Neel Shanmugam

Neel Shanmugam is from Richardson, Texas and went to the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science for high school. He plans to major in either Biomedical Engineering or Computer Science with a minor in Economics.

He began conducting academic research in the summer of his junior year under Dr. William Acree. He created Abraham model equations to predict solute transfer into environmentally-friendly solvents by analyzing volumetric and spectrophotometric measurements. This information will allow chemical manufacturers to replace existing toxic solvents with these green alternatives. He also calculated enthalpies of vaporization and sublimation for 33 alkynes coated with squalene and apiezon L stationary phases with linear free-energy relationships. He co-authored nine peer-reviewed publications outlining his findings.

Neel continued research under Dr. Andres Cisneros studying a mutation in Poly [ADP-Ribose] Polymerase 1 associated with lung and ovarian cancer. He developed scripts and prepared systems for molecular dynamics simulations to evaluate three inhibitors as treatment for the PARP-1 (a human enzyme) V762A cancer variant. He examined simulation results using trajectory and electron decomposition analysis along with statistical tests and designed visual representations to effectively highlight results. He identified key residues and evaluated the functionality of PARP-1 inhibitors, allowing drug designers to engineer more effective medicines that save more lives. He became passionate about the application of computational techniques toward biological challenges through this work.

Neel pursued research under Dr. Anum Glasgow developing better antiviral therapeutics that more resistant to viral mutation. He worked toward developing a new, rapid, generalizable pipeline for engineering small (<66 KDa) and easy-to-produce alternatives to established antiviral protein therapeutics. PARROTS (Protein Antivirals by Rapid Redesign of Tertiary Structures) replaces native human serum albumin (HSA) helical bundles with computationally-designed helical bundles that are designed to tightly bind to viral antigens: HSA-traps. He was involved in writing PyRosetta scripts for machine learning design, loop insertion through kinematic closure, and helical bundle generation.

In school, Neel was heavily involved in Research Organization as president. Neel along with the other executives of the club helped 100+ students find research opportunities through one-on-one meetings and a research symposium. They operated workshops, practices, and a mock fair for research competition preparation. They organized semester-long science fair mentorship and demonstration-based science tutoring at local schools.

Outside of academics, Neel is extremely passionate about playing tennis, late-night weightlifting, and singing karaoke even though he's not that great at singing. He also enjoys listening to music and hanging out with friends in his free time. He is interested in pursuing a career in the biotech industry, potentially working at a startup or in a pharmaceutical company.