Fernandes_Dennis

Dennis Fernandes

Ph.D. | Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream | Physics

Research Areas: 

Single-molecule biophysics, G protein Coupled Receptors (GPRCs), AI/ML Computational Methods for Decision/Imaging Analytics, Nanotechnology & Medical Imaging Techniques. 

Research Profile: 

My PhD research focused on the use fluorescence-based techniques (smFRET, polarization/anisotropy, correlation, etc.) to understand the proliferation, treatment, and diagnosis of several human diseases/disorders and how different drug molecules ultimately effect structure, assembly, and function of GPCRs. Further to GPCRs, I also performed various collaborations with research labs developing and characterizing nanoparticle technologies for medical imaging and therapy. I am also interested in the development of AI and ML algorithms for pedagogical progression, for the advancement of scientific discovery (i.e., medical imaging software), and for developing tools focused on decision analytics.  

In addition to my passion for scientific research—business, marketing, commercialization, and entrepreneurship of the scientific discovery process is also another passion of mine. Over the years, I have also gained experience at top pharmaceutical companies working as a data analytics consultant where I have led the development of various decision analytics dashboards tracking key performance indicators.  

Courses Taught: 

PHY147H5, JCP322H5, PHY325H5, PHY451H5 

Publications

Fernandes, D.A.; Fernandes, D.D.; Malik, A; Gomes, G-N. W.; Appak-Baskoy, Berndl, E.; S.; Gradinaru, C.C.; Kolios, M. (2021). Multifunctional nanoparticles as theranostic agents for therapy and imaging of breast cancer. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology, 218, 112110. 

Fernandes, D. D., Neale, C., Gomes, G. N. W., Li, Y., Malik, A., Pandey, A.; Orazietti, A..; Wang, X.; Ye, L.; Prosser, S.; Gradinaru, C.C. (2021). Ligand modulation of the conformational dynamics of the A2A adenosine receptor revealed by single-molecule fluorescence. Nature Scientific Reports, 11(1), 5910. 

Fernandes, D. D., Bamrah, J., Kailasam, S., Gomes, G. N. W., Li, Y., Wieden, H. J., & Gradinaru, C. C. (2017). Characterization of fluorescein arsenical hairpin (FlAsH) as a probe for single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy. Scientific reports, 7(1), 13063. 

Shivnaraine, R. V., Fernandes, D. D., Ji, H., Li, Y., Kelly, B., Zhang, Z.; Han, N.; Huang, F.; Sankar, K.S.; Dubins, D.N.; Rocheleau, J.V.; Wells, J.W.; Gradinaru., C.C. (2016). Single-molecule analysis of the supramolecular organization of the M2 muscarinic receptor and the Gαi1 protein. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 138(36), 11583-11598. 

Fernandes, D. A., Fernandes, D. D., Li, Y., Wang, Y., Zhang, Z.; Gradinaru, C.C.; Rousseau, D.; Kolios, M. (2016). Synthesis of stable multifunctional perfluorocarbon nanoemulsions for cancer therapy and imaging. Langmuir, 32(42), 10870-10880.