Dr. Prajnaparamita Dhar

The primary overarching goals of the PI's research are to understand nature's rules that govern biological self-assembled processes. In particular, the PI is interested in correlating mechanical and structural properties of self-assembled biological processes that ultimately ensure proper functioning of biological systems. At the same time she is interested in developing interdisciplinary collaborations to study interesting problems in biology as well as training the next generation of scientists with interdisciplinary interests. For the past 8 years the PI has been studying interfacial phenomenon in both synthetic and biological amphiphilic molecules using both experimental techniques and theoretical analysis to understand the dynamics of self-assembly at interfaces and more recently in bulk systems. Additionally, the PI has had experience developing two different microrheology techniques (passive and active microrhelogy), both of which have been cited heavily. The PI has had more than five years of experience working with replacement lung surfactants, understanding and relating the role of lipid-protein interactions on structural and mechanical properties of lung surfactants using experimental and theoretical techniques developed by her, as well as guiding graduate and undergraduate student research projects. Her research efforts till date has been heavily cited, and was also recently featured in the NIH Directors blog.