Understanding the mechanistic orchestra behind neurodegenerative diseases, rare or orphan diseases at the molecular level, and providing therapeutic solutions or diagnostic insights is challenging. My keen interest in addressing key biological questions associated with those diseases has directed me to several research projects during my Ph.D. and postdoctoral tenure. A plethora of chemical tools, techniques, and concepts was used in the process of exploring those challenging biological questions. My interest spread over several research fields:

 1. Unfolding effects of Zn(II) perturbation on Zn(II)signaling pathways and labile Zn(II) dynamics in the mammalian cell cycle.

2. Functional analysis of site-specific PTM modifications on synuclein/tau proteins involved in Parkinson's /Alzheimer's disease.

 3. Developing novel small molecule drug/sensor for selective chelation/sensing of metal ions Cu(II) or Mn(II) to alleviate copper overload or to diagnose Mn overload diseases

1. Rakshit, A.*; Holtzen, SE.*; Lo, MN., Conway, K., and Palmer, AE.;“Human cells experience a Zn²⁺ pulse in early G1.(Manuscript under review)
2. Rakshit, A., Lo, MN., and Palmer, AE.“Zinc Deficiency Induced Quiescence Leads to Global Remodelling of Metal Ion Homeostasis in Mammalian Cells. (Ongoing work)
3. Galesic, A.*; Rakshit, A. *; Cutolo, G.; Pancheco, R. P.; Balana, A. T.; Pratt, M. R.,“Comparison of N-Acetyl-Glucosamine to Other Monosaccharides Reveals Structural Differences for the Inhibition of alpha-Synuclein Aggregation. ACS Chem. Biol. 2021, 16, 1, 14. (equal contribution).
4. Moon, S. P., Balana, A. T., Galesic, A., Rakshit, A., Pratt, M.R..,“Ubiquitination Can Change the Structure of the alpha-Synuclein Amyloid Fiber In A Site Selective Fashion. J. Org. Chem., 2020, 85, 1548-1555.
5. Rakshit, A., Khatua, K., Shanbhag, V., Comba, P., Datta,A., “Cu(II) Selective Chelators  Relieve Copper-Induced Oxidative Stress In Vivo. Chem. Sci., 2018, 9, 7916-7930.(Featured on Chemical Science as back cover)
6. Mondal,S., Rakshit, A., Pal,S., Datta, A.,“Cell Permeable Ratiometric Fluorescent Sensors for Imaging Phosphoinositides.ACS Chem.Biol., 2016, 11, 1834-1843.
7. Das, S., Khatua, K., Rakshit, A., Carmona, A.; Sarkar, A., Bakthavatsalam,S., Ortega. R., Datta, A., “Emerging chemical tools and techniques for tracking biological manganese. Dalton Transaction, 2019, 48, 7047-7061.
8. Das, S.; Sarkar, A.; Rakshit, A.; Datta, A., “A Water-Soluble Reversible ON-OFF Optical Sensor for In Vivo Hg(II) Detection. Inorg. Chem., 2018, 57, 5273-5281.
9. Bakthavatsalam, S., Sarkar, A., Rakshit, A., Jain, S.; Kumar, K., Datta, A., “Tuning Macrocycles to Design Turn-on Fluorescence Probes for Manganese(II) Sensing in Live Cells.  Chem. Commun., 2015, 51, 2605-2608.
10. Bera, K., Das, A.K., Rakshit, A., Sarkar, B., Rawat, A., Maity, B.K., Maiti, S., â€œFluorogenic Detection of Monoamine Neurotransmitters in Live Cells. ACS Chem.  Neurosci., 2018, 9, 469-474.
11. Kommidi H.; Balasubramaniam, S.; Rakshit, A.; Aidhen, I. S., “Some Interesting ¹H NMR Features of ortho Substituted N-methoxy-N-methyl benzamide.Indian J. Chem., 2015, 54B, 77-83.
12. Kommidi H.; Rakshit, A.;  Aidhen, I. S., Ã…“Study of the Chemo-selectivity of Grignard Reagent Addition to Substrates Containing Both Nitrile and Weinreb Amide Functionalities. Eur. J. Org. Chem., 2013, 22, 4918-4931.