Student Highlights: Sourav Biswas
— MEET SOURAV —
Class: Graduate Student
Major: Molecular & Cellular Life Sciences
Sourav Biswas is an international graduate student at the University of Wyoming. She grew up in Mymensingh, Bangladesh, and completed her B.S. and M.S. in Microbiology from Jahangirnagar University in Dhaka, Bangladesh. In the fall of 2019, she came to Wyoming to begin her Ph.D. in the Molecular and Cellular Life Sciences program at UW.
— SOURAV’S RESEARCH —
In a course of her graduate research studies, Sourav is focused on understanding how sequence features contribute to structure and function in desiccation-tolerant intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs). To explore this sequence-structure-function relationship, she is working on a Tardigrade-specific desiccation-tolerant protein. Tardigrades (a.k.a., water bears) can survive myriads of extreme environmental conditions, including desiccation or complete loss of water. It has been found that during water loss, they accumulate specific IDPs called CAHS proteins which are essential for their desiccation survival.
To understand the molecular mechanisms of how these proteins mediate desiccation protein, Sourav is utilizing the mutagenesis approach to modify different sequence parameters of a model CAHS protein. She is studying how the change in a sequence feature is related to the biophysical parameter of this protein and so to its function. Her research goal is to develop long-term dry storage technology for materials without the need for cold storage.
ABOUT STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS
Every year, we award fellowships to graduate and undergraduate students attending the University of Wyoming or one of Wyoming’s community colleges in order to provide them with the opportunity to do “real” research. Occasionally, we feature one of these students and their research on this blog. For more information about our student fellowships, visit our College Programs page.