Bioimaging Probe
Development at SBIC, A-STAR. In 2017, he came back to POSTECH, as a professor
in the Department of Chemistry, and joined Center for Self-assembly and Complexity(CSC), Institute for Basic Science (IBS) as an Associate Director. He published morethan 380 scientific papers / 2 books and filed 50 patents so far.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL7

Attenuating the A 42 Aggregation and its Cytotoxicity by Designed Hybrid
Peptide Foldamers
Hosahudya N. Gopi
Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER),
Pune, E-mail: hn.gopi@iiserpune.ac.in
Abstract: Over the years, extensive efforts have been made to disrupt theaggregation of amyloid beta peptides using various types of inhibitors, however, withlimited success. Among the different types of A peptides, A42 is more prone toaggregation and exhibits high toxicity to neuronal cells. The literature survey
suggested that A42 is highly flexible and displays many conformations before
adopting into an aggregation-prone -sheet conformation. Driving A42 to adopt a
conformation that is not prone to aggregation is one of the attractive and viablestrategies to design therapeutics for Alzheimer’s disease. Here, we are reporting thedesigned peptide foldamers that not only inhibit the aggregation of A42 and also
disintegrate the matured fibrils of A42 into smaller assemblies. The ThT-mediatedA42 aggregation kinetic analysis, DLS, AFM, HR-TEM and ELISA experimentssuggest the inhibition of the aggregation of A42 by the designed peptide foldamers.
Further, the circular dichroism and 2D-NMR HSQC analysis revealed that the hybrid
peptides induce a conformational change in A42. The cell assay experiments showedthat the peptide foldamers are non-toxic and also rescue the neuronal cells from thetoxicity of the A42. These results suggest that the designed peptides and peptide
foldamers discussed here may serve as potential therapeutic candidates to disrupt theamyloid plaques that are responsible for Alzheimer’s disease.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Hosahudya N. Gopi
Professor
Department of Chemistry
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune
E-Mail: hn.gopi@iiserpune.ac.in
Homepage: http://www.iiserpune.ac.in/~hn.gopi

H. N. Gopi received his master’s degree in Chemistry from the Bangalore University,
Bangalore in 1994 and Ph. D. in Organic Chemistry from the Bangalore University
2000. After gaining postdoctoral experience from three different Institutions, IISc,
Bangalore (2000-2002), Northwestern University, USA (2002-2003) and Drexel
University College of Medicine, USA (2004-2007), he joined Indian Institute of Science
Education and Research (IISER), Pune in July 2007. He is currently a Professor in the
Department of Chemistry. His research interests lie in the area of peptides,
peptidomimetics and foldamers.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL8

Chemical Tools for Tracking Autophagy
Ankona Datta
Department of Chemical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, 1 Homi
Bhabha Road, Mumbai, India, E-mail: ankona@tifr.res.in
Abstract: Autophagy is an essential cellular degradation process. This process
recycles proteins to generate amino acids and hence maintains amino acid pools
during nutrient deprivation, regulates organelle development, and has an inverse
relation to aging processes.1,2 On the other hand, impaired autophagy has been linked
to multiple pathophysiological conditions including cardiovascular diseases, infectious
diseases, cancer, and neurodegeneration.1,2 Tracking the autophagic flux in living
cells will provide mechanistic insights into autophagy and will allow the rapid screeningof autophagy modulators as potential therapeutics. Achieving this goal demands acell-permeable probe that can specifically target autophagic vesicles and report on theextent of autophagy. However, most existing protein-based and small molecule-based
sensors cannot provide information on all stages of autophagy either due todegradation or due to inherent localization propensities. 3,4 In order to overcome thesechallenges, we have strategically incorporated autophagic vesicle targetability into acell-permeable peptide sequence to develop a novel water-soluble, cell-permeable,
visible-light excitable, fluorescent sensor for imaging autophagy and tracking the
autophagic flux.5 The probe readily enters living cells within minutes of incubation,
distinctly targets autophagic vesicles, and spatio-temporally tracks the entire
autophagy pathway in living cells via a ratiometric pH sensitive detection scheme. 5 I
will present the basis of our modular sensor design strategy, results on spatiotemporal autophagy tracking in living cells, and implications in high-throughput
screening applications
References and notes:
1. Morel, E.; Mehrpour, M.; Botti, J.; Dupont, N.; Hamaï, A.; Nascimbeni, A. C.; Codogno, P.
Autophagy: a druggable process. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2017, 57, 375−398.
2. Mizushima, N.; Levine, B.; Cuervo, A. M.; Klionsky, D. J. Autophagy fights disease throughcellular self-digestion. Nature 2008, 451, 1069−1075.
3. Yoshii, S. R.; Mizushima, N. Monitoring and measuring autophagy. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2017,18, No. 1865.
4. Li, X.; Liang, X.; Yin, J.; Lin, W. Organic fluorescent probes for monitoring autophagy inliving cells. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2021, 50, 102− 119.
5. Das, S.; Kapadia, A.; Pal, S.; Datta, A., Spatio-Temporal Autophagy Tracking with a CellPermeable, Water-Soluble, Peptide-Based, Autophagic Vesicle-Targeted Sensor. ACS
Sensors 2021, 6 (6), 2252-2260.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Ankona Datta
Associate Professor
Department of Chemical Sciences
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India
E-Mail: ankona@tifr.res.in
Homepage: https://www.tifr.res.in/~ankona/

Ankona received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in chemistry from the Indian Institute ofTechnology, Kharagpur in 2000. She did her graduate work on chiral water-soluble
porphyrins for catalysis and recognition with Prof. John T. Groves at Princeton
University (Ph.D., 2006). After graduating from Princeton, she joined as a postdoctoral
scholar in the laboratory of Prof. Ken Raymond at the University of California,
Berkeley, where she worked on macromolecular MRI contrast agents. Since 2010,
she is a faculty in the Department of Chemical Science at the Tata Institute ofFundamental Research, India. Her current research interests are in the fields ofChemical Biology and Molecular Imaging.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL9

Artificial ion transport as a tool to target cancer
Pinaki Talukdar
Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER),
Pune, E-mail: ptalukdar@iiserpune.ac.in
Abstract: Ion transport process across the cell membrane is facilitated by a specificclass of membrane-embedded proteins such as channels, carriers, etc. This process
is essential for diverse biological functions such as maintenance of ion homeostasis ofcells, sensory transduction, cell proliferation, osmotic stress response, etc. The
perturbation of cellular ion homeostasis induces apoptosis, which cancer cells evadeand proliferate uncontrollably. Therefore, synthetic ion careers were used to perturb
the chloride homeostasis of cancer cells and kill them via the induction of apoptosis.
We have applied artificial ion channels to destroy cancer cells by perturbing thechloride ion homeostasis. We have developed artificial fluorescent channels that
cotransports KCl to kill the cancer cells. We have also developed various
protransporter molecules that get activated by a specific stimulus such as intracellularglutathione, enzymes, pH, etc. to form supramolecular ion channels and explore theiranticancer applications.

Figure. Schematic illustration of apoptosis-inducing activity of artificial ion channels.
References and notes:
1. Pinto, L. H.; Dieckmann, G. R.; Gandhi, C. S.; Papworth, C. G.; Braman, J.; Shaughnessy,
M. A.; Lear, J. D.; Lamb, R. A.; DeGrado, W. F. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 1997, 94, 11301-11306.
2. Lang, F.; Föller, M.; Lang, K. S.; Lang, P. A.; Ritter, M.; Gulbins, E.; Vereninov, A.; Huber,
S. M. J. Membrane Biol. 2005, 205, 147-157.
3. Saha, T.; Gautam, A.; Mukherjee, A.; Lahiri, M.; Talukdar. P. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138,
16443-16451.
4. Malla, J. A.; Umesh, R. M.; Yousf, S.; Mane, S.; Sharma, S.; Lahiri, M.; Talukdar, P. Angew.
Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 7944-7952.
5. Javid Ahmad Malla, Virender Kumar Sharma, Mayurika Lahiri, Pinaki Talukdar Chem. Eur.
J. 2020, 26, 11946-11949.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Pinaki Talukdar
Professor
Department of Chemistry
Rahul Bajaj Chair Professor and Dean of Faculty
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune
E-Mail: ptalukdar@iiserpune.ac.in
Homepage: http://sites.iiserpune.ac.in/~ptalukdar/

Prof. Pinaki Talukdar completed his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University ofGeneva, Switzerland, in 2005 under the supervision of Prof. Stefan Matile. Aftercompleting a Postdoc from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, USA (20052006) with Dr. Mary S. Gin, he worked as Senior Research Scientist at AMRI Global(Presently Curia Global), Hyderabad (2006-2007) and then at the Institute of Life
Sciences (Presently Dr. Reddy's Institute of Life Sciences), Hyderabad (2007-2009).
He joined the Chemistry Department of IISER Pune as Assistant Professor in 2009.
He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2015, and Professor in 2020. He is also a
Rahul Bajaj Chair Professor and Dean of Faculty at the Institute. Prof. Talukdar is arecipient of DBT National Bioscience Award for Career Development in, 2016, CRSI
Bronze Medal in 2018, and SERB Distinguished Investigator Award in 2019. He also
serves as an Associate Editor in Chemical Biology - Frontiers in Chemistry and an
Editorial Advisory Board member of ACS Organic & Inorganic Au. At IISER Pune, heleads a team of motivated researchers involved in integrating the concepts andapproaches from supramolecular chemistry to apply in chemical biology and materialscience. His team works on molecular recognition, molecular machines, membranetransport, chemical biology, sensing, catalysts, etc.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL10

Emerging insights into Functions and Modulation of Kainate receptors
Janesh Kumar
Laboratory of Membrane Protein Biology, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology(CSIR-CCMB), Hyderabad, E-mail: janesh@ccmb.res.in
Abstract: Kainate receptors (KARs), a subfamily of ionotropic glutamate receptors(iGluRs), are required in the vertebrate brain for postsynaptic neurotransmission andpresynaptic regulation of transmitter release. They are known to mediate characteristic
small-amplitude EPSCs and slow kinetics in hippocampal regions of the central
nervous system with respect to their counterparts, AMPARs, and NMDARs. In
addition, they are also known to play an important role in the maturation of neuronal
circuits during development via interaction with G proteins. Any defect in theirfunctions predisposes the brain to various disorders like autism, epilepsy,
schizophrenia, and neuropathic pain. The Kainate receptor family consists of subunits
from 2 gene families; low kainate affinity (GluK1-GluK3) and high kainate affinity(GluK4, GluK5). Using a multi-pronged strategy of SAXS analysis, single-particle cryoelectron microscopy, MD simulations and whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology,
our work on GluK1, GluK2 and GluK3 kainate receptors provide critical insights into
their mechanisms of action and modulation by auxiliary Neto proteins. These new
results and their implications will be discussed during the meeting.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Janesh Kumar
Senior Principal Scientist
Laboratory of Membrane Protein Biology,
Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB),
Hyderabad,
Email: janesh@ccmb.res.in
Homepage: https://www.ccmb.res.in/Janesh Kumar received his master’s degree in Biotechnology from Devi Ahilya
University, Indore in 2001 and Ph. D. in Biophysics from All India Institute of Medical
Sciences, New Delhi in 2007 under the supervision of Prof. Tej P. Singh.
Subsequently, he joined Prof. Mark L. Mayer group as a postdoctoral fellow at
National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, US. He joined National Centre for Cell
Science (NCCS), Pune in October 2013. He is currently working as Senior Principal
Scientist at Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB), Hyderabad. He
received the Wellcome Trust-DBT India Alliance Senior Fellowship (2022), Wellcome
Trust-DBT India Alliance Intermediate Fellowship (2014) and Ramanujan Fellowship(2014). He also serves on the Editorial Board of multiple journals including
Communications Biology, FEBS OpenBio, Scientific Reports etc. His researchinterests lie in understanding structure, function and regulation of ionotropic glutamate
receptors.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

IL11
Engineering the biosynthesis of unnatural vitamin B2 analogs -probing themolecular basis of nucleobase specificity
Amrita B. Hazra
Department of Chemistry, Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research(IISER), Pune, E-mail: amrita@iiserpune.ac.in
Abstract: Vitamins and coenzymes such as flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), Sadenosyl methionine, and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide catalyze distinct cellular
reactions, yet they contain in common the nucleobase adenine in their structure. The
source of adenine for the biosynthesis of these coenzymes is the ribonucleotide
adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Nucleotide triphosphates (NTPs) such as ATP, GTP,
CTP, and UTP, the building blocks of RNA, differ from one another only on the basisof the nucleobase. In spite of their overall structural similarity, they show highselectivity in being recruited by enzymes to conduct discrete reactions. In this work,
we specifically probe the molecular, mechanistic and physiological basis of the choiceof NTP in the FAD biosynthesis pathway. The biosynthesis of FAD typically utilizes
two molecules of ATP - the first one activates riboflavin (vitamin B2) to form flavinmononucleotide (FMN), and the second one couples with FMN to form FAD. We
interrogate the choice of NTP for the second step in FAD biosynthesis using
Escherichia coli FAD synthetase, a bifunctional enzyme that converts riboflavin to
FMN using the riboflavin kinase domain followed by adenylation in the
FMN:adenylyltransferase (FMNAT) domain resulting in FAD formation. We haveengineered the FMNAT domain to produce mutants with altered NTP specificity which
synthesize FAD nucleobase analogues under in vitro conditions. Heterologous
expression of these mutants in E. coli demonstrates the synthesis of the FAD
nucleobase analogue within cells. Finally, on replacing the native FAD synthetase on
the bacterial chromosome with the mutant, we observe the biosynthesis of FAD
nucleobase analogues and are currently investigating their physiological roles andpotential cellular functions. Our study on FAD nucleobase analogues lays thefoundation for their use as ‘unnatural vitamins’ to investigate cellular metabolism andfor synthetic biology and biotechnology applications such as in vivo imaging andbioremediation.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Amrita B. Hazra
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry, Biology
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune
E-Mail: amrita@iiserpune.ac.in
Homepage: https://www.iiserpune.ac.in/~amrita

Amrita Hazra completed her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Chemistry at Jadavpur
University, Calcutta (2000-2003) and at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur(2003-2005), respectively. She obtained a Ph.D. at Cornell University in Chemical
biology with Tadhg Begley in 2010. This was followed by a postdoctoral stint at the
Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at the University of California, Berkley with
Michiko Taga. She joined IISER Pune as an assistant professor in December 2015.
The theme of Amrita Hazra’s lab at IISER Pune is to study the vast chemical spacethat exists within the microbial world through the lens of vitamin biosynthesis andmetabolism. Vitamins are a class of biomolecules required by organisms across all
domains of life. They assist enzymes in conducting reactions ranging from simple
redox chemistry to complex radical-based rearrangements. Historically, research on
vitamins has contributed novel and intriguing insights in biological chemistry,
microbiology, and evolution. Building on their interdisciplinary scope, the Whytamin lab
at IISER Pune specifically focuses on the enzymatic biosynthesis and exchange/
sharing of vitamins B1, B2, and B12 within microbes, with a goal of creating vitaminbased tools for chemical biology and synthetic biology applications.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

36

Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

September 15 to 18, 2022
Venue: Zuri White Sands, Goa

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL1

Self-Assembling Bioactive Small Molecules
Motonari Uesugi
Institute for Chemical Research and Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences(WPI-iCeMS), Kyoto University, Kyoto, E-mail: uesugi@scl.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Abstract: Self-assembly is the spontaneous organization of molecules to form noncovalent structures. Although self-assembly is a popular concept in material sciences,cells also exploit self-assembly structures to sustain life, including nucleic acids,
cytoskeletal filaments, lipid membranes, and membrane-separated or membrane-lessorganelles. Our laboratory envisioned that these cellular assemblies may be mimicked
or controlled by self-assembling small molecules. While soluble small molecules tend
to be mono-functional, self-assembled structures of small molecules can achieve
higher levels of complex properties and functions. This presentation highlights several
unique self-assembling bioactive small molecules we discovered from screening ofchemical libraries. Molecular understanding of their mechanisms of actions may leadto the design of self-assembling molecules that could potentially be used both forbasic cell biology and for therapeutic applications.

