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Reposted by Pratik Kumar

National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru @ncbsbangalore.bsky.social · Jun 17

#CampusVisit
We recently welcomed 11th & 12th-grade students from DPS (N). They interacted with Dr Pratik Kumar & visited the labs of Prof Sanjay Sane & Dr Shashi Thutupalli.

The students learned how science is interdisciplinary and not done in silos.

@dyechemist.bsky.social @stpalli.bsky.social

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Reposted by Pratik Kumar

National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru @ncbsbangalore.bsky.social · Apr 24

#CampusVisit
Students of Bangalore International School visited NCBS last week.
They started the visit with an activity to learn critical thinking. @dyechemist.bsky.social spoke about life as a scientist & Aksha Chowdhary, wildlife master’s alum, shared her journey.
They also visited the Ear Lab

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Pratik Kumar @dyechemist.bsky.social · Mar 12

Come and do some chemistry for biology with us!

National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru @ncbsbangalore.bsky.social · Mar 11

#NewFaculty
Welcome to the campus Dr Pratik!
Dr Pratik is a 'tool builder' working at the intersection of Biology and chemistry.
We look forward to the contributions from his lab.
Know more: news.ncbs.res.in/spotlight/nc...

@dyechemist.bsky.social

🖊️@rupsykhurana.bsky.social

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Pratik Kumar @dyechemist.bsky.social · Feb 28

If making chemical tools for biology excites you, consider applying to the NCBS graduate program! My lab plans to hire 1–2 graduate students this cycle. More info on my lab @ dyecraftlab.com

National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru @ncbsbangalore.bsky.social · Feb 26

#AdmissionsAlert!
The National Centre for Biological Sciences announces the opening of online applications for admission to its PhD programme through National Exam Route.

Application Deadline: 24th March 2025
Joining: 1st August 2025

Apply here: bit.ly/4igBGFK

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Pratik Kumar @dyechemist.bsky.social · Feb 14

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Pratik Kumar @dyechemist.bsky.social · Feb 14

I think it's worth a try! But I don't have any data to support how they will behave in the yeast.

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Pratik Kumar @dyechemist.bsky.social · Jan 30

Alternate abstract image for our latest manuscript

Luke Lavis @rhodamine110.bsky.social · Jan 29

Our multifunctional ligands to BRD4 and histone H3.3:

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Reposted by Pratik Kumar

Alex Moloney @amoloney.bsky.social · Jan 29

Ow boy! Just when I thought I couldn't be impressed by a JQ1 containing compound anymore... it gets mashed with my favourite Janelia Fluor dye (JF635) and a halotag ligand. Exceptional work #chembio

Pratik Kumar @dyechemist.bsky.social · Jan 28

🧵Prepint alert! Optimizing Multifunctional Fluorescent Ligands for Intracellular Labeling | tinyurl.com/3n55hvsc. With Jason Vevea, Ed Chapman, and @so-lets-kilab70.bsky.social, we combined dye chemistry, HaloTag, microscopy and cell biology to make protein purification and manipulation tools.

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Pratik Kumar @dyechemist.bsky.social · Jan 29

Thanks Sam

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Pratik Kumar @dyechemist.bsky.social · Jan 28

We hope this idea will pave the way for the generation of many new cell-permeable chemical tools for biology. @rhodamine110.bsky.social @dyerfulchymist.bsky.social

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Pratik Kumar @dyechemist.bsky.social · Jan 28

Even Cooler: When BRD4 was translocated to constitutive heterochromatin, we observed increased transcriptional activity (histone H3.3 accumulation as a proxy). This shows that multifunctional fluorescent ligands can functionally alter chromatin in living cells!

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Pratik Kumar @dyechemist.bsky.social · Jan 28

There’s More! Using the same Si-rhodamine dye, we created JQ1-containing fluorescent ligands to manipulate the localization of BRD4. @so-lets-kilab70.bsky.social showed rapid translocation of BRD4 from euchromatin to HaloTag sites at the nucleolus.

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Pratik Kumar @dyechemist.bsky.social · Jan 28

These live-cell permeable biotins are great for affinity purification. Here, Jason Vevea figured out their in-cell labeling performance and purified mitochondria! This works so much better than the commercial biotin-HaloTag ligand (this doesn't work actually!)

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Pratik Kumar @dyechemist.bsky.social · Jan 28

We could use this to guess apriori cell-impermeable (yellow) and cell-permeable (red and magenta) biotin-containing rhodamine ligands! We used imaging to verify this for HaloTag fusions at the cell surface, mitochondria, ER, and nucleus.

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Pratik Kumar @dyechemist.bsky.social · Jan 28

We discovered that dyes with low lactone–zwitterion equilibrium constants and high distribution coefficients (logD) are great for making cell-permeable multifunctional ligands!

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Pratik Kumar @dyechemist.bsky.social · Jan 28

Self-labeling tags like HaloTag are great for labeling proteins with synthetic molecules. However, creating multifunctional ligands is tricky due to the competing demands of cell permeability vs. functionality.

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Pratik Kumar @dyechemist.bsky.social · Jan 28

🧵Prepint alert! Optimizing Multifunctional Fluorescent Ligands for Intracellular Labeling | tinyurl.com/3n55hvsc. With Jason Vevea, Ed Chapman, and @so-lets-kilab70.bsky.social, we combined dye chemistry, HaloTag, microscopy and cell biology to make protein purification and manipulation tools.

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Reposted by Pratik Kumar

Rashmi Agrata @rashmiagrata.bsky.social · Jan 17

New to #ubiquitin? Been with it for a while? Either way this review may be for you 🤩

Excited to share our review article in @molcell.bsky.social, diving deep into everything #ubiquitin
Read here 👉: kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...

@cellpress.bsky.social
@wehi-research.bsky.social

'Ubiquitin Lysine-Linkages' from the review 'Ubiquitin: a structural perspective' in Molecular Cell

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Pratik Kumar @dyechemist.bsky.social · Jan 14

Me!

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Pratik Kumar @dyechemist.bsky.social · Jan 14

Me!

Reposted by Pratik Kumar

Claire Deo @clairedeo.bsky.social · Jan 7

We made a photoswitchable HaloTag (psHaloTag), which can reversibly turn-on fluorogenic dyes upon illumination 💡. Congrats to Franzi, Bego and all co-authors, check out our preprint below 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Pratik Kumar @dyechemist.bsky.social · Jan 7

My aim is to integrate chemical tool building as an integral part of @NCBS, Bangalore Life Sciences Cluster and beyond. I am excited to return to India after a decade in the US. The lab will have lots of fun along with doing chemistry in an environment buzzing with excellent biologists!

Pratik Kumar @dyechemist.bsky.social · Jan 7

I will hire at all levels (postdoc, graduate students, JRF, interns). We will train you in chemical synthesis, spectroscopy, biological labelling and fluorescence imaging, among other things. We will strongly emphasize developing soft skills and anything relevant to your career.

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Pratik Kumar @dyechemist.bsky.social · Jan 7

We have a few projects in mind with existing collaborators, but I am open to brainstorming. Feel free to email me to discuss ideas or to say hi 😀😀. For more details on what I do, please visit pratik-kumar.com

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Pratik Kumar @dyechemist.bsky.social · Jan 7

Super excited to start my lab @NCBS_Bangalore
in March 2025! The lab will primarily be powered by chemistry, and we will build chemical tools for biology with a strong focus on fluorescence imaging. We will collaborate widely and are open to any relevant areas of biology.

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