Molecular Biophysics Unit (MBU)
Recent Submissions
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Structural Studies on Non-toxic Homologues of type II Ribosome Inactivating Proteins (RIPs)
This thesis is concerned with structural and related studies on two non-toxic homologues of type II RIPs. Type II RIPs, which are more toxic than type I, contain an additional lectin chain (B-chain) covalently linked to ... -
Structural and Functional Characterisation of Small Heat Shock Protiens from Mycobacterium Marinum M
Small Heat Shock Proteins (sHSP) are ATP-independent molecular chaperones that exhibit diversity in structure, function and mode of action. They are present ubiquitously in all kingdoms of life. They function mainly by ... -
Pranlukast as an Allosteric Inhibitor of M.Tuberculosis Ornithine Acetyltransferase : Implication Towards Novel Combinatorial Therapy
Tuberculosis (TB) is a deadly disease responsible for the death of approximately 1.5 million people each year, with the highest being from developing nations. Tuberculosis affects mostly the lungs, and other parts of the ... -
Biophysical Studies on Mycobacterium Tuberculosis σ Factor – Regulatory Protein Complexes
Adaptation to external environmental conditions is essential for the survival of a bacterial cell. Bacteria have thus evolved multiple mechanisms to sense environmental stimuli and to couple this information into an ... -
Effects of Cyclic Permutation, Glycan Removal and Aspartate Mutagenesis on Conformation of HIV-1 Envelope
It has been decades since Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 (HIV-1) was discovered. The virus has created havoc worldwide. According to the UNAIDS 2014 Gap report, 35million people worldwide are infected with HIV-1 and yet ... -
G-Protein Coupled Estrogen Receptor (hGPER)- Mediated Action of 17β-Estradiol on hTREK-1 Potassium Channel
TREK-1 is a two-pore domain potassium channel that contributes to maintenance of the resting membrane potential of a cell. TREK-1 is involved in several physiological and pathophysiological conditions like nociception, ... -
Theta-band Spectral Selectivity and Gamma-range Coincidence Detection in Spike Initiation Dynamics of Hippocampal Pyramidal Neurons
In the pursuit to understand information processing in the brain, a general question that is often posed is: What is the neuron encoding? This is addressed by assessing feature selectivity in sensory neurons, which informs ... -
(p)ppGpp and c-di-GMP : A Tale of Two Second Messengers in Mycobacterium smegmatis
Nucleotide based second messengers are known to regulate wide variety of processes in all domains of life. Two such bacterial second messengers are (p)ppGpp (guanosine tetra- or pentaphosphate) and c-di-GMP (cyclic dimeric ... -
HIV-1 Immunogen Design : Envelope Protein Minimization, Stabilization and Glycan Removal
Effective vaccines exist for a number of viral diseases. However, despite much effort, there is no successful vaccine against the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV-1). The envelope glycoprotein (Env) of HIV-1 gp120, the ... -
Rational Elicitation of Cold Sensitive Phenotypes
Conditional gene expression and conditional mutants provide a means to modulate the expression of specific genes and to control the activity of their protein products in vivo, so as to be able to study their effects on the ... -
Plasticity of Intrinsic Excitability in Fast Spiking Interneurons of the Dentate Gyrus & Its Implications for Neuronal Network Dynamics
Inhibitory GABAergic neurons, although forming a minor proportion of the neuronal population in the central nervous system, have been reported to be crucial for different physiological states of the brain. Among the vast ... -
Structure- Function Studies on Triosephosphate Isomerase : Some Old Questions, Some New Insights
This thesis describes biophysical, kinetic, structural, and sequence conservation analysis of the glycolytic enzyme triosephosphate isomerase (TIM). TIM catalyses the diffusion limited isomerization of D-glyceraldehyde-3-phospahte ... -
Crystallization and Preliminary Structural Studies on Mycobacterium tuberculosis RuvX
The deadly pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been characterized for its virulence in immense detail. Regardless of this, the capability of M. tuberculosis to combat extreme stress conditions inside the host cell for ... -
Synergistic Influence of Gene Architecture and Promoter Structure on Transcription in Plants : An in silico Analysis
Understanding the structural organisation of genome and insightful information of gene has helped in exploring the regulation and expression of the gene at a molecular and cellular level. In eukaryotes, the gene regulation ... -
The Role of DNA Structural Features of Eukaryotic Promoter Sequences in Transcription Regulation
(2018-09-04)Understanding the molecular structure of DNA was considered as greatest achievement in modern biology. It helped in understanding fundamental cellular processes such as replication of DNA, nature of the ... -
Computational Analyses of Protein Structure and Immunogen Design
(2018-08-20)The sequence of a polypeptide chain determines its structure which in turns determines its function. A protein is stabilized by multiple forces; hydrophobic interaction, electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bond formation ... -
Structural and Functional Analysis of Proteins involved in Microbial Stress Tolerance and Virulence
(2018-08-11)The genus Salmonella consists of pathogenic gram negative organisms which infect intestines of birds, animals and humans. They are the causative agents of salmonellosis which is characterised by diarrhoea, nausea, fever ... -
Substrate Specificity Determinants of Class III Nucleotide Cyclases
(2018-07-31)Cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP (cAMP and cGMP) are important second messengers in key signal-transduction pathways that mediate various physiological functions in bacteria and eukaryotes. Adenylyl Cyclases (ACs) and Guanylyl ... -
Understanding the Regulatory Steps that Govern the Activation of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis σK
(2018-07-28)A distinctive feature of host-pathogen interactions in the case of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the asymptomatic latent phase of infection. The ability of the bacillus to survive for extended periods of time in the host ... -
GABAA Receptor Mediated Phasic and Tonic Inhibition in Subicular Pyramidal Neurons
(2018-07-28)GABA is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system. It binds to two types of receptors –ionotropic GABAA and metabotropic GABAB. The GABAA receptor directly gates a Clionophore that causes ...
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