Our People

So here we are!

Atasi Ghanti [PhD student – DBT-JRF @ BRIC-RGCB]
Neethu M [PhD student – UGC-JRF @ BRIC-RGCB]
Sonali Ghosal [PhD student – CSIR-SRF @ BRIC-RGCB]
Bimal Jana [PhD student – UGC-SRF @ BRIC-RGCB]
Anagha Das [PhD student – UGC-SRF @ BRIC-RGCB]
Purushottam Patnaik [Project Associate-I @ BRIC-RGCB]
Jinan Parvin [Project JRF @ BRIC-RGCB]
Sovon Acharya [Project SRF @ BRIC-RGCB]
Dharma Rao Tompa [MK Bhan Fellow @ BRIC-RGCB]
Arya P. Nair [Laboratory technician @ BRIC-RGCB]
Archana Samal [PhD student – UGC-SRF @ BRIC-ILS, now at BRIC-RGCB]
Surajit Gandhi [PhD student – UGC-SRF @ BRIC-ILS]
Dileep Vasudevan [Lab head – Scientist F @ BRIC-RGCB]

Interestingly, many of us didn’t have any plan to do what we are doing now. We are a diverse lot (or a mixed bag) with varying interests; still, we form a solid group, cutting the edges. Err! We mean… doing cutting-edge science projects. 😉 We strongly believe in “Unity in Diversity” and come from different parts of the country – Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala. People form our strength, and our progress lies in staying happy.

Atasi Ghanti

BSc (Zoology), Durgapur Government College, Durgapur, Kazi Nazrul University, 2023,
MSc (Biotechnology), BRIC-RGCB, Thiruvananthapuram, 2025.
Joined our group in BRIC-RGCB as an i3C BRIC-RCB PhD scholar in August 2025.
Her PhD is registered with RCB, Faridabad.
Currently, she is pursuing her PhD coursework at RCB, Faridabad.

Atasi joined our group as an i3C BRIC-RCB PhD scholar, with a DBT-JRF. With us, she will work on the structural characterisation of certain membrane-active peptides. Her PhD is registered with the Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB), Faridabad.

Neethu

Neethu M

BSc (Botany), NSS College, Ottappalam, Calicut University, 2019.
MSc (Botany), Mercy College, Palakkad, Calicut University, 2021.
Joined our group in BRIC-RGCB as a PhD scholar in February 2024.
Her PhD is registered with RCB, Faridabad.
Current research interest: Chromatin & infectious disease structural biology

Neethu joined our group with a UGC-JRF. She works on certain histone chaperones from human parasites. Her PhD is registered with the Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB), Faridabad.

Sonali Ghosal

BSc (Zoology), Salipur Autonomous College, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, 2018.
MSc (Zoology), College of Basic Science & Humanities, OUAT, Bhubaneswar, 2020.
Research Intern at inDNA Lifesciences Pvt. Ltd., Bhubaneswar (Mar 2022 – Jun 2022).
Joined our group in BRIC-ILS as a PhD scholar in February 2023.
Moved to BRIC-RGCB with Dileep in June 2023.
Her PhD is registered with RCB, Faridabad.
Current research interest: Chromatin structural biology

Sonali joined our group with a CSIR-JRF. While pleasant, she is also a fast learner. Her projects examine the interactions between plant histone chaperones, histone oligomers, and chromatin. Her PhD is registered with the Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB), Faridabad.

Bimal Jana

BSc (Zoology), Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, 2018.
MSc (Zoology), Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, 2020.
MTech (Biotechnology), IIT Guwahati, 2022.
Joined our group in BRIC-ILS as a PhD scholar in February 2023.
Moved to BRIC-RGCB with Dileep in June 2023.
His PhD is registered with RCB, Faridabad.
Current research interest: Chromatin biophysics & structural biology

Bimal joined our group with a UGC-JRF. He is a quick learner and a relatively silent soul. His projects examine the structural and stability properties of chromatin and histone chaperones across different organisms. His PhD is registered with the Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB), Faridabad.

