Dr Ram Bhusal is an NHMRC Investigator Fellow in the Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) of Monash University. Dr Bhusal research focuses on a comprehensive understanding of how the tick salivary proteins (evasins) inhibits human chemokines. This is of direct significance for the development of anti-inflammatory therapeutics. Additionally, Dr Bhusal research explores the evolutionary landscape of evasins to unfurl how they gain new functional properties. This is of broad significance to understand the sequence-structure-function relationships of various proteins.

Dr Ram Bhusal received his PhD at the University of Auckland, New Zealand under the joint supervision of Prof Jonathan Sperry and Dr Ivanhoe Leung. The most notable achievement during his graduate work was that he was part of the team that solved the first structure of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) isocitrate lyase 2 and provided the molecular mechanism of how this enzyme helps Mtb to switch between different carbon sources.

Dr Bhusal completed bachelor’s degree in pharmaceutical sciences from Pokhara University (Nepal) and master’s degree in Medicinal chemistry from Wonkwang University (South Korea).