TMU Research Internship

Anup Pandith received his B.Sc. (Honors) in Applied Chemistry (2009) and an M.Sc. in Industrial Chemistry (2011) from Kuvempu University, India. He worked as a research associate at Syngene Int. Ltd., in Bangalore and as a junior research fellow with the late Professor A. Sri Krishna at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore (2011–2013). He finished his doctoral studies with Prof. Dr. Hong-Seok Kim at the Department of Applied Chemistry, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea (2017). He worked as a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Young Jun Seo in the Department of Chemistry, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju, South Korea (2017-2019). Later he worked as a tenured Research Professor at Jeonbuk National University (2019-2020) and Kyung-Hee University, Seoul, South Korea (2020-2022). Since May 2022, he has been working as an Assistant Professor at the College of Biomedical Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taiwan. His research concerns the development of novel non-classical chromo-fluorogenic functional materials photo physical evaluations and their applications in biomolecular (2o metabolites, proteins, DNA/RNA) recognition-aided therapies (chemotherapy, PDT, PTT and combinational therapy).

Anup’s research vision is to contribute to the field of biomedical engineering, in particular the development of new-generation diagnostics (proteins, nucleic acids, amino acids, biogenic amines, and disease-related secondary metabolites etc.) and therapeutic tools, by a thorough understanding of the translational use of new chromo-fluorogenic materials and their supramolecular assemblies for sustained molecular theranostics. The research strategy starts with the development of new nonclassical materials synthesis and ends with its translational applications in biomedical science. In this approach, we synthesize various functional materials viz., organic, organic-inorganic hybrids [metal organic frameworks (MOF’s), metal complexes, ensembles etc.], polymers (organic/inorganic) and nanocomposites (liposomes, polymersomes, mesoporous nanomaterials) that can be applicable for opto-bioanalytical and therapeutic applications.

Rationale: The optimal levels of cellular metabolites (viz., ions, molecules) and biochemically fully functional proteins, and nucleic acids are essential components for the healthy survival of cells. Abnormal metabolites level or anomalous up/down-regulation of nucleic acids/proteins in the cellular system, either through the external stimulus or organelle dysfunction, leads to fatal disease. Hence disease states can be identified either by selective targeting of ions, secondary metabolites, or biomolecules. It is always desirable and economical to implement the label-free method to recognize the ions (viz., H+, OH-, Ca2+, Cu2+, Fe2+/3+, Zn2+ etc.) and small molecules (viz., lipids, vitamins, thiols, ROS/RNS etc.) in physiological conditions especially in the initial stage of disease screening (metabolic imaging). Thereafter, depending on the results, a labelled method (post-synthetic modifications, biorthogonal labelling, fluorescent-aptamers) can be implemented for accurate disease diagnosis at the biomolecular level (nucleic acid and proteins level). The initial (label-free) and advanced level (labelled) disease state identifications rationale would be helpful to avoid unnecessary wastage of research resources and time. Upon a clear understanding of the disease state in in-vitro conditions depending on the need, treatment (chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy or combination therapy) will be provided to cure the disease/abnormalities in suitable zebrafish and mice models for potentially efficient translational applications. Since we will study from fundamental aspects (organic, inorganic and nano-composites synthesis) to diverse applications (recognitions and therapeutics), will have a broad biomedical impact and applications. Beyond that, we will also evaluate how those molecules will specifically interact with a particular target/analyte even in the presence of structurally similar biomolecules (crystallography, NMR, HPLC, MALDI-TOF & computational tools) in cells along with their metabolism (until renal excretion).