faculty-profile Postdoc

Dr. Sagar Bag

info

Assistant Professor

Department of Biotechnology, School of Sciences and Humanities

University of Calcutta

5

web-pages

Non-canonical nucleic acid structures (i-motif and G-quadruplex DNA), biomolecular interactions, natural products and bioactive small molecules, flavonoids and alkaloids, protein chemistry, biophysical and structural biology, molecular modelling, medicinal chemistry, phytomedicine, DNA nanotechnology, cancer biology and theranostics, drug discovery, host–microbe interactions, genetics, molecular biology, bioinformatics, and environmental toxicology with a focus on microplastics.

Biophysical Chemistry, Biotechnology, Small Molecule-DNA Interaction, Microbial Genetics

Educational
Qualifications
(From Highest)

2025

Ph.D. in Biophysics, Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics

2018

M.Sc. in Zoology Specialization in Genetics and Molecular Biology, Microbiology

2016

B.Sc. in Zoology with Chemistry and Botany

Student
Supervision

1

Ph.D

Key Publications

Sagar Bag, Sudipta Bhowmik. Fluorescence Spectroscopy: A Useful Method to Explore the Interactions of Small Molecule Ligands with DNA Structures. Methods in Molecular Biology (Reverse Engineering of Regulatory Networks), 2719:33-49; Springer Nature. Humana, New York (2024). (PMID: 37803111); ISBN: 9781071634608; DOI: http://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3461-5_3

Sagar Bag, Atanu Manna, Sudipta Bhowmik. Artificial Intelligence in Cellular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy: A New Horizon. Methods in Molecular Biology (MIMB_ Lab Protocol Series), ISBN: 978-1-0716-4689-2, 616795_1_En, volume-2952, 59-72; Springer Nature. Humana, New York (2025). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-4690-8_4

Sagar Bag, Anupam Mondal, Anusha Majumder, Avishek Banik. Tea and its Phytochemicals: Hidden Health Benefits & Modulation of Signaling Cascade by Phytochemicals. Food Chemistry, Elsevier (2022), 371, 131098. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.131098

Sagar Bag, Anupam Mondal, Avishek Banik. Exploring tea (Camellia sinensis) microbiome: Insights into the functional characteristics and their impact on tea growth promotion. Microbiological Research, Elsevier (2022), 254, 126890. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micres.2021.126890

Sagar Bag, Anupam Mondal, Anusha Majumder, Sunil Kanti Mondal, Avishek Banik. Flavonoid mediated selective cross-talk between plants and beneficial soil microbiome. Phytochemistry Reviews, Springer Nature (2022), 21(5), 1739-1760. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11101-022-09806-3

Souvik Ghosal#, Sagar Bag#, Sudipta Bhowmik. Unravelling the Drug Encapsulation Ability of Functional DNA Origami Nanostructures: Current Understanding and Future Prospects on Targeted Drug Delivery. Polymers, MDPI (2023), 15, 1850, (#Joint 1st Author) DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15081850

Sagar Bag, Mangal Deep Burman, Sudipta Bhowmik. Structural insights and shedding light on preferential interactions of dietary flavonoids with G-quadruplex DNA structures: A new horizon. Heliyon, Cell Press (2023), 9 (3), e13959; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13959

Souvik Ghosal, Sagar Bag, SR Rao, Sudipta Bhowmik. Exposure to polyethylene microplastics exacerbate Inflammatory Bowel Disease tightly associated with intestinal gut microflora. RSC Advances, RSC Publications (2024), 14(35), 25130-25148, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/d4ra04544k

Mangal Deep Burman, Sagar Bag, Souvik Ghosal, Sudipta Bhowmik. Glycation of Proteins and Its Endproducts: From Initiation to Natural Product-Based Therapeutic Preventions. ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science, ACS publications (2025), 8(3), 636-653, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsptsci.4c00684

