Quick Links
Ashwani Kumar Thakur
PhD (I.M.T. & Punjab University)
Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences & Bioengineering (BSBE)
Research Interest
Peptide design and protein aggregation mechanism, Amyloid diseases, Drug Discovery My lab is working on structural and biophysical basis of protein aggregation involved in amyloid diseases, with an aim for therapeutic development. We are currently looking polyglutamine aggregation in Huntington's disease, chronic inflammation induced systemic amyloidosis, phenylalanine aggregation in Phenylketonuria. In parallel, we are developing nanoparticle based technologies to deliver therapeutic lead molecules to brain.
Education
PhD, Institute of MicrobialTechnology & Punjab University, 2002
M.Sc., Punjab University, 1995
B.Sc., Himachal Pradesh University, 1993
Selected Publications
Singh V, Rai RK, Arora A, Sinha N and Thakur AK (2014) Therapeutic implication of L-phenylalanine aggregation mechanism and its modulation by D-phenylalanine in phenylketonuria. Scientific Reports; 4:3875.
Thakur AK, Jayaraman M, Mishra R, Thakur M, Chellgran VM, Byon IJ, Conway JF, Gronenborn AM and Wetzel R (2009), Polyglutamine disruption of the huntingtin exon 1 N-terminus triggers a complex aggregation mechanism. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology; 16(4), 380-9.
Thakur AK, Yang W, Wetzel R (2004) Inhibition of polyglutamine aggregate toxicity by a structure-based elongation inhibitor. FASEB J; 18(7):923-925
Thakur AK, Wetzel R. (2002) Mutational analysis of the structural organization of polyglutamine aggregrates. Prot Natl Acad Sci (USA); 99(26):17014-17019
Thakur AK, Kishore R (1999) Novel hydrogen bonding ring motifs in a model peptide: crystal and molecular conformation. Chemical Communications; 1643-1644.
Awards & Fellowships
2018 Bio-SPMs Collaborative Research Grant at The Nano Life Science Institute (NanoLSI), Institute for Frontier Science Initiative, Kanazawa University. Japan
Erasmus Mundus-Namaste academic staff fellowship (2014-2017 period)
Rapid Young investigator grant from DBT (2011-2014)
Runner up award from the high commissioner of UK in Indo-UK Biopharma Business Plan 2012.
Scholarship for completing office of enterprise development course: from bench top to bedside what every scientist needs to know, university of Pittsburgh USA -2007.
Alexander von Humboldt fellowship for post-doctoral research, Germany-2003
Junior and senior research fellowship UGC-CSIR for PhD completion, India
Agriculture research scientist examination (Animal Biotechnology)-96, India
Graduate aptitude test for engineering-96, India.
Department of biotechnology fellowship for completion of MSc degree, India
National merit scholarship holder, HP Board of School Education
Scholarship holder in middle school, HP Board of School Education
Professional Experience
Dr Reddy’s Lab Hyderabad: Manager, Senior Manager Quality Control head (2008-2010) In the middle management role at Dr Reddy’s laboratory, biologics development centre for two years, I was involved in multiple projects in managing development, quality, regulations, manufacturing, assurance, technology transfer, data analytics, manpower & efficiency planning, career planning and system improvement in the area of biopharmaceuticals. Many reports were written and reviewed by me to cater different businesses of biopharmaceutical manufacturing. I was responsible for assigning job responsibilities to scientists and managers. I was signatory of auditable quality documents, approving authority for: leaves, company resources, training, recruiting people, discrepancies management, cross functional documentation, handling market complains and regulatory queries. As Head of Quality control, I was the authority to release the drug through Certificate of Analysis to the market.