Dr. Harsha Bajaj

Dr,
Professional Experience
  • Post-Doctoral Research Associate (Apr. 2015 - Jul. 2016), Jacobs University Bremen, Germany, collaboration with University of Cambridge, UK
  • Guest Scientist (Jul. 2016 - Jul. 2017), Jacobs University Bremen, Germany
  • DBT-Bio-CARe fellow (Feb. 2018 - May. 2018), National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore.
  • DBT- Bio-CARe fellow (Aug. 2018 - Feb. 2019), CSIR- National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Trivandrum
  • DBT- Har-Gobind Khorana Innovative Young Biotechnologist fellow (Mar. 2019 - Aug. 2021), CSIR- National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Trivandrum
Achievements & Awards

Awards and Recognitions

  • 2020DST-INSPIRE Faculty award granted by Department of Science and Technology, India.
  • 2018Har-Gobind Khorana Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award (IYBA) 2018 granted by Department of Biotechnology, India.
  • 2015/16 Post-doctoral fellowship by the European Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) “Translocation” project, Jacobs University Bremen, Germany.
  • 2012/13 Member of the President's List of the Academic Year, Jacobs University, Germany.
  • 2011/12 Master of Science fellowship in Molecular Life Science, Jacobs University, Germany.
  • 2011Working Internships in Science and Engineering (WISE) - DAAD Fellowship, Jacobs University Bremen, Germany.
  • 2009/10Academic Scholarship awarded by National Institute of Technology, Warangal, India
Publications

Publications

S.No. Details Year Impact factor
1 Mohanan, G., Nair, K. S., Nampoothiri, K. M., Bajaj, H*. Engineering Bio-Mimicking Functional Vesicles with Multiple Compartments for Quantifying Molecular Transport. Chem. Sci., 11 (18), 4669-4679. (* as corresponding author) 2020 9.8
2 Bajaj, H., Gutiérrez, S. A., Bodrenko, I., Malloci, G., Scorciapino, M. A., Winterhalter, M and Ceccarelli, M. Exploring physical rules for permeation: sensing the electric field inside narrow protein channels. ACS Nano. 11, 5465-5473. 2017 13.9
3 Bajaj, H., Scorciapino, M. A., Moynie, L., Page, M. G. P., Naismith, J. H., Ceccarelli, M., and Winterhalter, M. Molecular Basis of Filtering Carbapenems by Porins from β-Lactam-resistant Clinical Strains of Escherichia coli. J. Biol. Chem. 291, 2837-47. 2016 4.1
4 Cama, J.*, Bajaj, H.*, Pagliara, S., Maier, T., Braun, Y., Winterhalter, M., and Keyser, U. F. Quantification of Fluoroquinolone Uptake through the Outer Membrane Channel OmpF of Escherichia coli. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 137, 13836-43. (* Shared First authorship) 2015 14.6
5 Bajaj, H., Tran, Q.-T., Mahendran, K. R., Nasrallah, C., Colletier, J.-P., Davin-Regli, A., Bolla, J.-M., Pagès, J.-M., and Winterhalter, M. Antibiotic uptake through membrane channels: role of Providencia stuartii OmpPst1 porin in carbapenem resistance. Biochemistry. 51, 10244-9. 2012 2.95
6 Susmitha, A., Bajaj, H., Madhavan, Nampoothiri, K. The divergent roles of sortase in the biology of Gram-positive bacteria. .Cell Surf. 7,100055 2021 -
7 Susmitha, A., Nampoothiri, K. M., Bajaj, H. Insights into the Biochemical and Functional Characterization of Sortase E Transpeptidase of Corynebacterium Glutamicum. Biochem. J., 476 (24), 3835–3847. 2019 4.33
8 Puthumadathil, N., Jayasree, P., Santhosh Kumar, K., Nampoothiri, K. M., Bajaj, H., Mahendran, K. R. Detecting the Structural Assembly Pathway of Human Antimicrobial Peptide Pores at Single-Channel Level. Biomater. Sci., 7 (8), 3226-3237. 2019 5.8
9 Ghai, I., Bajaj, H., Arun Bafna, J., El Damrany Hussein, H. A., Winterhalter, M., and Wagner, R. Ampicillin permeation across OmpF, the major outer-membrane channel in Escherichia coli. J. Biol. Chem. 293, 7030-7037. 2018 4.1
10 Singh, P. R.,Bajaj, H., Benz, R., Winterhalter, M., and Mahendran, K. R. Transport across the outer membrane porin of mycolic acid containing actinomycetales: Nocardia farcinica. Biochim. Biophys. Acta - Biomembr. 1848, 654–661. 2015 3.79
11 Song, W., Bajaj, H., Nasrallah, C., Jiang, H., Winterhalter, M., Colletier, J.-P., Xu, Y. Understanding Voltage Gating of Providencia Stuartii Porins at Atomic Level. PLoS Comput. Biol., 11 (5), e1004255. 2015 4.4
12 Weichbrodt, C., Bajaj, H., Baaken, G., Wang, J., Guinot, S., Kreir, M., Behrends, J. C., Winterhalter, M., and Fertig, N. Antibiotic translocation through porins studied in planar lipid bilayers using parallel platforms. Analyst. 140, 4874-81. 2015 4
13 Bodrenko, I., Bajaj, H., Ruggerone, P., Winterhalter, M., and Ceccarelli, M. Analysis of fast channel blockage: revealing substrate binding in the microsecond range. Analyst. 140, 4820-7. 2015 4