Sagar Bag, Souvik Ghosal, Mangal Deep Burman, Atanu Manna, Sudipta Bhowmik. Structural Diversity and Mechanistic Insights on Preferential Interaction of Small Molecule Ligands with i-Motif DNA Structures: Unlocking New Blueprint for Drug Discovery. ChemistrySelect, Chemistry Europe, Wiley Publications (2025), 10(24) e01985, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/slct.202501985

Anusha Majumder, Sunil Kanti Mondal, Samyabrata Mukhoty, Sagar Bag, Anupam Mondal, Yasmin Begum, Kalpna Sharma, Avishek Banik. Virtual screening and docking analysis of novel ligands for selective enhancement of tea (Camellia sinensis) flavonoids. Food Chemistry: X, Elsevier (2022), 13, 100212, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fochx.2022.100212

Sagar Bag, Souvik Ghosal, Sudip Karmakar, Goutam Pramanik, Sudipta Bhowmik. Uncovering the Contrasting Binding Behavior of Plant Flavonoids Fisetin and Morin Having Subsidiary Hydroxyl Groups (?OH) with HRAS1 and HRAS2 i Motif DNA Structures: Decoding the Structural Alterations and Positional Influences. ACS Omega, ACS publications (2023), 8(33), 30315-30329. PMID: 37636929; PMCID: PMC10448647; DOI: http://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.3c03105

Mangal Deep Burman#, Sagar Bag#, Souvik Ghosal, Sudip Karmakar, Goutam Pramanik, Raj Kumar Chinnadurai and Sudipta Bhowmik. Exploring the Structural Importance of C3=C4 Double Bond in Plant Alkaloids Harmine and Harmaline on their Binding Interactions with Hemoglobin. ACS Omega, ACS publications (2023), 8(40), 37054-37064 (#Joint 1st Author) DOI: http://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.3c04432

Souvik Ghosal#, Sagar Bag#, Mangal Deep Burman, Sudipta Bhowmik. Multispectroscopic Investigations of the Binding Interaction between Polyethylene Microplastics and Human Hemoglobin. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, ACS publications (2023), 4(46), 10328-10332. (#Joint 1st Author) DOI: http://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c02632

Mangal Deep Burman, Sagar Bag, Souvik Ghosal, Moupriya Mukherjee, Goutam Pramanik, Sudipta Bhowmik. Revealing the Improved Binding Interaction of Plant Alkaloid Harmaline with Human Hemoglobin in Molecular Crowding Condition. ACS Omega, ACS publications (2024), 9(19), 21668-21679, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.4c02766

Sagar Bag, Souvik Ghosal, Moupriya Mukherjee, Goutam Pramanik, Sudipta Bhowmik. Quercetin Exhibits Preferential Binding Interaction by Selectively Targeting HRAS1 I-Motif DNA-Forming Promoter Sequences. Langmuir, ACS publications (2024), 40(19), 10157-10170, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.4c00418

Souvik Ghosal#, Sagar Bag#, Raj Kumar Chinnadurai, Moupriya Mukherjee, Goutam Pramanik, Sudipta Bhowmik. Investigating the preferential interaction between imatinib mesylate and VEGF G-quadruplex DNA as therapeutic strategies for cancer treatment: Biophysical and molecular modelling approaches. Computers in Biology and Medicine, Elsevier, ScienceDirect (2024), 177, 108683 (#Joint 1st Author) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compbiomed.2024.108683

Pamela Pal#, Sagar Bag#, Mangal Deep Burman, Raj Kumar Nandi, Sudipta Bhowmik. Deciphering Preferential Binding Interaction of Synthetic Pyrido[2,3-c]Carbazole Alkaloid Derivative (PCAD) with Pu24T G-quadruplex DNA. ChemistrySelect, Chemistry Europe, Wiley Publications (2024), 9(28), e202402561 (#Joint 1st Author) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/slct.202402561

Souvik Ghosal#, Sagar Bag#, Sudipta Bhowmik. Insights into the Binding Interactions between Microplastics and Human ?-Synuclein Protein by Multispectroscopic Investigations and Amyloidogenic Oligomer Formation. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, ACS publications (2024), 15(25), 6560-6567, (#Joint 1st Author) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.4c00731