References and notes:
1. Takemoto, N., Suehara, T., Frisco, H., Sato, S., Sezaki, T., Kusamori, K., Kawazoe, Y.,
Park, S. M., Yamazoe, S., Mizuhata, Y., Inoue, R., Miller, G., Hansen, S., Jayson, G.,
Gardiner, J., Kanaya, T., Tokitoh, N., Ueda, K., Takakura, Y., Kioka, N., Nishikawa, M.,
Uesugi, M. Small molecule-induced clustering of heparan sulfate promotes cell adhesion. J.
Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 11032-11039.
2. Jin, S., Vu, H., Hioki, K., Noda, N., Yoshida, H., Shimane, T., Ishizuka, S., Takashima, I.,
Mizuhata, Y., Pe, K., Ogawa, T., Nishimura, N., Packwood, D., Tokitoh, N., Kurata, H.,
Yamasaki, S., Ishii, K., Uesugi, M.: Discovery of Self-Assembling Small Molecules as
Vaccine Adjuvants. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 961-969.
3. Ado, G, Noda, N., Vu, HT., Perron, A., Mahapatra, AD., Pineda Arista, K., Yoshimura, H.,
Packwood, DM., Ishidate, F., Sato, SS., Ozawa, T., Uesugi, M. Discovery of a phaseseparating small molecule that selectively sequesters tubulin in cells. Chem. Sci. 2022, 13,5760-5766.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Motonari Uesugi
Professor and Deputy Director
Institute for Chemical ResearchInstitute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (WPI-iCeMS)
Associate Executive Vice President of Research
Kyoto University, Kyoto
E-mail: uesugi@scl.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Homepage: https://www.scl.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~uesugi/index.php
Professor Motonari Uesugi is a Professor and Deputy Director of The Institute forIntegrated Cell-Material Sciences and Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto
University. After completing postdoctoral training in Harvard Chemistry Department,
Dr. Uesugi started his independent career in Baylor College of Medicine, Houston,where he has established an interdisciplinary laboratory in the area of chemical
biology. He was tenured in Baylor in 2005, and moved to Kyoto University as a full
professor in 2005. He is a recipient of Tokyo Techno Forum 21 Gold Medal Award(2006), German Innovation Award (2011), and Ichimura Award (2017). Dr. Uesugi andhis co-workers aim to gain a fundamental understanding of biological events throughthe study of small molecules. He provides the first edX course from Japan, “TheChemistry of Life,” to create a new educational path for millions of learners worldwide.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

IL2
Decoding Origins of Antibiotic Resistance Via Deciphering the Mechanism ofTargeting of Pathogenic Ribosomal Methyltransferase
Ruchi Anand,
Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India
E-mail: ruchi@chem.iitb.ac.in
Abstract: Antibiotic resistance is a silent epidemic which has risen to alarming
proportions. It is projected that by 2050 drug resistance will result in more than 300
million deaths. Methylation of specific nucleotides in the rRNA of ribosomes is integral
for ribosomal biogenesis and also serves as a common way to confer antibiotic
resistance by pathogenic bacteria. Since ribosomal methyltransferases (rMTases)
methylates their target site with high fidelity[1,2], here we unearth the factors that
direct the enzyme to its cognate site by determining high-resolution structures of 30SKsgA by exploiting Cryo-Electron microscopy as a bioimaging tool[3]. With thestructure as a guide, several mutant versions of the ribosomes were created and it
was established that specific portions of the ribosome interact with unique loop
elements present in rMtases which impart specificity. Overall, the insights presented
here will help in developing a broader insight into origins of antibiotic resistance andserve as a stepping-stone towards development of drugs that can help in resisting
resistance, thereby re-sensitizing the pathogens to existing antibiotics.

Figure.

References and notes:
1. Bujbalrao R. Anand R. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 1425–1429
2. Bujbalrao et. al J. Biol. Chem. 2022, 298, 102208 1
3. Singh J., Raina R., Kutti, V.K,. Anand R. ACS Chem. Biol. 2022, 17, 829–839.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Ruchi Anand
Institute Chair Professor
Department of Chemistry
Wellcome Trust-DBT India Alliance Senior Fellow
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai
E-Mail: ruchi@chm.iitb.ac.in
Homepage:https://structuralbioiitb.wixsite.com/ruchianand
Ruchi Anand completed her PhD in 2004 from the Department of Chemistry andChemical Biology at Cornell University, USA. After conducting postdoctoral researchat Sloan Kettering and the University of Pennsylvania she joined IIT-Bombay in 2008
as an Assistant Professor. Her laboratory employs a combination of X-ray
Crystallography, Cryo-EM, biochemical and biophysical tools to understand molecularmechanisms with implications to human health. Her current research interests follow a
multipronged approach where she has contributed to two major areas, antimicrobial
resistance and biosensors development. Towards the first goal of combating drug
resistance, she focuses both on unearthing enzyme systems that can serve as new
therapeutic targets as well as is involved in understanding the origins of antibiotic
resistance itself. Her recent work with bacterial transcription factors has paved the way
to structure-guided development of biosensors for aromatic pollutants. Since 2016,she has been serving on the Editorial Advisory board for ACS Sensors. She was therecipient of the National Academy of Sciences Fellowship (FNASc) in 2019 and also
won the National Women Bio-scientist Award, Department of Biotechnology, in 2018
and was awarded the CRSI bronze medal for 2020. She is also the recipient of the
DBT-Wellcome Trust Alliance Senior Fellowship in 2020. She was admitted as afellow to the Indian Academy of Science (IASc) in 2022.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL3

Human nature inspires precision engineering of proteins
Vishal Rai
Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER),
Bhopal, E-mail: vrai@iiserb.ac.in
Abstract: The chemical toolbox for investigating biological systems or enabling
biologics requires the precise covalent attachment of tags to the proteins. In thisperspective, we have been leading the efforts toward chemical technologies to enableprecise control over the site of bioconjugation. The critical barrier involves thesimultaneous deconvolution of multiple challenges associated with reactivity andselectivity. In this perspective, we have developed a DisINtegrate or DIN theory thatallows us to create new reactivity landscapes on a protein's surface. It enabled thedevelopment of methods for targeting reactivity hotspots, 1,2 N-Gly residue-specificlabelling (Gly-Tag®),3 and modular Linchpin-Directed Modification (LDM®) platform.4
Our state-of-the-art platform offers homogeneous antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs)
for directed cancer chemotherapeutics and fluorophore conjugates (AFCs) for
imaging-guided tumour surgery.4,5 Besides, our findings create a hope that we will
make precision therapeutics with small molecules possible one day. The talk would
highlight the philosophical connection between humans and proteins' behaviour andhow it inspired the precision engineering of proteins.

Figure. Regulatory parameters of human behavior inspired the precision engineeringof proteins.
References and notes:
1. For N-targeting, see: (a) Chem. Commun. 2015, 51, 473. (b) Org. Biomol. Chem. 2018, 16,9377. (c) Chem. Commun. 2021, 57, 7083.
2. For reactivity hotspots, see: (a) Chem. Commun. 2019, 55, 1100. (b) Chem. Commun.
2018, 54, 7302. (c) Chem. Eur. J. 2017, 23, 3819. (d) Chem. Commun. 2017, 53, 959.
3. Gly-Tag®: (a) Nat. Commun. 2019, 10, 2539. (b) Chem. Sci. 2020, 11, 13137.
4. LDM® platform and ADCs: (a) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 15114. (b) Angew. Chem. Int.
Ed. 2020, 59, 10332. (c) Chem. Sci. 2021, 12, 6732. (d) Chem. Commun. 2022, 58, 1768.
5. Our other ADCs: (a) Nat. Biomed. Eng. 2019, 3, 917. (b) Chem. Commun. 2019, 55, 9979.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Vishal Rai
Professor, Swarnajayanti Fellow, FRSC
Department of Chemistry
Coordinator, SERB-PACE
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal
E-Mail: vrai@iiserb.ac.in
Homepage: http://home.iiserb.ac.in/~vrai
Dr. Vishal Rai obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry from IIT Bombay (2003-2008). He
subsequently held a postdoctoral position and MITACS-Elevate fellow position at the
University of Toronto, Canada (2008-2011). His contributions to peptide macrocycles
created the platform for Encycle Therapeutics. Later, he joined the Department ofChemistry at IISER Bhopal in 2011.
Positions, Awards, and Honours: He is the Founder and Director of Plabeltech
Private Limited. The state-of-the-art protein and antibody engineering technologies
such as LDM®, Gly-Tag®, and Maspecter® empower the company. Recently, his teamestablished the Precision Antibody Engineering CEnter (SERB-PACE) to meet India’s
technological demands in biologics. Also, he is the recipient of the Swarnajayanti
Fellowship, Ramanujan Fellowship, CRSI Bronze Medal, CDRI Award for excellencein drug research, SERB Technology Translation Award, RSC-WIS Young Scientist
Award, and DAE Young Scientist Award. Recently, he joined the ACS Chemical
Biology team as an Early Career Board member. He has been involved in scientificoutreach activities as national co-chair (India) for the International Chemical Biology
Society (ICBS). Also, he is an invited Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry(FRSC), UK.
Research interests: His research group is leading the development of chemical
technologies for the precision engineering of proteins. They are also involved insynthesizing homogeneous antibody-conjugates, protein immobilization, and analytical
tools for peptides and proteins. His research team wants to contribute to Society
through homogeneous bioconjugates for directed cancer chemotherapeutics andsurgical oncology. Besides, they are investing efforts to make small-molecule
precision therapeutics possible in the future.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

IL4
Probing into unique genome and proteome maintenance pathways for design ofalternative antimalarial intervention strategies
Niti Kumar
Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, CSIR-Central Drug ResearchInstitute (CSIR-CDRI), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
E-mail: niti.kumar@cdri.res.in
Abstract: A fascinating aspect of human malaria parasite is that it’s AT-rich (>80%)
genome codes for a metastable and aggregation-prone proteome. Despite thevulnerability to genotoxic and proteotoxic stress, the parasite is able to maintaincellular homeostasis even during hostile conditions encountered during its complex
lifecycle. Our proteome-wide co-evolutionary analysis revealed that there is asignificant diversification and acquisition of unique sequence insertions in criticalprotein factors involved in maintenance of parasite’s genome and proteome. This hints
toward expansion of their repertoire of interactions, distinct from the human host.
Using biochemical and molecular approaches, we are trying to understand uniquegenome (telomere homeostasis) and proteome (proteostasis) maintenance pathways
in different cellular compartments. These efforts are positioned to explore alternative
sites of intervention to complement the medicinal chemistry efforts for identification ofhits/leads with antimalarial activities.

References and notes:
1. (a) Roy, D. et al, Bioorganic Chemistry 2022, 121, 1-11. (b) Kurian, J.; et al.
ChemMedChem 2021, 16, 1–12.
2. (a) Anas et al, Biochemical Journal 2020, 477, 3625-3643. (b) Anas et al, Cell Stress
Chaperones 2019, 24, 891-904

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Niti Kumar
Senior Scientist
Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology
CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute (CSIR-CDRI)
E-Mail: niti.kumar@cdri.res.in
Homepage: https://www.cdri.res.in/1840.aspx?id=1840

Niti Kumar received bachelor’s and master’s degree from University of Delhi. She did
her PhD from CSIR-IGIB under mentorship of Dr. Souvik Maiti and worked on noncanonical nucleic acid structures. She conducted post-doctoral research on ribosomenascent chain complexes in Prof. Ulrich Hartl’s group at Max Planck Institute of
Biochemistry. Niti is recipient of Marie Curie early stage fellowship, Humboldt and
EMBO postdoctoral fellowships. She relocated back to India with Ramalingaswami
fellowship, joined CSIR-CDRI in Sep 2013, and ventured into a new area of parasite
biology. She has received INSA young scientist award, Innovative Young
Biotechnologist Award (DBT-IYBA), SERB women excellence award andSwarnajayanti fellowship. Her lab is interested in genome and proteome quality control
processes adopted by the cell during stress and infection. Her research group also
participates in national and international open-source drug discovery initiatives suchas Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) coordinated by Gates foundation. Recently,
her lab has also started venturing into capacity building projects for indigenous
fluorophores, quenchers and oligonucleotide conjugates for R&D applications andclinical diagnostics.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures46

Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Bio-Sketch of Speaker
Name Ajit Sharma
Designation: Managing Director India and South Asia
Royal Society of Chemistry
Contact Number: 9945824711
E-Mail: sharmaa@rsc.org
Homepage: www.RSC.ORG
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajitksharma/

Career Profile, significant awards/achievements: Alumni of IIM Ahmedabad, RDVV
University, and Harvard Business School, Ajit is an experienced leader leading
strategic and expansion initiative, a leading voice of diversity and inclusion andadvocate for sustainability with over 23 years of experience in business management.
Ajit has worked in STEM Education & research, Pharma, Healthcare and Analytical
Chemistry
areas
in
MNCs
acrossAPAC
andEuropeanregions.
He feels privileged to have got the opportunity to facilitate the UK-India Innovation andSustainability Consortium in 2021 where we managed to receive a grant from the UK
government. He also conducted the RSE- Industry-Academia dialogue aimed tostrengthen industry-academia collaborations and establish a robust innovation
ecosystem in India. The objective of these collaborations is to drive research outputs
toward sustainability, newer energy sources and gender diversity in research. We also
help promote the cause of Open Science and Open Access. Besides, He has beenworking on various projects to promote gender diversity and working on community
development.
Currently, he is working on advancing and developing the chemical sciences
community in India and South Asia. Besides, He is collaborating with leading Indianacademic institutes to develop educational and research programs with a mission to
impact as many students from schools, colleges and universities.
He strongly believes that an inclusive and diverse workplace is crucial to a successful
business. However, representing each group and making it possible for every
employee equally involved goes far beyond policies and programs. It takes the proper
implementation of diversity strategies.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

IL5
Malabaricone C, an inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the SAR & mechanism
studiesKenji Monde
Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo,
E-mail: kmonde@sci.hokudai.ac.jp
Abstract: SARS-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) epidemic all over the world has not yet
been stamped and fallen into a global health emergency. Developing new nucleotide
analog drugs and vaccines or using drug repositioning for SARS-CoV-2 still has
feared to control the infection in safety. Readily available compounds from edible
plants, which can display a safe alternative with lesser side effects may become one
prommising source of anti-viral reagents. In this study, we identified malabaricone C(1), composed of edible plants such as the mace spice of nutmeg, as a natural
inhibitor for SARS-CoV-2. Malabaricone C and its chemical modifications (2-10)
showed 1–1.5 M level of EC50 values against SARS-CoV-2 and its mutant infection
to mammalian cells. Thus, the nontoxic malabaricone C (1) makes it suitable
candidates in search of drugs which can be employed in the treatment and preventionof COVID-19.

