NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES / Cancer
Research Interests
Structural Biology of Membrane Protein Systems; Chloride Intracellular Channels, plasmid fertility inhibition;
Description of Research
We aim to understand membrane protein systems that mediate complex biological processes and translate these for future therapies by using biochemistry, biophysics, enzymology, X-ray crystallography, structure-based drug discovery, cell-based assays tools and through
1) Vitamin-C recycling in human health and crop improvement: we aim to understand the structural basis of Vitamin-C recycling by dimorphic bifunctional dehydroascorbate (DHA) reductases (DHARs) that also act as ion channels. Highly conserved across species, these exist as soluble enzymes and as ion-channels when
Plasmid fertility inhibition (FIN) systems: We try to understand the molecular mechanisms of diverse strategies used by
Novel antibiotic discovery for sepsis: Sepsis mediating bacterial pathogens are especially rampant in neonates and immunocompromised adults. With the emergence of MDR and XDR types, treatment in clinics and hospitals has become challenging, leading to increased morbidity and mortality. Targeting septicaemia with empirical broad-spectrum antibiotics has only led to selection of resistant mutants within the infecting pathogen pool. To reduce the emergence of antimicrobial resistance, targeting essential virulence proteins is an upcoming strategy. We are exploring outer membrane phospholipase A (OMPLA) of Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella
Foldscope for tracking crystallization and imaging: As part of the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India outreach programme, we are taking Foldscopes to schools and colleges in the country for teaching crystallization and imaging.

Publications
Das B.K., Kumar A., Sreekumar S.N., Ponraj K., Gadave K., Kumar S., Murali Achary V.M., Ray P., Reddy M.K., Arockiasamy A. 2021. Comparative kinetic analysis of ascorbate (Vitamin-C) recycling dehydroascorbate reductases from plants and humans. Biochem Biophys Res Commun.; 591:110-117. PubMed link
Panchariya L., Khan W.A., Kuila S., Sonkar K., Sahoo S., Ghoshal A., Kumar A., Verma D.K., Hasan A., Khan M.A., Jain N., Mohapatra A.K., Das S., Thakur J.K., Maiti S., Nanda R.K., Halder R., Sunil S., Arockiasamy A. 2021. Zinc2+ ion inhibits SARS-CoV-2 main protease and viral replication in vitro. Chem Commun (Camb). 57(78):10083-10086. PubMed link
Babu, K., Arulandu, A., Sankaran, K. 2017. The structure of DLP12 endolysin exhibiting alternate loop conformation and comparative analysis with other endolysins. Proteins 86, 210-217 PubMed link
Pothineni, N.V.K., Karathanasis, S.K., Ding, Z., Arulandu, A., Varughese, K.I., Mehta, J.L. 2017. LOX-1 in Atherosclerosis and Myocardial Ischemia: Biology, Genetics, and Modulation. J Am Coll Cardiol 69, 2759-2768 PubMed link
Krishna Das, B., Kumar, A., Maindola, P., Mahanty, S., Jain, S.K., Reddy, M. K., Arockiasamy, A. 2016. Non-native ligands define the active site of Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br dehydroascorbate reductase. BiochemBiophys Res Commun 473, 1152-1157 PubMed link
Verma, A., Chandele, A., Nayak, K., Kaja, M. K., Arulandu, A., Lodha, R., Ray, P. 2016. High yield expression and purification of Chikungunya virus E2 recombinant protein and its evaluation for serodiagnosis. J Virol Methods 235, 73–79 PubMed link