
Ragunathan Bava Ganesh
About
Cell-Free Systems Scientist | PURE System & Protein Engineering | Synthetic Biology | AMR Drug Discovery | Open to Industrial/Start-up Roles | PhD École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Bioengineer with a PhD from EPFL specializing in cell-free synthetic biology, protein engineering, and AMR-focused assay development. With 6+ years of experience, I’ve developed and optimized PURE-based platforms achieving 2.1x TX-TL efficiency gains and up to 199% higher protein yield through molecular crowding and titraying protein concentration. This enables robust in vitro assays for AMR therapeutics, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis FusA1 screening for rapid drug-target validation. My hybrid skill set bridges life sciences with computational tools: Python for data analysis and visualization, ImageJ for image processing, and Tableau for interactive dashboards, refined as a data analyst for Walmart at MuSigma. Industry exposure includes an internship at Biocon (India's largest biopharma company), where I optimized CHO cell cultures and mAb production for bioreactors, building statistical models for shear-stress and productivity forecasting. Wet-lab strengths span microfluidics fabrication, enzyme kinetics, ribosome/tRNA engineering, and bioprocess scalability. I excel in interdisciplinary teams, mentoring MSc students, co-developing EPFL courses, and presenting at conferences like SEED and EFB. Currently seeking scientist-level roles in cell-free systems, AMR drug discovery, protein engineering, or microfluidics-enabled platforms. Also open to positions requiring coding and data analysis skills within the Swiss/European biotech sector. Eligible to start immediately with a valid Swiss work permit (Type L).
Social Media:
Skills
Antibiotic Resistance
Assay Development
Binding Assays
Biochemical Engineering
Bioengineering
Bioprocess
Bioprocessing
Bioreactor
Compound Screening
Drug Discovery
ELISA
Fluorescence Microscopy
Fluorescence Spectroscopy
High Throughput Screening
ImageJ
Microsoft Office
Molecular Biology
Project Management Skills
Protein Characterization
Protein Chromatography
Protein Electrophoresis
Protein Expression
Protein Purification
Python
Scientific Analysis
Scientific Communications
Tableau
Teacher Mentoring
Team Mentoring
Open for
fulltime
cofounder
parttime
Work Experience
EPFL
2020-10 - 2025-11
Doctorate Researcher
Vaud
fulltime
• Optimized PURE system TX-TL efficiency from 0.14 to 0.30 (2.1× improvement) and increased protein yield up to 199% using crowding agents, reducing costs and enabling scalable high-throughput R&D • Increased protein yield by up to 199% with addition of crowding agents, significantly reducing costs and improving scalability/reproducibility for high-throughput R&D • Developed and validated a PURE-based in vitro screening assay for FusA1 protein from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, facilitating targeted AMR drug discovery and on-target interaction studies for pharmaceutical applications • Explored self-regenerating protein synthesis to support sustainable and autonomous biomanufacturing, • Supervised 5+ MSc students and co-developed the course “Lab on Cell-Free Synthetic Biology”
MU SIGMA
2015-06 - 2016-07
Trainee Decision Scientist
Other
fulltime
• Data analyst for Walmart (Fortune 500), creating interactive dashboards and visual analytics in Tableau to enhance operational decision-making and process efficiency
Academic Experience
École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne -
2020.10 - 2025.11
Doctorate, Dr. in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
Technische Universität Dresden -
2017.09 - 2019.09
Master of Science, MSc in Molecular Bioengineering
Anna University -
2011.06 - 2015.06
Bachelor of Engineering, BE in Biotechnology