Dr. Piyush P. Wanjari
Brief Bio
| Brief Bio |
|---|
| Assistant Professor in Department of Chemical Engineering at VNIT Nagpur |
| Research experience in Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Nanostructured Materials and Pharmaceutical Drug Delivery Vehicles from USA and Europe |
| Work experience from Sanofi Pharmaceutical Company in Paris, France as Marie Curie Postdoctoral Researcher |
| PhD from Tulane University, New Orleans, USA under the guidance of Prof. Hank Ashbaugh |
| Recepient of Early Career Research Award (2017) and IBM Corporation PhD Fellowship Awards (2008 and 2011) |
Education
| Sr. No. | Degree | Year | Specialization | University |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | B.Tech. | 2006 | Chemical Technology | Laxminarayan Institute of Technology, Nagpur, India |
| 2 | Ph.D. | 2012 | Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering | Tulane University, New Orleans, USA |
Contact Details
| Phone: | Email: | Address: |
|---|---|---|
| 91-712-280-1781 | ppwanjari@che.vnit.ac.in | CHE-115, Department of Chemical Engineering, VNIT, Nagpur,Maharashtra-440010, India |
Research Interest
| Research Interest |
|---|
| Molecular dynamics simulations |
| Molecular modeling |
| Self-assembly of nanostructured materials |
| CO2 capture |
| Material and pharmaceutical drug design |
| Free energy calculations |
| Cheminformatics |
| Nanotechnology |
| Sensors |
| Sr. No. | Title | Funding Agency | Role | Year | Amount (in Lakhs INR) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Investigation of selective CO2 capture by carbon-based novel nanostructures using molecular dynamics simulations (Early Career Research Award) | SERB (DST) | PI | 2017-2020 | 23.65 |
| 2 | Downstream processing of erythromycin using a new phase separation method (Extra Mural Research Funding) | SERB (DST) | Co-PI | 2017-2020 | 24.13 |
| Sr. No. | Title | Funding Agency | Role | Year | Amount (in Lakhs INR) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nil |
| Description | Author(s) | Publisher | ISBN | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nil |
| Sr. No. | Patent Title | Application No. | Date | Present Staus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nil |
| Sr. No. | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | Organizing Secretary, CHEMIX’24, A National Conference on Inter and Intra-disciplinary blend of Chemical Engineering, April 2024 |
| 2 | Co-convener, CHEMIX’19, A National Conference on Inter and Intra-disciplinary blend of Chemical Engineering, March 2019 |
| Sr. No. | Responsibility | Institute | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Department Research and Consultancy Committee | VNIT | Member | 2026-Present |
| 2 | E-Cell | VNIT | Faculty InCharge | 2025-Present |
| 3 | Alumni Coordinator | VNIT | Department Coordinator | 2024-Present |
| 4 | Departmental Website | VNIT | Faculty Coordinator | 2015 – Present |
| 5 | IIChE Club | VNIT | Faculty InCharge | 2019-2025 |
| 6 | Student Mentor Program | VNIT | Faculty Coordinator | 2021-2023 |
| Sr. No. | Awards |
|---|---|
| 1 | Early Career Research Award, SERB-DST, 2017 |
| 2 | IBM Corporation Ph.D. Fellowship Award, Tulane University, New Orleans, USA, 2011 |
| 3 | IBM Corporation Ph.D. Fellowship Award, Tulane University, New Orleans, USA, 2008 |
| S.No. | Paper Citation |
|---|---|
| 1 | Nitin Kumar Singh, Hrushikesh M. Gade, Vrushali Khedkar, Piyush P. Wanjari, Investigating self-assembly of oppositely-charged cyclic peptides and its application towards drug entrapment, ChemistrySelect, 11 (14), e07444, 2026 |
| 2 | Vishesh A.Velani, Koustubh U. Kulkarni, Akshayani S. Chaknalwar, Pradip B. Dhamole, Piyush P. Wanjari, Selective Extraction of N-Butanol From Aqueous Media: A Comparative Molecular Dynamics Study of Organic Solvents, ChemistrySelect, 10 (38), e0386, 2025 |
| 3 | Padmesh Medesety, Kundrapu Chaitanya, Hrushikesh M. Gade, Vaibhavi Jaiswal, Piyush P. Wanjari*, “Carbon nanotube assisted highly selective separation of organic liquid mixtures”, Chemical Physics, 562, 111647, 2022 |
