Dimpy Kalia

Chemical Biology
Assistant Professor
Phone: +91 755 269 1353
dimpy@iiserb.ac.in

Dimpy Kalia

Chemical Biology
Assistant Professor
Phone: +91 755 269 1353
dimpy@iiserb.ac.in

  • Assistant Professor, IISER Bhopal (January 2018 - Present)
  • DST-INSPIRE Faculty, University of Pune (January 2014 - January 2017)
  • IISER Fellow, IISER Pune, (July 2013 - December 2013)
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Maryland, College Park, U.S.A. (March 2012 - April 2013)
  • Ph.D., Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow, 2010
  • M.Sc. (Honors), Panjab University, Chandigarh, 2004
  • B.Sc., Government College for Girls, Chandigarh, 2001

  • Awards and Fellowships
  • Awarded SERB-ITS Travel Award for attending and presenting poster at the 15th Tetrahedron Symposium - Asian Edition held at Singapore between 28th-31st October 2014.
  • Awarded DST-INSPIRE Faculty Award (salary and research grant) in August 2013 for a period of 5 years (starting January 2014).
  • Awarded Senior Research Fellowship (S.R.F.) from Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-University Grant Commission (C.S.I.R.-U.G.C.) for the period June 2007 - May 2010.
  • Awarded Junior Research Fellowship (J.R.F.) from Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-University Grant Commission (C.S.I.R.-U.G.C.) for the period June 2005 - May 2007.
  • Qualified Graduate Aptitude Test for Engineering (G.A.T.E.) conducted by Indian Institute of Technology (I.I.T.) Delhi in February 2004.
  • Qualified National Eligibility Test (N.E.T.) for Lectureship conducted by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (C.S.I.R.) in December 2003.
  • Dimpy Kalia

    Chemical Biology
    Assistant Professor
    Phone: +91 755 269 1353
    dimpy@iiserb.ac.in

  • Welcome! Our research is focused on both pure organic synthesis and its combination with protein chemistry and bacterial assays for bioconjugation and chemical biology-based applications. Our three main research areas are: developing facile approaches of protein bioconjugation, chemical biology of c-di-GMP signaling in bacteria, and developing new concise methods for the synthesis of complex heterocyclic small molecules.

  •  
  •  Area 1: Bioconjugation
    The development of organic reactions that can proceed under physiological conditions (in aqueous solutions at room temperature near neutral pH) have revolutionized both applied and basic biological research. These reactions have enabled the site-specific attachment of fluorophores and affinity tags to biomolecules (proteins, DNA, RNA, carbohydrates and lipids) enabling cellular imaging and pull down-based studies that have contributed tremendously towards elucidation of their roles in diverse biological processes. In addition to fundamental research, these biocompatible organic reactions have enabled the development of novel therapeutic strategies including antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for cancer therapy wherein tumor marker-targeting antibody proteins are site-specifically conjugated to cytotoxic anticancer agents. A major focus of our research is to develop new approaches for facile bioconjugation of proteins that proceed rapidly to form stable linkages. Bioconjugation projects in our group combine organic synthesis and protein chemistry.
  • Area 2: Chemical Biology of c-di-GMP signaling in bacteria
    Antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains are wreaking havoc on mankind. Indeed, the World Health Organization recently named drug-resistant bacteria as one of the top three global threats to human health. A major reason for the development of bacterial resistance towards traditional antibiotics is that these drugs act by targeting essential bacterial cellular processes which imposes selective pressure on bacteria to evolve drug resistant strains. A promising alternative approach that would impose significantly lesser evolutionary pressure for the creation of resistant strains entails targeting bacterial virulence and regulatory pathways, rather than bacterial growth. A recently discovered signaling system orchestrated by the bacterial secondary messenger, c-di-GMP, is an attractive regulatory mechanism to target as it plays a key role in infection by regulating the formation of bacterial biofilms-complex extracellular matrices that endow bacteria with increased antibiotic tolerance (to levels ~1000-fold greater than those observed in planktonic bacteria). We are designing and testing rationally-designed libraries of small organic compounds as inhibitors of c-di-GMP signaling in bacteria and are also developing chemical tools for studying c-di-GMP signaling in bacteria.
  • Area 3: Concise routes to complex heterocycles 
    Substituted heterocycles display rich pharmacological profiles and biological activities, and are therefore attractive scaffolds for drug design. We are developing facile routes for the synthesis of polysubstituted derivatives of heterocycles such as pyrazoles, oxazoles, and piperidines.
  • Dimpy Kalia

    Assistant Professor
    Chemical Biology

    # Authors Title Journals Year
    1 Dimpy Kalia
    Location-agnostic site-specific protein bioconjugation via Baylis Hillman adducts Nature Communications ( Open Access from 2016) 2024
    2 Dastgir Shakil Shaikh
    Sangeeta Parmar
    Dimpy Kalia
    Michael addition-elimination-cyclization based turn-on fluorescence (MADELCY TOF) probes for cellular cysteine imaging and estimation of blood serum cysteine and aminoacylase-1 Analyst 2022
    3 Ramkumar Iyer
    Sharad P. Pawar
    Sangeeta Parmar
    Dimpy Kalia
    Aldehyde-mediated bioconjugation via in-situ generated ylides Chemical Communications 2019