JAYATI SENGUPTA

My laboratory is engaged in a research program that combines structural biology with functional studies of cellular macromolecular machines with a particular focus on the protein synthesis machinery of the cell. I was fascinated by the structure and function of the astounding molecular machine ribosome during my post doctoral studies in Prof. Joachim Frank’s ribosome research lab and when I started my own research group at IICB, I have decided to continue research in understanding various ribosome-related pathways in bacteria.

Pathogenic bacteria often face major stresses inside human body. Cells express many ribosome-interacting factors which show regulatory function upon binding to the ribosome under various environmental stresses. However, the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of many of these regulatory processes has remained unknown, despite their biological importance.

One of the major goals of my lab is to understand functional role of ribosome-associated, stress-related factors in pathogenic organisms primarily using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and single particle image analysis technique. In addition, in collaboration with other research laboratories, we also employ cryo-EM for structural characterization of various bio-macromolecular assemblies with the aim of understanding their roles in health and diseases.