Param has always been a researcher at heart. As a student at St. Paul’s School, London, has always been fascinated by science, and its potential for the world: medical and otherwise. Over the years, he worked internationally on a number of projects in related to chemistry and biochemistry, including on green solvents, bioaccumulation, and insulin fibrillogenesis. He recently had a chance to do research at the Biomedical Cybernetics Laboratory (BCL) with Prof. Gil Alterovitz during summer 2022. He is part of a prestigious group of students with high potential that engaged in focused research in Boston, selected as part of the Research Science Institute (RSI) internationally from India.
According to Dr. Alterovitz, “Param not only excelled technically, but also stands out in his ability to both spearhead new approaches and inspire others around a mission.” Param’s passion for the research topic that stems from a personal story. After watching his ailing grandfather battle Alzheimer’s disease for seven years and succumb to it in 2021, he undertook research looking at pathways for potential therapeutics, leveraging a link between those in Alzheimer’s disease and Traumatic Brain Injury. Speaking about this his research, he said “All you need is determination and the ability to commit to something– the last words of my grandfather were: ‘Param, never give up!’”
The project involved a new approach leveraging pathway analysis for finding biotherapeutics. Param found commonalities Alzheimer’s disease and Traumatic Brain Injury that could be used for drug design. His work not only explored chemistry for drug design, but also integrating gene expression analysis and protein-ligand interactions around a proteins seen in both diseases.
Through visualization and simulation that leveraged his findings, he was able to select potential drug candidates and work on multiple approaches to validate them. Param noted his experiences at BCL and his mentor, noting “Working with Dr. Alterovitz has been eye-opening experience in the greatest way- from learning to do independent research to learning from others on the team. Science is as much about people and culture as it is about testing hypotheses and observations.”
Alongside his research endeavors, Param has worked on enabling equitable, accessible, and experiential education for students from underserved communities. He created Gyaan Galaxy, a bi-annual national level science fair in India where he saw the participation of 450 high school children from marginalized backgrounds. I t grew up from a need that he saw: “the paucity of science fairs in India was quite disturbing, thus I decided to establish my own science fair.” The competition fosters innovative research in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics), specifically in the realm of environmental sciences. Through initiatives like this, he hopes that students like him will embrace the scientific realm to build a healthier, safer, and sustainable world.