Research Interests:
Antimicrobial resistance is considered as one of the clinical super challenge of the 21st century. His research interests are rational and de novo design of antimicrobial peptides, Ocular microbial infections, Nanofibres and Nanospraying, Protein aggregation diseases, Electrospinning and Electrospraying, Protein purification and characterization, Biophysical Methods and Biomaterials.
At SERI, Dr Lakshminarayanan’s group focuses on three divergent but related approaches to combat antimicrobial resistance: i) design of cell-selective antimicrobial peptides/polymers and their mechanism of selectivity, ii) expanding the life-span of antibiotics by outer membrane permeabilizing agents and iii) durable antimicrobial nano coatings and nanofibres. He collaborates with peers in the area of selective targeting antimicrobial peptides (STAMPs), redox active antimicrobial coatings for implants, antimicrobial polymers for advanced wound dressings, mechanism of protein or peptide aggregation and thermogelling polymers as a vitreous tamponade.
Selected Publications:
Protective action of linear polyethylenimine against Staphylococcus aureus colonization and exaggerated inflammation in vitro and in vivo. Venkatesh M, Sridhar S, Fazil MHUT, Goh ETL, Orive G, Choong YK, Saravanan R, Beuerman RW, Barkham TMS, Liang Y, Baskaran M, Jhanji V, Loh XJ, Verma NK, Lakshminarayanan R*. ACS Infect Dis. 2019;5:1411-1422. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.9b00102.
Highly potent drug like teixobactin analogues against Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, VRE in vitro and in vivo. J. Med. Chem. Parmar A, Lakshminarayanan R,** Iyer A, Venkatesh M, Goh ETL, Lloyd DG, Chalasani MLS, Verma NK, Beuerman RW, Madder A, Taylar EJ, Singh I. J Med Chem. 2018;61:2009-2017. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.7b01634. (**Joint First Author)
Branched peptide, B2088, disrupts the supramolecular organization of lipopolysaccharides and sensitizes the Gram-negative bacteria. Lakshminarayanan R,* Tan WX, Aung TT, Goh ETL, Muruganantham N, Li J, Chang JYT, Dikshit N, Saraswathi P, Lim RR, Kang TS, Balamuralidhar V, Sukumaran B, Verma CS, Sivaraman J, Chaurasia SS, Liu SP, Beuerman RW. Sci Rep. 2016; 6:25905.
Designing α-helical peptides with enhanced synergism and selectivity against Mycobacterium smegmatis: Discerning the role of hydrophobicity and helicity. Khara JS; Lim FK; Wang Y; Ke XY; Voo ZX; Yang YY; Lakshminarayanan R; Ee PLR. Acta Biomater. 2015; 28:99-108.
Fox S, Lakshminarayanan R, Beuerman R, Li J, Verma CS. Conformational transitions of peptides between aqueous and lipid phases: Comparison of simulations with experiments. J Phys Chem B, 2018; 122:8698-8705.
Cell selectivity of synthetic and biosynthetic cationic polymer. Venkatesh M, Barathi VA, Goh ETL, Angaara R, Fazil MHUT, Ng AJY, Aung TT, Liu S, Yang L, Loh XJ, Beuerman RW, Verma NK, Lakshminarayanan R*. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2017;61:pii: e00469-17.
Cationic Poly ([R]-hydroxybutyrate) copolymers as antimicrobial agents. Liow SS, Chee PL, Owh C, Zhang K, Zhou Y, Gao F, Lakshminarayanan R, Loh XJ. Macromol Biosci. 2019;19:e1800466.
Surface characteristics and antimicrobial properties of modified catheter surfaces by pyrogallol and metal ions. Balne PK; Harini S; Dhand C; Dwivedi N; Chalasani MS; Verma NK; Barathi VA; Beuerman RW; Agrawarl R and Lakshminarayanan R*. Mater Sci Eng C, 2018;90:673-684.
Bio-inspired crosslinking and matrix-drug interactions for advanced wound dressings with long-term antimicrobial activity. Dhand C, Venkatesh M, Barathi VA, Harini S, Bairagi S, Goh ETL, Nandhakumar M, Low KZW, Fazil Mhut, Verma NK, Loh XJ, Liu SP, Beuerman RW, Ramakrishna S, Lakshminarayanan R*. Biomaterials. 2017,138:153-168.
Multifunctional Polyphenols and Catecholamines-Based Self-Defensive Films for Health Care Applications. Dhand C, Harini S, Venkatesh M, Dwivedi N, Ng A, Liu SP, Verma NK, Ramakrishna S, Beuerman RW, Loh XJ, Lakshminarayanan R. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 2016, 8(2):1220-1323.
Bio-inspired in situ crosslinking and mineralization of electrospun collagen scaffolds for tissue engineering. Dhand C, Ong ST, Dwivedi N, Diaz SM, Venugopal JR, Navaneethan B, Fazil MHUT, Liu SP, Seitz V, Wintermanterl E, Beuerma RW, Ramakrishna S, Verma NK, Lakshminarayanan R*. Biomaterials. 2016, 104:323-38.
Effect of position specific single point mutations and biophysical characterization of amyloidogenic peptide fragments identified from lattice corneal dystrophic patients. Anandalakshmi V, Murugan E, Goh ETL, Ting LW, Chaurasia SS, Yamazaki T, Nagashima T, George BL, Peh GSL, Pervushin, Lakshminarayanan R*, Mehta JS. Biochem J. 2017,474:1705-1725.
Insight into membrane selectivity of linear and branched polyethylenimines and their potential as biocides for advanced wound dressings. Fox SJ, Fazil Mhut, Dhand C, Venkatesh M, Goh ETL, Harini S, Eugene C, Lim RR, Ramakrishna S, Chaurasia SS, Beuerman RW, Verma CS, Verma NK, Loh XJ, Lakshminarayanan R*. Acta Biomaterialia 2016, 37:155-164.