Mala Radhakrishnan

Mala Radhakrishnan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Wellesley College. Her work bridges computational biophysical chemistry, drug design, and interdisciplinary education, with a focus on molecular recognition and electrostatic interactions in biological systems.

• Harvard BA in Chemistry/Physics, MIT PhD in Physical Chemistry
• Collaborates with Prof. Don Elmore on antimicrobial peptides and macromolecular crowding
• Develops case-based molecular modeling activities for high school students

Her research spans computational modeling of:

• Drug-target interactions in chronic myeloid leukemia
• Promiscuous inhibitor design to combat HIV-1 drug resistance
• Electrostatics in crowded cellular environments
• Creative pedagogical approaches combining poetry and chemistry

She leads the Radhakrishnan Lab, which develops computational tools for molecular design and studies fundamental principles of biomolecular recognition. Her work has been published in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education and Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, with recent projects examining:

• Antimicrobial peptide variants using computational methods
• Effects of cellular crowding on binding energetics
• Integration of creative writing in STEM education

Radhakrishnan teaches introductory chemistry, computational chemistry, and physical chemistry courses, emphasizing numeracy and computational literacy. She authored the educational poetry collection Atomic Romances, Molecular Dances, which creatively teaches chemical concepts.