Aniruddha Chattaraj, PhD

Welcome! I am Ani Chattaraj, a computational biophysicist in training. I like to think about biological organization through the lens of physics and chemistry. How does a biological system of interacting components organize  itself in space and time? How does information travel between different biological scales? How these systems adapt under evolutionary pressure? I employ multiscale biophysical simulations and bioinformatics to answer these questions. I also closely work with experimental collaborators to validate computational predictions and/or provide mechanistic details of experimental observations. 

Academic Training

Postdoctoral Fellow (July 2022 - Present): Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, USA. Advisor: Prof. Eugene Shakhnovich 

PhD (2016-2022) in Biomedical Science (AoC: Systems Biology): Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, USA. Advisor: Prof. Les Loew

MSc (2014-2016) in Chemistry: Department of Chemistry, IIT Bombay, India.

MSc Thesis Advisor: Prof. Sandip Kar 

BSc (2011-2014) in Chemistry: RKM Vidyamandira, Belur Math (University of Calcutta), India. Minors in Physics and Mathematics.    

Awards

• Simons Foundation & NSF Travel award for the conference on "Microbial Communities: Energetics and Dynamics Across Space and Time", NITMB, U. Chicago (2025) 

• NSF Travel Award for Find your Inner Modeler Conference (2025), University of California Irvine 

• Post-doctoral Reviewer for Biophysical Journal (2023) 

• NSF travel award for Cell Modeling Hackathon (2020), San Francisco

• Travel awards by UConn Health Center (2017, 2019, 2021) to attend BPS Annual Meetings

• INSPIRE Fellowship (2011 - 2016), Govt. of India

• Silver Medal (Batch 2014), Chemistry Department, RKM Vidyamandira

Collaboration is essential

Human beings outperformed other biological species not because of their strength, but their ability to cooperate  and collaborate. Science is no different. Amalgamation of expertise from diverse disciplines creates a melting pot of ideas. I enjoy talking to scientists from diverse  STEM fields as well as social sciences.

Diversity keeps us alive

I respect and honor an individual irrespective of his/her/their race, sex, gender, caste or any other identity. I am against any form of discrimination (racism, casteism, sexism etc.) and inter-personal violence. An inclusive ecosystem is the only way forward.