Dr. Mishra’s research on lipid bilayer membrane using fluorescence spectroscopy has resulted in significant innovative contributions to the area. To name a few:
Introduction of ‘Excited State Prototropism (ESPT) as a molecular probe concept for lipid bilayer membranes’ – sensitive response of fluorescence lifetime parameters to membrane property changes, opening new avenues towards research on lipid bilayer membranes.
Fluorescence of various ESPT probes such as 1-naphthol and fisetin has been found to show sensitive response to phase transition in membranes, membrane property changes by cholesterol, drug, peptides, bile salts, and bilayer interdigitation.
Very recently, the interaction of capsaicin (an ingredient of a wide variety of red peppers) with dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) lipid bilayer membrane has been investigated by monitoring various photophysical parameters using capsaicin’s intrinsic fluorescence, which could have potential implications in cancer therapy and drug delivery. This work appeared in ACS Press Release (http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/presspacs/2015/acs-presspac-september-9-2015.html).
Dr. Mishra has introduced several new fluorescent molecular probes such as N,N-dimethylaniline containing ethynyl pyrene, conjugated fluorophores such as coumarin-cholesterol, pyrene-lactose and N-acylated dansylamides for studying various heterogeneous and organized systems. Some other work includes studies on fluorescent dendrimers, hydrogels, peptide-membrane interactions, bile salt organizations and their interactions with drugs, membranes and thermoreversible gels.