Subsequently, furthermore, to visualize the ability of prohibiting cell fusion between the
SARS-CoV-2 infected and uninfected cells induces, we established a novel visualized
cell fusion assay for SARS-CoV-2. For this purpose, persistent SARS-CoV-2 infected
cell line and HEK293TA cell lines that expresses green fluorescent protein andmCherry protein, respectively. As shown the following figure, it was revealed that 1
and its derivatives (3, 5) treatment at 12.5 M resulted in scarcely confirming cell-tocell fusion remaining green and red colored HEK293, whereas cell fusion completely
occurred visualizing yellow hypertrophy cells without inhibitor treatment (VC).
Therefore, this cell-cell fusion assay can provide a simple and versatile tool to study
SARS-CoV-2 mediated fusion.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of SpeakerKenji Monde
Professor, Director, Dean
Frontier Research Center for Advanced Material and Life Science
Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University
E-Mail: kmonde@sci.hokudai.ac.jp
Homepage: https://altair.sci.hokudai.ac.jp/infchb/

Kenji Monde was born in Hiroshima, Japan in 1961. He received his MS degree from
Hokkaido University in 1986 and continued his study on natural product chemistry as a
research assistant at the university under Prof. Tadashi Masamune. After receiving his
Ph.D. from Hokkaido University in 1993, he moved to the Department of Chemistry,
Columbia University as a postdoctoral fellowship for bioorganic chemistry in 1994
under Prof. Koji Nakanishi. Then, he moved to Institute for Chemical Reaction
Science, Tohoku University studying chiroptical analysis of biomolecules as an
assistant professor in 1996 working with Prof. Nobuyuki Harada. He returned to
Hokkaido University in 2001 as an associate professor. He was promoted to a full
professor of Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University in 2010. His
recent research interests are chiroptical analysis of biologically active compounds by
VCD, and chemical biology of the Lipids, especially he focusses on biology of thesphingolipids. From 2015, he is an international scientific committee member of theinternational conference on Chiroptical Spectroscopy and editorial board of journal of
Chirality (Wiley) He received the Molecular Chirality Award in 2018. He has also
served as a director of Frontier Research Center for Post-Genome Science andTechnology since 2013, and a dean of Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido
University since 2019.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL6

Biophysical Insight into FnCas9 Editor Linked Uniform Detection Assay(FELUDA): FELUDA-V2
Souvik Maiti
CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi,CSIR-National Chemical
Laboratory Adjunct Professor Indian Institute of Science Education and Research
Mohali, E-mail: souvik@igib.res.in
Abstract: The present invention describes a method for using a bacterial CRISPR
Cas Ribonucleoprotein complex for detecting any DNA or RNA fragment, without theneed for sequencing. The principle of detection is derived from the natural property ofthe enzyme being used for the invention, Francisella novicida Cas9 (fnCas9) whichshows very low binding affinity to mismatched substrates. DNA is isolated either fromblood, saliva, or any other biological sources like bacteria and amplified if required.
For virus infected patients, samples are collected as a nasal swab and inactivated.
Total RNA isolated from the sample is converted to cDNA using the reverse
transcriptase enzyme. The DNA (when test material is DNA) or cDNA (when test
material is RNA, like for COVID-19) is subjected to Polymerase Chain
reaction, amplifying using specific primers and tagging the amplified DNA
products with a ligand of choice. The detection mix consists of labelled PCR products,
sgRNA-fnCas9 complex. The detection complex can be visualized using a wide arrayof technologies like lateral flow, gel based cleavage assay, fluorescence based
detection, in both low, medium or plate based high-throughput format. Science behind
this technology will be discussed in the presentation.
References and notes:
1. FnCas9 based CRISPR diagnostic for rapid and accurate detection of major SARS-CoV2 variants

2.

3.
4.
5.

6.

on a paper strip. Kumar M, Gulati S, Ansari AH, Phutela R, Acharya S, Azhar M, Murthy J,
Kathpalia P, Kanakan A, Maurya R, Vasudevan JS, Murali A, Pandey R, Maiti S, Chakraborty D.
Elife. 2021 Jun 9;10:e67130. doi: 10.7554/eLife.67130.
Rapid and accurate nucleobase detection using FnCas9 and its application in COVID-19 diagnosis.
Azhar M, Phutela R, Kumar M, Ansari AH, Rauthan R, Gulati S, Sharma N, Sinha D, Sharma S,
Singh S, Acharya S, Sarkar S, Paul D, Kathpalia P, Aich M, Sehgal P, Ranjan G, Bhoyar RC; Indian
CoV2 Genomics & Genetic Epidemiology (IndiCovGEN) Consortium, Singhal K, Lad H, Patra PK,
Makharia G, Chandak GR, Pesala B, Chakraborty D, Maiti S. Biosens Bioelectron. 2021 Jul
1;183:113207. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2021.113207.
Low-cost CRISPR diagnostics for resource-limited settings. Gulati S, Maiti S, Chakraborty D.
Trends Genet. 2021 May 17:S0168-9525(21)00129-3. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2021.05.001.
Rapid identification and tracking of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. Chakraborty D, Agrawal A,
Maiti S. Lancet 2021 Apr 10;397(10282):1346-1347. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00470.
Francisella novicida Cas9 interrogates genomic DNA with very high specificity and can be used for
mammalian genome editing. Acharya S, Mishra A, Paul D, Ansari AH, Azhar M, Kumar M, Rauthan
R, Sharma N, Aich M, Sinha D, Sharma S, Jain S, Ray A, Jain S, Ramalingam S, Maiti S,
Chakraborty D. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Oct 15;116(42):20959-20968.
CRISPR/Cas9: a historical and chemical biology perspective of targeted genome engineering.
Singh A, Chakraborty D, Maiti S. Chem Soc Rev. 2016 Dec 21;45(24):6666-6684.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Souvik Maiti
Scientist
CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi
CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory
Adjunct Professor
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research MohaliContact Number: 011- 29879108
e-Mail: souvik@igib.res.in
Homepage: Laboratory https://souvik.rnabiology.org/Home/souvik-maiti
Souvik Maiti completed his B. Sc. (1993) And M. Sc (1995) in Chemistry from
Jadavpur University, Kolkata, and PhD (1999) in synthetic polymer chemistry from the
CSR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, India. After post-doctoral
training from College of Pharmacy, UNMC, Omaha, USA and Department of Physics,
Curie Institute, Paris, France, he joined as a research faculty CSIR-Institute of
Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi, in 2003. He is also adjunct research facultyin CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune and adjunct professor in the Indian
Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Mohali. He works in the interfaceof Chemistry and Biology and focuses on the chemical biology of nucleic acids toaddress questions of importance in biology and medicine. Currently his researchgroup is engaged in developing potent Indigenous CRISPR-Cas9 based tools forpoint-of care diagnostics and for the cheaper treatment of genetic diseases. Recently
he is part of a team that has initiated a 5-year clinical trial to evaluate the indigenously
developed CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tool as a potential cure for sickle cell disease.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL7

Chemical Tools to Modulate the Cellular Sulfane Sulfur Pool
Harinath Chakrapani
Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER),
Pune, E-mail: harinath@iiserpune.ac.in
Abstract: Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a major gaseous signaling molecule that is
responsible for redox regulation within cells,1 with consequences in primarymetabolism, antibiotic response, health and ageing.2 In recent years, H2S-based
regulation has been demonstrated to be mediated via protein persulfidation, a posttranslational modification of cysteine residues (RSH) to persulfides (RSSH). This
modification can have consequences in several diseases that are associated withelevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) including neurodegenerative diseases.
Hence, the emergence of the sulfane sulfur pool, which is the stable source of cellularpersulfides, has underscored the importance of modulating levels of these sulfur
species in cells. 3-Mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase (3-MST) is one such enzyme
which is directly persulfidated by the substrate 3-mercaptopyruvate, and plays a role in
shuttling sulfur via downstream transfer of the sulfide to proteins and Fe-S clusters.
Using a combination of molecular docking, synthetic chemistry, protein biochemistry,cell biology, and finally animal studies, we present a comprehensive analysis of thedesign, synthesis and efficacy of artificial substrates of the 3-MST enzyme.2 Thetherapeutic relevance of our engineered substrates is demonstrated through mitigating
ROS levels in cells and protecting animals from inflammation in the brain in an
endotoxin-mediated shock model.5 Lastly, using a mechanism-based inhibition
strategy, we have developed inhibitors of 3-MST that can reliably deplete the sulfane
sulfur pool. Together, these tools allow us to modulate the cellular sulfane sulfur poolin order to understand the relevance of these species in cellular growth and stressresponse.

References and notes:
1. (a) M. R. Filipovic, J. Zivanovic, B. Alvarez and R. Banerjee, Chem. Rev., 2018, 118, 1253–
1337. (b) Ida, T.; Sawa, T.; Ihara, H.; Tsuchiya, Y.; Watanabe, Y.; Kumagai, Y.; Suematsu, M.;
Motohashi, H.; Fujii, S.; Matsunaga, T.; Yamamoto, M.; Ono, K.; Devarie-Baez, N. O.; Xian, M.;
Fukuto, J. M.; Akaike, T. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A 2014, 111, 7606–7611.
2. Shukla, P.; Khodade, V. S.; SharathChandra, M.; Chauhan, P.; Mishra, S.; Siddaramappa, S.;
Pradeep, B. E.; Singh, A.; Chakrapani, H. Chem. Sci. 2017, 8, 4967–4972.
3. (a) Nagahara, N. Br. J. Pharmacol. 2018, 175, 577–589. (b) Nagahara, N.; Nishino, T. J. Biol.
Chem. 1996, 271, 27395–27401.
4. Bora, P.; Manna, S.; Nair, M.; Sathe, R.M.S.; Singh, S.; Adury, V.S.S.; Gupta, K.; Mukherjee,
A.; Saini, D. K.; Kamat, S.S.; Hazra, A. B.; Chakrapani, H. Chemical Science, 2021, 12, 1293912949.
5. Kelkar, D.; Ravikumar, G; Mehendale, N.; Singh, S.; Joshi, A.; Sharma, A. K.; Mhetre, A.;
Rajendran, A.; Chakrapani, H.; Kamat, S. S. Nature Chemical Biology, 2019, 15, 169-178.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Harinath Chakrapani
Professor
Department of Chemistry
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune
E-Mail: harinath@iiserpune.ac.in
Homepage: http://www.hclab.in
Harinath Chakrapani received his master’s degree in Chemistry from Indian Institute ofTechnology, Madras in 1999 and Ph. D. from Duke University, USA in 2005 under thesupervision of Prof. Eric Toone. After a brief post-doctoral stint at Wake Forest
University, USA he joined the National Cancer Institute, USA in 2006 and worked on
cancer therapeutic strategies based on controlled delivery of nitric oxide (NO). He
joined Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune in July 2009and is currently Professor of Chemistry. He received the Innovative Young
Biotechnologist Award (2011), Young Scientist Award of the Chemical ResearchSociety of India (CRSI) in 2015, Young Scientist Award, Pune Municipal Corporation,
Pune (2015), S. Ramachandran National Bioscience Award for Career Development(2021) and the Chemical Research Society of India Bronze medal (2021). His
research interests lie in the area of physical organic chemistry, redox chemical biology
and chemical approaches to addressing antimicrobial resistance. Using fundamental
and mechanistic organic chemistry, his lab has developed several tools to study
cellular responses to stress induced by reactive species derived from oxygen andsulfur. His lab also develops tools to study identify druggable targets using activitybased profiling and covalent inhibitor-based drug development.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL8

Identification of Small Molecules for Therapeutic Applications
Ishu Saraogi
Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER),
Bhopal, E-mail: ishu@iiserb.ac.in
Abstract: Our research, at the interface of chemistry and biology, focuses on the useof structure-based design strategies for the development of novel anti-amyloidogenic
and antibacterial agents.
Molecular chaperones play an essential role in maintaining proteostasis in the cell.
The bacterial chaperone DnaK, a homologue of heat shock protein (Hsp70), actively
holds or unfolds thermosensitive proteins and prevents their misfolding andaggregation. DnaK is essential under stress, and is thus an attractive antibacterial
target. Using an in-house small molecule library screening approach, we identified asynthetic molecule M7 as a potential inhibitor of DnaK. Competitive binding studies
with a substrate peptide suggest that M7 likely binds at the DnaK substrate-binding
domain, and inhibits ATPase and luciferase refolding activity of DnaK. Using bacterial
growth assay and biofilm assay, we show that M7 inhibits the P. aeruginosa growthand biofilm formation. SEM and confocal imaging suggest that M7 could permeate
bacterial cells and inhibit growth, while itself being non-toxic to HEK cells. Thus, M7 isa very promising lead molecule for DnaK inhibition.
Amyloidosis is a well-known phenomenon caused by the aggregation of proteins,often leading to pathological conditions. The aggregation of insulin, for example,
poses significant challenges during the preparation of pharmaceutical insulin
formulations commonly used to treat diabetic patients. We have identified a molecule
called PAD-S that acts as a chemical chaperone, by preventing the aggregation of
insulin and preserving the native structure of the protein. Seeded aggregation kinetics
with preformed insulin fibrils indicated that PAD-S likely inhibited primary nucleationand elongation events during the aggregation process. Structural-activity relationshipanalysis of the fragments of PAD-S for insulin aggregation inhibition underlines theimportance of all the features of the molecule for optimal activity. PAD-S was also
effective in disaggregating preformed insulin fibrils to non-toxic species. We found
PAD-S to be highly effective against several commercial fast and slow acting insulin
variants, e.g. Lispro and Glargine. The benign nature of PAD-S towards HEK293T celllines and prevention of aggregation-induced toxicity by PAD-S treated insulin further
highlights its potential use in commercial insulin formulations.
References and notes:
1. Potteth, U.; Upadhyay, T.; Saini, S.; Saraogi, I.*; “Novel antibacterial targets in protein
biogenesis pathways” ChemBioChem 2022, 23, e202100459
2. Das, A.; Gangarde, Y.M.; Pariary, R.; Bhunia, A.; Saraogi, I.*; “An amphiphilic small
molecule drives insulin aggregation inhibition and amyloid disintegration” Int. J. Biol.
Macromol. 2022, accepted
3. Das, A.; Shah, M.; Saraogi, I.*; “Molecular aspects of insulin aggregation and its inhibition
using small molecules” ACS Bio & Med Chem Au, 2022, 2, 205

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Ishu Saraogi
Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry
SERB POWER Fellow
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal
E-Mail: ishu@iiserb.ac.in
Homepage: https://saraogilab.weebly.com/
Ishu Saraogi received her BSc in Chemistry from University of Calcutta, and a MS in
Chemistry from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore working with Prof. T. N. Guru
Row. In 2003, she moved to Yale University to pursue a PhD under the supervision ofProf. Andrew Hamilton focusing on the synthetic mimicry of protein secondary
structures and their application in inhibiting protein-protein interactions. During her
postdoctoral stint at Caltech with Prof. Shu-ou Shan, she worked on elucidating themolecular mechanisms of biomolecular interactions involved in protein transport. In
2013, Dr. Saraogi joined Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal,
where she works on developing chemical tools to modulate biomolecular interactions.
In particular, their research group focuses on the development of novel antibacterial
and anti-amyloidogenic agents. Recently, they have shown, for the first time, that theprotein transport pathway mediated by the Signal Recognition Particle is a novel
antibacterial target. She is a recipient of the Ramanujan Fellowship and POWER
fellowship from the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), India. Theirwork was recently featured in the ChemBioTalents collection by the journal
ChemBioChem (Wiley).

