Biography

Dr. Moitra received his undergraduate degree (B.Sc.) in Chemistry Honours from University of Calcutta. He then enrolled in the Integrated M.Sc.-Ph.D. program and obtained Master's degree (M.Sc.) in Chemical Sciences from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Dr. Moitra earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Organic Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, under the supervision of Prof. Santanu Bhattacharya. Thereafter, he joined as Research Associate I, followed by Scientist D position affiliated to the Technical Research Centre, School of Applied & Interdisciplinary Sciences, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata. He then joined as a postdoctoral associate at the University of Maryland Baltimore School of Medicine, Maryland, USA. Subsequently, he was promoted to research associate (junior faculty) while working under the supervision of Prof. Dipanjan Pan. He then joined as an Assistant Research Professor at the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA. Subsequently in the year 2024, Dr. Moitra joined the Department of Chemical Sciences at IISER Berhampur as an Assistant Professor. 

His research interest lies in several areas of chemical biology, supramolecular chemistry, bio-analyte sensors, molecular imaging, and theranostics, with a special emphasis on translational interdisciplinary sciences. Currently, his lab focuses on cutting-edge research, developing advanced nanomaterials for diagnostic and therapeutic applications for rare genetic diseases, especially lysosomal storage disorders. 

Key Publications

• Parikshit Moitra, David Skrodzki, Matthew Molinaro, Nivetha Gunaseelan, Dinabandhu Sar, Teresa Aditya, Dipendra Dahal, Priyanka Ray, Dipanjan Pan. Context-Responsive Nanoparticle Derived from Synthetic Zwitterionic Ionizable Phospholipids in Targeted CRISPR/Cas9 Therapy for Basal-like Breast Cancer. ACS Nano, 2024, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.4c01400 - (IF: 17.1)
• Parikshit Moitra, Maria Iftesum, David Skrodzki, Priyanka Paul, Elnaz Sheikh, Jennifer Lynn Gray, Ketan Dighe, Zach Sheffield, Manas Ranjan Gartia and Dipanjan Pan. Nucleotide Driven Molecular Sensing of Monkeypox Virus Through Hierarchical Self-assembly of Two-dimensional Hafnium Sulfide Nanoplatelets and Gold Nanospheres. Advanced Functional Materials, 2023, 33, 2212569. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202212569 (Article appeared as Hot Topic: Gold; Monkeypox Collection February 2023) – (IF: 19.924).
• Parikshit Moitra, Maha Alafeef, Ketan Dighe and Dipanjan Pan. Single-gene diagnostic assay for rapid subclassification of basal like breast cancer with mRNA targeted antisense oligonucleotide capped molecular probe. Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 2022, 207, 114178. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bios.2022.114178 – (IF: 12.545).
• Parikshit Moitra, Santosh K. Misra, Krishan Kumar, Paturu Kondaiah, Phuong Tran, Wei Duan, Santanu Bhattacharya. Cancer Stem Cell-Targeted Gene Delivery Mediated by Aptamer-Decorated pH-Sensitive Nanoliposomes. ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, 2021, 7, 2508-2519. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsbiomaterials.1c00110 – (IF: 5.395).
• Parikshit Moitra,ǂ Maha Alafeef,ǂ Ketan Dighe, Mattew B. Frieman, Dipanjan Pan. Selective Naked-Eye Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Mediated by N Gene Targeted Antisense Oligonucleotide Capped Plasmonic Nanoparticles, ACS Nano, 2020, 14, 7617–7627. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.0c03822 (Featured in many news articles including University of Maryland Baltimore School of Medicine news highlights; The article is also highlighted in the Editorial: Analytical Chemistry 2021, 93, 8379−8380) (ǂContributed equally to this work) – (IF: 18.027).
• Parikshit Moitra,ǂ Krishan Kumar,ǂ Paturu Kondaiah and Santanu Bhattacharya. Efficacious anticancer drug delivery mediated by a pH-sensitive self-assembly of a conserved tripeptide derived from tyrosine kinase NGF receptor. Angewandte Chemie, 2014, 126, 1131-1135; Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2014, 53, 1113-1117 (ǂContributed equally to this work as first authors) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201307247 – (IF: 16.823).