Dr. Nibedita Nandi – Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies

Dr. Nibedita Nandi

University of Freiburg
Signalling Research Centres BIOSS and CIBSS
Chemical Biology

Internal Junior Fellow (Marie S. Curie FCFP)
October 2022 – September 2023

E-Mail: nibedita.nandi@biologie.uni-freiburg.de

Last Update: 31.08.2023

Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Nandi is currently working as a post-doctoral researcher in the group of Prof. Maja Köhn at the University of Freiburg, focusing on different aspects of Chemical tools to investigate the functions and regulation of phosphatases and their contribution to signaling networks. Prior to that, she obtained her Ph.D. degree in Organic and Supramolecular Chemistry from Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, India under the supervision of Prof. Arindam Banerjee. During her Ph.D., she was deeply involved in the solid- and solution-phase Peptide synthesis, along with their applications as Advanced Smart Materials in the fabrication of Soft Nano-Materials and Supramolecular Gels, in Waste-water treatment, in Drug Delivery vehicles and Antimicrobial activities (Biodegradable). While her research covers a wide array of topics, her principal investigation concerns the development of artificial molecules that can be used as Chemical Modulators to selectively target the ‘Undruggable’ Protein Phosphatse-1 and to impact Signalling Pathways in cells with the aim to develop new medical applications in future to treat Cardiomyopathy and Heart Failure.

Dr. Nandi has an established record of accomplishment in peptides and organic molecules synthesis, demonstrated by her publications in this field (15 articles). She attended several national and international conferences, often as a selected speaker and she has also received several awards and fellowships in her career including National scholarship in India (CSIR Research Fellowships). She acted as a reviewer for journals of Wiley Online Library.

Selected Publications

Amphiphilic Peptide-based Supramolecular, Noncytotoxic Stimuli-Responsive Hydrogels with Antibacterial Activity.Nibedita Nandi, Kousik Gayen, Sandip Ghosh, Debmalya Bhunia, Steven Kirkham, Sukanta Kumar Sen, Surajit Ghosh, Ian W Hamley and Arindam Banerjee. Biomacromolecules, 2017, 18, 3621-3629. (DOI: 10.1021/acs.biomac.7b01006)
A Tripeptide-based Self-Shrinking Hydrogel for Waste-Water Treatment: Removal of Toxic Organic Dyes and Lead (Pb²⁺) Ions.Shibaji Basak,^‡Nibedita Nandi,^‡Subir Paul, Ian W. Hamley and Arindam Banerjee. Chem. Commun., 2017, 53, 5910-5913. (^‡These two authors contributed equally). (DOI: 10.1039/c7cc01774j)
Two-Component Fluorescent-Semiconducting Hydrogel from Naphthalene Diimide-Appended Peptide with Long-Chain Amines: Variation in Thermal and Mechanical Strengths of Gels.Nibedita Nandi, Shibaji Basak, Steven Kirkham, Ian W. Hamley and Arindam Banerjee. Langmuir, 2016, 32, 13226-13233. (DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.6b02727)
Assembly of Amino Acid containing Naphthalene Diimide-based Molecules: The Role of Intervening Amide Groups in Self-Assembly, Gelation, Optical and Semiconducting Properties. Nibedita Nandi, Kousik Gayen and Arindam Banerjee. Soft Matter, 2019, 15, 3018-3026. (DOI: 10.1039/C8SM02460J)
A Dipeptide-based Superhydrogel: Removal of Toxic Dyes and Heavy Metal Ions from Waste-water.Nibedita Nandi,^‡ Abhishek Baral,^‡ Kingshuk Basu, Subhasish Roy and Arindam Banerjee. Peptide Science,2017, 108, 108:e22915 (1-9). (^‡These two authors contributed equally) (DOI 10.1002/bip.22915)

FRIAS Project

Identifying the Best: Microcystin based Selective Modulators of Protein Phosphatase-1 Activity

The role of protein phosphatase-1 (PP1), one of the ubiquitous protein serine/threonine phosphatases, in intracellular events has been deliberated to be a major regulator in oncogenic cell progression and numerous biological processes, and therefore, misregulation of PP1 activity can lead to several diseases including cancer. At the molecular level, cyclic peptide based natural toxin Microcystins (MCs) bind irreversibly to inhibit protein serine/threonine (Ser/Thr) phosphatases, especially protein phosphatase-1 (PP1) and protein phosphatase-2A (PP2A), simultaneously owing to their highly homologous structural similarities and similar catalytic mechanisms at their active site. Thus, in spite of the substantial participation in the most prevalent post-translation modifications, PP1 is still declared ‘undruggable’ due to the lack of specific inhibitors. To combat this challenge, the proposed research program will offer the desired selective chemical tools for studying selective PP1 inhibition by introducing novel principles of inhibitor designing by utilizing several analogs of MCs. The discovery of the selective inhibitors of PP1 is relevant to public health because their biological activities impact a variety of health issues, including treatment of cancer, Parkinson’s, diabetes; and would pave the way for a better understanding of PP1 biology in regulating intracellular signalling processes towards next generation therapeutic application.