Prof. Nirmalya Bag
Assistant Professor
Profile
Personal Website Bio Stats
nirmalya@chem.iitkgp.ac.in
Room 303, Tower A, JCG-PCR Science Block,
Department of Chemistry,
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur,
West Bengal, India 721302
Education
PhD (Chemistry), National University of Singapore, Singapore
MSc (Chemistry), Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India
Experience
Postdoc: Cornell University, NY
Visiting Scientist: University of Toronto, Canada
Research Statement
Research in our laboratory aims at understanding biological processes at the molecular level through the lens of physical chemistry. We primarily investigate the processes underlying cell’s response to environmental cues/signals (e.g., chemotaxis in response to external chemical stimuli). This is done by a set of plasma membrane bound proteins (such as transmembrane receptors, sensors, and ion channels) that is poised to respond to the environmental changes and initiate an array of biochemical reactions eventually leading to intracellular signal transduction. A key biophysical characteristic of the plasma membrane is its capacity to undergo liquid-liquid phase separation through collectives of lipid-lipid, protein-lipid, and protein-protein interactions. Interestingly, our current work provides strong evidence that phase separation orchestrates the optimality of the plasma membrane localized biochemical reactions necessary for regular cellular functions. This also implies that alternation of membrane phase separation may have non-physiological consequences leading to diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. We employ a wide variety of high resolution fluorescence microscopy and spectroscopy techniques (e.g., super-resolution microscopy, various modalities of fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) especically camera based Imaging FCS, Fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM), single particle tracking, and fluorescence anisotropy) as well as complementary biochemical tools to build the link between membrane biophysics and signalling. We currently focus on two signalling systems involving cell surface immuoreceptor, FcεRI, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) which are key components of our body’s innate immune machinery and development respectively.
Projects
High Resolution Characterization of Plasma Membrane Biophysics and its Impact on Cellular Signaling by Fluorescence Techniques
Client : SERB, India
Consultant : Nirmalya Bag
Co-Consultant(s) : --
Awards and Recognition
No Awards Added yet!
Courses Taught
Chemistry Laboratory (CY19003)
Introduction to Quantum Chemistry and Spectroscopy (CY41009)
Molecular Spectroscopy and Molecular Structure (CY61044)
Molecular Thermodynamics and Molecular Reaction Dynamics (CY41212)
Advanced Physical Chemistry Laboratory (CY49202)
Physical Chemistry Laboratory II (CY39001)
Chemistry (CY11003)
Patents
No Patents Added Yet!
Research Area
Group Members
Arpita Tripathy
Topic: Role of extracellular vesicles in cancer
Email: arpitatripathy05@kgpian.iitkgp.ac.in
Debnath Pratihar
Topic: Peptide-membrane interactions
Email: debnathjgm001@gmail.com
Dishari Medda
Topic: Membrane Biophysics
Email: DISHARIKGP@KGPIAN.IITKGP.AC.IN
Group Alumni
Chetan
Topic: Membrane Biophysics
Email: CHANDANCHETAN1306@KGPIAN.IITKGP.AC.IN