I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences (MCIBS) program at the Department of Biology, Penn State University, where I am supervised by Prof. Kateryna D. Makova. My research sits at the intersection of computational and evolutionary genomics, and bioinformatics, with a particular focus on non-B DNA structures, specifically G-quadruplexes (G4s). I investigate evolutionary variation in non-B DNA structures across primate species and their functional implications within the genome. In parallel, I am exploring the human pangenome to understand how G4s may have shaped human evolution and contributed to our species’ diversification. 

Before joining Penn State, I earned a dual BS-MS degree in Biological Sciences from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata in India in 2022. For my Master’s thesis, under the mentorship of Dr. Susmita Roy, I studied drug-mediated conformational changes in KRas, a key protein in the Ras/Raf/MAPK signaling pathway. Using molecular dynamics simulations and enhanced sampling techniques (metadynamics), I analyzed the effects of two targeted drugs: Sotorasib (AMG510) and Adagrasib (MRTX849).