School of Arts and Sciences

Year of Joining: 2020

Dissertation Advisor: Ashim Rai

Research Interests: Molecular Mimicry in Bacterial Pathogenesis, Cytoskeletal Remodeling in Host-pathogen Interactions, Reconstitution Biology, Computational Approaches for Drug Repurposing

The cytoskeletal network plays a crucial role in maintaining cell shape, cargo uptake, transport, cell migration, and cell division. Pathogens target this network for cellular entry, replication and spread. Salmonella enterica is a prime example of a bacterium that manipulates cytoskeletal processes for invasion by secreting pathogenic factors that mimic native cytoskeletal proteins. Despite identifying key Salmonella pathogenic factors like SopB, SopE, and SptP as regulators of the cytoskeleton, the mechanisms of molecular mimicry effectuated by these factors are not well understood. My project aims to address this gap through an interdisciplinary approach involving reconstitution biology, and FRET-based conformational biosensors to uncover the structure-function mechanisms and protein interactions used by these factors to hijack the host cytoskeletal network.