Ankita Ray is currently based at the University of Sheffield working at the interface of nanobiophysics and microbiology, using high-resolution atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scattering near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) to interrogate biological systems at the nanoscale. Her research trajectory has moved from nanolithography and DNA oxidation studies to virus mechanics and force spectroscopy, and now toward understanding antimicrobial resistance in Staphylococcus through structural and mechanical mapping. Ankita is particularly interested in how nanoscale architecture, surface chemistry, and mechanical properties converge to influence biological function.
What continues to draw her to AFM is its versatility: it is simultaneously an imaging platform, a force transducer, and a nanomanipulation tool. Few techniques allow direct correlation between morphology, mechanics, and molecular interactions in near-physiological conditions. AFM enables her to ask mechanistic questions about cell wall organization, molecular binding events, or biomechanical heterogeneity with quantitative precision. The ability to bridge physics and biology at nanometre resolution is what makes AFM not just a method, but a central framework for her research.
Ankita Ray
Recent AFM-related papers:
Biography: Ankita grew up in Kolkata, India, where she developed an early and sustained interest in physics particularly electromagnetism and classical thermodynamics alongside organic chemistry and biology. She completed her bachelor’s and master’s studies in Bangalore, India, with a primary foundation in synthetic chemistry. During a research internship at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, she was introduced to atomic force microscopy (AFM) in the laboratory of Prof. Rupa Mukhopadhyay. This experience marked a turning point: although formally trained as a synthetic chemist, she found her intellectual direction at the interface of multifunctional materials and microscopic interrogation techniques. During her PhD at ETH Zurich, in the lab of Prof. Yoko Yamakoshi, she synthesised tripodal scaffolds that were stably anchored on AFM tips to induce spatially controlled DNA oxidative damage under photoactuation.
She subsequently moved to UCLouvain for her postdoctoral research, in the lab of prof. David Alsteens, where she leveraged AFM to investigate host–virus interactions, with particular emphasis on SARS-CoV-2. Her work focused on resolving nanoscale structural and mechanical signatures associated with viral binding and cellular response.
She is now extending this interdisciplinary trajectory by correlating AFM with near-field microscopy techniques to achieve multimodal nanoscale characterization. Her current objective is to develop a detailed mechanistic understanding of antimicrobial resistance through combined structural, mechanical, and spectroscopic mapping at the single-cell level
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankita-ray-phd-b7541092/
Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=DYx5KbAAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate