Research summary
Our laboratory is involved in unraveling the fundamental molecular mechanism of amyloid formation that has been implicated in a variety of deadly human disorders. We have started investigating the formation of amyloid pore by AFM and Raman spectroscopy and have made an important progress towards the nanoscopic imaging of amyloid fibrils beyond the diffraction-limit. Using near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM), we were able to resolve the fibrils that were spatially separated by ~ 75 nm. We are also investigating membrane-induced folding and amyloid formation of α- synuclein, an intrinsically disordered protein. It has been implicated in a number of potentially important neuronal functions as well as in the etiology of Parkinson’s disease. Based on our results, we proposed a structural model of α-synuclein in the membrane-bound form. Recently, we have embarked upon studying functional prions and amyloids that are implicated in many important biological functions.
For more information about our lab and research please visit Mukhopadhyay group page
Selected Publications
- Structural and Dynamical Insights into the Membrane-bound α-Synuclein N. Jain, K. Bhasne, M. Hemaswasthi& S. Mukhopadhyay* PLoS One2013 (accepted).
- Nanophotonics of Protein Amyloids M. Bhattacharya and S. Mukhopadhyay* Nanophotonics2013 (accepted).
- Dynamics and Dimension of an Amyloidogenic Disordered State of Human β2-Microglobulin D. Narang, P.K. Sharma & S. Mukhopadhyay*Eur. Biophys. J. 2013, 42, 767-776.
- Nanoscopic Amyloid Pores formed via Stepwise Protein Assembly M. Bhattacharya, N. Jain, P. Dogra, S. Samai and S. Mukhopadhyay* J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2013, 4, 480-485.
- Nanoscale Fluorescence Imaging of Single Amyloid Fibrils V. Dalal, M. Bhattacharya, D. Narang,P.K. Sharma and S. Mukhopadhyay* J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2012, 3, 1783-1787. (This work was selected for ACS video slide share).
- Structural and Dynamical Insights into the Molten-globule form of Ovalbumin M. Bhattacharya &S. Mukhopadhyay* J. Phys. Chem. B 2012, 116, 520-531.
- Chain Collapse of an Amyloidogenic Intrinsically Disordered Protein N. Jain, M. Bhattacharya & S. Mukhopadhyay* Biophys. J. 2011, 101, 1720-1729. (Featured in Faculty of 1000: http://f1000.com/13409028).
- Insights into the Mechanism of Aggregation and Fibril Formation from Bovine Serum Albumin M. Bhattacharya, N. Jain & S. Mukhopadhyay* J. Phys. Chem. B. 2011, 115, 4195-4205.
- A natively unfolded yeast prion monomer adopts an ensemble of collapsed and rapidly fluctuating structures S. Mukhopadhyay, R. Krishnan, E.A. Lemke, S. Lindquist and A.A. DenizProc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2007, 104, 2649-2654. (Cited over 120 times)
- Structure and Dynamics of a Molecular Hydrogel S. Mukhopadhyay, UdayMaitra, Ira, G. Krishnamoorthy, J. Scmidt and Y. TalmonJ. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 15905-15914.