Puja Banerjee

Background: 

Puja earned her Bachelor’s degree from Jadavpur University, India in 2012, and a Master’s degree from IIT Kanpur, India in 2014, both in Chemistry. In the same year, she joined Prof. Biman Bagchi’s group in IISc, India where she has worked on protein association/dissociation processes using biased and unbiased molecular dynamics simulations, dynamics of electrolyte solutions with polyatomic ions, and the nucleation processes of polymorphic solids. She obtained her Ph.D. degree in Chemistry in February 2020 and joined the Voth group in September 2020.

Research Interests: 

Puja is interested in using multi-scale methods to understand the mechanisms of large-scale viral processes and the collective behavior of macromolecules involved in viral replication and infectivity. She is currently working on the protein-protein self-assembly processes as well as protein-membrane interactions using both all-atom and coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations in the systems of HIV-1 and SARS-CoV-2.

Publications:

1. P. Banerjee and B. Bagchi, “Dynamical control by water at a molecular level in protein dimer association and dissociation”,Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 117(5), 2302-2308(2020).

2. P. Banerjee and B. Bagchi, “Role of local order in anomalous ion diffusion: Interrogation through tetrahedral entropy of aqueous solvation shells”, J. Chem. Phys. 153, 154505 (2020)

3. P. Banerjee and B. Bagchi, “Ion pair correlations due to interference between solvent polarizations induced in water”,J. Chem. Phys. 152, 064501(2020).

4. P. Banerjee and B. Bagchi, “Facilitation of Nucleation of Polymorphic Solids Due to the Presence of Multiple Metastable Phases: Effects of Non-Classical Surface Tension”, J. Phys. Chem. C 123, 21207(2019).

5. P. Banerjee , S. Mondal and B. Bagchi, “Effect of ethanol on insulin dimer dissociation”,J. Chem. Phys. 150, 084902(2019)

6. P. Banerjee and B. Bagchi, “Ions’ motion in water”, J. Chem. Phys. 150, 190901 (2019)(Perspective article; selected as Featured article) .

7. A. S. Nair, P. Banerjee , S. Sarkar and B. Bagchi, “Dynamics of Linear Molecules in Water: Translation-Rotation Coupling in Jump Motion Driven Diffusion”,J. Chem. Phys. 151, 034301(2019).

8. P. Banerjee , S. Mondal and B. BagchiI, “Insulin dimer dissociation in aqueous solution: A computational study of free energy landscape and evolving microscopic structure along the reaction pathway.”J. Chem. Phys. 149, 114902 (2018) .

9. P. Banerjee and B. Bagchi, “Effects of metastable phases on surface tension, nucleation, and the disappearance of polymorphs”,J. Chem. Phys. 149, 214704(2018) .

10. P. Banerjee and B. Bagchi, “Rotational dynamics of polyatomic ions in aqueous solutions: From continuum model to mode-coupling theory, aided by computer simulations”, J. Chem. Phys. 148, 224504 (2018) .

11. P. Banerjee and B. Bagchi, “A mode-coupling theory analysis of the observed diffusion anomaly in aqueous polyatomic ions”, J. Chem. Phys. 147, 124502 (2017)

12. P. Banerjee, S. Yashonath and B. Bagchi, “Rotation driven translational diffusion of polyatomic ions in water: A novel mechanism for breakdown of Stokes-Einstein relation”, J. Chem. Phys. 146, 164502 (2017) .

13. P. Banerjee, S. Yashonath and B. Bagchi, “Coupled jump rotational dynamics in aqueous nitrate solutions”J. Chem. Phys. 145, 234502 (2016).