Anagha jpg

Anagha Das

BSc (Microbiology), SN College, Alathur, Palakkad, Calicut University, 2019.
MSc (Microbiology), Gov Arts & Science College, Kozhinjampara, Palakkad, Calicut University, 2021.
Joined as a PhD scholar in January 2023 at BRIC-RGCB and joined our group as a co-supervisory in 2024.
Her PhD is registered with RCB, Faridabad.
Current research interest: Aptamer-protein complexes

Anagha joined BRIC-RGCB as a PhD scholar in January 2023 with a UGC-JRF. Her PhD project involves extensive characterisation of aptamer-protein complexes, and to address the structural and biophysical aspects, she joined our group as a co-supervisory student in April 2024. Her main supervisor is Dr Lightson NG. With Anagha’s addition, we are venturing into a new and exciting area of research! Her PhD is registered with the Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB), Faridabad.

Purushottam Patnaik

BSc (Zoology), Vikram Deb Autonomous College, Jeypore, Berhampur University, 2020.
MSc (Microbiology), College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Berhampur, 2022.
AUC Facility In-Charge at BRIC-ILS Bhubaneswar, February 2023 to July 2025.
Joined our group at BRIC-RGCB as a Project Associate-I in Dharma’s MK Bhan Fellowship project in August 2025.

While with us, at BRIC-ILS, Purushottam managed the AUC facility and actively participated in wet-lab experiments involving cloning, recombinant expression, and protein purification for structural and biophysical characterisation. Currently, he works as a Project Associate-I on Dharma’s project on nucleosome organisation.

Jinan Parvin

B.Tech (Biotechnology), APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, Thiruvananthapuram, 2021.
MTech (Biotechnology), NIT, Warangal, 2024.
Joined our group in BRIC-RGCB as a DBT project JRF in July 2024.
Current research interest: Characterisation of a histone chaperone protein

Jinan joined us soon after her M.Tech from NIT Warangal. She has prior research experience in protein chemistry, biophysics, and bioinformatics. With us, she works on a chimeric histone chaperone for its structure-function analysis.

sovon-acharya

Sovon Acharya

Bachelor’s (Hospital & Healthcare Management), WBUT, Kolkata, 2012.
BSc (Medical Microbiology), CSJM University, Kanpur, 2015.
MSc (Biotechnology), AIIMS, New Delhi, 2017.
Project student, Yamaguchi University School of Medicine, Japan, 2017-2018.
Project student, BRIC-NIBMG, Kalyani, 2018-2019.
Project student, University of Munster, Germany, 2019-2020.
Project student, University of Lubeck, Germany, 2020-2021.
Pursuing PhD part-time (Biotechnology), Amity University, Gurgaon, 2021-onwards.
Joined our group in BRIC-RGCB as an SERB project SRF in May 2024.
Current research interest: Structural characterisation of histone chaperones

After a few brief stints in Japan and Germany, Sovon is pursuing his PhD (part-time) from Amity University, Gurgaon. He joined us as a research intern in March 2024 and, in May 2024, officially joined us as an SRF on our SERB-funded project. He brings extensive research experience in molecular biology, cell biology, protein chemistry, genomics, and biophysics. He works on histone chaperones and certain bacterial proteins for structural studies.

