Ritabhas Das

EDUCATION

College / University

BSc: St.Xavier’s College, Kolkata
MSc: Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai

Highest Degree

Master of Science

Major Subjects

Microbiology, Cell Biology, Neurobiology

Country

India

Lab Experience

Western Blot, C.elegans Handling, Fluorescence Imaging, Polymerization Chain Reaction, Microinjection for C.elegans transgenesis , Nucleic acid isolation, Image analysis

Projects / Research

2021 – 2023: "Regulation of neuronal autophagy through UNC-104 ubiquitination by fbxa-103" (supervised by Dr. Sandhya Koushika, TIFR Mumbai)
2021 – 2023: "Identification and characterization of novel molecular players involved in Synaptic vesicle (SV) protein transport" (under Dr.Sandhya Koushika, TIFR Mumbai)
supervised by Dr. Arup Kumar Mitra on “Potential disease-causing microbes in aquarium fishes and their control.” at St.Xavier’s College Kolkata: I isolated and identified various disease causing microbes in aquarium fishes and found non-chemical based methods to control the microbes
Supervised by Dr. Kasturi Sarkar on “Characterisation of various properties on mangrove trees from Sunderbans” at St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata using biochemical techniques

Scholarships / Awards

2023 – 2024:	Stipend by the International Max Planck Research School
2021:	1^st position in Quiz in Days 1 and 3, during the Biology and Bioengineering Summer Camp held at Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai (IIT-B)
2020:	All India Rank (AIR 72) in IIT JAM examination
	Qualified the Joint Graduate Entrance Examination for Biology and Interdisciplinary Life Sciences ( JGEEBILS), a joint admission test for biology involving 20 institutions in India.
2019:	1^st position within department at St. Xavier’s college, Kolkata in the annual examinations
2017:	1^st positions in oral presentation in the National Seminar- “Modern Trends in Microbiology” on the topic – Mathematical modelling of within host influenza virus mechanisms and prediction of antiviral treatment in 2017

SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS AND GOALS

The concepts of regulation of gene expression by modulating the chromatin architecture has always intrigued me. I find it fascinating how chromatin is modified/regulated by various factors such as histone, histone modifications/barcodes and the 3D chromatin architecture itself to regulate gene expression in a given cell in a spatio-temporal manner to achieve a phenotypic outcome. I am also very fascinated by how phase separation regulates transcriptional output. Transcriptional condensates has been shown to regulate transcription dependent on the phase separation of chromatin, RNA and TFs. It becomes very interesting to find if formation of these transcriptional condensates are a function or property of the chromatin such as the histone modifications and the 3D chromatin architecture. I believe the labs in the IMPRS program would provide me the best opportunities to answer some of my questions.