Cytoskeletal dynamics are seen to be critical for most physiological processes. In the lab we use in vitro recontitution of purified proteins to examine these in a setup to reduce complexity and make sense of the fundamental principles of the process.
Microtubules form a critical part of the endogenous mechanical component of all cells. These are however not static. In the lab, we routinely purify these from brains of vertebrates and examine their biochemistry by comparing evolutionary variants (Basu and Athale, 2025 Cytoskeleton) and transport properties when combined with motors (Jain et al., 2019 Soft Matt).
However microscopy of such nanometer sized structures is challenging due to issues of resolution, magnification and phototoxicity to name a few. The project involves:
1) learning principles of image analysis of biological microscopy data
2) applying the newly developed tools of Machine Learning (ML) to the problem
3) Reporting the results and comparing them to some gold standard (Develop calibraiton methods)
The end of the project will involve a report and presentaiton in lab, that will be the basis of assesment and certification.
1) Molecular and cell biology
2) Bioinformatics
3) Cellular Biophysics
1) Python programming using Jupyter
2) Data handling
3) Introductory biological microscopy
https://sites.iiserpune.ac.in/~cathale/publications.html
IISER Pune invites applications from research oriented students to participate in its Summer Student Programmes. Successful applicants will have an opportunity to participate in the research programmes of IISER-Pune faculty. Research activities in IISER-Pune span both theory and experiment in Biology, Chemistry, Data Science, Earth and Climate Science, Mathematics, Humanities, Physics and Earth Sciences with a strong focus on interdisciplinary research. These summer projects are also an opportunity for students to evaluate the suitability of various programmes at IISER-Pune (Integrated PhD and PhD) for future career choice.
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Summer fellows selected for IISER-Pune
through other fellowship programmes like IASc and JNCASR.