PI

Biography

Nikhil is fascinated by how electrons move in nature-made and human-made systems. He worked on how electrons move in superconductors during his PhD in UMass which helped him to study electrons moving in living biofilms and protein nanowires. During his postdoc, he learnt structural biology and is now working on structures, functions, and electron transfer mechanisms of microbial nanowires.  In 2015, Nikhil established his independent group at Yale and has been leading an interdisciplinary team to develop and apply novel technologies to define the mechanisms by which microbes interact with and manipulate their environment, with the ultimate goal of engineering these interactions to control microbial pathophysiology and ecology.                                                                                   

Education & Training

  • B.Sc.,  Physics (2001) University of Mumbai, India
  • M.Sc.,  Physics (2003) Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India
  • M.S.,    Physics (2007) University of Massachusetts (UMass), Amherst
  • Ph.D.,  Physics (2010) UMass, Amherst. (Advisor: Currently, Assoc. Dean M. Tuominen)
  • Burroughs Wellcome Postdoc Fellow (2015) UMass, Amherst (Advisor: Currently, Research Prof. D. Lovley)

HONORS AND AWARDS  (blue = online link)   

   SERVICE

Department & Institute Service

Junior Faculty Hiring: Served on 7 search committees

  • Two MB&B Department by anonymizing applicants (2019-20), (2021-22, postponed due to pandemic),
  • Five for the Microbial Science Institute (jointly with following 6 non-MB&B departments):
  • Microbial Pathogenesis, (2019-22)
  • Genetics, (2019-22)
  • Cellular and Molecular Physiology, (2019-22)
  • Immunobiology (2019-22)
  • Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (2022-23)
  • Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology (2022-23)

Seminar Organizer

  • Served on the 3 department seminar committees to plan annual program (2015-16, 2016-17, 2022-24)
  • Coordinated the internal or external seminars at the Microbial Sciences Institute (2017-Present)
  • Personally hosted 15 speakers and met >100 visiting speakers.

Retreat Organize

  • Organized 4 departmental retreats (2019-2022, in charge 2020-2022)
  • Implemented several major changes (new locations and format, guest speakers, postdoc awards, etc.)

University Service

Junior Faculty Training: 7 faculty orientations & 2 grant-writing workshops; Recorde Videos for future.

  • YSM New Faculty Orientation Program (2015-News, 2017).
  • FAS New Faculty Orientation Program (2015, 2020).
  • FAS Faculty development and support opportunities (2020)- Highlighted by Yale Daily News article
  • FAS Dean’s Funding and Grantsmanship Training Program (2021),
  • Yale Office of Sponsored Projects Grantsmanship Training Program (2021)
    • Organized for 9 years monthly/ biweekly junior PI groups and arranged mentoring talks by senior faculty and administrators about scholar awards and university resources for junior faculty. (2015-Present)
    • Implemented a problem-solving Method for Junior-PIs by working with an organizational scientist. (2015-)
    • Reviewed faculty applications for Scholar awards by private foundations. (2020-)
    • Served on the 3 University committees listed below on purchasing equipment and led the purchase of critical equipment used widely (e.g., 1st environmental-AFM, cryo-EM detectors).
      • West Campus Materials Characterization Core (2020-Present),
      • Yale University Materials Characterization Core (2022-Present),
      • Yale University Cores Equipment Review Panel (2022-Present)
  • Led Biomaterials Center Grant: Designed new synthesis, characterization, and computation facilities for a $20M-NSF proposal, which was a finalist and led to several new collaborations and awards. (2019)

External Service

Resource Sharing

External Reviewer

  • Tenure case for a full professor (Tsinghua University, 2021),
  • External dissertation for the Biochemistry program at Sapienza University of Rome (2023),
  • Posters at international conferences (SABIC,2024 and Biophysical Society,2022)
  • 67 journals listed below for subjects covering Biophysics, Biochemistry and Microbiology.(2010-)
  • 19 funding agency programs, listed below, including 13 US and 6 European funding programs.(2015-)

Reviewer for Funding Agencies (19)

  • Panel member, National Science Foundation (NSF)’s BioFoundries Program (About)
  • Panel member, National Science Foundation’s Convergence Accelerator (About)
  • Panel member, NSF Quantum Sensing Challenges for Transformational Advances (2023) (About)
  • NSF-Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) (2023) (About)
  • Invited nominator for MacArthur Fellows Program (2022-23) (About)
  • U. S. Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship Program (2023)
  • Cottrell Scholar Award, Research Corporation for Science Advancement (2022-23) (About)
  • Panel member, Dept. of Energy Biological & Environmental Research (2014-2015); (2019-2020).
  • Panel member, National Science Foundation’s Molecular and Cellular Biosciences cluster (2021-22)
  • Reviewer, Brookhaven Lab’ Center for Functional Nanomaterials (2013 –2015) (2020-present)
  • National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship program (2021-present)
  • National Science Foundation ad-hoc reviewer (2017-present)
  • Dept. of Energy Basic Energy Sciences
  • Dept. of Energy SBIR Program
  • Dept. of Energy Office of Science Graduate Student Research program (2016)
  • Keck Foundation (2021)
  • The Fund for Scientific Research-FNRS (F.R.S.-FNRS) - Belgium (2021)
  • The Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) - Belgium (2021, 2022)
  • The Excellence of Science program for the Flemish and French speakers (2021)
  • UK Research & Innovation Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) (2022)
  • Dutch Research Council (NWO) (2022)
  • European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant (2022)

Reviewer for Journals (68): (Journals listed in alphabetical order; total number of journals in parenthesis)

  • Angew. Chem., Adv. Materials, App. & Environ. Micro, ACS Nano, ACS Omega, ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering., Appl. Surface Sci., Appl. Micro. & Biotech. (9)
  • BBA – Bioenergetics, Biotechnology & Bioengineering, Bioelectrochemistry, Biochemical Journal, Bioorganic Chemistry, Biotechnology Adv., (6)
  • Chemical Science, ChemComm, ChemElectroChem, ChemSusChem, Chem. Eng. Journal (5),
  • Environmental Microbiology, Energy and Environmental Science, Environmental Science and Technology, Energy and fuels, Electroanalysis, and Environmental Engineering Sciences (6).  
  • Frontiers in Microbiology, FEMS: Pathogens & Disease, (2)
  • Geophysical Research Letters. (1)
  • Harvard Undergraduate Health Policy Review (1)
  • International Society of Microbial Ecology, iScience, Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers, (3)
  • Journal of American Chemical Society, Joule, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Journal of Physical Chemistry, Journal of Chemical Physics, Journal of Energy Chemistry, Journal of Materials Science, (7)
  • Lab on a Chip, Langmuir, (2)
  • mBio, Microbiology, Microbial Biotechnology, Microbiology Spectrum (4)
  • Nature, Nature Chemistry, Nature Microbiology, Nature Geoscience, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Communications, Nano Letters, Nanoscale, Nanomedicine, (9)
  • PNAS, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, Physical Review E, PLOS One, Protein Science (6)
  • RSC Advances, Research in Microbiology, (2)
  • Science, Science Advances, Science Partner Journal – Research, Scientific Reports, (4)
  • Wiley Books (1)

Public Policy.

 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts  

  • Developed and implemented core values for the lab.
  • Out of 58 mentees, 40 (70%) are from underrepresented and minority groups, including visually disabled transgender students and 20 (35%) immigrants.
  • Mentored students to serve as President’s Public Service Fellow (H. Zhang)
  • Mentor student to be President of the Society for Advancement of Chicanos & Native Americans in Science (SACNAS, A. Salazar-Morales).
  • Participated in Diversity Town Halls organized by the department and Institute.
  • Mentored 17 first-generation students through NSF-REU and STARS programs.
  • Mentored 3 low-income women through WiNstep Forward/Indo-US Science & Technology Forum
  • Mentored international students through the Indian Foreign Training Program and Fulbright program.
  • Mentor, V. Saldivar for Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABRCMS).

Selected Invited Talks

  • Symposium on Advanced Biological Inorganic Chemistry (SABIC), India. January 7 - 11, 2024
  • Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA. January 30, 2024.
  • Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit, Universities of Porto and NOVA of Lisbon, February 23, 2024
  • Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Caltech, CA. April 18, 2024.
  • Annual Retreat for Yale West Campus Faculty, New Haven, CT. May 1, 2024,
  • Human Frontier Science Program Annual Meeting, Washington DC, June, 2024
  • IEEE Conference on Nanotechnology, Gijón, Spain, July 8-11, 2024.
  • Dreyfus Foundation Research Symposium, New York, NY, October, 2024.
  • MRS Symposium on Conductive Biological Materials. Boston, MA, Dec. 1-6, 2024,
  • Gordon Research Conference: Metals in Biology. Ventura, CA January 23 - 28, 2023
  • New and Notable Symposium, Biophysical Society Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA Feb. 19, 2023
  • International Conference on Physics and Quantum Physics, London, UK, 27-28 March. (Keynote)
  • Symposium on Sustainable Energy Solutions for Climate Change, Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Duke University, NC. April 28, 2023. (Link)
  • Microbiome Symposium, Yale School of Medicine., Yale West Campus. May 9, 2023.
  • Biophysics and Structural Biology Symposium, Yale University, May 19, 2023.
  • NIH High-Risk, High-Reward Research Symposium, Bethesda, MD, June 8-9, 2023.
  • Quantum Biophysics World Innovation Summit, Sungkyunkwan Uni., Korea. 6-7 July 2023 (Keynote)
  • Microbiology Retreat, Dept. of Microbial Pathogenesis, Yale School of Medicine, September 15, 2023.
  • Energy Sciences Institute Annual Retreat, Yale University, September 21, 2023.
  • Bringing Chemistry to Medicine Symposium, St. Jude Chemical Biology, Oct. 6, 2023, postponed.
  • Dept. of Chemistry, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT. October 18, 2023.
  • New England Cryo-EM Symposium, Yale University, October 27-28, 2023.
  • Center for the Physics of Biological Function, Princeton University. Nov. 13, 2023. (Link)
  • Biodesign Institute and Dept. of Physics, Arizona State University. 16 November 2022.
  • MRS Symposium on Advances in Biomolecular Electronics, Nov. 26-Dec. 1, 2023, Boston, MA
  • Quantitative Biology Institute, Yale University. December 6, 2023.
  • Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University, February 7, 2022
  • Connecticut Microelectronic & Optoelectronics Consortium. University of Connecticut, 9 March 2022.
  • Indian Biophysical Society Meeting, Mumbai, India. 31 March 2022
  • Dept. of Physics, Arizona State University. 28 April 2022.
  • MRS Symposium on Genetically encoded and bioinspired materials Honolulu, Hawaii, May 2022.
  • Bioderived Electronics. Ein Gedi, Israel. May 2022
  • Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Lab. July 6, 2022.
  • National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine: Quantum Biology workshop, July 2022
  • Gordon Research Conference: Molecular Basis of Microbial Metabolism, NH Aug. 7-12, 2022.
  • European Nitrogen Cycle meeting, Rome, Italy. 28-30 September 2022. (Keynote)
  • Emergent Simplicity in Biophysical Dynamics, Telluride, CO. September 30, 2022.
  • NSF Convergence Accelerator Workshop: Bioinspired Design. Wyss Inst. Harvard. Oct. 4, 2022. Based on the Report, NSF selected Bio-Inspired Design as one of the funded Accelerator Tracks.
  • Microbiology Seminar Series, Dept. of Microbial Pathogenesis, Yale University. November 3, 2022.
  • NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering – Quantum Biology. December 7, 2022. (Video)
  • Dept. of Physics, Colgate University, New York. 27 April 2021.
  • NanoBioelectronics symposium, IEEE NANO, Montreal, Canada, 28-30 July 2021.
  • Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, Sacramento State University, California.  7 October 2021.
  • Electromicrobiology meeting. Session: Molecules, Aarhus, Denmark, 3-5 November 2021 (Keynote).
  • Semi-synthetic-biology group, Dept. of ECE and BME, Boston University. November 2021.  
  • Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Simon Fraser University, Canada. 26 Nov. 2021
  • Intracellular organization & material synthesis Workshop, Dept. of Energy, Dec 15-16, 2021.
  • Undergraduate Summer Online Research Workshop, Yale University, June 3, 2020. Student Response:  “talk really changed my perspective of interdisciplinary science”
  • Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT. Fall 2020 (postponed)
  • Blavatnik semifinalist to pitch at the Office of Cooperative Research’s Pitchfest in December.
  • Harwell Foundation Individual Biomedical Award Research Talk, Dallas, TX. 22-25 September 2019
  • Dept. of Material Science & Engineering. State University of New York, Stony Brook, 25 Oct. 2019.
  • Dept. of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania. 8 Oct. 2019
  • American Geophysical Union. Centennial Session - Biogeophysics San Francisco 13 December 2019
  • Center for Theoretical Biophysics, Rice University. 7 Feb. 2018
  • American Physical Society. Focus Session: Quantum effects in biology, Los Angeles, 5 March 2018
  • Department of Chemistry, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India. 25 April 2018.
  • CECAM (European Center for Atomic & Molecular Calculation)-PSI-K meeting, Madrid, Spain. May 2018
  • International Society of Electrochemistry, Bologna, Italy. 4 September 2018.
  • Pittsburgh Quantum Institute, University of Pittsburgh. 20 September 2018.
  • Department of Chemistry, Rutgers University. 28 September 2018.
  • Beyond Center. Arizona State University. 5 November 2018.
  • Gordon Research - Microbial Adhesion & Signal Transduction, Newport, RI. July 2017 (Keynote)
  • Dept. of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology, & Medicine, Duke University, September 27, 2017
  • Biophysics and Structural Biology Symposium, Yale University, October 18, 2017.
  • International Society for Electrochemistry, Hague, Netherlands, 25 August 2016 (Keynote)
  • The Physics Club, Department of Physics, Yale University. February 1, 2016.
  • Yale Institute for Nanoscience and Quantum Engineering seminar, November 13, 2015.
  • Physical and Engineering Biology Program, Yale University, Sept. 18, 2015
  • Microbiology Retreat, Dept. of Microbial Pathogenesis Yale University Sept. 4, 2015.
  • Energy Sciences Institute, Yale University September 2, 2015
  • Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena, Yale University. August 5, 2015.
  • Microbiology & Immunology Dept., Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, NH. June 2015.
  • Nanoscience & Nanoengineering school, Physics Dept., North Carolina A&T University. June (declined)
  • Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 21 May 2015 (declined).
  • Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, Washington, 27 April 2015.
  • Department of Physics, Portland State University. 22 April 2015.
  • Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas Tech University. 10 April 2015.
  • Dept. of Physics, Astronomy & Material Sci., Missouri State University, Springfield. March 2015.
  • Department of Physics, SUNY Buffalo, NY. 19 February 2015.
  • Microbial Sciences Institute and Dept. of Mol. Biophysics & Biochem., Yale University. 9 Feb. 2015
  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 22 January 2015
  • Dept. of Microbiology & Physiological Systems, UMass Medical School, 7 Jan. 2015.
  • Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. 4 December 2014
  • Department of Physics, University of Southern California, LA. 21 November 2014.
  • Department of Physics, Union College, Schenectady, New York, October 16, 2014.
  • NSF - Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Sept. 24, 2014.
  • The Amherst Club, Amherst, MA, August 5, 2014
  • American Society of Microbiology Special session: Dispelling dogmas Boston, MA. May 18, 2014      
  • Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (MPA-CINT), Los Alamos National Lab., March. 11, 2014.
  • Dept. of Appl. Phys. Sci., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Feb. 24, 2014.
  • Department of Physics, University of Denver. Feb. 19, 2014.
  • Nano Science Technology Center, University of Central Florida. Dec. 10, 2013.
  • Dept. of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University. Nov. 12, 2013.
  • Office of Naval Research Biosciences and Biocentric Technology annual meeting 23-25 July 2013.
  • Dept. of Biosciences & Bioengineering. Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, March 4, 2013.
  • From the Meso-to-Nanoscale with X-ray Spectromicroscopy, Brookhaven National Lab., Sept. 2012
  • International Conference on Science & Technology of Synthetic Metals, Atlanta, Georgia, July 2012
  • American Physical Society Meeting News briefing, Boston, MA. 27 February 2011.
  • Department of Physics seminar, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. November 2011
  • Talent Advancement Program, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, September 2011.
  • Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Sept. 2011.
  • Conversations in Physical and Structural Biology, University of Mass., Amherst. 26 Sept. 2011.
  • Department of Energy Genomic Sciences meeting, February 2010, Crystal City, VA
  • University of Massachusetts Microbiology departmental seminar, February 2010.