ABOUT AARAT KALRA: Dr. Aarat Kalra is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Biomedical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He completed his Bachelor of Science (B.Sc. (Hons.) with distinction from Dayalbagh Educational Institute (Agra, India) in chemistry, a Master of Science (M.Sc.) from McGill University in biology, and a Doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) with Prof. Jack Tuszynski at the University of Alberta in physics. Thereafter, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Department of Chemistry at Princeton University with Prof. Gregory Scholes, publishing transformative work on microtubule electronics.
Dr. Kalra has won numerous awards and funding acrruing from his research. In March 2025, he gave an invited presentation at the Gordon Conference on Quantum Biotechnnology, held in Lucca, Italy. In October 2024, he was awarded a research grant by the Department of Biotechnology (Government of India) through their cutting-edge 'Emerging Frontiers in Biotechnology' program. When he joined IIT Delhi in September 2023, he was awarded the Young Faculty Incentive Fellowship upon joining. In February 2022, he gave an invited talk at Google on 'Is Our Brain a Quantum Computer?'. In 2021, he was awarded the Young Systems Scientist Award by the Systems Society of India. In 2020, Dr. Kalra was awarded the prestigious Alberta Innovates Graduate Student Scholarship during his Ph.D. Dr. Kalra's work on microtubules has also been featured twice in the scientific magazine The New Scientist.
RESEARCH @ THE KALRA LAB: The Kalra lab works on Molecular Electrobiology. Light and electricity interface with living systems in a variety of ways: The absorption of light is the crucial first step in photosynthesis. Neurons and other excitable cells communicate through electrical signals along their membranes and at synapses. Electron transport in the mitochondrial membrane is an integral part of respiration. Our research group is interested in understanding how the human body responds to light and electricity. How are the physical principles that cells harness to convert electrochemical and photochemical signals into biological function? And what happens to these signals when a cell becomes diseased or dysfunctional?
As scientists, we employ a molecular approach to investigate the role of light and electricity in biology. As engineers, we seek to then develop therapeutic and diagnostic paradigms for various diseases. Working at the interface of biochemistry, cell biology and physical chemistry helps us research both noninvasive 'electroceuticals' for disease treatment, and develop nanotechnology based on bioelectromagnetic principles.
See his lab website at www.kalralab.org for open positions and the latest research.