Mr. Amal Vijay is pursuing his Ph.D. from the Computational Chemistry and Biophysics group, Department of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune. His current area of research focuses on studying the mechanism of various biomolecular recognition processes, specifically protein-drug and protein-protein interactions and secondary interactions in nucleotides using advanced molecular dynamics simulation techniques.
He completed his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the Loyola College, Chennai, India, and his master’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad. He is a recipient of the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) awarded by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). He is honored by the Rashtrapati Scout award, an award presented by the President of India for his achievement in scouting.
As a Fulbright-Nehru fellow, Vijay is interested in understanding the scope of “RNA breathing” in RNA – protein recognition process using molecular dynamics simulation methods aided by enhanced sampling techniques in computational chemistry. The proposed study project can provide a significant impact on the role of RNA-based drug design for the cure of various diseases.