Vishwesh Rai

As a chemical engineer currently pursuing a PhD, I am passionate about exploring the possibilities of using chemical engineering principles in the field of biophysics as well as therapeutics. The theme of my doctoral research thesis is "understanding and leveraging molecular self-assembly principles". My current research involves understanding the assembly dynamics of pore-forming toxins on artificial lipid bilayers using single-molecule experiments, as well as elucidating the effect of molecular crowding on the binding, assembly, and related phenomena involving biologically important moieties and artificial lipid bilayers using similar experiments. I employ different spectroscopic and microscopy tools to study various biomolecular phenomena of interest. I am designing and synthesising biomimicking DNA-based nanostructures using novel molecular origami techniques for therapeutic applications. One of my major research objectives aims to design and assemble novel origami-based vectors for the targeted delivery of RNA.

Before my doctoral research, I served as an Assistant Manager of Engineering Projects at a major biopharmaceutics manufacturing firm, where I was responsible for the engineering design, procurement, commissioning, and qualification of an API manufacturing facility. I completed my M.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, where the subject of my Master's thesis project was "aerosol synthesis of lipid-encapsulated nanoparticles for intrapulmonary delivery of insulin". As a Bachelor's student at Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, I worked on the simulation of the manufacturing process of heterogeneous nanocatalyst MCM41 from rice husk using the basic package of ASPEN Plus®. I have undertaken various intermediate to advanced-level courses to complement my research needs and satiate my curiosity. My leisure time is usually spent reading non-fiction, trying new coding tools, sketching portraits or backpacking. I recently started training for endurance runs and have also been participating in 10K and half-marathons.