Manna Laboratory

Prem was born in rural West Bengal, India, where he completed his early education. He earned his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Chemistry from Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, Belur (affiliated with the University of Calcutta), and the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in 2010 and 2012, respectively. In 2012, he moved to the United States to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Colorado Boulder. Under the guidance of Dr. Ralph Jimenez and Dr. Amy Palmer, his research focused on the directed evolution of red fluorescent proteins.

After earning his Ph.D. in 2018, Prem joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he worked in the Schlau-Cohen lab. There, he investigated light-harvesting complexes from green plants at the single-molecule level. In late 2022, he transitioned to the Weizmann Institute of Science to collaborate with Prof. Gilad Haran on advancing the time resolution of single-molecule FRET experiments.

In January 2025, Prem began his independent academic career as an assistant professor at The Ohio State University (OSU). At OSU, his lab focuses on integrating microfluidic-based directed evolution with single-molecule techniques to develop innovative photo-switching fluorophores, efficient plastic-degrading enzymes, and novel light-harvesting complexes.

Outside of his academic pursuits, Prem started a YouTube channel, The Molecular Kitchen, where he explores the chemistry of cooking and discusses science in an engaging way. In his free time, he enjoys playing with his son, reading and writing popular science articles, crafting stories in Bengali, and embarking on occasional historical explorations.

Email:    manna.35@osu.edu