About
Dr. Durgarao Guttula received his Master of Science in Physics from Banaras Hindu University in India. In 2010, he moved to Singapore to pursue a PhD in physics at the National University of Singapore, and he got his degree in 2014.
He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) from 2014 to 2017 under the supervision of Professor Patrick Doyle (MIT). Later, he joined the Mechanobiology Institute (MBI), NUS, Singapore, where he worked under Professor Yan Jie. He conducted research on biomolecule force spectroscopy. He published seven articles in international journals with peer evaluation. In addition to his research, he worked as a safety manager for the lab for more than four years and as a fire warden for two years at NUS.
He spent nine months as an assistant professor at the Chaitanya Institute of Science and Technology teaching engineering physics to B.Tech. and diploma students before moving to RV University. He teaches Exploring Science to computer science students at RVU.
- Guttula, D., Yao, M., Baker, K., Yang, L., Goult, B.T., Doyle, P.S., and Yan, J. (2019). Calcium- mediated Protein Folding and Stabilization of Salmonella Biofilm-associated Protein A. J Mol Biol 431, 433-443. doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2018.11.014
- Guttula, D., Liu, F., van Kan, J.A., Arluison, V., and van der Maarel, J.R.C. (2018). Effect of HU protein on the conformation and compaction of DNA in a nanochannel. Soft Matter 14, 2322- 2328. doi:10.1039/c7sm02118f
- van der Maarel, J.R., Guttula, D., Arluison, V., Egelhaaf, S.U., Grillo, I., and Forsyth, V.T. (2016). Structure of the H-NS-DNA nucleoprotein complex. Soft Matter 12, 3636-3642. doi:10.1039/c5sm03076e
- Jiang, K., Zhang, C., Guttula, D., Liu, F., van Kan, J.A., Lavelle, C., Kubiak, K., Malabirade, A., Lapp, A., Arluison, V., et al. (2015). Effects of Hfq on the conformation and compaction of DNA. Nucleic Acids Res 43, 4332-4341. doi:10.1093/nar/gkv268
- Zhang, C., Hernandez-Garcia, A., Jiang, K., Gong, Z., Guttula, D., Ng, S.Y., Malar, P.P., van Kan, J.A., Dai, L., Doyle, P.S., et al. (2013). Amplified stretch of bottlebrush-coated DNA in nanofluidic channels. Nucleic Acids Res 41, e189. doi:10.1093/nar/gkt783
- Zhang, C., Guttula, D., Liu, F., Malar, P.P., Ng, S.Y., Dai, L., Doyle, P.S., van Kan, J.A., and van der Maarel, J.R. (2013). Effect of H-NS on the elongation and compaction of single DNA molecules in a nanospace. Soft Matter 9, 9593-9601. (Co-first author) doi:10.1039/c3sm51214b
- Zhang, C., Gong, Z., Guttula, D., Malar, P.P., van Kan, J.A., Doyle, P.S., and van der Maarel, J.R. (2012). Nanouidic compaction of DNA by like-charged protein. J Phys Chem B 116, 3031- 3036. doi:10.1021/jp2124907
Research Summary: Mechanical stability of biofilm-associated proteins
A comparative study of the mechanical responses of Talin-1 and Talin-2
Role of mechanical forces on EGFR dimerization
Study the activation mechanism of receptor tyrosine kinases.
Single-DNA molecule conformational changes brought on by non-binding and nucleoid- associated proteins in nanospace
Distribution of bacterial architectural proteins H-NS and HU around the DNA by Small-Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS)
Normal mode analysis and DFT calculations of biomolecules
Research Interests:
Single-molecule force spectroscopy of biomolecules
Mechanobiology of human proteins
Mechanical response of biofilm-associated proteins
DNA-Nucleoid-Associated Protein Interaction Studies
Molecular dynamics simulations
Nano/microfluidic studies on biomolecules and epigenetics in lab-on-chip
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National University of Singapore Graduate Research Scholarship: 2010
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SIPIS: Summer Internship Programme for Indian Students, 2009
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GATE-2009: Organised by IIT-Roorkee, Score: 95.73, Rank: 229, Qualified
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Chess
Attended State Level Chess Tournament, Under-19 Years Boys & Girls 2003-04, conducted by Andhra Pradesh State School Games Federation, 2003.
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National Service Scheme
Served at the NSS-Youth Campaign, conducted by Andhra University, 2004–05.
Assistant Professor
Ph.D