Dr. Avik Samanta is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. His research addresses the fundamental question of how chemical reactions and self-assembly processes are affected by the crowded environment of macromolecules and their confinements. His research also involves the development of biomimetic systems in a bottom-up approach using various tools from DNA nanoscience, polymer chemistry and supramolecular chemistry that demonstrate basic life-like behaviors such as adaptation, the establishment of communication and evolution. His group also aims to develop artificial systems that are out-of-equilibrium and function through the efficient use of chemical fuels.

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After graduating from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Avik joined Prof. Bart Jan Ravoo's lab (University of Muenster, Germany) to study complex supramolecular systems and soft nanomaterials based on amphiphilic macrocycles and various photoresponsive molecules. After his Ph.D. and a postdoctoral tenure in the lab of Prof. Fraser Stoddart (Northwestern University, USA), Avik returned back to Germany as a Humboldt Fellow in the lab of Prof. Andreas Walther (University of Freiburg & JGU Mainz), where he developed various DNA-based synthetic biosystems and metabolic crowded protocells.