Department of Chemistry
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Chennai - 600036, India
Phone: +91 44 2257 5938 (Lab)
Mobile: +91 9445281689
E-mail: baksi.ananya@yahoo.in
Ms. Ananya Baksi
1. Career Objectives
To passionately engage in research in which I can apply my knowledge and skills to contribute effectively
for the development of science and society at large.
2. Research Interests





Synthesis, characterization and application of protein protected noble metal clusters.
Gas phase cluster synthesis.
Reactivity of clusters in gas phase.
Thermodynamic study of different nanosystems.
Interaction of metals with biomolecules.
3. Education
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
M.Sc. in Chemistry
CGPA 8.81/10
Kharagpur, India
May 2011
Vidyasagar University
B.Sc. in Chemistry
First class (70.50 %)
Midnapore, India
July 2009
4. Academic Achievements
 Junior Research Fellowship from CSIR with ranking 65, India to peruse PhD
 Secured 95.6 percentile in the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), 2011 with all India rank
354.
5. Research and Teaching Experiences
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Chennai,
India
Research scholar
July 2011- Till date
Teaching Assistant
Physical Chemistry lab classes for undergraduate and postgraduate students in the Department of
Chemistry, IIT Madras for three semesters.
6. Brief Description about the Doctoral Work
1
 I am working on the understanding noble metal cluster growth mechanism inside protein template.
Here cluster implies collection of few atoms of the metal. This class of nanomaterials is having strong
emission with well defined mass spectral signature. These clusters are characterized through various
spectroscopic tools like UV-Vis spectroscopy, luminescence spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron
spectroscopy (XPS), circular dichroism (CD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive
analysis of X-ray (EDAX), lifetime measurements, etc. Mass spectral analysis mainly involves the use
of matrix assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI MS) electrospray ionization
mass spectrometry (ESI MS) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS).
 Another study involves creation of bare clusters in gas phase through laser ablation from protein
template. We have successfully made alloy clusters with well defined nuclearity from protein template.
These clusters are mainly characterized by MALDI MS.
 I am also working on peptide (glutathione) protected silver clusters for sensing application. The
clusters are characterized by ESI MS and other spectroscopic techniques and used efficiently for
sensing Hg2+ in water.
 I am also interested in thermodynamics of monolayer protected clusters and their stability and
reactivity.
7. Publications and Presentations
(a) Publications
1. Ag11(SG)7: A new cluster identified by mass spectrometry and optical spectroscopy, Ananya
Baksi, M. S. Bootharaju, Xi Chen, Hannu Hakkinen and T. Pradeep, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2014, 118,
21722-21729.
2. Size Evolution of Protein Protected Gold Clusters in Solution: A Combined SAXS-MS
Investigation, Ananya Baksi, Anuradha Mitra, Jyoti Sarita Mohanty, Haiwon Lee, Goutam De
and T. Pradeep, J. Phys. Chem. C, Under Revision.
3. Luminescent Iron Clusters in Solution, Nirmal Goswami, Ananya Baksi, Anupam Giri,
Paulrajpillai Lourdu Xavier, Gautam Basu, Thalappil Pradeep and Samir Kumar Pal, Nanoscale,
2013, 6, 1848-1854.
4. Noble metal alloy clusters in the gas phase derived from protein templates: Unusual recognition of
palladium by gold, Ananya Baksi and T. Pradeep, Nanoscale, 2013, 5, 12245-12254.
5. Bare Clusters Derived from Protein Templates: Au25+, Au38+ and Au102+, Ananya Baksi,
Thalappil Pradeep, Bokwon Yoon, Constantine Yannouleas, and Uzi Landman, ChemPhysChem,
2013, 14, 1272-1282.
6. Protein-encapsulated gold cluster aggregates: the case of lysozyme, Ananya Baksi, Paulrajpillai
Lourdu Xavier, Kamalesh Chaudhari, N. Goswami, S. K. Pal and T. Pradeep, Nanoscale, 2013, 5,
2009-2016.
7. Protein-protected luminescent noble metal quantum clusters: an emerging trend in atomic cluster
nanoscience, Paulrajpillai Lourdu Xavier, Kamalesh Chaudhari, Ananya Baksi, Thalappil Pradeep,
Nano Reviews, 2012, 3, 14767.
8. Development of phosphonate modified Fe(1-x)MnxFe2O4 mixed ferrite nanoparticles: Novel
peroxidase mimetics in enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, Dipsikha Bhattacharya, Ananya
Baksi, Indranil Banerjee, Rajakumar Ananthakrishnan, Tapas K Maiti, Panchanan Pramanik,
Talanta, 2011, 86, 337-348.
9. Detection of total count of Staphylococcus aureus using anti-toxin antibody labelled gold
magnetite nanocomposites: a novel tool for capture, detection and bacterial separation, Dipsikha
Bhattacharya, Subhankari Prasad Chakraborty, Arindam Pramanik, Ananya Baksi, Somenath
Roy, Tapas K Maiti,. Sudip K.Ghosh, Panchanan Pramanik, J. Mat. Chem., 2011, 21, 1727317282.
Book Chapter:
2
1. Noble Metal Clusters in Protein Templates, T. Pradeep, Ananya Baksi and Paulrajpillai Lourdu
Xavier, CHAPTER 7 in In Functional Nanometer-Sized Clusters of Transition Metals: Synthesis,
Properties and Applications The Royal Society of Chemistry: 2014; pp 169-225.
2. Evolution of Atomically Precise Clusters Through the Eye of Mass Spectrometry,
Shridevi S. Bhat, Indranath Chakrabarty, Ananya Baksi, Raghu Pradeep and Thalappil
Pradeep, SPR Nano, Royal Society of Chemistry, Submitted.
(b) Conferences Participated
1. Poster presentation at 5th Bangalore Nano - 2012, Bangalore, India.
2. Poster presentation at Gordon Research Conference - 2014, Mount Holyoke College,
South Hadley, USA.
8. Personal Details
Ananya Baksi
Date of Birth: 06th June 1989
Present Address: C/o - Prof. T. Pradeep
Dept. of Chemistry, IIT Madras
Chennai - 600036, India
Nationality: Indian
Marital Status: Single
Permanent Address: D/o – Amit Kumar Baksi
D-14/1, Saratpalli, Midnapore
West Bengal, PIN - 721101, India
9. Reference
Prof. T. Pradeep
HSB 148
DST Unit of Nanoscience
Department of Chemistry
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Chennai - 600 036, India
Phone: +91-44-2257 4208
Fax: +91-44-2257 0509/0545
E-mail: pradeep@iitm.ac.in
3