Sk Shamim Ahamed, Uma Sankar Mandal, Sagar Bag, Mangal Deep Burman, Rabindranath Lo, Debashree Manna, Sudipta Bhowmik, Tapas Ghosh. Nickel-Catalyzed Regioselective Access to Dibenzo[b,e]azepinones: Mechanistic Study, Docking, and Biophysical Exploration of Binding Interactions with Human Hemoglobin. Chemistry - An Asian Journal, Wiley-VCH on behalf of the Asian Chemical Editorial Society, Wiley Publications (2025), 20(16), e00030, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/asia.202500030

Sk Shamim Ahamed, Nargis Khatun, Mangal Deep Burman, Sagar Bag, Rajdeep Chakraborty, Bodhisattwa Panda, Raj Kumar Chinnadurai, Debashree Manna, Sudipta Bhowmik, A K M Maidul Islam, Muklesur Rahman, Tapas Ghosh. Naphthalene Diimide- Based Soft Materials Exhibiting High Performance, Tunable Electrical Properties Through Side Chain Engineering and Strong Binding Interactions with Human Hemoglobin. Small, Wiley-VCH GmbH, Weinheim, Wiley Publications (2025), 21(33), 2504759, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202504759

Mangal Deep Burman, Sagar Bag, Souvik Ghosal, Sudipta Bhowmik. Understanding the impact of the molecular crowding environment on the glyoxal-mediated glycation of hemoglobin. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, RSC Publications (2025), Article IDCP d5cp00633c: 27, 11821–11829, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D5CP00633C

Souvik Ghosal, Sagar Bag, Sudipta Bhowmik. Poly (vinyl chloride) microplastics induce structural and functional alterations in myoglobin. RSC Advances, RSC Publications (2025), 15(34), 27576-27585, Article ID: RA d5ra02355f, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/d5ra02355f

Sukanya Das#, Sagar Bag#, Md. Abbasuddin Sk, Raj K. Nandi, Sudipta Bhowmik. Smart drug in cancer treatment: Design, synthesis and biophysical characterization of uracil-containing cyclic hypervalent iodine (Uracil-BX) reagent with G-Quadruplex DNA structures. Bioorganic Chemistry, Elsevier, ScienceDirect (2025), 165, p.109021, (#Joint 1st Author) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioorg.2025.109021

Sagar Bag, Souvik Ghosal, Sudipta Bhowmik. Decoding The Potential of HRAS2 i-Motif DNA Promoter To Become a Pinpoint Target by Phytomedicine Naringenin. ChemistrySelect, Chemistry Europe, Wiley Publications (2025), 10(1), e202404775, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/slct.202404775

Sagar Bag, Souvik Ghosal, Sudipta Bhowmik. Microplastics can alter structural configurations of human non-canonical G-quadruplex DNA. Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology, Elsevier, ScienceDirect (2025), 114, 104626, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.etap.2025.104626

Sagar Bag, Karam Chand, Mangal Deep Burman, Steven Vertueux, Erik Chorell, Sudipta Bhowmik. Exploring i-Motif DNA Binding with Benzothiazolino Coumarins: Synthesis, Screening, and Spectroscopic Insights. Bioorganic Chemistry, Elsevier, ScienceDirect (2025), 156, p.108227, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioorg.2025.108227

Sagar Bag, Souvik Ghosal, Mangal Deep Burman, Moupriya Mukherjee, Goutam Pramanik, Sudipta Bhowmik. Modulation of HRAS1 I-motif DNA Promoter Region by Dietary Plant Flavonoid Kaempferol. ACS Omega, ACS publications (2025), 10(29), 31381–31392, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.5c00361

