Anindita Mahapatra (Onu)

Anindita was born and lived in India till she moved to Austin for her postdoctoral training in Professor Newberry’s lab at UT Austin. She completed her doctoral degree from the CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (CSIR-IICB) in Kolkata, India. Her doctoral research focused on the biophysical investigations of the aggregation pathways of the Parkinson’s protein alpha-Synuclein and the ways to modulate it. In course of her PhD, she has worked extensively with alpha-Synuclein – investigating its membrane interactions and aggregation pathways using both ensemble-average and single-molecule biophysical techniques. She has also studied the modulations of the pathogenic aggregation landscape of alpha-Synuclein using suitable novel and repurposed molecules, with an aim to find prospective therapeutic agents against Parkinson’s disease. In future, Anindita aims to continue her research in this direction and establish herself as an expert in the field of intrinsically disordered proteins and associated proteinopathies.

 

Prior to her doctoral research, in course of her M.Sc. dissertation project at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), Anindita gained experience in the synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials. Her dissertation work involved synthesizing suitably coated Ag nano-brushes for atmospheric water capture.

 

Apart from research, Anindita loves pets, and she enjoys seeing new places and trying out new cuisines.