Amitabh Ranjan

Talented Postdoctoral Research Fellow dedicated to RNA biology research. Offering hands-on experience in supporting research efforts and completing independent projects. Eager to advance collective discipline knowledge and author high-quality scientific papers for publication in peer-reviewed journals.

• Scientific skills:
• Molecular Biology and cell culture: All standard procedures including cloning and site-directed mutagenesis, Gene library construction for mutant screening, Immunoprecipitation and Luciferase assay using Human cell lines, making stable reporter cell lines
• RNA Biology: Purification of RNA from cell lines, Northern blotting, qRT-PCR assay, Polysome sedimentation assay
• Bacteria and phage studies: Bacterial culturing, transduction and growth curve, β- galactosidase assay, Bacteriophage induction, Bacteriophage culturing, Bacteriophage lysate preparation
• Protein Biochemistry: In vitro translation, Fluorescence labelling of Ribosome, preparation of Ribosome Nascent Chain complexes (RNCs), Protein purification through affinity, Ion exchange and gel filtration columns, Western Blotting, site-specific protein labeling, In vitro transcription studies, Thin Layer chromatography (TLC), Protein and RNA foot printing studies, ATPase assay, In vivo and in vitro pull-down assays, Crosslinking studies, EMSA assays
• Biophysical studies: Fluorescence spectroscopy (FRET and PET), Equilibrium titrations, Lifetime measurement of fluorophores, Rapid kinetics (stopped-flow, quench flow), Anisotropy measurements, Thermophoresis, Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, Bioanalytical methods, Training on Surface Plasmon Resonance (SensiQ Pioneer) and Isothermal Titration Calorimetry (ITC)
• Bioinformatics Skills: Training on Bulk RNA-Seq Data Analysis, Global fitting of rapid kinetics, protein structural analysis by using AlphaFold, PyMOL and RasMol Homology modeling using SWISS-MODEL, protein-protein docking using different web servers and computer applications
• Achievements and awards:
• 2014 - 2016: Awarded “Max Planck Fellowship” for postdoctoral research at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany
• 2010 - 2012: Recipient of “Senior Research Fellowship” from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Govt Of India, India
• 2008 - 2009: Recipient of “Junior Research Fellowship” from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Govt Of India, India
• 2007: Qualified Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Eligibility Test (CSIR- NET), a national level test and eligibility for lectureship
• 2006: Qualified Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) 2006 in Life Sciences
• 2005 - 2007: Recipient of Master Fellowship from Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt Of India during M.Sc At Department of Biotechnology, Goa University, Goa, India
• 2005: Qualified Combined Biotechnology Entrance Examination conducted by the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi for admission to M.Sc Biotechnology Program
• Conference proceedings:
• Sept 2022: 17th annual NICHD, NIH Fellows Retreat, oral presentation: FELLOWS’ THREE- MINUTE POSTER TALKS: " LARP4 interaction with ribosomal protein RACK1 may couple stability and translation efficiency of ARE mRNAs."
• Sept 2022: NICHD Intramural Scientific Retreat, poster presentation: " LARP4 interaction with ribosomal protein RACK1 may couple stability and translation efficiency of short-lived mRNAs."
• June 2021: Quarterly LARPSoc meeting, oral presentation: " Mapping the 40S ribosome- associated RACK1-interacting region of LARP4 reveals its differential effects on stable and unstable mRNAs" Online Attended
• May 2021: The 26th Annual Meeting of the RNA Society, poster presentation: " Mapping the 40S ribosome-associated RACK1-interacting region of LARP4 reveals its differential effects on stable and unstable mRNAs." Online Attended
• May 2020: The 25th Annual Meeting of the RNA Society, Online Attended
• May 2019: 15th annual NICHD, NIH Fellows Retreat, Washington D.C., poster presentation: "The variant PAM2w motif of LARP4 promotes poly(A) binding and contributes to mRNA homeostasis."
• February 2014: Proposal selected for “BioAsia Innovation Award-2014” entitled “Concept of designing therapeutic peptide(s) from a virus capsid protein” presented during the event, BIOASIA 2014 held at HICC, Hyderabad, India.
• December 2012: Poster presentation at the workshop on microbial biology, held at CDFD, Hyderabad, India.
• November 2012: Poster presentation at the 81st Society of Biological Chemist, India (SBCI) national conference, held at Kolkata, India.
• August 2011: Poster presentation at the ‘Molecular Genetics of Bacteria and Phages Meeting’,held at University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA.

1. Ranjan, A., Mattijssen, S., Gallardo, IC., Coleman, J., Conte, MR. and Maraia, RJ. Mapping the

40S ribosome-associated RACK1-interacting region of LARP4 reveals its differential effects on

stable and unstable mRNAs. Manuscript in preparation

2. Ranjan, A., Mattijssen, S. and Maraia, RJ. The variant PAM2w motif of LARP4 promotes

poly(A) RNA binding and contributes to a network of mRNA homeostasis. Manuscript in

preparation

3. Mattijssen, S., Kozlov, G., Gaidamakov, S., Ranjan, A., Fonseca, BD., Gehring, K. and Maraia,

RJ. (2021) The isolated La-module of LARP1 mediates 3’ poly(A) protection and mRNA

stabilization, dependent on its intrinsic PAM2 binding to PABPC1, RNA Biology, 18:2, 275-289.

4. Ranjan*, A., Mercier*, M., Bhatt, A. and Wintermeyer, W. (2017) Signal recognition particle

prevents N-terminal processing of bacterial membrane proteins. Nature

Communications volume 8, Article number: 15562. *equal contribution

5. Kalyani, B.S., Kunamneni, R., Wal, M., Ranjan, A. and Sen, R. (2015) A NusG paralogue from

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Rv0639, has evolved to interact with ribosomal protein S10

(Rv0700) but not to function as a transcription elongation-termination factor. Microbiology, 161,

67-83.

6. Ranjan, A., Sharma, S., Banerjee, R., Sen, U. and Sen, R. (2013) Structural and mechanistic

basis of antitermination of Rho-dependent transcription termination by bacteriophage P4 capsid

protein Psu. Nucleic Acids Research 41(14), 6839-6856.

7. Ranjan, A., Banerjee, R., Pani, B., Sen, U. and Sen, R. (2013) The moonlighting function of

Bacteriophage P4 capsid protein, Psu, as a transcription antiterminator. Bacteriophage 3(2),

e25657.

8. Banerjee, R., Nath, S., Ranjan, A., Khamrui, K., Pani, B., Sen, R. and Sen, U. (2012) The first

structure of Polarity Suppression protein, Psu from Enterobacteria phage P4, reveals a novel fold

and a knotted dimer. Journal of Biological Chemistry 287(53), 44667-44675.

9. Kalarickal, N.C., Ranjan, A., Kalyani, B.S., Wal, M. and Sen, R. (2010) A bacterial transcription

terminator with inefficient molecular motor action but with a robust transcription termination

function. Journal of Molecular Biology 395, 966-982.

10. Khamurai, S., Ranjan, A., Pani, B., Sen, R. and Sen, U. (2010) Crystallization and preliminary

X-Ray analysis of Psu, an inhibitor of bacterial transcription terminator, Rho. Acta Crystallogr

Sect F Struct Biol Cryst Commun. 66 (Pt 2), 204-6.

11. Pani*, B., Ranjan*, A. and Sen, R. (2009) Interaction surface of bacteriophage P4 protein Psu

required for the complex formation with the transcription terminator Rho. Journal of Molecular

Biology 389, 647-660. *equal contribution