Anil Kumar Dasanna

Anil Kumar Dasanna is a theoretical physicist working as a Research Fellow at Saarland University's Department of Theoretical Physics and Center for Biophysics, with additional affiliation at the INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials in Saarbrücken, Germany. His research focuses on understanding the physics of biological and soft matter systems, particularly in the context of parasite biophysics and cell mechanics.

Dr. Dasanna's academic journey includes:

• Masters in Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology - Madras (Chennai, India)
• Doctorate in Biophysics from Universite Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (Toulouse, France), researching dsDNA bubble dynamics under Prof. Manoel Manghi and Prof. Nicolas Destainville
• Postdoctoral research at Heidelberg University studying malaria pathogenesis with Prof. Ulrich Schwarz
• Research at Forschungszentrum Jülich investigating red blood cell physics with Dr. Dmitry Fedosov and Prof. Gerhard Gompper

His current research at Saarland University with Prof. Heiko Reiger focuses on cell mechanics and migration, with particular expertise in:

• Malaria biophysics, especially parasite invasion mechanisms and host cell interactions
• Cell mechanics, particularly red blood cell behavior and membrane dynamics
• Computational modeling of biological systems using coarse-grained approaches
• Physics of parasite-host interactions across multiple pathogen systems

Dr. Dasanna employs sophisticated computational methods including molecular dynamics, Brownian dynamics, and dissipative particle dynamics to model cellular membranes as triangulated meshworks and simulate fluid dynamics. His work provides critical physical insights into biological processes that are challenging to observe experimentally.

As a key investigator in the 'Physics of Parasitism' initiative, he leads Project 2 of SPP 2332 focused on predicting forces and shapes for apicomplexan parasite invasion into host cells. His research bridges theoretical physics with practical biomedical applications, contributing to our understanding of infectious disease mechanisms at the physical level.