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https://niist.irins.org/profile/228979

Dr. Harsha Bajaj

Dr,

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Professional Experience

 

Post-Doctoral Research Associate (Apr. 2015 – Jul. 2016), Jacobs University Bremen, Germany, collaboration with University of Cambridge, UK 

           Guest Scientist (Jul. 2016 - Jul. 2017), Jacobs University Bremen, Germany

           DBT-Bio-CARe fellow (Feb. 2018 – May. 2018), National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore. 

           DBT- Bio-CARe fellow (Aug. 2018 – Feb. 2019), CSIR- National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Trivandrum

           DBT- Har-Gobind Khorana Innovative Young Biotechnologist fellow (Mar. 2019 – Aug. 2021), CSIR- National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Trivandrum

 

Area of Expertise

Membrane Biophysics, Membrane biology and Synthetic Biology

  1. Small molecule permeation across membranes and membrane proteins to elucidate the transport routes for their metabolism in bacterium.
  2. Investigating antibiotic transport, anti-microbial peptide interaction with cell- membrane mimicking vesicles.
  3. Membrane Biophysics
  4. Membrane biology and Synthetic Biology
Achievements & Awards

 

  1. 2020 DST-INSPIRE Faculty award granted by Department of Science and Technology, India.
  2. 2018 Har-Gobind Khorana Innovative Young  Biotechnologist Award (IYBA) 2018 granted by Department of Biotechnology, India. 
  3. 2015/16 Post-doctoral fellowship by the European Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) “Translocation” project, Jacobs University Bremen, Germany.
  4. 2012/13     Member of the President's List of the Academic Year, Jacobs University, Germany.
  5. 2011/12 Master of Science fellowship in Molecular Life Science, Jacobs University, Germany.
  6. 2011 Working Internships in Science and Engineering (WISE) - DAAD Fellowship, Jacobs University Bremen, Germany.
  7. 2009/10   Academic Scholarship awarded by National Institute of Technology, Warangal, India

 

Completed Projects as Principle Investigator

 

  1. Aug. 2018 – Aug. 2021 DBT Biotechnology Career Advancement and Re-orientation Program (Rs 18.1 lakhs)
  2. Feb. 2019 -  Feb. 2022 DBT Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award (IYBA)-                          (Rs 83.5 lakhs)
  3. Aug. 2020 – Jul. 2025 DST INSPIRE Faculty award (Rs 35 Lakhs)
Publications

 

 

  1.  

Mohanan, G., Nair, K. S., Nampoothiri, K. M., Bajaj, H*. Engineering Bio-Mimicking Functional Vesicles with Multiple Compartments for Quantifying Molecular Transport. Chem. Sci., 11 (18), 4669–4679. (* as corresponding author)
  1.  

Bajaj, H., Gutiérrez, S. A., Bodrenko, I., Malloci, G., Scorciapino, M. A., Winterhalter, M and Ceccarelli, M. Exploring physical rules for permeation: sensing the electric field inside narrow protein channels. ACS Nano. 11, 5465-5473. 
  1.  

Bajaj, H., Scorciapino, M. A., Moynie, L., Page, M. G. P., Naismith, J. H., Ceccarelli, M., and Winterhalter, M. Molecular Basis of Filtering Carbapenems by Porins from β-Lactam-resistant Clinical Strains of Escherichia coli. J. Biol. Chem. 291, 2837-47. 
  1.  

Cama, J.*, Bajaj, H.*, Pagliara, S., Maier, T., Braun, Y., Winterhalter, M., and Keyser, U. F. Quantification of  Fluoroquinolone Uptake through the Outer Membrane Channel OmpF of Escherichia coli. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 137, 13836-43. (* Shared First authorship) 
  1.  

Bajaj, H., Tran, Q.-T., Mahendran, K. R., Nasrallah, C., Colletier, J.-P., Davin-Regli, A., Bolla, J.-M., Pagès, J.-M., and Winterhalter, M. Antibiotic uptake through membrane channels: role of Providencia stuartii OmpPst1 porin in carbapenem resistance. Biochemistry. 51, 10244–9. 
  1.  

 Susmitha, A., Bajaj, H., Madhavan, Nampoothiri, K.

The divergent roles of sortase in the biology of Gram-positive bacteria.

.Cell Surf. 7,100055
  1.  

Susmitha, A., Nampoothiri, K. M., Bajaj, H. Insights into the Biochemical and Functional Characterization of Sortase E Transpeptidase of Corynebacterium Glutamicum. Biochem. J., 476 (24), 3835–3847. 
  1.  

Puthumadathil, N., Jayasree, P., Santhosh Kumar, K., Nampoothiri, K. M., Bajaj, H., Mahendran, K. R. Detecting the Structural Assembly Pathway of Human Antimicrobial Peptide Pores at Single-Channel Level. Biomater. Sci., 7 (8), 3226–3237. 
  1.  

Ghai, I., Bajaj, H., Arun Bafna, J., El Damrany Hussein, H. A., Winterhalter, M., and Wagner, R. Ampicillin permeation across OmpF, the major outer-membrane channel in Escherichia coli. J. Biol. Chem. 293, 7030–7037. 
  1.  

Singh, P. R.,Bajaj, H., Benz, R., Winterhalter, M., and Mahendran, K. R. Transport across the outer membrane porin of mycolic acid containing actinomycetales: Nocardia farcinica. Biochim. Biophys. Acta - Biomembr. 1848, 654–661. 
  1.  

Song, W., Bajaj, H., Nasrallah, C., Jiang, H., Winterhalter, M., Colletier, J.-P., Xu, Y. Understanding Voltage Gating of Providencia Stuartii Porins at Atomic Level. PLoS Comput. Biol., 11 (5), e1004255. 
  1.  

Weichbrodt, C., Bajaj, H., Baaken, G., Wang, J., Guinot, S., Kreir, M., Behrends, J. C., Winterhalter, M., and Fertig, N. Antibiotic translocation through porins studied in planar lipid bilayers using parallel platforms. Analyst. 140, 4874–81. 
  1.  

Bodrenko, I., Bajaj, H., Ruggerone, P., Winterhalter, M., and Ceccarelli, M. Analysis of fast channel blockage: revealing substrate binding in the microsecond range. Analyst. 140, 4820–7. 
Academic Qualification

 

Bachelor of Technology in Biotechnology, (2011). First rank 

National Institute of Technology, Warangal, India

            Master of Science in Molecular Life science, (2013). First rank with President Award,

Jacobs University Bremen, Thesis on “Molecular transport through Porins of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria”.

            Doctor of Philosophy in Molecular Biophysics and Membrane Biology (2015),

Jacobs University Bremen, Germany, based on the European Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) “Translocation” project. Thesis on “Antibiotic permeation through membrane proteins”.