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

IL9
In vivo Multicolor Imaging with Fluorescent Probes Revealed Dynamics andFunction of Osteoclast Proton Pump
Kazuya Kikuchi
Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University,
E-mail: kkikuchi@mls.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp
Abstract: In vivo fluorescence imaging is a powerful modality to monitor cell dynamics
in biomedical studies. Despite considerable efforts for the development of molecular
probes, present imaging methods still have certain limitations to clarify the proteinfunction associated with cell activity. Here, a red-fluorescent small molecular probe
was developed, namely Red-pHocas (Red pH-activatable fluorescent probe forosteoclast activity sensing), to reversibly detect the acidic environments and applied it
to in vivo two-photon imaging to analyze the function of osteoclast proton pumps. The
rational design of the probe structure successfully controlled the kinetics of thefluorescence response to acidic pH, which allowed rapid and reversible monitoring ofacidic compartments upon osteoclastic bone resorption with the dynamics ofosteoclast proton pumps. Multicolor two-photon imaging using Red-pHocas influorescent reporter mice revealed that bone acidification synchronously occurred with
proton pump accumulation onto the bone surfaces, which first demonstrates the direct
involvement of osteoclast proton pumps in bone resorption. Our imaging system will
provide a useful approach for studying protein function involved in cell activity under
intravital condition.
References and notes:[1] Kowada, T., et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 17772.
[2] Maeda, H., et al. Nat. Chem. Biol. 2016, 12, 579.
[3] Minoshima, M. et al., ACS Cent. Sci. 2019, 5, 1059.
[4] Hashimoto, M. et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 20996.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
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Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker

Kazuya Kikuchi
Distinguished Professorof Department of Applied Chemistry
and of Immunology Frontier Research Center
Graduate School of Engineering
Osaka University
E-Mail: kkikuchi@mls.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp
Homepage: https://www-molpro-mls.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp/English/indexeng/indexENG.html

K. Kikuchi received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the university of Tokyoin 1994 under the supervision of Prof. Masaaki Hirobe. He was an postdoctoral fellow
with Prof. Roger Y. Tsien at University of California San Diego, where he studied
capacitative calcium influx. Subsequently, he joined Prof. Donald Hilvert group as a
research associate at the Scripps research Institute. He returned Japan as an
research associate at the university of Tokyo in January 1997, and promoted to an
associate professor in 2000. He moved to Osaka University as a professor in 2005,
currently a distinguished professor. He received JSPS prize (2010) andCommendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture,
Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (2018). He also serves as a council memberof the society of biological inorganic chemistry. During this period he became involved
in molecular imaging probes development for both fluorescence imaging and magnetic
resonance imaging. He is focused both in in vivo imaging and single molecule cellularimaging.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL10

Alzheimer’s Disease: pathophysiology, diagnostics and therapeutics
T. Govindaraju
Bioorganic Chemistry Laboratory, New Chemistry Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre forAdvanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Jakkur P.O., Bengaluru-560064, India
E-mail: tgraju@jncasr.ac.in
Abstract: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a multifactorial neurological disorder andcommon form of dementia. There are no fully approved diagnosis and treatment for
AD. The production, accumulation and aggregation of proteins in the human brain are
considered as the major hallmarks of the disease. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are
the major sources of biomolecular and mitochondria damage, and oxidative stress inneuronal cells. Oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, neuroinflammation andmicroglia contribute significantly to the disease pathogenesis. In this talk, I shalldiscuss current status of understanding disease mechanisms, and present ourmultipronged strategies in developing molecular tools for differential diagnosis andtreatment of AD.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker

T. Govindaraju
Professor
Bioorganic Chemistry Laboratory
New Chemistry Unit and
School of Advanced Materials (SAMat)
Chair, Education Technology Unit
Jawaharlal Nehru Centre forAdvanced Scientific Research (JNCASR)
Jakkur P.O., Bengaluru 560064, India
Contact Number: +91 80 2208 2969/2556
Email: tgraju@jncasr.ac.in, tgraju.jnc@gmail.com
Homepage: http://www.jncasr.ac.in/tgraju/

T. Govindaraju received MSc (2000) from Bangalore University and PhD (2006) fromthe National Chemical Laboratory and Pune University, Pune, India. He carried out
postdoctoral research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA (2005–2006) and
Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund, Germany (2006–2008). His
research interests are at the interface of chemistry, biology and biomaterials science,
include Alzheimer’s disease, peptide chemistry, molecular probes, diagnostic therapy(Theranostics), molecular architectonics, and silk-inspired biomimetics andbiomaterials. He has more than 150 publications, >35 patents, and four books to his
credit. He has co-founded a startup company (VNIR Biotechnologies Pvt. Ltd.
http://vnir.life) to translate many of the inventions from his laboratory including
Alzheimer’s disease diagnostics. His group has discovered a novel drug candidate
with immense potential to treat Alzheimer’s disease and is licensed to a biopharma forfurther development.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL11

Circularly polarised luminescence enabled highly specific detection ofpotassium ions using DNA-based sensors
Reji Varghese
Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER),
Thiruvananthapuram, E-mail: reji@iisertvm.ac.in
Abstract: The advancement in DNA-based sensors has allowed the detection ofvarious analytes like proteins, steroids, and metal ions etc even in complex biologicalmedium. Sequence-specific hybridization allows the detection of complementary
nucleic acids like miRNA, while aptamers and DNAzymes allows the detection of nonnucleic acid analytes1. Detection of metal ions, especially potassium ions is extremely
important due to its crucial role in regulating physiological functions and neuronal
activities2. The commonly used signal transduction methods like fluorescence,electrochemistry and colorimetry have already been utilized for the specific detectionof potassium. But most of these methods are susceptible to interference from sodium
ions and the most widely used fluorescence-based methods may give rise to false
positive signals due to the degradation of DNA in the complex biological medium 3. To
circumvent these problems, herein we demonstrate a novel strategy for highly specificdetection of potassium ions using a combination of dye labelled G-quadruplex formingDNA
andcircularly
polarized
luminescence. Interestingly we foundthat the antiparallel G-quadruplex isformed only in the presence ofpotassium ions which in turn give rise
to enhanced fluorescence andcircularly polarized luminescence.
Control studies indicated that thisprobe can detect potassium ionseven in the presence of large excess
of sodium ions. Since DNA can beused to detect a wide variety of analytes4, we believe that the present strategy can be
developed for the construction of circularly polarised luminescence based sensors.
+
a2 ,
+,C
g2
ns
l io
Na r metaeOthNo G-quadruplex formation+, M

λ ex = 260

λ ex = 260

No CPL
Weak fluorescence

No CPL
Weak fluorescence

λ ex = 260

λ ex = 420

Single-stranded DNA

CPL activeK+

λ ex = 420

Enhanced
fluorescence

Antiparallel
Major product

Parallel
Minor product

References:
1) Lee, S.; Godhulayyagari, S.; Nguyen, S.T.; Lu, J.K; Ebrahimi, S.B.; Samanta, D.
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, 61, e202202211.
2) Liu, J.; Li, F.; Wang, Y. et al. Nat. Nanotech. 2020, 15, 321–330.
3) Yang, L.; Qing, Z.; Liu, C.; Tang, Q.; Li, J.; Yang, S.; Zheng, J.; Yang, R.; Tan,
W. Anal. Chem. 2016, 88, 9285– 9292.
4) Ebrahimi, S. B.; Samanta, D.; Cheng, H. F.; Nathan, L. I.; Mirkin, C. A. J. Am. Chem.
Soc. 2019, 141, 13744– 13748

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker

Reji Varghese
Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research
Thiruvananthapuram
E-Mail: reji@iisertvm.ac.inReji Varghese received his master’s degree in Chemistry from Mahatma Gandhi
University in 2001 and Ph. D. in supramolecular chemistry from the National Institutefor Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST) in 2007 under the supervision ofProf. Ayyappanpillai Ajayaghosh. He was an Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral
fellow with Prof. Hans-Achim Wagenknecht at the University of Regensburg,
Germany, where he developed fluorescently labelled DNA for sensing applications.
Subsequently, he joined Prof. Hao Yan group at the Arizona State University, USA as
a postdoctoral fellow. He joined Indian Institute of Science Education and Research(IISER), Thiruvananthapuram in January 2011. He is currently an Associate Professor
at the Department of Chemistry. His research interests include supramolecularchemistry with DNA, cancer diagnosis and therapy and DNA nanotechnology.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

IL12
Probing nucleic acid conformation and recognition using nucleoside analogs
S. G. Srivatsan
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, India 411008
E-mail: srivatsan@iiserpune.ac.in
Abstract: Numerous biophysical tools have provided efficient systems to study nucleic
acids. However, our current understanding on how nucleic acid structure complements
its function, particularly in cellular environment, is limited. This general limitation islargely due to the lack of probes that can be used in both cell-free and cellular assays,
and in more than one biophysical technique. Hence, correlating the information
obtained under equilibrium conditions, in solid state and in cells becomes very difficult
using uniquely-labeled oligonucleotide sequences. In this context, moving away fromthe tradition approach of “one label one technique” we adopted an innovative
approach to investigate the nucleic acid structure and function in cell-free and cellularenvironments by using conformation-sensitive multifunctional nucleoside analog
probes. Based on this strategy, we developed nucleoside analogs equipped with two
or more labels (eg., fluorophore, NMR isotope label and X-ray crystallography phasingatom), which serve as common probes for analyzing nucleic acid motifs
simultaneously by using a combination of fluorescence, NMR and X-ray
crystallography techniques.1-3 In parallel, we also develop chemo-enzymatic labelingtechnologies to functionalize and image nucleic acids in vitro and live cells.4,5 In thispresentation, I will discuss the utility of our nucleoside probes and clickable nucleosideanalogs in investigating nucleic acid conformations, recognition and function.
References and notes:
1. Nuthanakanti, A.; Boerneke, M. A.; Hermann, T.; Srivatsan S. G. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.
2017, 56, 2640–2644.
2. Manna, S.; Sarkar, D.; Srivatsan, S. G. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 12622–12633.
3. Ashok, N.; Ishtiyaq, A.; Saddam, Y. K.; Kayarat, S.; Srivatsan, S. G. Nucl. Acid. Res. 2019,47, 6059–6072.
4. Ghosh, P.; Kropp, H. M.; Betz, K.; Ludmann, S.; Diederichs, K.; Marx, A.; Srivatsan S. G. J.
Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 10556–10569.
5. Sawant, A. A.; Tanpure, A. A.; Mukherjee, P. P.; Athavale, S.; Kelkar, A.; Galande, S.;
Srivatsan, S. G. Nucl. Acid. Res. 2016, 44, e16.
6. George, J. T.; Mohd. Azhar; Aich, M.; Sinha, D.; Ambi, U. B.; Maiti, S.; Chakraborty, D.;
Srivatsan, S. G. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 13954−13965.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Seergazhi G. Srivatsan
Professor
Department of Chemistry
Wellcome Trust-DBT India Alliance Senior Fellow
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune
E-Mail: srivatsan@iiserpune.ac.in
Homepage: http://www.iiserpune.ac.in/~srivatsan

S. G. Srivatsan received his master’s degree in Chemistry from Indian Institute ofTechnology, Madras in 1995 and Ph. D. in Bioorganic Chemistry from Indian Instituteof Technology, Kanpur in 2003 under the supervision of Prof. Sandeep Verma. He
was an Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Michael Famulok at
University of Bonn, Germany, where he developed catalytic RNAs andpharmacophores that target protein-RNA complexes and their enzyme activity.
Subsequently, he joined Prof. Yitzhak Tor group as a postdoctoral fellow in Universityof California, San Diego. He joined Indian Institute of Science Education andResearch (IISER), Pune in November 2008. He is currently a Professor and Wellcome
Trust-DBT India Alliance Senior Fellow. He received the CDRI AWARDS–2019 for
Excellence in Drug Research, Chemical Research Society of India Bronze medal(2020), National Prize for Research on Chemistry of Peptides and Nucleic Acids(2020, sponsored by Professor CNR Rao Education Foundation) and Sun Pharma
Research Award (2020) in Pharmaceutical Sciences. He also serves as an Editorial
Advisory Board member of ACS Bioconjugate Chemistry. His research interests lie in
the area of nucleic acid chemistry and biophysics, particularly in the development of
nucleoside probes for studying nucleic acid structure and function, nucleoside-based
self-assemblies, and nucleic acid labeling and imaging tools.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

IL13
Chemo-enzymatic Synthesis of Tetrahydroisoquinoline Alkaloids and theirAnalogs Exhibiting Potent Anti-cancer Activities
Hiroki Oguri
Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo,
Tokyo, E-mail: hirokioguri@g.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Abstract: A series of antitumor tetrahydroisoquinoline (THIQ) alkaloids, represented
by saframycins, jorunnamycins, and ecteinascidins, share the common pentacyclic
scaffold.1 The C21 position of the common pentacyclic skeleton is responsible forreversible DNA alkylation. Our research group is developing chemo-enzymaticsynthetic process to gain rapid access to the common pentacyclic scaffold withstructural modification of C1 sidechain.2 The approved antitumor drugs, ecteinascidin
743 and its derivative, bear a 10-membered lactone ring that involves bridgeheadcarbons at the C1 and C4 positions. The antitumor drugs have been supplied bysemisynthetic approach utilizing cyanosafracin B,3 and structural modification of themacrolactone scaffold remains largely unexplored. To achieve concise synthesis,
skeletal diversification, and modification of the pharmacological profiles of thepromising antitumor natural products, we envisioned formation of a macrocyclic
framework exploiting C5 in place of the C4 position to generate novel alkaloidal
scaffolds without impairment of the DNA alkylating ability at C21. Herein, we reportdevelopment of a semi-synthetic process that allowed systematic diversification of themacrocyclic frameworks ranging from 14 to 17 membered rings. Preliminary SAR
studies on DNA alkylating ability and in vitro anti-cancer activity will be reported.

