Arjun Rana, MS

Right from his sophomore year, Arjun was interested interested in learning more about the underlying biophysical mechanisms of various proteins' function, such as how they fold and interact with other biomolecules, how they assemble, how allosteric signaling occurs through different domains of proteins, and how mutations, inhibitory small molecules or a disturbed physiochemical environment affect conformational dynamics, resulting in impaired function. During his Masters project at IISER Bhopal, he utilized NMR spectroscopy to characterize the sequence specific structure and flexibility of Duplex DNA. The data generated was used further to understand the factors within DNA that control its indirect readout by DNA binding proteins. The undergraduate training at IISER Bhopal instilled pride in him to further pursue a PhD degree in field of Structural Biology and Biophysics. In the fall of 2022, he started his graduate studies in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rutgers-New Brunswick. He joined the Lab of Distinguished Professor Eddy Arnold at the Centre of Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine and is currently working towards characterizing the Structure-function relationship in RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of SARS-COV-2 and LASV and understanding the mechanism of inhibition of potential drugs.