Department of
Chemistry

Sandanaraj Britto obtained PhD at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (2002-2007). He was a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow until 2010 at the Global Imaging Group of Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Inc at Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He worked as Senior Scientist in RNAi Therapeutics at Novartis until 2014 before joining IISER Pune.

Research

Development of enabling chemical biology technologies

The second half of 20th century has witnessed the prowess of chemist's to design and engineer elegant complex molecules. However, there was a shift in the paradigm towards syntheses of molecules with defined function rather than defined structure. As the focus of chemistry changes from structure to function, the present challenge of chemical community is "Synthesis of New Function through engineering of small molecule and biomacromolecules". Towards that goal, Dr. Britto's group interest is in designing new (macro) molecules for applications in the area of Chemical Biology/Physiology and Molecular Imaging.

Selected Publications

Bathla, P., Mujawar, A., De, A., Sandanaraj, B.S.* Development of non-invasive BRET-ABPP platform technology enable real time simultaneous detection of post-translational modification and target engagement with absolute specificity in living systems – bioRxiv
https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.26.493547

Reddy, M.M., Bhandari, P. B., Hati K.C., Sandanaraj, B.S.* Rational design of self-assembling artificial proteins using a micelle-assisted protein labeling technology (MAPLabTech): Testing the scope ChemBioChem, 2022, e2021100607

Bathla, P., Sandanaraj, B.S.* Development of activity-based reporter gene technology for an exquisite imaging of protease function in single live cell ACS Chem Biol 2019, 14, 2276-2285

Sandanaraj, B.S.*, Reddy, M.M., Bhandari, P. , Sugam, K., Aswal, V.K. Rational design of supramolecular dynamic protein assemblies using a micelle-assisted activity-based protein labelling technology. Eur. J. 2018, 24, 16085-16096. (Chosen as a hot paper in Chemical Biology Category – Highlighted in ChemView Magazine, Pune Mirror Newspaper

Sandanaraj, B.S.; Bhandari, P.J., Reddy, M.M. Supramolecular protein assemblies with advanced functions and synthesis thereof. US Patent 11173212 (issued Nov 2021)

Sandanaraj, B.S., Reddy, M.M., Bhandari, P.J., Rao, J.K. Hydrophobin mimics: Process for preparation thereof US Patent 10,188,136 B2 (issued Jan 2019)

Sandanaraj, B.S., Bathla, P. Process for determining enzyme activity in a cell by activity-based reporter gene technology (AbRGT) US Patent 2019/0338373 A1 (Published November 2018)

Sandanaraj, B.S., Reddy, M.M. Chemical method for synthesis of protein amphiphiles US Patent – 2020/0199175 A1 (Published June 2020)

Sandanaraj, B.S., Reddy, M.M., Bhandari, P.J. Generation-dependent supramolecular assemblies of protein-dendron conjugates. US Patent - 2021/0163916 A1 (Published June 2021)

Sandanaraj, B. S., Bathla, P., De, A., Mujawar, A. Method for determining target engagement in living animals in real time and uses thereof – US Patent – Application # 17/698,397