Dharma Rao Tompa

BSc (Biochemistry), Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, 2009.
MSc (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology), Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod, 2012.
PhD (Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics), SASTRA University, Thanjavur, 2019.
Post-doc at ICGEB, New Delhi, 2021-2022.
Post-doc with us at ILS, Bhubaneswar, September 2022 – February 2024.
Post-doc (DBT-RA) with us at BRIC-RGCB, Thiruvananthapuram, February 2024 – September 2024.
MK Bhan Young Researcher Fellow with us at BRIC-RGCB, Thiruvananthapuram, from October 2024.
Current research interest: Structural and biophysical characterisation of nucleosomes composed of variant histones

Dharma joined us as a post-doc in a DBT-funded project at ILS in September 2022, and from February 2024 to September 2024, he was with us at BRIC-RGCB with his own DBT-RA fellowship. Later, he got selected for the prestigious MK Bhan Young Researcher Fellowship from DBT, which he has been receiving since October 2024. His PhD is from SASTRA University in Tamil Nadu, under the guidance of Dr Kadhirvel Saraboji. His PhD work focused on the biophysical and computational studies of a Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase and its mutants. After SASTRA University, Dharma moved to ICGEB for a postdoctoral position, where he worked on the structural and biophysical aspects of a protein from the malarial parasite. He has gained extensive experience across molecular biology, protein chemistry, structural biology, biophysics, and computational biology. With us, he works on projects in chromatin and infectious disease structural biology. He has completed his first crystal structure with our group!

Publication:

Manas K. Jagdev, Dharma R. Tompa, Losee L. Ling, Aaron J. Peoples, Jagneshwar Dandapat, Chinmayee Mohapatra, Kim Lewis^#, Dileep Vasudevan^#. 2023. Crystal structure of the N-terminal domain of MtClpC1 in complex with the anti-mycobacterial natural peptide Lassomycin. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 253(2): 126771.

Arya

Arya P. Nair

BSc (Botany), Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvananthapuram (2014-2017).
Was working in a private PET/CT imaging and Nuclear Medicine centre
Joined our laboratory in RGCB as a Laboratory Technician in May 2024.

Arya assists other lab members with their experiments. She manages lab inventory and routine lab activities.

Archana-for-website

Archana Samal

BSc (Botany) Honours, Shailabala Women’s College, Cuttack, 2016.
MSc (Life Sciences), Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, 2018.
Project JRF at Utkal University (Feb 2019 – Nov 2019).
Joined our group in BRIC-ILS as a PhD scholar in March 2020.
She moved to BRIC-RGCB as a Project Scientist with Dr Mahendran KR in June 2025.
Her PhD is registered with RCB, Faridabad.
Current research interest: Immunophilin & chromatin structural biology

Archana joined our group at BRIC-ILS, Bhubaneswar, as a PhD student with UGC-JRF. Before joining us, she worked as a JRF in a Govt. of Odisha DST-funded project with Prof. J. Dandapat at Utkal University, Bhubaneswar. Her PhD projects revolve around the themes of structural biology of chromatin and infectious diseases. She took over the spillover projects from Manas, who recently graduated from our group. She has made good progress on her projects and has collected XRD and SAXS data at the ESRF (France) in person. Moreover, she has been part of our ESRF remote data collection team twice. She has solved the crystal structure for two of her proteins. Her PhD is registered with the Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB), Faridabad. She is currently at BRIC-RGCB, working as a project scientist in the research group of Dr Mahendran KR, while completing her PhD at BRIC-ILS on a part-time basis.

Publications:

Ruchir C. Bobde*, Ketul Saharan*, Somanath Baral, Surajit Gandhi, Archana Samal, Rajivgandhi Sundaram, Ashish Kumar, Ajit Kumar Singh, Aritreyee Datta, Dileep Vasudevan. 2021. In vitro characterization of histone chaperones using analytical, pull-down, and chaperoning assays. Journal of Visualized Experiments [JoVE] 63218.
Jobichen Chacko*, Ketul Saharan*, Archana Samal, Yeu Khai Choong, Manas Kumar Jagdev, Chinmayee Mohapatra, Shi Jian, Richa Babbar, Renwick C.J. Dobson, Anil Grover, Dileep Vasudevan, Jayaraman Sivaraman. 2025. Cryo-EM structure provides insights into the unusual heptameric assembly of rice (Oryza sativa L.) ClpB1 AAA+ ATPase. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 311(3): 143917.

