𝗣𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗱𝗲 "𝗕𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗲𝘀," 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗔𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲
Ananya Naick is a PhD candidate at the University of Virginia, where she is investigating cyclic peptide permeability in gram-negative bacteria, which are some of the hardest targets in antimicrobial drug discovery, and among the most urgent, given the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. Her goal is to decode the design rules that determine whether a cyclic peptide can breach these formidable barriers or not. It's a challenge that many are trying to tackle, but what drives her is the sensitivity of it all: a single structural change can completely alter how a molecule behaves inside a living cell, and the potential to unlock an entire class of therapeutics that doesn't yet exist makes it all worthwhile.
But Ananya's drive doesn't stop at the lab bench. When she's not laser-focused on her peptide "babies" — sometimes even singing along with her assays — she's thinking about how to make science accessible and how to make her work resonate beyond the research community. That passion traces back to her undergraduate time, when she worked with an NGO to bring science education to high schoolers. A natural communicator and sharp analyst, she often asks “What is the story behind the data that could make someone outside my field genuinely care?”
With that combination of scientific rigor and rare communicative clarity, Ananya is one to watch!