References and notes:
1. Le, V. H.; Inai, M.; Williams, R. M.; Kan, T. Nat. Prod. Rep. 2015, 32, 328.
2. (a)Tanifuji, R.; Koketsu, K.; Takakura, M.; Asano, R.; Minami, A.; Oikawa, H.; Oguri, H. J.
Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 10705; (b) Tanifuji, R.; Tsukakoshi, K.; Ikebukuro, K.; Oikawa,
H.; Oguri, H. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2019, 29, 1807; (c) Tanifuji, R.; Minami, A.; Oguri,
H.; Oikawa, H. Nat. Prod. Rep. 2020, 37, 1098; (d) Tanifuji, R.; Haraguchi, N.; Oguri, H.
Tetrahedron Chem 2022, 1, 100010
3 Cuevas, C.; Francesch, A. Nat. Prod. Rep. 2009, 26, 322.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Hiroki Oguri
Professor
Department of Chemistry
Graduate School of Science
The University of Tokyo, Tokyo
E-Mail: hirokioguri@g.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Homepage: https://natural.chem.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/
Prof. Hiroki Oguri received his Ph.D. in 1998 from Tohoku University under thesupervision of Professor Masahiro Hirama. He was then appointed as an assistantprofessor in the same group at Tohoku University. In 2003, he worked with Professor
Stuart L Schreiber at Harvard University for one year as a visiting scientist. In 2004, he
was appointed as an associate professor of Hokkaido University in the group of Prof.
Hideaki Oikawa. In 2015, he was promoted to Professor of Tokyo University ofAgriculture and Technology (TUAT), and then moved to the University of Tokyo in
2020. With integration of the biosynthetic logic and modern organic synthesis, he aims
to formulate advanced strategies for rapid and cost-effective access to the natural
product-relevant chemical space with systematic diversification of skeletal,
stereochemical, and functional group properties. His research group is exploring theinterface of natural products chemistry, chemical biology, and supramolecularchemistry.
Hiroki Oguri was the recipient of the 55th Chemical Society of Japan Award for Young
Chemists, Banyu Chemist Award 2010, Shionogi Award for Small-Molecule Medicinal
Chemistry from Society of Synthetic Organic Chemistry. He also serves as an Editorial
Advisory Board member of Tetrahedron Chem and Chemistry Letters.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL14

Synthetic Polymer Nanoscaffolds to Breach Blood Brain Barrier
Manickam Jayakannan
Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER)
Dr. Homi Bhabha Road, Pune 411008, Maharashtra, India
E-mail: jayakannan@iiserpune.ac.in
Abstract: Synthetic polymers are emerging as an integral part of designer building blocks inbiomedical devices for addressing several fundamental problems at the chemistry-biology
interface and also in the development of next generation therapeutics and diagnostics probes
in healthcare industry. Among the several challenges in this field, drug delivery across thetightly regulated blood brain barrier (BBB) is one of the most important problem that required
urgent attention in the treatment of brain tumors and neurodegenerative diseases. Last onedecade, efforts have been taken to explore several candidates such as dendrimers, metal
nanoparticles, and peptides/Si-RNA nanocomplexes, etc to cross the BBB; however,glomerular renal filtration of these nanocarriers during prolonged circulation in the body bykidney (also RES uptake by liver and spleen) seems to be the major limiting factor. Branchedmolecular architectures are proposed to be excellent candidates for decreased renal excretion
and increased blood half-life; and therefore, engineering appropriate branchedmacromolecular systems and employing them successfully for the BBB nanovector seems to
be an elegant choice. The next generation smart BBB crossing nanocarriers are mandatorily
designed to be substantially stable to evade disassembly under infinite dilution in vivo, tinysize sub-nanometer objects for penetrating the tightly regulated t-junction, high drug loading
content, reduced cardiotoxicity, and most importantly biodegradable under physiologicalconditions. Our research group has taken efforts to structural engineer new classes of starblock unimolecular micelle (UMM) based on biodegradable polycaprolactone (PCL) to
overcome the bottlenecks in the field of brain specific drug delivery. The star-UMM wasdesigned having 6-arms, high molecular weight 30-40 kDa, slight anionic charge, andcomprised of hydrophobic PCL core and carboxylic PCL hydrophilic shell for efficient
penetration into brain tissues. The star UMM exhibited a unique ability to self-assemble into
core-shell nanoparticles and exhibited outstanding 14 % drug loading content of clinicalanticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) and 5 % encapsulation of near-infrared biomarker IR780.
In vivo live-animal imaging provided evidence for the prolonged blood circulation of IR780
loaded star UMM for more than 72 hours. Whole-organ image-quantification revealed that thestar UMM nanoparticle platform efficiently breached the BBB to deliver IR780 compared to thefree form. DOX loaded star UMM showed excellent uptake in the cortical neurons under invitro conditions. In vivo biodistribution analysis established the stability of DOX-loaded star
UMM in blood circulation with larger t1/2 and a significant reduction in the cardiotoxicity. The
presentation will focus on the latest advancement in this area with brief account on ourcontribution in delivering cargoes across the BBB.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Manickam Jayakannan
Professor
Department of Chemistry
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune
E-Mail: jayakannan@iiserpune.ac.in
Homepage: http://sites.iiserpune.ac.in/~jayakannan/

Manickam Jayakannan (JK) is a professor at the Department of Chemistry, Indian
Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune (IISER-Pune). He was born on
May, 1972 in Nagamalai Village, Madurai, in the southern part of India. He received
his Bachelor and Master degrees in chemistry from SVN College affiliated to Madurai
Kamaraj University, and his Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore(Professor S. Ramakrishnan’s group, in Polymer Chemistry). After completing his
post-doctoral work (in Prof. Rene A. J. Janssen’s group) at Eindhoven University ofTechnology, The Netherlands; he returned to India and had a short stint as a polymer
scientist in the JFWTC-GE Global Research in Bangalore. He began his career as ascientist at CSIR-NIIST Trivandrum and then he moved to IISER-Pune to embark on
the journey of establishing the new academic institute. He held the position of chair,chemistry (HOD) from 2016-2019 and currently continuing as a Professor in the same
institute. His group has immensely contributed to the development of biodegradable
synthetic polymer nanomaterials for biomedical application in cancer research andantimicrobial activity. His research contribution has been recognized both at national
and international level. Currently, he serves as an Editorial Advisory Board member in
ACS journals: Biomacromolecules, ACS Applied Polymer Materials, and ACS
Polymers Au. His group has published more than 100 papers in reputed international
journals.

67Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

IL15
Chasing the functions of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Glycolipids during
Infection using Chemical Proteomics and Membrane Biophysics
Shobhna Kapoor
Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
E-Mail: shobhnakapoor@chem.iitb.ac.in
Abstract: Microbial lipids play a critical role in the pathogenesis of infectious
diseases.1 Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)—causative agent of Tuberculosis—
synthesizes chemically distinct glycolipids that are exposed on its outer membrane
and interact with the membranes of host macrophages.2-3 However, the effects of thestructurally diverse Mtb glycolipids on the host cell membrane properties to fine-tune
the host cellular response is unknown. In this work, we combined membranebiophysics, cell biology and chemical synthesis to assess the effects of different Mtb
lipids on cell membrane mechanics, lipid diffusion, and cytoskeleton of THP-1
macrophages.4-6 We found that Mtb lipids are transferred to macrophage membranes
in a lab infection model, followed by modulation of macrophage membrane biophysicalproperties, and actin cytoskeleton. Physicochemical assays with Mtb lipid analogs
revealed insights into their structure-function relationships highlighting specific roles oflipid acyl chains and head group along with effects on membrane-associatedautophagy signalling. Chemical proteomics based affinity pull down using clickable
Mtb lipid probes revealed potential Mtb lipid-binding host proteins. These observations
provide a novel lipid-centric paradigm of Mtb pathogenesis that is amenable topharmacological inhibition and could promote the development of robust biomarkers of
Mtb infection and pathogenesis.

References and notes:
1. van der Meer-Janssen, Y.P., et al. Prog Lipid Res, 2010, 49, 1-26.
2. Astarie-Dequeker, C., et al., PLoS Pathog, 2009, 5, e1000289.
3. Hayakawa, E., et al., Biophys J, 2007, 93, 4018-4030.
4. Mishra, M., et al., Sci Rep, 2019, 9, 12844.
5. Dadhich, R., et al., ACS Chem Biol, 2020, 15, 740-750.
6. Mishra, M., Dadhich, R., Mogha, P., Kapoor, S. ACS Infectious Diseases, 2020, 6,
2386-2399.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Shobhna Kapoor
Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry
Wellcome Trust-DBT India Alliance Intermediate Fellow
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
E-Mail: shobhnakapoor@chem.iitb.ac.in
Homepage:https://www.chem.iitb.ac.in/facultyuserview/shobhnakapoor

Shobhna Kapoor is a biophysical chemist and chemical biologist working at thephysical and life sciences interface. She received her Ph.D. in Biophysics fromTechnische Universitat Dortmund, Germany in 2013. In her PhD, she explored theinteractions between oncogenic lipidated signaling proteins with various lipid
membrane systems employing different state-of-the art biophysical spectroscopic
techniques. She uncovered the mechanisms underscoring the biological diversity ofthese proteins. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Max Planck Institute for Molecular
Physiology, Germany, in Chemical Biology. Her research resulted in identifying two
novel chemotypes for potently targeting Wnt signaling in human colorectal cancer as
the identification and validation of their target proteins. Currently, she is an associate
professor at the Department of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology
Bombay, India. She is interested in the multiple roles played by lipids in diseases at
the molecular level. By inventorying the landscape of pathogenic lipid-induced effects
in cell membrane properties, her work has tremendous potential to discover anddesign resistance-free membrane-centric drugs/drug targets in diseases, particularly
infectious diseases. Her work also inspires the development of lipid chemical tools forprobing fundamental problems in biology by leveraging the physical chemistry
modules that dictate membrane structure and function. She is a recipient of the NRWYoung Scientist Award in Chemistry, INSA Medal for Young Scientists, NASI Young
Scientist and SERB Women in Excellence Award.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

A Journey Towards Large-Scale Manufacturing and Modified Phosphoramidites
for Therapeutic Oligonucleotides
Paidi Yella Reddy
Sapala Organics Pvt. Ltd, Hyderabad

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Sense and sensitivity: Screening and characterisation of fragments against WTGPCR targets using Biacore Systems
Ruta Nachane, Cytiva India
Abstract: Fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) has a proven ability to contribute to thediscovery of approved drugs and advanced investigational drugs. FBDD, has become one ofthe primary strategies for discovering small molecule ligands. The most advanced application
is its use for fragment screening against membrane protein drug targets, such as guanine
nucleotide-binding protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). GPCRs represent an importanttherapeutic target class as they are involved in the regulation of a variety of biologicalprocesses, such as inflammation, neurotransmission, cellular metabolism, differentiation,
growth, and secretion. In fact, around 30% of all marketed drugs target GPCRs. Despite theircritical importance, application of biophysical and structural methods, and hence fragmentbased drug discovery, to screen and characterize fragments against GPCRs was consideredchallenging. It was limited largely because of their low expression levels, low levels offunctional activity and low stability in detergent solutions. However, recent developments in
the Biophysical techniques (e.g. SPR, NMR, X-ray crystallography) have now commonly
replaced the traditional biochemical cell-based or ligand-binding assays coupled with HTS oflarge libraries. The usage of SPR in fragment-based drug discovery has grown exponentiallyover past few years due to the advancements in the Biacore systems that meet themuchneeded sensitivity requirements to detect the low molecular weight fragments. We will
discuss how fragment screens were successfully executed using Biacore system to detect
well characterized fragment hits against non-stabilized wild type GPCRs. This study will also
indicate how fragment hits bound selectively to non-stabilized WTGPCRs’ supporting thevalue of highly sensitive Biacore systems used for screening against non-stabilized wild type
GPCRs’ with preserved structure to identify novel fragment binders.

Biosketch of Speaker
Ruta Nachane, is working as an Application Specialist at Cytiva, India. She is responsible forproviding technical & Application solutions’ support to the customers of Cytiva. This also
includes guiding, training, designing, or setting up of different types of Biacore assays that are
essentialforstudying
bio-molecularinteractions
inthedrug/biopharmaceutical development. She holds a Masters’ degree,
M.Tech., in Bioprocess Technology from the Institute of Chemical
Technology (ICT), Mumbai. Before joining Cytiva, she has worked at
ZoBio, a Contract Research Organization in Leiden, The Netherlands
and Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research & Education in Cancer(ACTREC), India wherein, for 12 years, she was actively involved indesigning & conducting SPR based assays using different Biacore
systems for small molecule drug discovery projects or protein-protein interactions to study
biomolecular interaction characteristics. She has been a speaker at various conferences like
Biopharma 101 organized by Center for Biopharma Analysis at Venture Center, Pune on
analytical characterization of Biopharmaceuticals or at UK-GE healthcare Biacore user
meeting 2015 on her experiences and lessons from Biacore systems in Handling challenging
targets in drug discovery. She has also participated in workshops and oral/poster
presentations at GE healthcare organized ‘Developments in Protein Interaction Analysis’(DiPIA, Berlin 2016) and BeNeLux- GE healthcare user meeting, Netherlands 2013.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

IL16
International Scientific Cooperation and Funding Opportunities from DST
Shri. Sanjeev Kumar Varshney
Adviser & Head - International Cooperation,
Department of Science & Technology
Government of India

Sanjeev Kumar Varshney is head of the International Scientific Cooperation in the Ministry /Department of Science & Technology, Government of India. He joined DST in 1990 and
is facilitating international scientific cooperation from the Department of Science &Technology with its bilateral, multilateral and regional scientific partners. He is Indian CoChair, Governing Body, Indo-German Science & Technology Centre and Indo-US
Endowment Fund; Member, Board of Directors of a private limited company, Global
Innovation & Technology Alliance (GITA) and is Member, Governing Councils of the:(1) US- India Education Foundation (USIEF), and (2) International Advanced ResearchCentre of Powder Metallurgy (ARCI). He is Indian Focal Point for BRICS Working Group on
Science & Technology and OECD Committee on Science & Technology Policy. He isMember, Board of Research Studies in Department of Geology, Aligarh Muslim University.
He has worked as Counsellor (S&T) with Embassy of India in Moscow to facilitate bilateralscientific cooperation between India and Russia during April 2008 - June 2011. He has
been contributing to promotion of international scientific cooperation as well as scientific –industrial cooperation.
He completed Master in Geology in 1984 from Aligarh Muslim University with
University Medal for obtaining first position. He qualified UGC NET in 1985 for JuniorResearch Fellowship and lectureship. He pursued research at University of Delhi during
1985-1990 on Himalayan river systems, sedimentation, diagenetic and tectonic
modifications. He was also awarded Dr DN Wadia Research Fellowship in 1986 for his
research on Himalayan Geology.
He is Life Fellow of Geological Society of India, Bangalore; Nepal GeologicalSociety, Kathmandu and member of International Association of Sedimentologists, Oxford.
He also has numerous certifications to his credit. He also taught at Kurukshetra
University in 1990. He has written several articles on Science Policies focusing on
International Scientific cooperation. He is also involved in science popularization
for which he writes in newspapers and magazines (online/offline).

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures73

Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

IL17
Imaging and controlling G-protein coupled receptors activities in living cells
Takeaki Ozawa
Department of Chemistry, School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan
E-mail: ozawa@chem.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Abstract: A current trend of bioanalysis is to deeply understand life phenomena andpractically apply the knowledge to medical and pharmaceutical fields. To analyze thebiological events in living cells, technologies related to fluorescence andbioluminescence imaging have been advancing rapidly in the past decade.
Remarkable progress has been achieved in the monitoring of bioactive small
molecules, protein conformational changes, protein localization and dynamics, andprotein-protein interactions in real-time at the level of single living cells and organisms.
We have developed a novel design of engineered fluorescent molecules, proteins andluciferases for the analysis of intracellular signalling(1-4). I herein focused on theanalysis of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) using split luciferase
complementation, single molecule fluorescence imaging and optogenetics techniques.
The split luciferase complementation technique allowed for visualizing protein-protein
interactions under the bioluminescence microscopy and quantifying temporal changesof the interactions in living cells(5). The fluorescence imaging enabled to clarify therole of the transient oligomerization of GPCRs in the signal transduction(6). The
optogenetics opened a new avenue to analyze the GPCR endocytosis and recycling
process using β-arrestin(7). These less-invasive techniques are widely applicable forunderstanding complex biological systems with high spatiotemporal resolution.

