Principal Investigator
Dr. Chittaranjan Das, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Chemistry, Biological Division
Ph.D. - Indian Institute of Science 2001
Postdoctoral Fellow - Harvard Medical School/Brandeis University 2001-2006
Chitta Das is an Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Purdue University. He received his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (India). Following his PhD education, he became a post-doc in Dr. Greg Petsko's group at Harvard Medical School and Brandeis University. He uses X-ray crystallography to study structure-function relationship of bacterial effectors that regulate ubiquitin signaling.
During his sabbatical in early 2019, Chitta decided to study cryo-EM under the guidance of the late Michael Rossmann. He hopes that the synergy between X-ray crystallography and cryo-EM would broaden our scope of understanding the various aspects of the ubiquitin system.
Chitta enjoys spending time with his family and is a proud pet-parent of Clyde, their adopted dog.
Current Lab Members
Post-Doc & Graduate Students
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Dr. Shalini Iyer, Ph.D. Shalini Iyer is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Das Lab. She received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Bath, UK. Her area of expertise is macromolecular crystallography as well as molecular and cell biology. She also has a strong background in biochemical, biophysical, and cell culture techniques. Since joining our lab in Jun 2018, she has been investigating the structure-function aspects of effector pairs with opposing activities from Legionella pneumophila. Shalini uses a combination of molecular, biochemical and structural techniques to gain insights into how these bacterial effectors are able to trick the host ubiquitin signaling system and establish a safe, replicative intracellular environment for survival within the host. |
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Kristos Negrón-Terón Kristos Negrón Terón is a fourth year PhD student in the Das Lab. He did his B.S. in Biology in his hometown at the University of Puerto Rico at Aguadilla. He did some brief research on yogurt probiotics under the tutelage of Dr. José Carde. He is currently working on utilizing disulfide chemistry for enzymatic and structural characterization of enzymes. He is also working on designing ubiquitin based probes for proteomics to see if they can pulldown new ubiquitin binding proteins from different types of organisms. |
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Sebastian Kenny Sebastian Kenny is a third-year PhD student in the Das Lab. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from Purdue University. Kenny received training in organic synthesis during his undergraduate research. In his PhD education, Kenny has been trained in various biophysical techniques such as Biolayer Interferometry and Isothermal Titration Calorimetry - techniques which shed light on protein-protein interaction, allowing for better mechanistic understanding. His goal is to understand the mechanism of p53 ubiquitination by Human Papillomavirus (HPV). |
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Zhengrui Zhang Zhengrui Zhang is a third-year PhD student in the Das Lab. He got his bachelor degree in Chemical Biology at Sun Yat-sen University, China. His research focuses on the characterization of bacterial effectors using various techniques, including activity-based proteomics, biochemical assays and X-ray crystallography. The overall goal of his research is to obtain a better scope regarding how pathogenic bacteria hijack host ubiquitin system. At present, he is working on identifying ubiquitin-interacting proteins in bacteria using activity-based ubiquitin probes. Besides, he has also been working on the crystallization of several uncharacterized bacterial effectors. |
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Rishi Patel Rishi Patel is a second-year graduate student in the Das Lab. He studied chemistry and mathematics at Saint Louis University where he investigated myoglobin’s capacity to act as a peroxidase and its potential roles in oxidative stress. His research interest lie in bioorganic chemistry and chemical biology.
Currently, Rishi works on utilizing chemically orthogonal means to reveal aspects of ubiquitin biology
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Undergraduate Students
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Laboratory Support
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Lee Chiang Hua 765-496-6383 |
Laura Mendoza
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Benzene Curie (Ben) Golden Retriever
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Das Lab Alumni
Post-Doc & Graduate Students
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Michelle Permaul (M.S.) Current Position: Roche, Ltd. |
Tushar Maiti (Post-Doc) Current Position: Associate Professor, UNESCO Regional Center for Biotechnology |
Myung-Il Kim (Post-Doc) Current Position: Bioneer Corporation, South Korea |
David Boudreaux (Ph.D.) Initial Position: Post-Doc, USF Current Position: Deputy Division Chief, U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory |
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Christopher Davies (Ph.D.) Initial Position: Post-Doc, UC Berkeley Current Position: Senior Scientific Researcher, Genentech |
Judith Ronau (Ph.D.) Initial Position: Post-Doc, Yale Current Position: Senior Scientist, AbbVie
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Marie Morrow (Ph.D.) Initial Position: Post-Doc, Johns Hopkins University Current Position: Senior Scientist, Becton-Dickinson |
Joseph Chaney (Ph.D.) Initial Position: Post-Doc, LSU Health Sciences Center Current Position: Assistant Professor, Xavier University of Louisiana |
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Amy Bueno (M.S.) Initial Position: Tech Manager/R&D, Aginnovation |
Aditya "Raj" Babar (M.S.) Initial Position: MBA Student, Krannert-Purdue University |
Cameron Wade (M.S.) Initial Position: Technical Services, Epic |
Michael Sheedlo (Ph.D.) Initial Position: Post-Doc, Vanderbilt University Current Position: Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota |
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Rashmi Shrestha (Ph.D.) Initial Position: Lecture Professor, College of Alameda Current Position: Assistant Professor, Berea College |
Kwame Brown (M.S.) Initial Position: Protein Chemist 2, NextCure
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Kedar Puvar (Ph.D.) Initial Position: Post-Doc, Harvard Medical School Current Position: Sr Scientist, AbbVie |
Aya Saleh (Ph.D.) shared student with Dr. Tamara Kinzer-Ursem Initial Position: Post-Doc, Abbott
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Undergraduate & High School Students
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Trent Arbough (B.S.) Current Position: M.D. student, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine |
Ashley Zeese (B.S.) Current Position: D.O. student, Marian University |
Rachel Hohe (B.S.) Current Position: Ph.D. student, Case Western University |
Isabella Prislusky (B.S.) Current Position: Ph.D. student, The Ohio State University |
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Ashley Holahan (B.S.) Current Position: Ph.D. student, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign |
Hannah Rondon (B.S.) Current Position: M.D/Ph.D. student, Indiana University School of Medicine |
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