Supriyo Ray
Education
- Teaching/Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Texas El Paso (UTEP), TX
- Research Associate, University of California San Diego, (UCSD), CA
- Research Associate, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, CA
- PhD in Biomedical Sciences; UCF; FL
- MS. in Microbiology & Molecular Biology; University of Central Florida (UCF); FL
- MS. in Biotechnology; A.P.S. University, Rewa; India
- BS. in Zoology and Chemistry, University of Lucknow; India
Areas of Expertise
Research: Membrane Biophysics, Protein Structure & Function, Transcriptomics, Drug Discovery & Bioinformatics, Cellular Biology, Advanced Biophotonics, Sustainability & Bioenergy
Biography
Dr. Supriyo Ray joined the Natural Sciences department at Bowie State University in the fall of 2019. Prior to joining Bowie State, Dr. Ray worked at the at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), University of California San Diego, CA, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, CA and National Institute of Malaria Research, India. He holds a doctoral degree in Biomedical Sciences and a master’s degree in Microbiology & Molecular Biology from University of Central Florida (UCF), Fl, and a master’s degree in Biotechnology (Plants) from India. At UCSD, he developed a microscope based photokinetic assay to study the mechanism of membrane repair post injury in cardiac cells. He used advanced super-resolution light microscopy (STORM) on cells to show localization of various membrane proteins and receptors on the plasma membrane and organelles. At Salk, he did live cell imaging and used supported lipid bilayers to study mechanism of receptor oligomerization in presence of a bacterial toxin. During his PhD, he used biophysical and biochemical techniques to elucidate the role of membrane lipids in modulating structure and function of phospholipases and enzymatic subunits of AB family of toxins.
Presently, his lab studies small RNA especially microRNAs (miRNAs) in plants. His research focuses on developing comprehensive miRNA library for plants that are poorly characterized such as Bananas (Musa sp.) in collaboration with Dr. Ude’s lab and Kale (Brassica o.) in collaboration with Dr. Osano’s lab. His lab is also exploring therapeutic potential of plant metabolites such as alkaloids and terpenoids and establishing them as novel drugs against bacterial and amoebic pathogens. Dr. Ray’s lab is also studying microbes to generate clean energy. Apart from research, Dr. Ray is passionate about experiential learning and using High Impact Teaching (HIT) practices such as CUREs and Problem Based Learning (PBL) for teaching undergraduate courses.
Research Interests
- Infectious diseases: The lab focuses on establishing new drug targets and elucidating their mechanism for drug discovery. The present diseases that are being studied are a) Tuberculosis (Collaborator: Dr. J. Sun; UTEP); Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Naegleria fowleri (Brain Eating Amoeba)
- Sustainability: Develop comprehensive miRNA library for plants such as Bananas (Musa sp.) (Collaborator: Dr. G. Ude) and Kale (Brassica o.) (Collaborator: Dr. Anne Osano). Dr. Ray's lab is also exploring ways to to develop new microbial fuel cells and improve their efficiency to generate clean electricity.
Service Interests
- External Advisor: Department of Biological Sciences; Northern New Mexico College, Espanola, NM Guest Editor: Special Issue: “Recent Advances and Challenges in Tuberculosis Research"; Pathogens (MDPI: Impact factor 4.53) Guest Editor: Special Issue: “Advances and Challenges in the Study of Host-Pathogen Interactions”; Biomedicines (MDPI: Impact factor 4.75)
- Reviewer: Biochemistry 10th Edition; Jeremy Berg; Gregory Gatto Jr.; Justin Hines; John L. Tymoczko; Lubert Stryer; ISBN:9781319333621 (Paperback)
- Reviewer for Journals: Scientific Reports; Cell Cycle; PLOS One; Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics; Materials Technology: Advanced Performance Materials; Molecules; Applied Sciences, Diagnostics; Journal of Imaging, Journal of Biomaterials Applications; C (Journal of Carbon Research); International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Journal of Clinical Medicine, International journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Algorithms, Veterinary Sciences, Sensors, Current Issues in Molecular Biology, Biomimetics, Vaccines, Biomolecules, Symmetry, Methods and Protocols, and Journal of Imaging
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McNair Scholars Program Bowie State University - Mentor Semester/Summer based Undergraduate Research Institute (SURI)- Mentor
Awards & Honors
- Outstanding Young Faculty Award (CAS; Bowie State University) (2023)
- Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning Fellow (Bowie State University) (2022-2024)
- Frontiers of Innovation Award (Top 20 Postdocs) at UCSD & Allied Institutes (2015)
- Best Postdoctoral Mentor (BUILD) at University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) (2017)
- NSF Travel Award American Society of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (ASBMB); Experimental Biology; (Active Learning in Molecular Life-Sciences) (2019)
- NSF Travel Award (ASBMB); Experimental Biology; (Active Learning in Molecular Life-Sciences) (2018)
- NSF Travel Award (ASBMB) Special Symposia (Transforming Undergraduate Education in Molecular Life Sciences) (2017)
- Travel Award for Understanding Interventions (UI) Conference that broaden participation of science careers (2016)
- Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR); Junior Research Fellowship, Govt. of India (2006)
- Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR); Lectureship & Project based Research Fellowship, Govt. of India (2005)
- Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE); Biotechnology; Project based Research Fellowship, Govt. of India (2006)
Memberships & Affiliations
- Member, American Society of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (ASBMB)
- Member, American Society of Microbiology (ASM)
- Member, National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN)