Nanobiotechnology

Nanobiotechnology is a hot new research field in which nano-sized artificial structures are combined with natural biological systems for a broad range of purposes, among them bio-sensing and drug delivery. We are active in both these research areas.

For sensing applications, our focus is on nanopores as a new approach for sequencing DNA. We use molecular dynamics simulations to explore the movement of DNA in the nanopore channel, density functional theory to determine the electronic structure of the nano-bio device, and quantum transport methods to calculate the electrical conductance which constitutes the output signal to distinguish between the four different bases in DNA.

Our other research focus is the use of 2D nanomaterials as targeted drug delivery agents for the treatment of cancer, antibiotic resistance, neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s etc. Here, ab initio simulations are used by us to mainly understand the adsorption characteristics of the drug molecules in the context of binding energies, electronic structure and optical properties.

Nanopores for analysis of DNA and proteins [Link to Ralph’s page]

Name of Biplab’s project [Link to Biplab’s page]