Pratik Sen

Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research)
Project Title:	Investigation of Enzyme Dynamics in Alternate Media at the Single Molecular Level to Elucidate Life in Extreme Condition
Field of Study:	Chemistry
Home Institution:	Indian institute of Technology Kanpur, Cambridge, MA
Host Institution:	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Grant Start Month:	September,2024
Duration of Grant:	Six months

Brief Bio:

Prof. Pratik Sen joined the Department of Chemistry at IIT Kanpur as an Assistant Professor in December 2008 and became a full professor in November 2018. He is currently the Poonam and Prabhu Goel Chair at IIT Kanpur. Prof. Sen has received several awards and recognition for his research, which includes the Young Scientist Medal from Indian National Science Academy (INSA) in 2012; Young Faculty Research Fellowship from IIT Kanpur, 2015-2017; Member INYAS, 2016-2020; Young Faculty Research Fellowship of MeitY, India in 2018, Fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2021 and Bronze Medal of Chemical Research Society of India in 2021. Prof. Sen has published over 130 research articles in international journals of repute.

During his Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowships, his primary research interest is to understand clues about the existence of extremophiles (species that can survive in extreme conditions like cold, desiccation, osmotic stress, etc.). Studies show that extremophiles accumulate osmolytes in high concentrations that can form an alternate media, which probably maintains the enzymatic behaviour in harsh environments. He aims to study enzyme conformational dynamics at freezing conditions in the presence of alternate media using single-molecule spectroscopy. The proposed study can be instrumental in understanding the enzyme’s stability and activity in extreme conditions.