Name: Dr. Rajesh K. Murarka
Designation: Assistant Professor
Department: Chemistry
E-Mail: rkm@iiserbhopal.ac.in
Phone: +91-755-4092302
Fax: +91-755-4092392

Academic Profile:

• Assistant Professor (January 2009-), Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal, India.

• Post-doc. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (01/2006-11/2008), Baker Laboratory of Chemistry and Chemical Biology with Prof. Harold A. Scheraga.

• Post-doc. University of California, Berkeley, CA (01/2004 –12/2005), Department of Bioengineering with Prof. Teresa Head-Gordon.

• Ph.D. Chemical Physics (08/1997-06/2003), Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India with Prof. Biman Bagchi.

Research Interest:

• Thermodynamics and kinetics of protein folding/unfolding, protein aggregation, and protein-ligand interactions using high performance computing.

• Coarse-grained methods in molecular dynamics with application to problems of biological interests.

• Structure and dynamics of water near biological interfaces and the effect of solvation on biomolecular dynamics and energetics.

• Calculation of entropy and free energy from biomolecular simulations.

• Structure and dynamics of supercooled liquids and glasses in bulk and confined systems

Selected Publications:

1. Margaret E. Johnson, C. Malardier-Jugroot, Rajesh K. Murarka, and Teresa Head-Gordon, “Hydration water dynamics near biological surfaces”, Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 113: 4082-4092 (2009).

2. C. Malardier-Jugroot, Margaret E. Johnson, Rajesh. K. Murarka, and Teresa Head-Gordon, “Aqueous peptides as experimental models for hydration water dynamics near protein surfaces”, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 10: 4903-4908 (2008).

3. Rajesh K. Murarka, and Teresa Head-Gordon, “Dielectric relaxation of aqueous solutions of hydrophilic versus amphiphilic peptides”, Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 112: 179-186 (2008).

4. Rajesh K. Murarka, Adam Liwo, and Harold A. Scheraga, “Separation of time scale and coupling in the motion governed by the coarse-grained and fine degrees of freedom in a polypeptide backbone”, Journal of Chemical Physics, 127: 155103(1-16) (2007).

5. Rajesh K. Murarka* and Teresa Head-Gordon, “Single-particle and collective hydration dynamics for hydrophobic and hydrophilic peptides”, Journal of Chemical Physics 126: 215101 (2007). [*corresponding author]

6. Daniela Russo*, Rajesh K. Murarka*, John R. D. Copley, and Teresa Head-Gordon, “Molecular view of water dynamics near model peptides”, Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 109: 12966-12975 (2005). [*corresponding author]

7. Daniela Russo†, Rajesh K. Murarka†, G. Hura, E. Verschell, John R. D. Copley, and Teresa Head-Gordon, “Evidence of anomalous hydration dynamics near a model hydrophobic peptide”, Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 108: 19885-19893 (2004). [†contributed equally].

8. Rajesh K. Murarka, and Biman Bagchi, “Diffusion and viscosity in a supercooled polydisperse system”, Physical Review E, 67: 051504 (2003).