Research Projects

The protein corona, a concept coined in 2018, has been extensively studied by the nano-science community. Recently, lipid corona, also known as artificial virus nanoparticles (AVNs), have gained interest due to their similarity to enveloped virus particles. Understanding and reviewing this process is crucial for the development of smart nanoparticles for biomedical applications. Recently, amino acids functionalized gold nanoparticles (Au-AA NPs) form the lipid corona, which depends on both the properties of lipid and nanoparticles. The project aims to solve research gaps in lipid corona by studying the effect of surface functionality (amino acids, carbohydrates, and nucleic acids) on lipid corona formation and the effect of lipid corona on cellular uptake. The co-variance of interaction between proteins and lipids is also being explored to understand how they influence each other to form coronas. The folded and unfolded state of proteins will also be studied to investigate the influence of the biomolecular corona (lipid, proteins, and metabolites) on cellular uptake, toxicity, dissolution, and bioaccumulation of NPs. The researchers are also interested in investigating if the lipid corona can inhibit protein-induced aggregation of NPs. Various spectroscopic and microscopic techniques will be employed to solve these research problems.