Biochemistry & Physiology: Open Access
Open Access

Biography

Dr. Vikas Bhat received his PhD degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from University of Miami, Florida, USA. His thesis was mainly focused on understanding the mechanism of interaction and functional characterization of apoptotic repressor protein BclXL. He primarily devoted his study on finding the novel in-vitro properties associated with this protein which were previously not understood. Using a diverse array of biophysical methods (such as microcalorimetry, light scattering and optical spectroscopy including transient measurements) in conjunction with other in silico, protein biochemistry and molecular biology techniques to decipher the mechanism of action of the BclXL apoptotic repressor. In particular, his work has provided new insights into the ability of BclXL to assemble into highly-ordered amyloid-like fibrils with length in the order of mm and a diameter in the um-range under elevated temperatures. Strikingly, the BclXL fibrils appear to be optimally primed for insertion into cardiolipin bicelles, implying that they likely represent an on-pathway intermediate for insertion into mitochondrial outer membrane during the onset of apoptosis. During his PhD, he published many first author and coauthor papers focused around elucidating novel biophysical and biochemical properties of proteins involved in regulating many important pathways in a cell. Currently working at the University of California, San Diego as a post-doctoral scholar, Dr. Bhat is actively involved in finding novel protein based therapeutics for regulating blood loss in hemophilia and various other diseases related to coagulation pathway.

Research Interest

Proteomics, Structural Biochemistry, Molecular Biophysics, Cellular Signaling, Homeostasis and Drug Discovery

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