Aswin Muralidharan

I am a postdoctoral scientist at Delft University of Technology with Stan Brouns, where I study bacterial defense systems against mobile genetic elements.

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Research

For my research, I use microscopy, microfluidics and bioengineering to answer problems in molecular biology and biophysics. Representative papers are highlighted.

New insights into the mechanism of electrotransfer of small nucleic acids
Rūta Palepšienė, Aswin Muralidharan, Martynas Maciulevičius, Paulius Ruzgys, Sonam Chopra>, Pouyan Boukany Saulius Šatkauskas
Bioelectrochemistry, 2024.
Article

We performed a fundamental study of mechanism of co-electrotransfer of oligonucleotides and siRNA simultaneously with plasmid DNA.

Accumulation of defense systems in phage-resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Ana Rita Costa, Daan F van den Berg, Jelger Q Esser, Aswin Muralidharan, Halewijn van den Bossche, Boris Estrada Bonilla, Baltus A. van der Steen, Anna C. Haagsma, Ad Fluit, Franklin L. Nobrega, Pieter-Jan Haas, Stan J.J. Brouns
Science Advances, 2024.
Article / Data

Clinical Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains accumulate defense systems to obtain panphage resistance.

Electrotransfer for nucleic acid and protein delivery
Aswin Muralidharan, Pouyan E. Boukany
Trends in Biotechnology, 2023.
Article

We reviewed the latest trends in electrotransfer of nucleic acids and proteins.

Nucleophile responsive charge-reversing polycations for pDNA transfection
Reece W. Lewis, Aswin Muralidharan, Benjamin Klemm, Pouyan E. Boukany, Rienk Eelkema
Polymer Chemistry, 2023.
Article

We developed charge-reversing polycations which can encapsulate DNA and release it at nucleophilic environments. We further demonstrate evidences that these polycations could potentially be used for gene transfection applications.

Biomolecule electrotransfer to mammalian cells
Aswin Muralidharan
Dissertation

In this dissertation: (i) we unravel how actin networks regulate the cell membrane electropermeability, (ii) we reveal the intracellular biophysical transport mechanisms of electrotransferred DNA cargo, (iii) we present a localized electroporation device where cells are trapped in regions of high electric fields by the flow.

Models of electroporation and the associated transmembrane molecular transport should be revisited
Maria Scuderi, Janja Dermol-Černe, Clarissa Amaral da Silva, Aswin Muralidharan, Pouyan E. Boukany, Lea Rems
Bioelectrochemistry, 2022.
Article/ code

After a critical evaluation, we discovered that existing models are insufficient to simulate the transmembrane transport associated with electroporation and hence must be revisited.

Microtrap array on a chip for localized electroporation and electro-gene transfection
Aswin Muralidharan, Georg R. Pesch, Hendrik Hubbe, Lea Rems, Mahdiyeh Nouri-Goushki, Pouyan E. Boukany
Bioelectrochemistry, 2022.
Article / code

We developed microtrap electroporation, and it works better than conventional bulk electroporation to deliver exogenous biomolecules.

A programmable multifunctional 3D cancer cell invasion micro platform
Qian Liu, Aswin Muralidharan, Abtin Saateh, Zhaoying Ding, Peter Ten Dijke, Pouyan E. Boukany
Small, 2022   (Frontispiece).
Article / Cover

We created multi-functional hydrogel based microcarriers inside which we grew three dimensional cancer cell cultures and observed them over several days.

Intracellular transport of electrotransferred DNA cargo is governed by coexisting ergodic and non ergodic anomalous diffusion
Aswin Muralidharan, Hans Uitenbroek, Pouyan E. Boukany
bioRxiv, 2021.
Preprint / code

We tracked electrotransferred DNA cargo transport inside mammalian cells and discovered that it is not the DNA size, but what it encounters in the cytosol that governs it's intracellular transport.

Actin networks regulate the cell membrane permeability during electroporation
Aswin Muralidharan, Lea Rems, Michiel T. Kreutzer, Pouyan Boukany
Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Biomembranes, 2021.
Article

We revealed that actin networks increase the energy barrier of electroporation, challenging the traditional view that only lipid bilayer membranes are involved in maintaining cell membrane electropermeability.

DNA translocation to giant unilamellar vesicles during electroporation is independent of DNA size
Shaurya Sachdev, Aswin Muralidharan, Dipendra K. Choudhary, Dayinta L. Perrier, Lea Rems, Michiel T. Kreutzer, Pouyan Boukany
Soft Matter, 2019   (Inside front cover).
Article / Cover

We showed that electrotransfer of DNA to giant unilamellar vesicles is independent of DNA size.

Response of an actin network in vesicles under electric pulses
Dayinta L. Perrier, Afshin Vahid, Vaishnavi Kathavi, Lotte Stam, Lea Rems, Yuval Mulla, Aswin Muralidharan, Gijsje H Koenderink, Michiel T. Kreutzer, Pouyan Boukany
Scientific Reports, 2019.
Article

We showed that actin networks inside vesicles increase the resealing time after electroporation. Furthermore, the actin networks depolymerize during electroporation.

Assessment of human left ventricle flow using statistical shape modelling and computational fluid dynamics
Saeed S. Khalafvand, Jason D. Voorneveld, Aswin Muralidharan, Frank J.H. Gijsen, Johan G. Bosch, Theo van Walsum, Alexander Haak, Nico de Jong, Saša Kenjereš
Journal of Biomechanics, 2019.
Article

We studied the flow patterns in a left ventricle model using computational fluid dynamics and statistical shape modelling and compared it with particle image velocimetry experiments.

High frame rate ultrasound particle image velocimetry for estimating high velocity flow patterns in the left ventricle
Jason D. Voorneveld, Aswin Muralidharan, Timothy Hope, Hendrik J. Vos, Pieter Kruizinga, Antonius F.W. van der Steen, Frank J.H. Gijsen, Saša Kenjereš, Nico de Jong, Johan G. Bosch,
IEEE Transactions of Ultrasonics, Ferroelectronics, and Frequency Control, 2017.
Article

We validated high frame ultrasound particle image velocimetry using gold standard optical particle image velocimetry.

Molecular processes leading to “necking” in extensional flow of polymer solutions: using microfluidics and single DNA imaging
Shaurya Sachdev, Aswin Muralidharan, Pouyan E. Boukany
Macromolecules, 2016.
Article

We use microfluidics to observe the molecular processes involved in breakup of polymeric droplets.