Sheeba Malik | computational biology | Young Scientist Award

Ā Dr. Sheeba Malik | computational biology | Young Scientist Award

Dr at University of Tennessee United States

I am a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, jointly working at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. My expertise lies in modeling membranes in solution using GROMACS software. My research encompasses understanding dynamic and structural changes in membranes under various conditions, such as phase transitions, hydration changes, temperature variations, chain lengths, different salt concentrations, and solvents. I have experience in coding with MATLAB, Fortran, Mathematica, and shell scripting. I earned my Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur, where I developed in-house code for analysis. I have published 8 peer-reviewed articles, with 5 as the first author, focusing on phase transitions of bi-layers with biological and industrial significance.

profile:

Scholar

Orcid

šŸ”¬ Research Expertise

Computational chemistry for soft and bio-molecules, Phase transition of bi-layers, Structure and dynamics of super-cooled systems, Statistical physics, Biomass pre-treatment, Molecular dynamic simulation, Coding

šŸ’¼ Employment History

Postdoctoral Research Associate University of Tennessee/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, TN, USA May 2023 ā€“ Present Advisor: Prof. Jeremy C. Smith, Molecular Simulations of Bacterial Extracts under Co-solvent Stress, Probing anomalous diffusion in frequency space upon phase transition of bilayers, Dynamical Influences on THF (Co-solvent) Phase Separation in Biomass for Bioenergy Applications. Senior Research Fellow
IIT Jodhpur, INDIA July 2022 ā€“ March 2023, Investigated the thermodynamics of interfacial water using dual-scale simulation to correlate with bilayer phase transition. Junior Research Fellow NCERT, INDIA, July 2016 ā€“ November 2016. Research Trainee, IIT Delhi, INDIA
August 2015 ā€“ March 2016 Studied self-assembly of organic molecules using AMBER Determined curvature of minor and major grooves

šŸŽ“ Education

Ph.D. in Chemistry Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur, INDIA July 2017 ā€“ July 2022 Thesis: Dynamical Heterogeneity of Interface Water upon Membrane Phase Transitions. M.Sc. in Chemistry (H) Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, INDIA July 2013 ā€“ July 2015. B.Sc. in Chemistry (H)
University of Delhi, INDIA July 2010 ā€“ June 2013

šŸ… Grants and Awards

Advanced computing and data resource (ACCESS) supported by NSF PI: Sheeba Malik, Co-PI: Jeremy Smith and Micholas Smith, 02/19/2024 ā€“ 09/30/2025, Project: Dynamical Influences on Co-solvent Phase Separation in Biomass for Bioenergy Applications, PI: Jonathan Nickels, University of Cincinnati, Co-PI: Sheeba Malik, Jeremy Smith, and Micholas Smith, 04/23/2024 ā€“ 09/30/2025, Project: Combinatorial effects of ABE fermentation products on lipid membrane structure and organization. Senior Research Fellowship by MHRD, July 2019 ā€“ July 2022. Junior Research Fellowship by MHRD July 2017 ā€“ June 2020. MCM Scholarship by IIT Delhi July 2013 ā€“ June 2015. Qualified Exams: GATE – CY: 2017, 2018 IIT JAM: 2013

šŸ“š Skills

Molecular Dynamic Simulation, GROMACS, Amber, CHARMM-GUI, VMD, MATLAB, Fortran, Shell script, Python, LaTeX/Overleaf, Grace, NWChem, Gaussian-09, Molden, ChemDraw, PyMOL, UCSF Chimera, Inkscape, GIMP

Publication:šŸ“

  • Title: Heterogeneity in structure and dynamics of water near bilayers using TIP3P and TIP4P/2005 water models
    • Authors: A Srivastava, S Malik, A Debnath
    • Journal: Chemical Physics
    • Year: 2019
    • Volume: 525
    • Pages: 110396
    • Citations: 20

 

  • Title: Dehydration induced dynamical heterogeneity and ordering mechanism of lipid bilayers
    • Authors: S Malik, A Debnath
    • Journal: The Journal of Chemical Physics
    • Year: 2021
    • Volume: 154 (17)
    • Pages: 174904
    • Citations: 15

 

  • Title: A comparative study on DMSO-induced modulation of the structural and dynamical properties of model bilayer membranes
    • Authors: S Kundu, S Malik, M Ghosh, S Nandi, A Pyne, A Debnath, N Sarkar
    • Journal: Langmuir
    • Year: 2021
    • Volume: 37 (6)
    • Pages: 2065-2078
    • Citations: 12

 

  • Title: Modulation of membrane fluidity to control interfacial water structure and dynamics in saturated and unsaturated phospholipid vesicles
    • Authors: D Mondal, S Malik, P Banerjee, N Kundu, A Debnath, N Sarkar
    • Journal: Langmuir
    • Year: 2020
    • Volume: 36 (41)
    • Pages: 12423-12434
    • Citations: 9

 

  • Title: Dynamic coupling of a hydration layer to a fluid phospholipid membrane: Intermittency and multiple time-scale relaxations
    • Authors: A Srivastava, S Malik, S Karmakar, A Debnath
    • Journal: Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
    • Year: 2020
    • Volume: 22 (37)
    • Pages: 21158-21168
    • Citations: 8

 

  • Title: Relaxation time scales of interfacial water upon fluid to ripple to gel phase transitions of bilayers
    • Authors: S Malik, S Karmakar, A Debnath
    • Journal: The Journal of Chemical Physics
    • Year: 2023
    • Volume: 158 (11)
    • Pages: 114503
    • Citations: 4

 

  • Title: Structural changes of interfacial water upon fluid-ripple-gel phase transitions of bilayers
    • Authors: S Malik, A Debnath
    • Journal: Chemical Physics Letters
    • Year: 2022
    • Volume: 799
    • Pages: 139613
    • Citations: 4

 

  • Title: Quantifying dynamical heterogeneity length scales of interface water across model membrane phase transitions
    • Authors: S Malik, S Karmakar, A Debnath
    • Journal: The Journal of Chemical Physics
    • Year: 2023
    • Volume: 158 (9)
    • Pages: 091103
    • Citations: 3

 

Mohammadsadeq Mottaqi | Computational biology | Young Scientist Award

Mr. Mohammadsadeq Mottaqi | Computational biology | Young Scientist Award

MohammadSadeq Mottaqi is a dedicated Ph.D. candidate in Biochemistry at the City University of New York, with a strong foundation in Biotechnology from the University of Tehran. He possesses a robust skill set in Python, R, and various bioinformatics tools. His research focuses on machine learning-based drug action prediction, molecular dynamics simulations, and protein-ligand interactions. He has contributed significantly to research projects at Hunter College and Weill Cornell Medicine, and has industry experience as an R&D intern. MohammadSadeq is a published author, with works in journals like the Journal of Environmental Management and Informatics in Medicine Unlocked.

Profile

Orcid

EducationšŸŽ“

City University of New York, the Graduate Center, New York, NY PhD in Biochemistry, Computer Science Department
Aug 2022 – Present. University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran B.Sc. in Biotechnology, GPA: 3.8 (top 15%) Sep 2017 – March 2022

Ā Technical SkillsšŸ’»

Programming Languages: Python, R, Bioinformatics Tools and Libraries: PyMol, MOE, Gromacs, Spss, Unity, Scikit-learn, Data Analysis: Transcriptomics data analysis, Statistical analysis, Data Visualization, Operating Systems: Linux, Unix, Others: High-performance computing

Ā Relevant Experience šŸŒŸ

Machine learning-based prediction methods for drug actions
Prof. Lei Xie lab, Hunter College and Weill Cornell Medicine
June 2023 – Present
Thesis: Deep learning models for chemical-induced differential gene expression and cell viability predictions for de novo drugs and cell lines

  • Resolve challenges in predictive modeling using algorithmic approaches
  • Design pre-processing pipelines for Transcriptomics datasets
  • Integrate disparate Transcriptomics datasets (80 cell-lines) using Python
  • Incorporate multiple diverse labeled and unlabeled OMICS data
  • Contribute to writing manuscript

Molecular dynamics simulations of mutated HER2 protein
Research assistant – Dr. Mateusz Marianski lab, Hunter College
April 2023 – June 2023

  • Investigated coupling reactions and residue interactions in several mutated HER2 proteins
  • Performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations employing Gromacs
  • Analyzed the data of the MD simulations
  • Presented the interpreted results

Protein-Ligand interactions in docking
Research assistant – Prof. Tom Kurtzman lab, Lehman College
Nov 2022 – Jan 2023

  • Identified the potential molecular interactions between protein pharmacophores and ligands
  • Wrote Python scripts in PyMOL for detection of potential H-bonds and Van der Waals forces

Aral Teb CO. Ltd., Tehran, Iran
R&D Intern
May 2020 – Oct 2020

  • Designed and executed experiments for a bacterial diagnostic kit
  • Converted 3D MRI data into a format compatible with 3D bioprinter
  • Served as a key researcher in the clean room

Virtual reality (VR) project, Iranā€™s National Elites Foundation
Nov 2020 – Aug 2021

  • Devised 7 biotechnological experiments in VR environments employing Unity software
  • Collaborated with 9 computer scientists and 4 biologists

Publications Top Notes šŸ“

  • Iman Kianian, Mohammad Sadeq Mottaqi, et al. Automated identification of toxigenic cyanobacterial genera for water quality control purposes, Journal of Environmental Management

 

  • Mohammad Sadeq Mottaqi, et al. Contribution of machine learning approaches in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, Informatics in Medicine Unlocked, 2021