GROUP

Principal Investigator

Dr. Prasad Kasturi

I completed my Bachelor's degree in BSc (Botany, Zoology and Chemistry) from Silver Jubilee Govt Degree College, Kurnool and in Education (B.Ed) from Osmania University, Hyderabad. I obtained MSc (Biotechnology) from School of Biotechnology, Madurai Kamaraj University. After spending a year as a project assistant at CCMB, Hyderabad, I moved to Switzerland for PhD (Department of Biology, University of Fribourg). After getting PhD, I worked briefly as a visiting fellow at University of Lyon, France. Later, I moved to Max-Planck Institute for Biochemistry, Germany. I was in the lab of Prof. Ulrich Hartl at Max-Planck Institute for Biochemistry as a postdoc and group leader. I joined IIT-Mandi as Assistant Professor in December 2019. [more]

PhD Scholars

Prajnadipta Panda, DST- INSPIRE Fellow

I have completed my BSc in Biosciences (2015-18) from Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Bengaluru, and MSc in Life Sciences (2018-20) from Central University of Gujarat. I have done my MSc dissertation at the CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresources and Technology. Currently, I am a DST-INSPIRE Fellow at the Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi. I am interested in protein quality control, protein aggregation, and the pathways that modulate aging. As a part of PhD thesis, my aim is to identify novel modifiers of neuronal protein aggregation and regulators of lifespan using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system.

Pritam Mukherjee, PhD Scholar

I am interested to understand the ways by which we can age healthy and live longer. Specifically finding evidence of the protective roles of protein aggregation during aging in Caenorhabditis elegans. I did my under-graduation from St. Xavier's College, Burdwan, and post-graduation from North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong with DBT Studentship. I joined IIT Mandi in February, 2021.

Rushali Kamath, PhD Scholar

Before I started working with C. elegans during my Ph.D., I majored in Biochemistry during my master’s studies at the University of Mysore in 2020. I was a summer research fellow at JNU, New Delhi, working on GNE myopathy. I later worked briefly as a research associate at IIT Kharagpur, specializing in intrinsically disordered proteins after which I shifted my focus to phase transition and stress proteome analysis. I am interested in the mechanisms of LLPS, and the role of sHSPs in C. elegans proteome.

Apart from research, you’d see me either traveling, cartooning, or writing.

Iram Parveen Ansari, PhD Scholar

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Prasun Kumar Bhunia, JRF

I am keen to explore the mystery of healthy and longer life. More specifically, I want to link the bridge between the extracellular proteostasis network with protein aggregation during aging using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system.
I completed my Bachelor's degree in Microbiology (Hons.) from Midnapore College (Autonomous) in 2020. Later I pursued my Master's in Microbiology from Madurai Kamaraj University, Tamilnadu in 2022. Soon after, I joined IIT Mandi in August 2022.

Master students

Sweta Mondal (2022-2023)

I am pursuing my M. Tech in Biotechnology from IIT Mandi. I did my B. Tech in Biotechnology from Heritage Institute of Technology, Kolkata,2020. I will be doing my master thesis under Dr. Prasad Kasturi titled "Anti-aging potential of selected small molecules in C. elegans". Previously I had done summer research work at Fortis Hospital (Histopathology Department) and at NIT Rourkela.
My hobbies include reading, gardening, and spending time with my pets.

Vishwajeet Raj (2022-2023)

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I completed my B. Tech in Biotechnology from NIT Warangal in 2021 and joined IIT Mandi in August 2021. Currently, I have joined Dr. Prasad Kasturi’s lab and will be working on “Functional analysis of novel proteins during stress and aging”. My hobbies include chess, table tennis, and listening to songs.

Research Interns

Alice Ronita Roy
IISER Kolkata
June 2022

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Ridhima
Panjab University
June 2022

Alumni

Neha Agyal (2020-2021)

Chandan Kumar Pradhan (2021-22)