 

Academic Qualification
  • Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemical Engineering (areas- Molecular Biophysics and Membrane Biology 2015),
    Jacobs University Bremen, Germany, based on the European Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) “Translocation” project. Thesis on “Antibiotic permeation through membrane proteins”.
  • Master of Science in Molecular Life science, (2013). First rank with President Award,
    Jacobs University Bremen, Thesis on “Molecular transport through Porins of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria”.
  • Bachelor of Technology in Biotechnology, (2011). First rank
    National Institute of Technology, Warangal, India
Research Interest

Membrane Biophysics, Membrane biology and Synthetic Biology

  1. Small molecule permeation across membranes and membrane proteins to elucidate the transport routes for their metabolism in bacterium.
  2. Investigating antibiotic transport, anti-microbial peptide interaction with cell- membrane mimicking vesicles.
  3. Membrane Biophysics
  4. Membrane biology and Synthetic Biology
Projects
  • Aug. 2018 - Aug. 2021 DBT Biotechnology Career Advancement and Re-orientation Program (Rs 18.1 lakhs)
  • Feb. 2019 - Feb. 2022 DBT Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award (IYBA)- (Rs 83.5 lakhs)
  • Aug. 2020 - Jul. 2025 DST INSPIRE Faculty award (Rs 35 Lakhs)
Research Areas

Research Areas

  • Engineering bio-mimicking functional artificial cells for bottom-up biology applications-

Functional bacterial models:

Engineering of minimal cells mimicking the native membrane opens up various platforms for research in membrane and bottom-up biology. In this work, giant unilamellar vesicles (GUV) mimicking membrane of Gram- negative and Gram-positive bacterium are engineered under physiological salt condition. We have used an E. coli lipid extract for Gram- negative(GN) model and a ternary lipid mixture mimicking membrane of Staphylococcus aureus for Gram-positive (GP) model. Importantly, we incorporate LPS in Gram-negative (GN) vesicles (OMM model) by inverse-phase precursor film assembly to mimic Gram-negative outer-membrane and confirm at single-vesicle level using fluorescence detection system. Controlled size of the vesicles is realised by formation via gel-assisted technology. The applicability of the models is confirmed by quantifying the transport of antibiotics across the membranes which demonstrate orders of magnitude difference in transport rate among the three different models. We show that the vesicle models can be successfully used as a scaffold to study antimicrobial activity of peptides like dermcidin and melittin. Functionality of the vesicle models is shown by reconstitution of model membrane protein pore. The models engineered here are not only crucial for understanding of membrane transport mechanisms, but also form a building block towards construction of a protocell.

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Selected Publications:

  • Mohanan, G., Nair, K. S., Nampoothiri, K. M., Bajaj, H*. Engineering Bio-Mimicking Functional Vesicles with Multiple Compartments for Quantifying Molecular Transport. Chem. Sci., 11 (18), 4669-4679.
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