Research Interests
Research in the Chakraborty group focuses on designing artificial biocatalysts (metalloenzymes) inspired by naturally occurring proteins, as applicable to bioenergy and medicine. Students trained in our group will have strong foundations in interdisciplinary areas of protein design and engineering, inorganic chemistry, peptide chemistry, spectroscopy, macromolecular crystallography, electrocatalysis, and photocatalysis.
Specific projects are:
- C-H activation: Using protein engineering to activate strong C-H bonds of abundant biomass and the greenhouse gas methane to potential biofuels
- Hydrogen Energy and CO2: Using protein engineering to create artificial metalloenzymes for H2 fuel production and CO2 capture
- Neurodegeneration: Using protein design to tackle neurodegenerative diseases
Biography
Dr. Chakraborty received his B.Sc. from the University of Calcutta in 2004 and M.Sc. from IIT Madras in 2006. He then did his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan and postdoctoral training at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. He became an assistant professor at the University of Mississippi in 2016 and received tenure and promotion to Associate Professor in 2022. Graduate students trained in the lab have acquired successful post-doctoral and industry positions, while undergraduates have gone on to medical and graduate schools.
Education
Ph.D. Chemistry, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (2011)