Debika Datta

Department of Nanoengineering, University of California San Diego · ddatta@eng.ucsd.edu

I am a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Professor Jon Pokorski and am serving as MRSEC Trainee Leadership Group Representative (IRG2). My current research focuses on fabricating biosynthetic materials by integrating genetically engineered cells into polymer composites.

Prior to joining the Pokorski lab, I received my Doctoral degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India. During my PhD research I developed biocompatible gelators from short self-assembling peptides for applications in drug delivery and tissue engineering. In my spare time I enjoys photography, traveling, writing and painting.


Research Interests

The combination of Biological science with Chemistry and Physics amazes me and has been the subject of my passion owing to its plethora of possibilities. My research interest lies in the design, modelling and synthesis of functional nano-materials. My current project involves, but is not limited to, the development of peptide based hydrogels which finds its applications in bio-medicine (as drug delivery vehicles and scaffolds in tissue engineering), material science and electronics. The synthetic approach is also combined with computer aided molecular dynamics simulation to probe into the underlying mechanism principles in this bottom-up nano fabrication technique.


Education

Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati

Department of Biosciences & Bioengineering
Ph.D.

GPA 8.0

2013 - Present

University of Calcutta

Postgraduate diploma
Advanced Bioinformatics

Grade First Class

2012 - 2013

West Bengal University of Technology

Bachelor of Technology(in Biotechnology)

DGPA 8.62/10

2008 - 2012

Skills

Computational Biology skills
  • Programming Languages: C, Java and Perl
  • Databases: NCBI, RCSB, PDB-SUM, Swiss-Prot
  • Molecular Dynamics Simulation: Gromacs
  • Molecular Modelling Tools: Pymol, Avogadro, Chimera, Discovery Studio, VMD
  • Web Development: HTML
  • Others: Ribosome, Autodock

    Technical Skills
    • Biophysical Techniques: Spectroscopy (UV-Vis, Fluorescence, IR, CD, Raman, NMR), DLS, HPLC, AFM, TEM, FESEM.
      Organic Synthesis: Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis, Liquid Phase Peptide Synthesis

Publications

  • Debika Datta, Adicherla Harikrishna, Ramakrishnan Nagaraj, and Nitin Chaudhary. Self-assembly of β-turn motif-connected tandem repeats of Aβ16–22 and its aromatic analogs. Peptide Science, 2018, e24099. DOI:10.1002/pep2.24099
  • Debika Datta, , Vishnu Kumar, Sachin Kumar, Ramakrishnan Nagaraj, and Nitin Chaudhary. Hydrogel Formation by an Aromatic Analogue of a β-Amyloid Fragment, Aβ16–22: A Scaffold for 3D Cell Culture. ACS Omega, 2019, 4(1): p. 620-627. DOI:10.1021/acsomega.8b02771
  • Debika Datta, , Vishnu Kumar, Sachin Kumar, Ramakrishnan Nagaraj, and Nitin Chaudhary. Limpid hydrogels from β-turn motif-connected tandem repeats of Aβ 16-22 Soft Matter, 2019, 15: p. 4827-4835. DOI:10.1039/C9SM00343F
  • Anusua Dhara, Md Saddam Hussain, Debika Datta, and Manish Kumar. Insights to the Assembly of a Functionally Active Leptospiral ClpP1P2 Protease Complex along with Its ATPase Chaperone ClpX ACS Omega, 2019, 4(7): p. 12880-12895. DOI:10.1021/acsomega.9b00399
  • Karabi Saikia, Vinay Kumar Belwal, Debika Datta, and Nitin Chaudhary. Aromatic-rich C-terminal region of LCI is a potent antimicrobial peptide in itself. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 2019, 519(2): p. 372-377. DOI:10.1016/j.bbrc.2019.09.013
  • Debika Datta, Ramakrishnan Nagaraj, and Nitin Chaudhary. Water-alcohol bigels from fatty-acylated dipeptides. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 2019. DOI:10.1021/acs.jpcb.9b10002

  • Awards & Certifications

    • Qualified GATE 2013 with AIR 23
    • Summer Research Fellowship Under INSA-INSc-NASI , Under the Supervision of Dr. Chetan Gadgil, NCL Pune
    • Awarded with Best Poster Prize in the Poster Presentation at 6th Annual Meeting of Proteomics Society India, December 2014, held at IIT Bombay
    • Received International Travel Support from Department of Science and Technology (DST), India to attend the 26th American Peptide Symposium and 11th International Peptide Symposium held in Monterey, California, USA, 2019
    • Received travel award from American Peptide Symposium to attend the 26th American Peptide Symposium and 11th International Peptide Symposium held in Monterey, California, USA, 2019

    Professional Affiliations

  • American Peptide Society
  • European Peptide Society
  • Indian Biophysical Society
  • Society of Biological Chemists, India
  • Curriculum Vitae