References:
1. Z. Lei, M. Endo, H. Ube, T. Shiraogawa, P. Zhao, K. Nagata, X.-L. Pei, T. Eguchi, T.
Kamachi, M. Ehara , T. Ozawa* and M. Shionoya*, Nature Commun., in press.
2. M. Hattori, S. Haga, H. Takakura, M. Ozaki and T. Ozawa, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA,2013, 110, 9332-9337.
3. T. Ozawa, Y. Natori, M. Sato and Y. Umezawa, Nature Methods, 2007, 4, 413-419
4. T. Ozawa, Y. Sako, M. Sato, T. Kitamura, and Y. Umezawa, Nature Biotechnol., 2003, 21,287-293.
5. M. Hattori, S. Haga, H. Takakura, M. Ozaki and T. Ozawa, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA,2013, 110, 9332-9337.
6. T. Nishiguchi, H. Yoshimura, R.S. Kasai, T.K. Fujiwara and T. Ozawa, ACS Chem.
Biol.,2020, 18, 2577-2587.
7. O. Takenouchi, H. Yoshimura and T. Ozawa, Sci. Rep., 2018, 8, 677.

74

Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Takeaki Ozawa
Professor
Department of Chemistry
School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan
E-Mail: ozawa@chem.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Homepage:http://www.chem.s.utokyo.ac.jp/users/analyt/index.html
Professor Takeaki Ozawa received his PhD in 1998 from the University of Tokyo,
Japan. He spent five years as a research associate thereafter, and two years as alecturer at the same University. In 2005, he took an independent position as an
associate professor at the Institute for Molecular Science, Aichi, Japan for two years.
He is currently a professor at the Department of Chemistry, School of Science, theUniversity of Tokyo. His research interest is to develop novel analytical methods forimaging biomolecules with different optical techniques and also controllingbiomolecules with external light in living cells.

75Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL18

Bright FIT-PNAs: Sensitive probes for RNA detection
Eylon Yavin
The School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
Hadassah Ein-Kerem, Jerusalem 91120, Israel, E-mail: eylony@ekmd.huji.ac.il
PNAs (peptide nucleic acid) are synthetic DNA analogs that have been used for therapeutic(antisense and splice switching oligos) and diagnostic purposes. One diagnostic approachrelies on the introduction of a cyanine dye (e.g. Thiazole Orange, TO) replacing a natural basein the PNA sequence (FIT-PNA: forced intercalation-PNA)1. Such a surrogate base, whenintroduced into FIT-PNA, fluoresces only upon FIT-PNA hybridization to the complementarytarget DNA/RNA.
In 20162 we reported the synthesis of a new cyanine dye denoted as BisQ. BisQ has two
quinoline rings separated by a monomethine bond (Figure). Importantly, BisQ fluoresces in the
red region (,em=613 nm), which is more suitable for biological systems. As the local
environment around BisQ is expected to influence its brightness (where BR=ϕxε; where
ϕ=quantum yield and ε =extinction coefficient), we are now exploring a variety of chemical
modifications as means to increase BR. This, in turn, should improve the sensitivity of FITPNAs to their complementary RNA targets.
Recently, our laboratory has shown that introducing cyclopentane-modified PNA (cpPNA)
monomers adjacent to BisQ dramatically increased the florescence of FIT-PNAs in duplex
form (with complementary RNA).3 We are now exploring other chemical modifications such as
cpBisQ (where the cyclopentane backbone is introduced directly onto the BisQ monomer,
Figure) and positively charged purines such as G+ (Figure). In the case of cpG+, aremarkable increase in fluorescence was observed making it a most promising FIT-PNA
candidate. In sum, we believe that these newly designed FIT-PNAs will be by far superior as
diagnostic probes for RNA detection.

Figure. Chemical modifications surrounding the surrogate base (BisQ) as means of improving
the brightness of the RNA sensors (FIT-PNAs)
References and notes:
1.
O. Koehler, D. V. Jarikote and O. Seitz, ChemBioChem 2005, 6, 69–77.
2.
N. Kolevzon, D. Hashoul, S. Naik, A. Rubinstein and E. Yavin, Chem. Commun. 2016,
52, 2405-2407.
3.
O. Tepper, H. Zheng, D. Appella and E. Yavin, Chem. Commun. 2021, 57, 540.1.

76

Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Eylon Yavin
Associate Professor
The School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew
University of Jerusalem
E-Mail: eylony@ekmd.huji.ac.il
Homepage: https://eylony.wixsite.com/yavinlab

Eylon Yavin received his MSc and PhD degrees in the field of Bioroganic Chemistryfrom the Weizmann Institute of Science (Rehovot, Israel) under the supervision ofProf. Abraham Shanzer. In 2003 he joined the group of Prof. Jaqueline K. Barton at
Caltech (CA, USA) as a postdoctoral fellow. At the Barton lab Eylon studied DNAmediated electron transfer. In 2006, Eylon joined the School of Pharmacy at the
Hebrew University (Israel) for a tenure track position. He developed peptides as
mitochondria-targeted vehicles as well as peptides as chemical nucleases. In the past
decade the lab has shifted to the field of PNA (peptide nucleic acids) that are being
developed as diagnostic and therapeutic molecules. Eylon served as the president of
the Medicinal Chemistry Section of the Israel Chemical Society. He currently serves
as an Editorial Advisory Board member of Molecules and is head of the Excellence
program at the School of Pharmacy.

77

Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL19

DNA based programmable nanodevices to instruct biological systems
Dhiraj D Bhatia
Biological Engineering Discipline, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Palaj
382355, Gujarat India. E-mail: dhiraj.bhatia@iitgn.ac.in
Abstract: My laboratory ask how nanometer-sized biomolecules transmit and integrate
information across much larger length scales of the orders of cells and tissues. We seek toexplore how collections of macromolecules work together to establish a common functional
system like cellular pathways, organelles, living cells and further into tissues, organs andentire organisms. Different biomolecules establish long-range orders in living systems by selfassembling into much larger structures, such as molecular complexes, membranes, andcytoskeletal organelles, intra- and inter-cellular contacts, and long range contacts. The main
theme of our lab will be understand the assembly principles of biological systems and theroles they play in living cells, tissues and full organisms...and further developing technologies
to modulate the same.
To address these problems, we adapt multidisciplinary, bottom-up approach using
DNA nanotechnology. DNA has immense potential to arrange the matter at nanoscale withextreme robustness and spatial specificity. The compatibility of DNA to interface with otherbiomolecules like proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, small molecules make DNA a natural choiceof material for bottom-up self-assembly. Thus, we will merge the complex programmability of
DNA nanotechnology with the structural and functional diversity of other biomolecules. Ourinterdisciplinary research, along with national and international collaborations with experts, willleverage expertise from chemistry, nanotechnology, biophysics, biology, engineering, andmedicine. The overarching goal of the my team would be to translate laboratory findings into
the development of new therapeutic strategies.

References and notes:
1. Rajwar, A.; Bhatia, A, ACS Nano, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.2c01382
2. Hivare, P.; Bhatia, D, Nanoscale, 2022, 14, 8611–8620
3. Menon, D., Bhatia, D, J Mater Chem B, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1039/D2TB00459C
4. Singh, U,; Bhatia, D, Nanoscale Advances, 2022, 4, 1375–1386
5. Gangrade, A,; Bhatia, D, Nanoscale, 2021,13, 16834–16846

78

Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Dr. Dhiraj Devidas Bhatia
Assistant Professor and DST-Ramanujan Fellow
Department of Biological Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar,
Near Palaj, Gandhinagar 382355, Gujarat, India
Phone no: +91-79-2395-2537
E-mail: dhiraj.bhatia@iitgn.ac.in
Website:https://www.iitgn.ac.in/faculty/biology/dhirajtm
Dhiraj Bhatia completed his MSc in Organic Chemistry from University of Pune in2007 and obtained his PhD from NCBS-TIFR in Bangalore, India, in DNA
nanotechnology, under the guidance of Prof. Yamuna Krishnan. He baggedinternational travel awards and Lily best thesis award and TAA Zita Lobo award for histhesis in 2013. He then moved to Curie Institute in Paris to join the team of Ludger
Johannes initially as a Curie fellow and later as an HFSP long-term fellow where helearnt the cellular and biological applications of DNA nanodevices. In 2018, he moved
to India to start his own laboratory at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar
where he is an Assistant Professor and Ramanujan fellow. His lab focusses ontranslational aspects of DNA nanotechnology to develop tools to program biologicalsystems for biomedical applications. He has received Merck Young Scientist award in2019 (runner up) and Ramalingaswami fellowship from DBT (declined). He has
contributed to multiple national and international meetings in past three years and has
published more than 50 papers in the short span of 3 years from IITGN in journals ofinternational repute like ACS Nano, Nanoscale, Nanoscale advances, ACS appliedbiomaterials, ChemBioChem, etc. He has a dynamic team of 4 postdocs, 8 PhD
students and 6 MTechs and JRFs.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL20

Finetuning electrophiles reactivity to induce target selectivity
Dharmaraja Allimuthu
Department of Chemistry
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India.
E-mail: atdharma@iitk.ac.in
Abstract: Rational drug design in covalent therapeutics and the emergence ofpowerful chemoproteomics platforms for target identification proved to be highly
successful in identifying several unique therapeutic candidates in the past couple ofdecades. Despite the sharp rise in the knowledge base of the field, the off-target
effects associated with the non-selective reactivity of electrophilic molecules havebeen a roadblock to the development of selective covalent therapeutics. The unmet
need in this field is to understand the reactivity profiles of electrophilic warheads with
nucleophilic amino acids and introduce selective reactivity in them. Isatoic anhydride(IA) is a potential electrophile with a capacity to react with nucleophilic amino acids
with the release of thermodynamically more stable carbon dioxide during its
modification. Here we show that incorporating appropriate chemical handles in the IA
scaffold tips the selectivity balance between thiol (cysteine) or amine (lysine)
nucleophiles in vitro and with recombinant proteins. Further, we demonstrate themolecules’ propensity to modify cellular proteome using activity-based protein profilingexperiments with HEK cell lysate and its applicability as protease inhibitors. This is apromising start for modulating electrophiles to imprint target selectivity at the stage ofcovalent modification

Figure 1. Finetuning the reactivity of IA-derivatives with appropriate chemical handles
References and Notes:
1. Shen J. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2019, 141, 6553−6560
2. Moorman, A.R. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1982, 104, 6785-6786
3. Hacker, S. M. et al., Nat. Chem, 2017, 9, 1181–1190
4. Ursuegui, S. et al., Org. Biomol. Chem., 2015, 13, 3625–3632
5. Abbasov, M. E. et al., Nat. Chem. 2021, 13, 1081–1092

80

Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Dharmaraja Allimuthu
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpu
E-mail: atdharma@iitk.ac.in
Homepage: https://dachembiolab.weebly.com/

Dr. Dharmaraja Allimuthu is a trained chemical biologist who is working at theinterface of organic chemistry and cell biology. Dharma received his PhD from IISERPune (2015-2010; Prof Harinath Chakrapani) in medicinal chemistry and thenundertook postdoctoral studies with Dr Drew Adams (School of Medicine, Case
Western Reserve University, Ohio, USA; 2015-2018) on exploring neurodegenerative
disease biology. Dharma Joined the IITK-Chemistry department in Dec-2018.
Currently, Dharma’s lab is working on developing small molecule-based covalent drug
discovery platforms employing activity-based protein profiling and chemoproteomics toaccelerate the drug discovery process.

81

Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL21

Chemical Glycan Editing
Srinivas Hotha
Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER),
Pune, E-mail: s.hotha@iiserpune.ac.in
Abstract: Existing strategies for the syntheses of oligosaccharides follow convergent,
divergent, chemical or enzymatic routes. Contrary to these, nucleic acids enjoy theunique advantage of PCR, polymerases, and editing methods such as CRISPR 1 whichhave advanced the field to an unprecedented level. Unlike nucleic acids,
oligosaccharides are lagging behind due to inherent challenges in their syntheses. 2
In this lecture, a working framework will be presented for the editing ofoligosaccharides viz. Cut-Insert-Stitch Editing Reaction (CIStER) technology thatstands on the subtle reactivity patterns (Figure 1).

Figure. Chemical Glycan Editing

References and notes:
1. Hille, F.; Richter, H.; Wong, S. P.; Bratovič, M.; Ressel, S.; Charpentier, E. Cell, 2018,
172, 1239-1259.
2. Xue, Y.; Dong, G. Acc. Chem. Res. 2022
(https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.accounts.2c00400)

82

Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Srinivas Hotha
Professor
Department of Chemistry
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune
E-Mail: s.hotha@iiserpune.ac.in
Homepage: http://www.iiserpune.ac.in/~s.hotha

Srinivas Hotha earned his MSc (Chemistry) from University of Hyderabad in 1993,
MTech (Biochem Engg) from IT-BHU, Varanasi in 1995 and Ph. D. in Chemistry fromOsmania University in 2001 for the work he carried out in IICT Hyderabad and NCL
Pune under the supervision of Dr. Mukund Gurjar. He was a Charles H. Revson
postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Tarun Kapoor at Rockefeller University, New York USA.
He returned to India, joined NCL Pune as a scientist and subsequently relocatedIndian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune in November 2010
wherein he is currently a Professor and Dean of Planning and Communications.
His research interests in the application of catalytic methods for the synthesis ofoligosaccharides of biological significance. Notably, he has developed, pioneered andnurtured the gold-catalyzed glycosidation method over the past 15 years.

83Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL22

Bacterial rare sugars: what can we do with them?
Suvarn S. Kulkarni
Department of Chemistry, IIT Bombay, Powai
E-mail: suvarn@chem.iitb.ac.in
Abstract: Bacterial glycoconjugates are comprised of rare D and L deoxy amino
sugars, which are not present on the human cell surface. This peculiar structuraldifference allows discrimination between the pathogen and the host cell and offers
avenues for target-specific drug discovery and carbohydrate-based vaccine
development.1 However, they cannot be isolated with sufficient purity in acceptableamounts, and therefore chemical synthesis is a crucial step toward the development ofthese products.2,3 We recently established short and convenient methodologies forthe synthesis of orthogonally protected bacterial D and L-deoxy amino
hexopyranoside and glycosamine building blocks starting from cheaply available Dmannose and L-rhamnose.4,5 The one-pot protocols rely on highly regioselective
nucleophilic displacements of triflates. These procedures have been applied to thesynthesis of various bacterial glycoconjugates4-9 as well as metabolic oligosaccharide
engineering.10,11 The studies led to discovery of selective inhibitors of glycan
biosynthesis.12 In this talk I will present our collaborative studies on metabolic labelingexperiments leading to novel inhibitors of bacterial cell-wall glycan biosynthesis.
1. Dube, D.H.; Champasa, K.; Wang, B. Chem. Commun. 2011, 47, 87-101.
2. Kulkarni, S. S.; Wang, C. C.; Sabbavarapu, N. M.; Podilapu, A. R.; Liao, P. H.; Hung, S.-C.
Chem. Rev. 2018, 118, 8025–8104.
3. Emmadi, M.; Kulkarni, S. S. Nat. Prod. Rep. 2014, 31, 870-879.
4. Emmadi, M.; Kulkarni, S. S. Nature Protocols 2013, 8, 1870-1889.
5. Sanapala, S. R.; Kulkarni S. S. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 4938−4947.
6. Behera. A.; Rai, D.; Kulkarni, S. S. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 456-467.
7. Santra, A.; Xiao, A.; Yu, H.; Li, W.; Ngo, L.; McArthur, J. B.; Chen, X. Angew. Chem. Int.Ed.
2018, 57, 2979-2983.
8. Zhang, Q.; Gimeno, A.; Santana, D.; Wang, Z.; Valdés-Balbin, Y.; Rodríguez-Noda, L. M.;
Hansen, T.; Kong, L.; Shen, M.; Overkleeft, H.-S.; Vérez-Bencomo, V.; Van der Marel, G. A.;
Jiménez-Barbero, J.; Chiodo, F.; Codée, J. D. C. ACS Cent. Sci. 2019, 5, 1407-1416.
9. Wang, P.; Huo, C.-x.; Lang, S.; Caution, K.; Nick, S. T.; Dubey, P.; Deora, R.; Huang, X.
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 6451-6458.
10. Clark, E. I.; Emmadi, M.; Krupp, K. L.; Podilapu, A. R.; Helble, J. D.; Kulkarni, S. S.;
Dube, D. H. ACS Chem. Biol. 2016, 11, 3365-3373.
11. Luong, P.; Ghosh, A.; Moulton, K. D.; Kulkarni, S. S.; Dube, D. H. ACS Infect. Dis. 2022, 8,
889–900.
12. Williams, D. A.; Pradhan, K.; Paul, A.; Olin, I. R.; Tuck, O. T.; Moulton, K. D.; Kulkarni, S.
S.; Dube, D. H. Chem. Sci. 2020, 11, 1761-1774.

