3092
kmandal @ tifrh . res . in
FReTB, PI-309
Personal Webpage
Research Overview
Our research is focused on the application of synthetic organic chemistry tools to design and engineer protein molecules, which can have natural or artificial sequences and topologies. We aim to precisely control their biochemical properties. In living organisms, enzymes can degrade natural proteins but cannot recognize a non-natural mirror-image protein unless it is designed to be recognized. Similarly, mirror-image proteins, composed entirely of D-amino acids, are invisible to the natural immune system. Exploiting these two properties, we chemically synthesize mirror-image proteins to interfere with key protein–protein interactions responsible for malaria – a disease that claims nearly half a million lives every year. We utilize multiple biophysical techniques to elucidate the biochemical and structural properties of these novel protein molecules.