Pratik Shah 21st International Conference on Biological Inorganic Chemistry 2025

Pratik Shah

RESEARCH INTEREST Synthetic biology is an emerging field that involves the engineering of biomolecules and the re-design of existing biological molecules. Our research within synthetic biology utilizes the knowledge of biochemistry and molecular biology of DNA and RNA to exploit them as nanoscale building blocks to construct diverse unnatural nucleic acids-based structures. This allows us to use DNA as biomaterial that not only can be engineered to form complex and dynamic structures but can also interact with biological systems. Specific research areas include: 1-DNA biosensors: Design, synthesis, characterization, and application of DNA-based nanodevices and complex nanostructures for biosensing and stimuli-responsive DNA nanodevices for biomedical applications including drug delivery, bioimaging, and biomarker detection. 2- Nucleic acid chemistry: DNA is designed to act as scaffold to form unnatural metal-mediated base pairing. We have identified unnatural nucleic acid chemistry driven by fluorescent silver nanoclusters. Current aim is to gain better understanding of the mutual effect of silver nanoclusters and DNA on the structure-function relationship of both the components. 3-RNA biology: Development of DNA nanotechnology-based approaches for the detection and visualization of RNAs for better understanding of RNA biology and for rapid, inexpensive, easy-to-use, accessible in-vitro diagnostics including in resource-strained environment.