84

Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker

Suvarn S. Kulkarni
Institute Chair Professor
Department of Chemistry
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai
E-Mail: suvarn@chem.iitb.ac.in
Homepage: https://www.chem.iitb.ac.in/facultyuserview/suvarn-kulkarni
Suvarn Kulkarni received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from University of Pune in
2001. After his Ph. D., he pursued his post-doctoral research at Academia Sinica,
Taipei, and University of California, Davis. He returned to India in late 2008 and held afaculty position at IACS Kolkata prior to joining the Indian Institute of Technology
Bombay in 2009. He subsequently rose to the rank of full professor in 2016 andpresently working as Institute Chair Professor. His current research interests include
devising newer ways for efficient chemical synthesis of complex glycoconjugates
implicated in various infectious diseases.
Suvarn was a short term Visiting Professor (MOST) at Taiwan in 2014. He is a Fellowof the Royal Society of Chemistry London and Fellow of Maharashtra Academy of
Science. He is a recipient of the CRSI Bronze medal for the year 2017 and Dr. H. C.
Srivastava Young Scientist award 2016. He is a member of the editorial board of
Carbohydrate Research and guest editor of international journals such as EJOC andFrontiers in Chemistry. Recently he received IRCC research Dissemination Award
from IITB. Most importantly, he was selected by the students for the Excellence inTeaching Award at IIT Bombay in 2017 and very recently for the prestigious Prof. S. P.
Sukhatme Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2020.

85

Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL23

Biomimetic Total Synthesis of Marine Anticancer Alkaloids
Rajesh Viswanathan
Department of Chemistry & Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education andResearch (IISER) Tirupati, E-mail: rajesh@iisertirupati.ac.in
Abstract: With alarming rise of chemotherapeutic resistance, there is an urgent needto develop new-age therapeutics. Marine nocardioazines are anti-cancer natural
products that inhibit p-glycoprotein-mediated (PgP) drug efflux. Our total synthesis of(+)-nocardioazine alkaloids and their analogues are concise and enantiospecific andillustrate our approach to turn endogenous substrates into inhibitors of PgP (seeFigure below). Few of the key transformations that will be highlighted include: regioand-stereoselective C3/C2-Tryptophan prenylations & functionalization, Coperearrangements, pyrroloindoline construction; Pictet-Spengler and terpene
cyclizations. These afford non-toxic P-glycoprotein inhibitors, as leads for biologicalevaluation. The presentation will illustrate direct biomimetic functionalization ofcomplex natural products (from marine origin) that offer rich diversity of bioactive
molecules. Their sustainable total synthesis helps in building pharmacophores forbiological evaluation.
Biomimetic Studies of Natural Products

Highlights of Recent Studies

YTR

•
•
•
•
•
•

Enables direct isoprenylation
Modular assembly – 7 steps (shortest)
Stereoselectivity for prenylation > 19:1 (1H)
Minimal protecting groups
Overall yields ranging: 13.9 % to 23.6%
Spectral characterization through1H; 13C; COSY, ROESY, NOESY,
HMBC, HSQC & HRMS
• Synthetic pathway provides easy accessto P-gp inhibitors as leads

JOC 2014, 79, 10049; ACS Synthetic Biology, 2016, 5, 547; OBC, 2015, 13, 7177;
ACS Omega. 2021, 16, 10840; Nature Commun. 2022, In revision
J. Org. Chem. 2022, In press.

References:
1. Biocatalysts from cyanobacterial hapalindole pathway afford antivirulent isonitriles
against MRSA. Journal of Biosciences, 2021, 46, 0039.
2. Two distinct cyclodipeptide synthases from a marine actinomycete catalyze
biosynthesis of the same diketopiperazine natural product ACS Synthetic
Biology, 2016, 5, 547–553
3. Structure-guided synthesis and mechanistic studies reveal sweetspots on naphthyl
salicyl hydrazone scaffold as non-nucleosidic competitive, reversible inhibitors ofhuman ribonucleotide reductase J. Med. Chem. 2018, 61, 666-680
4. Potent competitive inhibition of human ribonucleotide reductase by a non-nucleosidesmall molecule. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., 2017, 114, 8241-8246.
86

Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of the Speaker
Rajesh Viswanathan
Associate Prof. and Associate Dean, Academics
Department of Chemistry & Biology
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Tirupati
Email: rajesh@iisertirupati.ac.in
Homepage: www.iisertirupati.ac.in

Rajesh Viswanathan received his master’s degree in Chemistry from Indian Institute ofTechnology, Kanpur in 1999. His MS-thesis project was on peptidomimetics with Prof. Javed
Iqbal. His Ph. D. studies were in synthetic organic chemistry from Indiana Univ. in 2005 under
the supervision of Prof. Jeffrey N. Johnston. His thesis work focused on strategies for total
synthesis of cyanobacterial alkaloids. He was a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Dale Poulter at
the University of Utah, USA, where he developed prenyltransferase-based chemoenzymatic
strategies to construct biosensors. Subsequently, he joined Case Western Reserve University(Dept. of Chemistry) as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to Frank Hovorka AssistantProfessor and received Faculty Excellence Award (2014) and was the Gamma Sigma Alpha
Outstanding Prof. awardee in 2016. At Case Western, he served as the Board member for the
Small Molecule Drug Discovery Core [SMDDC] and a Co-Investigator for a Program Project
Grant, funded by the National Institutes of Aging (NIH P01). He serves as a consultant
chemist for Gingko Bioworks, Boston – a synthetic biology firm interested in sustainable
platforms for production of fine chemicals and perfumes.
He joined Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Tirupati in 2018 andcurrently is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Academics. His research program
has received SERB-CRG award (Organic Chemistry) and the National Science Foundation
grant. He also serves as an Editorial Board member of the Journal of Biosciences (Springer
and IASc). His research interests are in the areas of biomimetic construction of natural
products, biosynthetic pathway studies and medicinal chemistry.

87

Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

IL24
Discovery and Development of medicines for Malaria: progress, challenges andrecommendations
Shailja Singh, Special Center for Molecular Medicine, JNU, New Delhi
E-mail: shailja.jnu@gmail.com
Abstract: Malaria remains the public threat in tropical world. The ongoing need todevelop new anti-malarial drugs that are effective against multi-drug-resistant parasite
has spurred the research community to invest in various drug discovery strategies,
one of which is to provide scientific evidence in support of the traditional use of thenatural compounds. While still nascent in the anti-malarial field, the approach is
gaining traction in both at the research and pharma industry level. While the approachhas particular promise in fast-development of compounds into clinical use, it
nevertheless demands careful research and mechanistic studies. My talk will coverdiscovery and design of compounds for anti-malarial purposes. I will discuss enabling
screening platforms for anti-malarial discovery and present encouraging findings of
our lab towards novel anti-malarial therapeutic strategies.
References and notes:
1.
Kumari G., Jain R., Kumar R.S., Kalia I., Vashistha M., Singh P. Singh A.P., Samby K.,
Burrows J., Singh S*. Biochemical Pharmacology 2022, 115154. doi:
10.1016/j.bcp.2022.115154.
2.
Vigyasa Singh, Rahul Singh Hada, Ravi Jain, Manu Vashistha, Geeta Kumari, Snigdha
Singh, Neha Sharma, Meenakshi Bansal, Poonam, Martin Zoltner, Conor R Caffrey, Brijesh
Rathi, Shailja Singh*. Eur J Med Chem. 2022, 239, 114534. doi:
10.1016/j.ejmech.2022.114534.
3.
Malabika Chakrabarti, Nishant Joshi, Geeta Kumari, Preeti Singh, Rumaisha Shoaib,
Akshay Munjal, Vikash Kumar, Ankita Behl, Mohammad Abid, Swati Garg, Sonal Gupta,
Shailja Singh*. Sci Rep. 2021, 11, 4688. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-83513-5. PMID: 33633135.
4.
More KR, Kaur I, Giai Gianetto Q, Invergo BM, Chaze T, Jain R, Huon C,
Gutenbrunner P, Weisser H, Matondo M, Choudhary JS, Langsley G, Singh S*, Chitnis CE(2020). doi: 10.1128/mBio.01287-20.PMID: 32817103.
5.
Chakrabarti M, Garg S, Rajagopal A, Pati S, Singh S., Dis Model Mech. 2020 13
dmm042820. doi: 10.1242/dmm.042820.PMID: 32493727
6.
Jain R., Gupta S., Munde M., Pati S., Singh S*. Biochemical Journal,2020, 477, 1951–
1970.
7.
Jain R., Gupta S., Munde M., Pati S., Singh S*. Biochemical Journal,2020, 477, 1951–
1970..
8.
Gupta S, Khan J, Kumari P, Narayana C, Ayana R, Chakrabarti M, Sagar R, Singh S*
Malar J. 2019, 18, 346.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Shailja Singh
Associate Professor
Special Center for Molecular Medicine
Director, Advance Instrumentation Research Facility
Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi-110067
National Bioscience Award, DBT, INDIA
GYTI, Award, INDIA
Shailja Singh a trained molecular parasitologist with more than 19 years of researchexperience has received many awards for her research work i.e. Innovative Young
Biotechnologists Award 2010, Senior Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award 2013, National
Bio-Scientist Award 2018, Ghandhian Young technology Innovation (GYTI) award 2018 by
Honorable President of India. Shailja’s fundamental research on biology of human parasites(Malaria and Leishmania) has shown a great potential in TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH
towards drug discovery and development. Recently her research work has shown a potential
in improving the efficacy of an age-old antimalarial drug Artesunate. A nanomedicine-based
Artesunate with surface coated iron oxide nanoparticles has enhanced anti-malarial potential
in P. falciparum and its multidrug-resistant strain. Her PhD students with team has got
Ghandhian Young technology Innovation (GYTI) award 2018 for this work. To eliminate thisdeadly disease malaria, blocking of growth and transmission both are equally important,
Shailja’s extensive research in the discover and development of new drugs against growthand gametogenesis can be applied to assist our country’s malaria elimination efforts. Her workwith collaboration with Institut Pasteur, Paris discovering the patatin-like phospholipase
regulating perforin discharge and gametocyte egress has a potential to be exploited to blocktransmission of malaria. Shailja’s research work has contributed more than 140 papers with
1073 citations and h-index = 18, i10-index = 25 (according to Google Scholar). Shailja is partof the International Centers of Excellence for Malaria Research (ICEMRs), USA in India
funded by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), USA. She serves as an expert of the Medicines for Malaria Venture(MMV,
Switzerland)ExpertScientific
Advisory
Committee(ESAC)
https://www.mmv.org/about-us/people- governance/expert-scientific-advisory-committee-esac.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL25

Building Biomaterials through Genetic Code Expansion
Niraikulam Ayyadurai
Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, CSIR - Central Leather ResearchInstitute, Chennai, Tamil Nadu – 600020, India. E-mail: ayyadurai@clri.res.in
Abstract: Genetic code expansion accomplishes directed incorporation of unnaturalamino acids (UNAA) to the active core that engineer’s protein with dedicated structureand functions. Our group is based on the vision to create tunable biomaterials withnew genetic codes to elucidate life on a molecular level and to develop related
technologies. Structurally protein biomaterials are tandem repeats originated fromanimals, that intrinsically includes UNAAs generated through post-translational
modifications to execute assigned functions. Though advanced, the conventional
genetic engineering approaches using prokaryotic system has limited scope inbiosynthesis of functionally active biomaterials with UNAA. Codon suppression andreassignment introduces UNAAs through global incorporation, accomplishes theredesigning of engineered proteins to mimic natural matrix-cell interactions for tissue
engineering. Expanding the genetic code engineers’ biomaterials with catechol,
growth factor mimics via UNAA facilitate matrix-cell interactions, cell processes,
thereby expressing tissue-specific genes and proteins. Overall, the trends inengineering protein emerges promising in achieving tissue informed, tissue compliant
tunable biomaterials.
Figure.

References and notes:
1. Sisila, V; Indhu, M.; Janani R,; Ayyadurai, N. Trends in Biotech. 2022,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2022.07.003
2. Ilamaran M,; Ashokraj S,; Ganesh S,; Ayyadurai, N. Biomat Adv. 2022.139, 212997 213012
3. George A,; Aarthy M,; Hemalatha T,; Sowmya S,; Kamini NR,; Ganesh S,; Ayyadurai,
N. Adv Healthcare Mat. 2021, 2001832.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Niraikulam Ayyadurai
Principal Scientist
Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology,
CSIR - Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai,
Tamil Nadu – 600020, India. Email: ayyadurai@clri.res.in
Homepage: https://clri.org/EmployeProfile/294_
Dr.N._Ayyadurai_.html

N. Ayyadurai received his master’s degree in microbiology from Madurai Kamaraj
University, Madurai in 2000 and Ph.D. in Biotechnology from Pondicherry University,
Pondicherry in 2006 under the supervision of Prof. Sakthivel. He was a KOSEF
postdoctoral fellow with Prof. SunGu Lee at Pusan National University, Busan, South
Korea, where he developed expanding the genetic code to introduce unnatural aminoacids to fluorescent proteins to understand the autocatalytic fluorescent modification of
the chromophore. Subsequently, he joined as an Assistant Professor in the
Biotechnology department at Yeungnam University, South Korea. He joined as a
Senior Scientist CSIR-Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai in August 2013. He
is currently a Principal scientist; his research interest is to create artificial biodiversity
through expanding the number of amino acids as essential building blocks for protein
synthesis to elucidate the molecular level structure and function. For that, his groupfocused on reprogramming translation machinery by changing the coding rules,
capacities and features of the genetic code, which would certainly never work withoutchemistry. Our approach requires an interdisciplinary approach at the interface ofchemistry, biology and cell biology. We aimed to create tuneable and artificial
biomaterial by changing the chemical make-up of living cells to understand theirstructural interaction to develop orthogonal materials for tissue engineering
applications.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

IL26
Breaking riboswitch speed limits through engineering and rational design of an
RNA-based biosensor
Sudeshna Manna
Department of Chemistry, Henry Eyring Center for Cell and Genome Science
University of Utah, USA
E-mail: sudeshna.manna@utah.edu
Abstract: Riboswitch-based biosensing tools like reporters, aptazymes, and RNAbased fluorescent (RBF) biosensors have wide applications in cell biology,
biotechnology and synthetic biology. A crucial aspect of the applications of these
biosensing tools is their turn-on kinetics in monitoring sensitive and dynamic biologicalprocesses. While considerable effort has been made towards developing new
biosensing tools for interesting ligands, the optimization and investigation of theiractivation rate are often neglected. Also, to our knowledge, there has been no study
that directly compares the in vivo turn-on kinetics of a riboswitch-based biosensor anda reporter. In this context, I am going to present the development of a geneticallyencodable riboswitch-based fluorescent biosensor for guanidine, a known chaotropic
agent, a precursor to explosive compounds and a newly discovered bacterial
metabolite.1,2 Cell permeability of guanidine and nontoxicity of it to E.coli up to mMlevel have enabled us to directly compare the rate of a riboswitch-based biosensor
and a reporter in cells . Our studies reveal that the biosensor gets activated in cells
within 4 min of guanidine addition which is significantly faster than a reporter derived
from the same riboswitch (Fig 1.). Further, I will present two different mutagenesis
strategies to make the biosensor’s response faster. Our study has shown that sitespecific single base pair mutation or site-specific incorporation of an unnatural basepair can significantly ameliorate a biosensor’s activation rate. Together, the talk will
highlight the advantages of using RBF biosensors in tracking dynamic processes andwill display the ways to improve a biosensor’s performance.

