Debajyoti Dutta

Background

About Debajyoti Dutta

Biological membranes define the boundaries of life, encapsulating cellular processes while maintaining vital connections with the external environment. The intricate interplay between lipids and proteins is central to these essential functions. My fascination with membrane proteins began during my Ph.D. at IIT Kharagpur, where I employed macromolecular crystallography, fluorescence spectroscopy, enzymology, and computational docking to investigate proteins involved in lipid and fatty acid metabolism in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Staphylococcus aureus. The complexity and diversity of lipid metabolism in Mycobacterium tuberculosis particularly ignited my deep interest in membrane proteins. Currently, my research focuses on yeast and plant membrane protein transporters, particularly those related to salt tolerance—a passion sparked during my second postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Alberta. There, I studied sodium-proton antiporters, crucial membrane transporters responsible for maintaining pH gradients and regulating intracellular salt concentrations. Later, at the University of Leeds, I expanded my expertise in single-molecule biophysics of membrane transporters, using Solid-Supported Membrane (SSM) electrophysiology and fluorescence-based assays. Now, as a faculty member at Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, I teach Protein Engineering, Enzyme Technology, Downstream Processing and Macromolecule Separation Technology, and Structural Biology.