Sukanya Chakraborty

EDUCATION

College / University

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Berhampur

Highest Degree

Integrated Bachelor of Science and Master of Science

Major Subjects

Biological Sciences

Country

India

Lab Experience

Wet Lab: Mice Handling, breeding and maintenance, Perfusion Surgery, Mice Brain and Hippocampus Dissection, Vibratome sectioning of fresh brains, Genotyping, qRT-PCR, Western Blotting, Immunohistochemistry, ELISA, Molecular Cloning
Dry Lab: Data Mining, differential gene expression analysis using R programming (DeSeq2 pipeline), Reaction Time data analysis in MATLAB for human behavioural eye-head coordination motor experiments

Projects / Research

07/2020 – 06/2021: Master's thesis "Role of Perineuronal Nets in the pathophysiology of Syngap1^+/- mice model of Autism Spectrum Disorder" (Mentor: Dr James P. Clement Chelliah, Neuroscience Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru)
06/2020 – 08/2020: Summer Research; "Mining genes common to sudden and gradual axonal degeneration based on RNASeq data" (Mentor: Dr Zhumur Ghosh, Bioinformatics Centre, Bose Institute, Kolkata)
04/2020 – 11/2020: iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) Competition: "FRaPPe: A FRET Based Ranker for Proteins and Peptides"; IISER Berhampur (Primary Instructor: Dr R Selvi Bharathavikru, Department of Biological Sciences, IISER Berhampur)
06/2019 – 07/2019: Summer Reserach: "Developing a common command model for Eye-Head Coordination during Gaze Shifts (1) and Optimization of infant Motor Babbling simulations in OpenSim (2)" (Mentor: Prof Aditya Murthy, Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru)

Scholarships / Awards

2022 – 2023:	Stipend by the International Max Planck Research School
2017– 2022:	DST-INSPIRE Scholarship for Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource and Development, Government of India
2019:	Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research Summer Research Fellowship Program (Life Sciences Category)

SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS AND GOALS

The human brain, with its dense network of billions of neurons is a constant shapeshifter, revising its own circuitry relentlessly. Even a tiny glitch in this wiring can spell disaster. This fascinating but delicate complexity has motivated me to take a combined approach of behavioural, molecular, and computational strategies to understand neuronal connections in regulating higher order cognitive functions. Some of the research questions I would be curious to address include deciphering the role of cross-talk between neuronal and glial cells in controlling such functions, especially memory and sleep, eventually exploring ways to tap into the therapeutic potential of these interactions.