Abhinandan Bera, Maheswari Sivaravi, Souvik Ghosal, Sagar Bag, Sudipta Bhowmik, Sunil Kumar Meena, Bikram Das, Anasuya Ganguly, Subhasish Roy. Tripeptide-based Amyloid Hydrogel: Phenylalanine Mutation Outcomes on Self-assembly, Hydrogelations and Their Cytotoxicity Assays. Journal of Materials Chemistry B, RSC Publications (2026), 14(35), 10969–10981, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D6TB00326E

Sukanya Das, Mangal Deep Burman, Sagar Bag, Ranjit Soren, Brindaban Roy, Sudipta Bhowmik, Raj K. Nandi. Synthesis of Tris-Indolylmethanealkaloids by Harnessing the Nucleophilic Reactivity of Indole-BX and Studying Their Interactions with Hemoglobin. New Journal of Chemistry, RSC Publications (2026), Article IDCP d5nj03073k: 50, 98 – 108, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D5NJ03073K

Sagar Bag, Souvik Ghosal, Sudipta Bhowmik. Impact of Polystyrene Microplastics on Human Alternative DNA Structures. ChemistrySelect, Chemistry Europe, Wiley Publications (2026), 11 (4), e02999, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/slct.202502999

Sk Shamim Ahamed,# Sagar Bag,# Raj Kumar Chinnadurai, Sudipta Bhowmik, Tapas Ghosh. Nickel- Catalyzed Construction of Dibenzoxathiepine and Dibenzothiazepine Frameworks as H-Telo G-Quadruplex DNA Binders. ChemMedChem, Wiley-VCH on behalf of Chemistry Europe, Wiley Publications (2026), 21 (11), p.e70329, (#Joint 1st Author) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/cmdc.70329

Souvik Ghosal, Sagar Bag, Mangal Deep Burman, Sudipta Bhowmik. Multispectroscopic investigations of the binding interaction between microplastics and actin protein. Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy Elsevier, ScienceDirect (2026), 366, 128805, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.saa.2026.128805

Awards and Honors / Achievements

award

Visiting Scientist in SAKURA SCIENCE Exchange Program Administered by Japan Science and Technology (JST) at Konan University, Kobe, Japan (2026).

award

“Young Scientist Award” for exceptional achievements and outstanding contribution in research by Scientific Laurels, a global organization operated by Peritus Hive Research and Innovations, registered under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs

award

Best Poster Presenting Award (awarded by American Chemical Society & Indian Photobiology Society) in the 4th International Conference of Emerging Smart Materials in Applied Chemistry (ESMAC-2023)

award

CSIR UGC National Eligibility Test-Junior Research Fellow (CSIR-UGC-JRF & SRF) (Award ID:-201610001623, AIR:-62) and Lectureship (LS)/Assistant Professorship (NET-LS) in Life Sciences (2020)

award

DST-INSPIRE Fellowship (Award ID:-IF200021) for securing 1ST position in M.Sc.-Awarded by Department of Science & Technology (DST), New Delhi, Government of India.

award

Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering 2019 (GATE-Life Sciences, AIR:-385)-Awarded by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India.

award

Gold Medalist for securing 1ST position in M.Sc. in Zoology under Vidyasagar University-Awarded by Vidyasagar University, West Bengal.

award

TIFR exam or TIFR-GS [Biology (JGEEBILS)] exam (2016), a national entrance exam conducted by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). Reference Code in TIFR:- 55063.

award

DST-INSPIRE Scholarship (Award ID: - 201300012052) for Students with aggregate marks within top 1% of their class XII examination of any State/Board in India (During bachelor and master’s tenure)-Awarded by DST, Govt. of India

award

Invited Talk: Molecular Dialogues: Dietary Plant Flavonoids and Their Preferential Interplay with Key i-Motif DNA Structures; CNAST × FIBER Nucleic Acids Symposium, Carnegie Mellon University, 4400 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,

award

Scientific Member in American Chemical Society (ACS), USA [ACS Membership ID:-33476729]. Scientific Member in Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), UK, [RSC Membership ID:-767611], RSC Registered clarity number:-207890.

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