Chandrabhas Narayana
Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram
Chandrabhas Narayana received his Ph.D. in Physics from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, in 1995. He specializes in Raman spectroscopy. Though a trained condensed matter physicist, he developed a keen interest in biology within a few years at JNCASR. His group is a pioneer in the use of Raman spectroscopy in (a) drug-protein interaction, for drug screening applications and (b) diagnostic applications. Many of his researches in these areas are trendsetters in inter-disciplinary research. Along with his interest in biology, he also follows his interest in physics and chemistry. Overall, his group has been one of the well-known groups in the country for the use of Raman spectroscopy in the areas of physics, chemistry and biology. He is currently Director of the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram. He was elected Fellow of IASc in 2018.
Session 1B: Symposium on “100 years of Raman Spectroscopy – Lab to Life”
Introduction by the Convener: S Umapathy
The talk will give a brief historical perspective of Raman spectroscopy (RS) from discovery to how RS is transforming research. RS, when discovered, was a physics tool, but over time, it has entered into various other disciplines due to its ease of use and non-destructive nature. It can be used on samples in as-is conditions, hence it is becoming an important tool in biology. Many of the applications in biology are hindered by the weak Raman scattering due to small quantities of samples, hence the use of coinage metal nanoparticles was necessitated. This was the genesis for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The talk will give a brief introduction to SERS, followed by demonstrating the use of it in biology. One application is protein structure–function studies, important for understanding proteins, drug discovery, etc. SERS combined with MD simulations makes it complementary to X-ray diffraction studies. Here we will be looking at protein aggregation in lysozyme, to understand neuro-degenerative diseases. Another application is in detecting single nucleotide polymorphism, insertion, and deletion sequences in DNA and RNA. As an example, we provide an example of helping farmers in seed selection to avoid crop failures due to diseases. Overall, the talk will provide the audience with 96 years of Raman spectroscopy transforming science in general.