Figure. RNA-based fluorescent biosensors for guanidine gets activated within few minutes ofthe ligand addition
References.
1. Manna, S.; Truong, J.; Hammond, M. C. ACS Synth. Biol. 2021, 10, 566–578.
2. Manna, S.; Kellenberger, C. A.; Hallberg, Z. F.; Hammond, M. C. Methods Mol Biol.
2021, 2323, 121-140.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Sudeshna Manna
Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Chemistry
Henry Eyring Center for Cell and Genome Science
University of Utah, USA
E-Mail: sudeshna.manna@utah.edu

Dr. Manna has just completed her first postdoc in the group of Prof. Ming Hammond at
University of Utah, USA, where she works on RNA engineering to develop geneticallyencodable tools for synthetic biology and biotechnology applications. Soon she will
join her 2nd postdoc in the group of Prof. Chase Beisel at the Helmholtz Institute forRNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), Würzburg. She pursued her Ph.D. in 2019 at
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune, India, under thesupervision of Prof. S. G. Srivatsan. Her Ph.D. was focused on the chemical biology of
nucleic acids, particularly on the development of nucleoside probes to understand thestructure and recognition of nucleic acids in the cell-free and cellular environment.
Before joining her Ph.D., she obtained her master’s and bachelor’s degrees inchemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati and Jadavpur
University, Kolkata, India, respectively. Her research interest revolves around nucleic
acids-based sensors and diagnostic tool development and development of xeno
nucleic acids-based therapeutic agents.

93

Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL27

Peptide-Based Functional Assemblies and Coatings
Meital Reches
The Institute of Chemistry and the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, The
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, E-mail: meital.reches@mail.huji.ac.il
Abstract: The lecture will present bio-inspired functional coatings that are
spontaneously formed by short peptides. These peptide-based coatings self-assemble
on metals, oxides, and polymers under mild conditions without any need for a curing
step. The coating can serve many functions. One application is preventing biofouling the undesirable adhesion of biomolecules and organisms to surfaces.(1,2) This processleads to numerous adverse phenomena including hospital-acquired infection, blockageof water desalination facilities, and food contamination. We showed that this coating
prevents the first step of biofouling, which involves the adsorption of bioorganic
molecules to the substrate. Moreover, the coating significantly reduces the attachmentof various organisms such as bacteria and fungi to surfaces. Another function that these
peptide-based coatings can mediate is the adhesion of mammalian cells to implants.(3)This function is important for the integrating of implants into the human body. Finally, we
showed that these peptides self-assemble in solution into particles that adsorb andrelease active compounds that synergistically reduce the number of bacteria, fungi, andviruses on the surface (see Figure 1).(4,5)

Figure 1. Peptide-based assemblies that adhere to surfaces, prevents bacterial adhesion andcan encapsulate active compounds.
References and notes:
1. Maity, S., Nir,S., Zada, T.,Reches, M., Chem. Commun. 2014, 50, 11154.
2. Nir, S., Reches, M. Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 2016, 39, 48.
3. Yuran, S., Dolid, A., Reches, M., ACS Biomater. Eng. 2018, 4, 4051.
4. Nir, S., Zanuy, D., Zada, T., Agazani, O., Aleman, C., Shalev, D. E., Reches, M.,
Nanoscale, 2019, 11, 8752.
5. Hu, T., Agazani, O., Nir, S., Cohen, M., Pan, S., & Reches, M., ACS Appl. Mater.
Interfaces, 2021, 13, 48469.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures

Biosketch of Speaker
Meital Reches
Associate Professor
Institute of Chemistry and the Center for Nanoscience& Nanotechnology
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
E-Mail: meital.reches@mail.huji.ac.il
Homepage: http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/~mreches/

Meital Reches is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Chemistry and the Center
for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Aftercompleting her Ph.D. studies at Tel Aviv University in 2007 and spending three years
as an EMBO and an HFSP postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard University, Prof.
Reches established her independent research group at the Hebrew University in 2010.
Research in the Reches group focuses on understanding the interactions of biologicalentities such as proteins, bacteria, viruses, and cells with surfaces. In addition, hergroup develops surfaces to control these interactions. One example is a peptidebased coating that prevents bacterial adhesion and attracts mammalian cells.
Altogether, Prof. Reches has over 90 papers in peer-reviewed journals (including
Science, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Communications, Advanced Materials, ACS
Nano and PNAS), two book chapters and 13 families of patents. For her innovations,
she was awarded by the Hebrew University with the prestigious Kaye Award forInnovation, the Marie Currie Alumni Association Best Innovator Award, and the Tenne
Family Prize in Nanoscale Sciences.

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Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL28

Comprehensive Computational Studies of Adenosine Receptor
for the Elucidation of Mechanism of Action and Drug Discovery
Sun Choi
Global AI Drug Discovery Center, College of Pharmacy and Graduate School of
Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea
E-mail: sunchoi@ewha.ac.kr
Abstract: G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are known as both gatekeepers andmolecular messengers of the cell through the conversion of extracellular signals tocellular activities. In order to elucidate allosteric modulation and associated intramolecular signaling of GPCR, we employed network centrality analysis to the apo- andagonist-bound forms of A2A adenosine receptor (A2AAR) to reveal the locations of
microswitches, which are crucial for GPCR activation. Moreover, critical long-range
communications were discovered to exist between the extracellular ligand binding site
and intracellular G protein binding site in the agonist-bound form only.
Recently, we discovered novel modulators of A3AR and identified that only minutechemical changes can crossover the boundary between agonistic and antagonistic
effects. To investigate this effect, A3AR homology models were generated based on
ligand pharmacological profiles. To account for the protein flexibility, the binding
modes were predicted through multiple receptor conformations (MRCs). The results
showed that the H-bonding with T94 is critical for the agonistic activity of A3AR.
Remarkably, the network analysis also confirmed that T94 is important for signal flowin the receptor. Taken together, our structure-based studies employing both MRCs
and network analysis can offer useful insights into the allosteric modulation of GPCRs,
which can then be utilized as a powerful tool in structure-based drug discovery.

Reference:
1. Lee, Y.; Hou, X.; Lee, J. H.; Nayak, A.; Alexander, V.; Sharma, P. K.; Chang, H.; Phan, K.;
Gao, Z.-G.; Jacobson, K. A.; Choi, S.*; Jeong, L. S. Subtle Chemical Changes Cross theBoundary between Agonist and Antagonist: New A3 Adenosine Receptor Homology Models
and Structural Network Analysis Can Predict This Boundary. J. Med. Chem. 2021, 64, 125251253.

96

Asian Chemical Biology Initiative (ACBI) Meeting 2022
IISER Pune and Goa: September 14–18, 2022

Invited Lectures
IL29

Universal strategy for live cell distinction by fluorescent imaging probe
Young-Tae Chang
Department of Chemistry, POSTECH, Korea.
E-mail: ytchang@postech.ac.kr
Abstract: Discrimination of each cell type in multicellular organism is the mostimportant first step to figure out the complex cell community and control theirregulation. The current gond-standard method of cell distinction is through establishedantibodies for biomarkers on the cell surface. To surrogate the antibodies, we havedeveloped small fluorescent probes for live cell distinction. In addition to theconventional binding targets i.e. proteins and carbohydrates: Protein Oriented Live-cell
Distinction (POLD) and Carbohydrate Oriented Live-cell Distinction (COLD), we haveextended the scope of biomarkers to transporters, via Gating Oriented Live-cell
Distinction (GOLD) and lipid composition of the cell membrane, via Lipid Oriented
Live-cell Distinction (LOLD). The intrinsically complex nature of life requires further
orthogonal strategy for higher dimension of cell discrimination. Recently, we further
expanded to novel chemical biology approach of Metabolism Oriented Live-cell
Distinction (MOLD) to enrich the toolboxes and strategy choice. The design andmechanism elucidation for various immune cells will provide the new insight for cellselective probe development. Eventually, the multi-dimensional layer of cell distinction
strategy will be the basis of characterizing extremely complex cell communities

Reference
1. Liu, X.; Chang, Y. T.* Chem. Soc. Rev. 2022, 51, 1573-1591.

97

List of Poster Presentation
P01
P02

Presenter Name
Saddam Khatik

P03

Rahul Rajendra Nisal ;Parshuram Malkari
KambaleMayuri Bhadange

P04

Laxman Sawase

P05

Dr. Anupam Sawant

P06

Anirban Das

P07

Ragendu V

P08

Dr. Jupitara Kalita

P09

Manzoor Ahmad

P10

T. Anand Kumar

P11

Karthik G Shanbhag

P12
P13

Ranjana Nataraj
Puneeth Kumar DR

P14

Ruma Ghosh

P15

Sarupa Roy

P16

Rajib Molla

P17

Sandhya N. Mardhekar

P18
P19

Sahil Mulewar
Mishika Virmani

P20

Akanksha Pandey

P21

Prachi M. Ckhopade

P22

Babita Kumari

P23

Kundan Kumar

P24

Firdousi Parvez

P25

Avisikta Upadhyay

Title
Environment-Sensitive Nucleoside Probe Unravels theComplex Structural Dynamics of i-Motif DNAsβ-Sheet Polypeptides and Block Copolymers for Biomedical
applications
Identification of GET3 interacting novel chaperones from
Toxoplasma gondii using proximity biotinylation
A Modular Scaffold for Triggerable and Tuneable Nitroxyl(HNO) Generation with Fluorescence Reporter
Synthesis and Incorporation of Barbitudine as a “Prebiotic
Nucleotide Surrogate” into RNA to Study Early RNA Evolution
An Amphiphilic Small Molecule Driven Inhibition and
Disintegration of Amyloid Fibrils
Linchpin Directed Catalysis technology for traceless siteselective labeling of lysine in native proteins
Structural and functional investigation into the trans-synaptic
complexes mediated by Neurexin, Cerebellin and GluD
receptors
Visible-light phototriggered release of indole-2-carboxamidebased anionophore to induce chloride-mediated apoptosis
inside the cancer cells
A Bacteria-Specific Caged Moxifloxacin with Enhanced
Potency Against Non-Replicating Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Persisters
Mapping and annotation of novel protein interactors ofsignalling lipids
Comprehensive structural analysis of small Ras-like GTPases
A Designed Peptide Chaperone Rescues A42 Aggregation
and Cytotoxicity
Biodegradable Polymer Based Theranostic Probes for
Antimicrobial Activity
Probing G-quadruplexes in HIV-1 Genome with Dual-App
Nucleoside Probes:Potential Tools for Antiviral Therapeutics
LDMC-K technology: Cys-guided precision engineering oflysine in proteins
Profiling Heparan Sulfate-Heavy Metal Ions Interaction
Using Electrochemical Techniques
Self-assembly of Protocell Membranes in Amino Acid Milieu
Excitation Wavelength Dependent Donor-Acceptor TypeESIPT System for Tracing Lysosome pH Heterogeneity inCancer Cells
Probing relative population of non-canonical nucleic acidstructures and their dynamics using nucleoside probes
N-terminal alternative splicing of GluK1 kainate receptors
imparts novel properties and affects receptor modulation by
auxiliary Neto proteins
Effect of drought stress on the bioactive compounds in the
medicinal plant Desmodium gangeticum (L.) D.C (Salparni)
Activity Based Protein Profiling (ABPP) as a tool to map
Serine Hydrolases involved in Drosophila innate immune
response
Understanding the RNA-recognition mechanism of dsRNA
binding domains (dsRBDs) using TAR RNA binding protein(TRBP) as a model system
Chloride Transport across Liposomes and Cells by Non-toxic
3-(1H-1,2,3-Triazol-1-yl)benzamides

98

P26

Abdul Shiraj

P27

Dr. Preeti Ravindra Bhoge

P28
P29

P30

G.V. Anuraag Aithal
Utreshwar Gavhane;
Mohammed Khuddus Md.
Iqbal
Juhi Yadav

P31

Nizam Shaikh

P32

Shweta Jorwekar

P33

Pulak GhoshP34

Shahidkhan Pathan

P35

Arnab Chakraborty

P36

Osama Aazmi

P37

Chitra Shanbhag

P38

Suparna Bhar

P39

Sandip Chattopadhayay

P40

Kajal singh

P41

Suman Manna

P42

Sheweta Nikhar

Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNA) rotamers: Stabilization of PNA
rotamers via extended γ-turn formation in aza-PNA androtamer dependent fluorescence in gemdimethyl PNA
monomers
Shapes of Nanostructures Encode Immunomodulation of
Carbohydrate Antigen and Vaccine Development
Metal-Porphyrin Complexes in Prebiotic Photocatalysis
L-Amino acid-based Polymers for Drug Delivery in Cancer
Cells
Investigation into functional modulators of N-methyl-daspartate (NMDA) receptors.
Wound infection on a chip: A macrofluidic platform torecapitulate the dynamic wound infection microenvironment
Engineering an inducible system to create a plastid
segregation defect in Toxoplasma gondii
Probing incorporation of the microenvironment-sensitive
fluorescent nucleotide substrates by DNA polymerases using
fluorescence and X-ray crystallography
Star Polymer Unimolecular micelles for Drug Delivery inCancer Research
Mapping Physiological Pathways of Lysophosphatidylserine in
Mammalian Tissues and Understanding its Role in
Development
Stress response in protein folding and phase separation
behaviour of RNA-recognition motif (RRM)
A small molecule inhibits GTPase activity mediated by aprotein-protein complex of signal recognition particle (SRP)
pathway
GluK1-kainate receptors: Investigations into role of lipids inmodulation of their functions
Cation-Anion Symporting Supramolecular Channel With Dual
Conductance States
Unimolecular Micelle (UMM) Based Approach to Deliver
MLN8237 for the Inhibition of AURKA to Study RalA MediatedAnchorage Independent Pathways in Cancer
Tracking Sulfur Trafficking through a Mitochondria Targeted
Artificial Substrate of 3-Mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase (3MST)
A “synthetic” approach to understanding vitamin B1
biosynthesis in microbial communities

99