Surajit Gandhi

BSc (Zoology), Banwarilal Bhalotia College, Asansol, 2016.
MSc (Zoology), University of Burdwan, Purba Bardhaman, 2018.
Joined our group in BRIC-ILS as a PhD scholar in February 2020.
His PhD is registered with RCB, Faridabad.
Current research interest: Immunophilin, chromatin & infectious disease structural biology

Surajit joined our group at BRIC-ILS as a PhD student with UGC-JRF. His PhD projects are in the interface of chromatin and infectious disease structural biology. He is very agile and always keeps himself busy in the lab. He has been a great help in tying up loose ends from the main project Rajiv has been doing with us. He has completed several structures of immunophilins. He has collected SAXS data at the ESRF and participated in our ESRF remote data-collection exercise. His PhD is registered with the Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB), Faridabad. He has completed his pre-thesis synopsis presentation and is ready to submit his thesis.

Publications:

Ruchir C. Bobde*, Ketul Saharan*, Somanath Baral, Surajit Gandhi, Archana Samal, Rajivgandhi Sundaram, Ashish Kumar, Ajit Kumar Singh, Aritreyee Datta, Dileep Vasudevan. 2021. In vitro characterization of histone chaperones using analytical, pull-down, and chaperoning assays. Journal of Visualized Experiments [JoVE] 63218.
Rajivgandhi Sundaram, Surajit Gandhi, Claudia Jonak, Dileep Vasudevan. 2024. Characterization of the Arabidopsis thaliana chromatin remodeler DEK3 for its interaction with histones and DNA. Biochimie 227(Pt A): 248-61.
Ketul Saharan, Somanath Baral, Surajit Gandhi, Ajit K. Singh, Sourav Ghosh, Rahul Das, Viswanathan A. Nagaraj, Dileep Vasudevan. 2025. Structure-function studies of a nucleoplasmin isoform from Plasmodium falciparum. Journal of Biological Chemistry 301(4): 108379.
Surajit Gandhi, Dileep Vasudevan. 2025. Characterisation of Entamoeba histolytica anti-silencing function 1 as a histone chaperone. Biochimie S0300-9084(25)00266-4.

IMG_20230416_150951

Dileep Vasudevan

BFSc (Fisheries), College of Fisheries, Cochin (KAU, Thrissur), 1999.
MFSc (Microbiology), College of Fisheries, Mangalore (UAS, Bangalore), 2001.
PhD (Protein Crystallography), DBS, NUS, Singapore, 2007.
Post-doc (Chromatin Structural Biology), SBS, NTU, Singapore, 2006-2011
Post-doc (Infectious Disease Biology), Novartis Institute, Singapore, 2011-2012.
Joined BRIC-ILS as a Scientist in December 2012 and continued there till June 2023, and was on lien till June 2025.
Joined BRIC-RGCB as a Scientist F in June 2023.

At some point in his life, Dileep was keen to pursue a PhD in Microbiology, but was drawn to the charm of Structural Biology and jumped in. Dileep did his PhD at the Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore (NUS), under the guidance of Dr Swaminathan K. His first postdoc was with Dr Curt A. Davey at the School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, and his second postdoc was with Dr Christian G. Noble at the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD), Singapore. As a Fisheries undergrad and a Microbiology postgraduate, he never liked Biochemistry and Physics and had not even heard of crystallography! Ask him, and he will explain how, as a new student at NUS, his PhD mentor, Dr Swami, saw him totally lost in the department corridor and suggested a lab rotation with his group. Little did he know about the field he was getting himself into. Long story short, he has stayed on with structural biology since then, headed a laboratory at BRIC-ILS Bhubaneswar for 10.5 years, and since June 2023, he has been heading a laboratory at BRIC-RGCB that claims to do Biophysics, Biochemistry & Structural Biology!