Tushaniyaa B.

I am currently an M.S. student at Carnegie Mellon University in the department of biomedical engineering. I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2025 with a bachelors of science in biology, and minor in Japanese culture and language. During my time, I worked as an undergraduate research assistant at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School in the department of structural biology, as a part of the Coleman lab. I focused on establishing preliminary studies of a vesicular membrane protein using Cryo-EM, and discovered high-affinity synthetic nanobodies as a fiducial feature (orientation marker), for small membrane proteins.

Poster Presentations

  • "Structural Studies of a Vesicular Glutamate Transporter." Tushaniyaa Balaji, Zachary Freyberg, Matthias Quick, Jonathan A. Coleman. Department of Structural Biology, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA. MBSB Symposium, Pittsburgh, PA, April 2025.

  • "Expression and Purification of a Vesicular Glutamate Transporter." Tushaniyaa Balaji, Michael P. Dalton, Zachary Freyberg, Matthias Quick, Jonathan A. Coleman. Department of Structural Biology, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA. MBSB Symposium, Pittsburgh, PA, April 2023.

Interests and Hobbies

  • Bread, Sketching, Hiking, Traveling, Photography, Jewelry-making, Tennis

Contact Information

  • Contact me by email: tbalaji@andrew.cmu.edu
  • Check out my website too! https://tushaniyaab.netlify.app/