Dr. Hema Kuntrapakam completed her Ph.D. at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram (IISER TVM) under the guidance of Prof. Kana M Sureshan in 2019. During her PhD, she worked on the topochemical polymerization of peptides and carbohydrates. Following her doctoral studies, she pursued her first postdoctoral research at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, from August 2020 to July 2023 in the area of stimuli-induced transformations in coordination cages. She then joined the Advanced Science Research Center, City University of New York, USA, for her second postdoc. There, she worked in peptide chemistry from September 2023 to February 2026. In March 2026, Dr. Kuntrapakam joined the Department of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur as an Assistant Professor

Research:

Dr. Kuntrapakam’s research is broadly focused on supramolecular chemistry. Her work seeks to uncover how simple molecular building blocks can be programmed to organize into complex, adaptive, and functional systems. At its core, the research aims to bridge molecular design with emergent behaviour, understanding how non-covalent interactions give rise to structure, dynamics, and function in supramolecular assemblies. A key goal is to move beyond static structures toward dynamic systems with controllable and tunable behaviour, ultimately contributing to the development of next-generation functional and biomimetic materials.

Areas of focus:

Peptide-based supramolecular assembly.

Host-guest chemistry and molecular recognition.

Dynamics in supramolecular materials.

Stimuli-responsive systems.

Bio-inspired functional and hierarchical materials.