Mohapatra Research Group

Undergraduate students can participate in projects that range from code optimization and analyzing experimental images and data to process development. They will be provided opportunities to communicate results to the general community through peer-reviewed publications and oral and poster presentations.

Graduate and PhD students will lead a research project related to organelle assembly, building mathematical models and using experimental data to limit the parameter space of model variables. They will communicate results to scientists through peer reviewed publications and oral and poster presentations.

Post-doctoral associate will conduct analytical and computational research on the mechanisms of organelle assembly, mediated by related cellular proteins. They will create hypothesis-driven mechanistic mathematical models, with an emphasis on making predictions that can be experimentally tested. They will analyze experimental data, compare theory results with experimental data, and communicate results to scientists through peer reviewed publications and oral and poster presentations.

Structures within cells are assembled and disassembled rapidly while exchanging their building block proteins with those in the pool in the order of seconds. To achieve this rapid exchange, cells use several disassembly proteins to remove subunits from cytoskeletal structures using distinct molecular mechanisms. We use stochastic simulations to quantitatively study the specific action of these disassembly proteins, individually and as a collection.

In cells, we see several examples of organelles which maintain their characteristic size while sharing a common pool of building blocks. While linear actin cables and spherical patches share a common pool of actin monomers in yeast cells, C. elegans forms two equal-sized spherical nucleoli in the nucleus every cell cycle while sharing a common pool of nucleolar proteins. We use mathematical modeling and simulations to study the strategies used by cells to share resources among multiple organelles in the same pool.

Owen Cheevers
Third-year (physics)

Mimi Harrison
Second-year (physics) and Inclusive Excellence fellow. 
Outside class, she enjoys reading, astronomy, and spending time outside.

Pete Miller, fifth-year (applied mathematics/physics) double major

Michaela Cohen, fifth-year (BS/MS physics)

Huayuan(Harry) Han, Fourth-year (physics)

Stanley Liang, Fourth-year Physics Major

Chloe Shiff, Graduate Student, Stanford University
Rabeya Hussaini, Graduate student, NYU

• Thomas Fai, Brandeis University
• Jane Kondev, Brandeis University
• Shashank Sekhar, Emory University
• Steph Weber, McGill University

Dr. Lishi is the Vice - Chair of Women in Science and Engineering (WISe) at RIT.

"As a member of WISe at RIT, I aim to support women faculty and students by organizing and participating in outreach events to inspire future generations of women scientists."

Dr. Lishi is an Inclusive Excellence Faculty member.

"As an IE faculty Research Mentor, I participate in workshops focused on mentoring students from historically underrepresented groups with a goal to improve student experience in my research group."

Dr. Lishi was a Science Communication Fellow and member of the Brandeis SciComm Lab 2018-2020.

"As Communication Fellow, I offered individual coaching, organized targeted workshops, and a range of initiatives to support the scientific community with the skills they need to communicate their scientific endeavors to any audience in written, spoken or visual form."

Dr. Lishi was the Co-Director of the Quantitative Biology Research Community (QBReC) at Brandeis University from 2016-2020.

"QBReC is an HHMI-funded program for Brandeis undergraduate students, which gives them a unique opportunity to experience an academic environment by facilitating research opportunities with Brandeis faculty who are working at the interface of the physical and life sciences. Research projects were designed and led by student advisors, and I mentored both the advisors and undergraduate students throughout the process. In collaboration with the Experiential Learning Group at Brandeis, I developed team-building activities focused on cultivating a community of like-minded scholars."  

Dr. Lishi has been a Research Assistant in the summer courses of Physiology and Physical Biology of the Cell at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Wood's Hole, MA.

"I advised biology graduate and post-doctoral students on how to incorporate modeling and programming in their research to tackle problems in biology using MATLAB."