Hello!

I’m Ayush, and I’m currently a PhD candidate in the Cancer Biology program at GSK/MSKCC. I’m currently rotating in the Chodera Lab, where I’m looking into using molecular dynamics simulations to understand the effects of mutations in cancer relevant kinases.

Prior to starting my PhD, I obtained my Master’s degree in Molecular and Structural Biology at ETH Zürich as an ESOP Scholar. My thesiswork was conducted in the Riniker Lab,where I worked with cyclic peptides, specifically exploring their potential as therapeutics and antibiotics using molecular dynamics simulations.

Before transitioning to computational research, my scientific background was primarily rooted in wet-lab work. I worked in the Ban Lab as a semester project student, investigating non-canonical pathways of translation initiation. I also worked in the Jonas Lab as a semester project student, focusing on the early stages of ribosome biogenesis.

I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences with a minor in Mathematics from Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Before moving to Zürich to pursue my Master’s degree, I worked as a Research Assistant in the Agrawal Lab at SUNY Albany in Albany, New York. There, I employed structural biology techniques (specifically cryo-EM) to understand the effects of antibiotics on the cellular translation machinery in context of the mitochondria and mycobacteria.

Outside the lab, I have taken part in the Ideathon, hosted and organized by the Student Bio Lab in Zürich, where our team came in 1st place for proposing innovative strategies for better design of biodegradable plastics. I also participated in the iGEM competition during my sophomore year of university as part of the Genspace team, a community biology lab based in Brooklyn, New York. The team won the Best Measurement Award.

Music is another primary interest in my life. I’ve been playing the guitar for over 15 years, starting with classical/fingerstyle guitar and then progressing to different genres of electric guitar (metal, rock, funk). I have recently started playing the bass as well, and am currently a bassist in two NYC based bands, Good Fruit and Chiwolf. While in Zurich, I played bass and guitar for Visual Snow (rock) and PPTA (funk). Currently I serve as a board memeber of Resonance Jams, an organization that helps organize weekly jamming session and other music related events for musicians in Zürich. I also have experience giving guitar lessons from time to time to motivated friends and family.

Other than science or music, my interests also extend to cooking, where I try as many recipes as possible from J. Kenji López-Alt, my newfound hobby of photography (usually while traveling), writing in the form of D&D campaigns and poetry, reading on a wide range of topics, and more recently, rock climbing and calisthenics.

Prior to my past two years in Zürich, I lived in the US for about ten years, in Indonesia for about two years, and in India for the first ten years of my life.