Field of Study India: Chemistry

Parikshit Gogoi

Dr. Parikshit Gogoi is Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Nowgong College (Autonomous), Nagaon, Assam. He obtained his M.Sc. in chemistry from Cotton University, Guwahati in 2001, M.Tech. in petroleum refining and petrochemicals from Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh in 2003, and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from CSIR-NEIST, Jorhat in 2010. Before joining Nowgong College, he worked in the Department of Chemistry at IIT Guwahati as technical staff. His current research interests are biomass-based chemicals, fuels and materials, natural products chemistry, and nanomaterials synthesis for catalytic applications.

He received the INSA Summer Research Fellowship for Teachers in 2014 from the Indian National Academy of Science, Bengaluru, and worked at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT), Hyderabad. In 2016, he was awarded the Raman Fellowship for Post Doctoral Research at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, by the University Grants Commission, and he contributed significantly to biomass conversion research. In 2021, he was awarded the Dulal Chandra Goswami Memorial Research Award by Nowgong College (Autonomous).

During his Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence fellowship, Dr. Gogoi aims for the catalytic conversion of biomass/lignin bio-oils to aromatics and fuel range hydrocarbons using polyoxometallate catalysts. For upgrading bio-oil to high-valued hydrocarbon fuel or chemicals, catalytic hydrodeoxygenation (HDO), an energy-intensive process that requires high temperature and hydrogen gas pressure, is essential. Dr. Gogoi is working on developing catalyst systems to achieve HDO at low temperatures and moderate hydrogen pressure. This process will bring a new understanding of effective utilization of lignin in a biorefinery, benefitting its economy.

Ranabir Das

Dr. Ranabir Das is Associate Professor at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. He has worked extensively on the mechanisms used by viruses and bacteria to hijack the human cell signaling pathways and shut off the host’s immune response. Dr. Das’ laboratory has shown how the family of Herpes simplex viruses uses human proteins to transcribe the viral DNA and produce viral proteins. His lab showed how the proteins from Shigella shut down the immune response in a human and replicated efficiently. These studies have provided novel insights into how pathogens survive inside the host and have helped identify new therapeutic targets for drug discovery.

Dr. Das has published 23 papers in the last five years in several journals, like Nature Communications, the Journal of American Chemical Society, eLife, ChemComm among others. Multiple grant agencies have generously funded his research work. Dr. Das has received the prestigious Prof. S. Subramanian 60th Birthday Lecture Award, the Ramalingaswami Re-entry Fellowship and the NCI Director’s Innovation Award among several others. He has been a member of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the Biophysical Society, and the NMR Society of India.

During his Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence fellowship, Dr. Das is working to understand how the pathogenic bacteria Shigella silences the inflammatory response in the intestinal cells to multiply effectively. This work may help identify new therapeutic targets to counter multi-drug resistant Shigella infection.

Neetu Goel

Dr. Neetu Goel is Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry, Panjab University, Chandigarh. She completed her Ph.D. in 2005 with a concentration in theoretical chemistry under the supervision of Prof. B. M. Deb. Dr Goel’s research area is theoretical and computational chemistry that focuses on the structure-property relationship of clusters and nanomaterials. Her research endeavors rely on density functional theory to understand/tailor materials at atomic scale and to design efficient heterogeneous catalyst for reactions of industrial importance.

Dr. Goel has established a strong research group at her home institute that is actively engaged in scientific pursuits of varied dimensions. Dr. Goel has in the past collaborated with Prof. Michael Springborg from the University of Saarland, Saarbrücken, Germany. She was also awarded the Mercator fellowship for a project funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Dr. Goel’s Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence fellowship project is a combination of teaching and research with clearly defined goals. Her project is aimed at bioconjugated nanomaterials for application in health-related areas. She is investigating the structure and dynamics of biomolecule/nanosurface interface through quantum mechanical and atomistic simulations. Through successful execution of this project, Dr. Goel strives to make an enormous economic impact as the computational modeling of bioconjugated nanomaterials saves plenty of time, effort, and cost involved in the trial-and-error approach employed in laboratories. State-of-the-art computations envisioned in the project seek to provide reliable pointers for successful culmination of derived outcomes into successful clinical trials. Dr. Goel is also teaching a course on quantum mechanics and numerical/theoretical methods in computational physics to the students at MTU, with the goal of developing synergy between teaching and research, and strengthening teacher-student relationships.

Gargi Kundu

Dr. Gargi Kundu is an Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellow at Philipps University of Marburg, Germany. She obtained her B.Sc. from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal in 2015, and her master’s from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu in 2017. She then received her Ph.D. in 2022 at CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL), Pune, Maharashtra, with CSIR-UGC NET fellowship.

Dr. Kundu specializes in the chemistry of N-Heterocyclic Carbenes, focusing on small molecule activation, stabilization of carbon-based diradicals, and NHC-boron chemistry. She has published numerous articles in esteemed international journals, and has received various accolades during her Ph.D., including the NCL RF Keerthi Sangoram Memorial Endowment award for ‘the best research scholar’, and the Best Thesis award in chemical science from CSIR-NCL and AcSIR, respectively. Notable achievements also include the RSC Best Poster award by Poster Twitter Conference, and the Best Oral Talk award at ICMGSC-2023.

The diradical field, despite intriguing electronic properties, lacks extensive study. Boron-doped PAHs are gaining attention for being low in toxicity, cost-effective, with high π-affinity, photoluminescence, and redox properties. As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, Dr. Kundu is synthesizing stable boron-based diradicals, combining open-shell diradical character, luminescence, and redox properties. The focus is on exploring their potential applications as super-electron donors, photo-/electro-catalysts, redox switches, functional chromophores/ fluorophores in photovoltaic cells, and artificial light-harvesting systems with a special emphasis on hydrogen activation.

Supongsenla Ao

Supongsenla Ao is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at the National Institute of Technology, Silchar, Assam. Her research focuses on utilizing waste materials to synthesize biofuels, driven by the imperative to find sustainable energy solutions amidst escalating global energy demands and environmental concerns.

With a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from St. Joseph’s College, Nagaland University, and a master’s degree from Kumaon University, Uttarakhand, Supongsenla has actively engaged in building the gaps between her Naga community and diverse Indian culture throughout her college days. She was ranked 10th in chemistry honours during her bachelor’s degree and also served as a class representative.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, Supongsenla is exploring large-scale biofuel production for industrialization in India, particularly investigating the limitation of microwave reactor mechanism for bulk synthesis, aiming to overcome challenges such as active site leaching, water by-product interference and catalyst stability for sustainable biofuel production. She enjoys hiking and gardening in her free time.