When Dr. T. Govindaraju first decided to work on Alzheimer’s disease in the late 2000s, it was not the safe or expected choice. Trained as an organic chemist, he had little background in neuroscience. Few researchers in India focused on brain health, and many believed that the field was already too crowded with large companies and well-established labs abroad. But for Govindaraju, the difficulty was the reason to begin. “Even if I fail,” he said, “at least someone will learn why it didn’t work.”
Today, his lab at JNCASR, Bengaluru, focuses on how protein structure and behaviour influence health and disease, with a particular interest in amyloids. These are aggregates of proteins that can either support biological functions or cause damage when they misfold such as in Alzheimer’s. They develop diagnostic probes for disease-related amyloids, especially those linked to neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s. These probes are designed to bind selectively to misfolded proteins and are tested for their ability to signal early-stage disease through imaging or biochemical detection. He has also explored how Alzheimer’s is connected to broader processes in the brain, such as how proteins clump together, how cells handle stress, and how brain immune cells respond. One focus of his recent work is the link between brain inflammation and a type of cell death called ferroptosis, where cells are damaged by an overload of iron and oxidative stress. His work has led to the discovery of a promising drug candidate, TGR63, which is currently being considered for clinical trials by a biopharma company.
But starting from Alzheimer’s, his lab’s focuses have evolved into many allied areas. In one of such projects, they combine silk with melanin to create conductive scaffolds that support the growth of cells such as muscle and neurons, which rely on electrical signals to function. Providing a conductive environment helps guide cell differentiation and makes the material suitable for regenerative medicine applications. Using this idea, Govindaraju’s team is building a conduit that could help repair spinal cord injuries.
When the spinal cord is severed, the ends cannot reconnect easily. The scaffold, embedded with stem cells, can act as a bridge between the two sides, offering both structural support and a medium for new neuronal growth. Early work suggests that this approach may encourage both the implanted and native cells to form new connections. He began working in these different areas by exploring how the properties of proteins, especially amyloids, could be used to solve real-world medical problems.
Another project addresses a different clinical challenge. Managing diabetes often means injecting insulin multiple times a day, which is painful and can lead to long-term complications. To address this, his lab developed a silk-based hydrogel that stores insulin in its active form and releases it slowly after injection. The gel forms a depot under the skin, protecting insulin from aggregation while maintaining its function. In animal studies, a single injection kept insulin levels steady for up to four days, offering a possible way to reduce the number of injections required.
He helped establish VNIR Biotechnologies, a company that builds molecular probes and diagnostic kits for conditions such as Alzheimer’s, malaria, and oxidative stress. These tools are based on the lab’s work designing molecules that bind selectively to specific biomarkers, such as protein aggregates or disease-linked metabolites, allowing them to be visualised using fluorescence or imaging platforms. Developing these probes requires identifying reliable molecular targets, ensuring high binding specificity, and validating performance across different model systems. The aim is to design reliable, scalable tools that can move beyond research labs and be used in healthcare settings.
However, moving research into the clinic is not easy. Despite offering his students the opportunity to lead the startup, he struggled to convince them to take the risk. “We are afraid of failure,” he said. “Even when the risks are low, we hesitate to step away from the familiar path.”
This concern, he believes, is part of a larger pattern. Too often, students pursue postdoctoral research out of habit rather than intent. For those interested in industry or entrepreneurship, he advises making that choice early, rather than delaying it for years. “There’s more than one route,” he said, “but we don’t always give ourselves permission to take it.”
At the same time, he stresses the importance of depth. Though his lab’s work spans chemistry, biology, imaging, and materials, he maintains his core identity as a chemist. “You need to be good at something before you can be good at many things,” he said. He encourages students to first master their field before moving across disciplines. Interdisciplinary research, he believes, should follow naturally from the questions, not the trend.
For Govindaraju, science is not only about solving problems. It is about choosing them carefully, committing to them fully, and accepting uncertainty along the way. His journey from studying molecules to building tools for medicine is not a story of easy success. It is a story of working with what you know, reaching into what you don’t, and refusing to be limited by either.
