Research Interest

 

KKM Group's research interest consists of the interface of chemistry, biology, and nanoscience, with an effort of interdisciplinary teamwork and contribution to the healthcare sector focusing on translational research.

 

Area 1: Diagnostics and Nano-theranostics (Nanomedicine) for Clinical Translation

                    Chronological development of common methods used in molecular biology, biochemistry, cytopathology, and genetics are based on various manipulations of analysis of metabolites e.g., amino acids, nucleic acids and lipids. Modern techniques are explored through various aspects of spectroscopy where Raman spectroscopy and its modified version i.e., surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) evolved as a potential ultrasensitive diagnostic tool for a wide range of disease detection and spread over in the healthcare sector. In biomedicine nanoparticles (NPs) were extensively investigated in drug delivery and imaging. Nanomaterials are diverse in their composition and hence can be categorized as carbon, metal and inorganic and organic NPs. Carefully fabricated NPs with cell targeting ligands could be loaded with suitable cargo to assemble ‘nanotheranostic’ which enables monitoring therapy in a real-time manner so as to improve the safety and drug efficacy for personalized medicine. The distinctive features of NPs with the relatively smaller particle size along with a larger surface area and appealing optical and electrical properties ensure their role as carriers in designing nanotheranostics.

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Focused Projects on:

• New Generation Diagnostic Nanoparticle probes: SERS-tags for Label-free / SERS-labelled / SERS-kit for various cancer biomarker detection in multiplexing mode.

        (a) Ultrasensitive, non-invasive and early detection of human cancer by SERS and Artificial Intelligence (AI) dual-modality – An early detection technology

        (b) Detection of infectious diseases by Label-free SERS and AI

        (c) Early detection and monitoring of neurodegenerative disorders, mainly Alzheimer’s Diseases using SERS-nanoprobes – A SERS-based immunoassay techniques.

 

• Multimodal theranostic nano-probes based on SERS & and fluorescence as diagnostic modalities and PDT, PTT, Chemo and immunotherapy

        (a) Multimodal Cancer therapy by Targeted nano-carrier drug delivery system (Nanomedicine): Chemo-photo; Chemo-immunotherapy; Photo-Chemodynamic therapy

        (b) Combined therapy on diabetic retinopathy using a nano-delivery system

 

Area 2: Bio-Organic and Medicinal Chemistry

                    Medicinal plants have demonstrated their potential as a repository of bioactive molecules with promising therapeutic potential and represent an important pool for the identification of novel drug leads. In an attempt to investigate new phytochemical entities (NPCEs), naturally occurring phytomolecules are subjected to semi-synthetic modification which transforms into pharmacologically active NPCEs as a lead candidate for clinical translation. In-depth investigations of underlying molecular mechanisms were ruled out using detailed in vitro and in silico approaches. Moreover, fundamental structural changes have been observed during many physiological processes which lead to the development of disease (e.g., cancer) progression.

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Focused Projects on:

•  Semi-synthetic modification of bioactive natural products isolated from plants: New Phytochemical Entities (NPCEs) as advanced Hits / Leads in the area of cancer and other non-communicable diseases

• In vitro cell-based assays of HIT / Advanced HITs including proteomics and genomics  studies in order to propose the mechanistic pathways that will have the potential for further pre-clinical and clinical trials with Industry support (Pharma and Biotech) 

• Phytochemical profiling of marker compounds by evaluation of Raman fingerprints (signature peaks) with their classification viz., alkaloids, steroids, polyphenols, terpenoids, etc.

  

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Area 3:  Glycobiology - Metabolic glycan labelling & glycan associated disorder in a cellular system

                    Glycosylation is a major post-translational modification prevalent in most eukaryotes. Glycans cover the cell surface and play a decisive role in cell–cell interactions and cell migration during various physiological processes such as fertilization, embryogenesis and immune responses. I have planned to explore Raman imaging which will be utilized as an alternative technique for glycan detection since it is an ultrasensitive technique in terms of enhanced signal intensity. The inherent drawbacks from fluorescent modality in glycan labelling can be eliminated with the help of Raman spectroscopic techniques like coherent ant Stokes Raman scattering (CARS), stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The idea in this direction is to utilise N alkyl derivatives / N acetyl derivatives of glucose, galactose and mannose analogues are predominantly fit for glycan labelling entities. The Alkyne group will be introduced as the bioorthogonal functionality in the glycan precursors since it has the maximum cross-sectional area in SERS when compared to other bioorthogonal functional groups, which is metabolically labelled at the terminal site of the glycan chain ended with sialic acid by biosynthetic pathway.

 

Focused Projects on:

• Evaluate aberrant glycosylation behaviours of cancer cells with different metastatic potentials of cancer cells i.e., highly metastatic cancer cells to comparatively lower metastatic to normal cells. The metastatic progression assessment and establish a robust, sensitive, and accurate SERS-based platform

• New Glycan labelling sugar analogues for Metabolic Glycan labelling (MGL) to investigate aberrant glycosylation in cancer cells by Raman imaging 

• Investigate new metabolic pathways and correlate with the disease progression by metabolic oligosaccharide engineering (MOE) strategy