Prof. Gourinath Samudrala is Professor in the School of Life Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University. He earned his M.Sc in biotechnology from the University of Pune and his Ph.D. from AIIMS, New Delhi. Before joining JNU, he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at Brandeis University, MA. Prof. Samudrala is well-recognized by several national organizations and science academies. Recently, he was awarded the STAR research award 2021 by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Government of India. He was also awarded the Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award, 2006 and the National Bioscience Award, 2013 by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. In addition, he is a recipient of Indo-US Science and Technology fellowship, 2010, Visitors Award from President of India, 2016 and was elected as a fellow of prestigious Indian National Science Academy in 2018.
During his Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence fellowship, Prof. Samudrala is constructing and validating an artificial sarcomere using E. histolytica myosins. Understanding how myosins evolved is not only important to uncover the secrets of sarcomere, but also enables us to gain insights into how these molecules sustained the natural selection pressure. Will the filamentous unit from Entamoeba histolytica myosin-II be remarkably different from human nonmuscle myosin-II and other myosin-IIs. Prof. Samudrala’s project is exploring the possibility of artificial sarcomere/muscle fiber generation of an amoeboid myosin or any other myosin.