Dinesh Indurthi

Ligand-gated ion channel activation is driven by a universal, two-affinity thermodynamic mechanism where gating efficacy is determined by a ligand's state-selective binding preference. Single-molecule analysis shows that this allosteric process functions as a nanoscale energy conversion machine with conserved structural changes at a local level.

Kinetic modeling reveals a dynamic, concentration-dependent flux crossover between conformational selection and induced-fit pathways. Ultimately, this framework establishes that microscopic, state-conformation availability dictates macroscopic responses, providing a predictive model for ligand-gated ion channels.

Dr. Dinesh Indurthi is a Research Scientist in the Department of Biochemistry at the University at Buffalo. He earned his Ph.D. in Ion-Channel Physiology from the University of Sydney, Australia, in 2018, where he published eight papers investigating the stoichiometric forms of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors.

Following his doctoral training, he joined the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University at Buffalo in 2019 to work with Dr. Anthony Auerbach. There, he established a thermodynamic framework for agonist efficiency in muscle-type nicotinic receptors, publishing several articles in eLife and Biophysical Journal.

Dr. Indurthi has since been working in the Department of Biochemistry with Dr. Gabriela Popescu, focusing on resolving the allosteric gating mechanisms of NMDA receptors and characterizing how positive allosteric modulators manipulate the two-affinity cyclic engine of GluN2C-containing channels.

• Time: 11 AM
• Location: 206 Furnas Hall