| 4 | Padmesh Medesety, Hrushikesh M. Gade, Nitin Kumar Singh, Piyush P. Wanjari*, Highly selective carbon capture by novel graphene-carbon nanotube hybrids, Molecular Simulation, 47, 16, 1326-1334, 2021 |
| 5 | Hrushikesh M. Gade and Piyush P. Wanjari* “Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Water‐Mediated Cholesterol Capture within an Open‐Ended Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotube” ChemPhysChem, 2019, 20, 142-147 |
| 6 | Hrushikesh M. Gade, Srihas V. V. Velpuri, and Piyush P. Wanjari* “Conformational rearrangements in n-alkanes encapsulated within capsular self-assembly of capped carbon nanotubes” Chemical Physics, 2019, 517, 198-207 |
| 7 | Srihas V.V. Velpuri, Hrushikesh M. Gade and Piyush P. Wanjari* “Encapsulation driven folding and unfolding of n-alkanes inside a hydrogen-bonded supramolecular cavitand assembly” Chemical Physics, 2019, 521, 100-107 |
| 8 | Hrushikesh M. Gade, Piyush P. Wanjari*, and Srihas V. V. Velpuri “Water-mediated curvature change in graphene by single-walled carbon nanotube” Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2018, 20, 22359-22367 |
| 9 | Piyush P. Wanjari, Bruce C. Gibb, and Henry S. Ashbaugh* “Simulation optimization of spherical non-polar guest recognition by deep-cavity cavitands” Journal of Chemical Physics, 2013, 139, 234502 |
| 10 | Piyush P. Wanjari, Ashish V. Sangwai, and Henry S. Ashbaugh* “Confinement induced conformational changes in n-alkanes sequestered within a narrow carbon nanotube” Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2012, 14, 2702-2709 |
| Invited Talks | |
| 1 | Piyush P. Wanjari “Invited Lecture – Conformational analysis and binding free energy perspectives from MD Simulations” Online STC on Basic Principles of Density Functional Theory and Molecular Dynamics Simulations, MNIT Jaipur, November 2020 |
| Conferences | |
| 1 | Koustubh U. Kulkarni, Lawanya, Piyush P. Wanjari “Molecular dynamics simulations of fullerene encapsulated alkane systems” CHEMIX’25, VNIT Nagpur, April 2025 (Second Prize) |
| 2 | Padmesh Medesety*, Piyush P. Wanjari “Molecular simulations of selective CO2 capture by graphene-carbon nanotube hybrids” CHEMCON-2019, IIT Delhi, December 2019 |
| 3 | Nitin Kumar Singh*, Piyush P. Wanjari “Review on peptide self-assembly and its applications in drug delivery” CHEMIX’19, VNIT Nagpur, March 2019 |
| 4 | Piyush P. Wanjari*, Padmesh Medesety “Molecular dynamics simulation of selective CO2 capture by utilizing novel carbon-based nanostructures” Carbon Capture and Its Utilization, CSIR-NCL, Pune December 2018 |
| 5 | Hrushikesh M. Gade*, Piyush P. Wanjari “Molecular dynamics investigation of solvent-mediated cholesterol sequestration within a carbon nanotube” ChEmference’18, IIT Bombay, May 2018 |
| 6 | Srihas V. V. Velpuri*, Piyush P. Wanjari “Molecular dynamics simulations of supramolecular self-assembled cavitands including conformational changes in n-alkanes following encapsulation” Computational Science Symposium, IISc Bangalore, March 2017 |
| 7 | Hrushikesh M. Gade*, Piyush P. Wanjari ” Molecular dynamics investigation of nanotube induced curvature changes in graphene sheet, Computational Science Symposium, IISc Bangalore, March 2017 |
| 8 | Srihas V. V. Velpuri*, Pallavi Gadupudi, Piyush P. Wanjari, Vijayakumar R. P. “Data DNA: Crossing borders between biological and digital storage” CHEMIX’15, VNIT Nagpur, March 2015 (First Prize) |
| 9 | Piyush P. Wanjari*, Henry S. Ashbaugh “Molecular recognition of simple hydrophobic guests by cavitand hosts in aqueous solution” AIChE Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, USA, October 2011 |
| 10 | Piyush P. Wanjari*, Ashish V. Sangwai, Henry S. Ashbaugh “Solvent-mediated interactions between supramolecular hosts and hydrophobic guests” AIChE Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, USA, November 2010 |
| 11 | Piyush P. Wanjari*, Henry S. Ashbaugh “MD Simulations of solvent-mediated interactions between cavitand hosts and hydrophobic guests” Annual AMRI Mardi Gras Review and Symposium, New Orleans, USA February 2010 |