01Photoreceptor biology
Characterisation of novel light-sensing proteins
Biology of rhodopsins, BLUF, LOV and phototropin proteins from microbes.
Explore theme
Laboratory of Prof. Suneel Kateriya · School of Biotechnology, JNU
Illuminating life.One cell at a time.
Prof. Kateriya identified the channelrhodopsins, the proteins that let algal cells sense light and steer their swimming. Channelrhodopsins and modular photoreceptors are now used across optogenetics. Our lab develops new optogenetic tools to study cilia biology and ciliopathies.
Light-sensing proteins, from discovery to optogenetics.Artwork · green algal cells.
October 2026
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2026. Congratulations to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel "for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics". Prof. Kateriya is a co-author of the founding channelrhodopsin papers. Read our history →
Light in action
From an eyespot
to a cilium.
Much of our work starts in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and other microbes, which carry a rich set of photoreceptors. We find these proteins, study how they work, and use them as tools in other cells.
Light falling on the eyespot of a swimming Chlamydomonas cell
Animation · 01A cilium carrying light-activated optogenetic tools; IFT trains move along it
Animation · 0201 / Research themes
Light-sensing proteins,
from discovery to optogenetics.
We study rhodopsins, BLUF, LOV and phototropin proteins, engineer them into light-controlled switches, and use them to understand cilia and to guide production in algae.
02Optogenetic tools
Engineering light-controlled switches
Photoactivated modular proteins that change signalling inside a cell when light is switched on.
Explore theme03Cilia biology
Cilia, intraflagellar transport and ciliopathies
How photoreceptors and other proteins are carried into cilia by intraflagellar transport (IFT), and what goes wrong in human ciliopathies.
Explore theme04Opto-biotechnology
Light-guided production of bioactives from algae
Controlled illumination to raise the yield of valuable molecules from microalgae.
Explore themeIncludes a toolbox of photoreceptors and optogenetic tools characterised in our papers.
See the toolbox
02 / Meet the group leader
Prof. Suneel
Kateriya, Ph.D.
Professor · School of BiotechnologyJawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Prof. Kateriya works on opto-biotechnology, optogenetics, cilia biology, ciliopathies and channelopathies. He joined JNU in 2015 after eight years at the Department of Biochemistry, University of Delhi South Campus. Before that he was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University, New York, and at Humboldt University, Berlin, after his Ph.D. at the University of Regensburg, Germany.
88Publications, chapters & preprints
2002Channelrhodopsin-1 in Science
23Funded research projects
03 / Current projects
Questions in focus.
Ongoing projects supported by DBT, SERB and ICMR, alongside a long record of national and international funding.
DBT2024–2027
Algal opto-biotechnological strategies for producing anti-inflammatory small molecules and microproteins from green algae.
SERB2024–2027
Ultrastructure of Chlamydomonas intraflagellar transport mutants and their relevance to ciliopathies.
ICMR2023–2026
A newly identified modular rhodopsin as an optogenetic tool to study amyloid conversion and propagation.
Past support: DBT, DST, SERB, STARS (MHRD), SPARC, DST Nano Mission, DST-DU PURSE, CCRAS, and Indo-German and Indo-Russian bilateral programmes.
All projects04 / Selected publications
The work, in words.
The founding channelrhodopsin papers and the first light-driven control of cellular cAMP in vivo.
Channelrhodopsin-1: a light-gated proton channel in green algae
Nagel G, Ollig D, Fuhrmann M, Kateriya S, Musti AM, Bamberg E, Hegemann P
doi:10.1126/science.1072068Channelrhodopsin-2, a directly light-gated cation-selective membrane channel
Nagel G, Szellas T, Huhn W, Kateriya S, Adeishvili N, Berthold P, Ollig D, Hegemann P, Bamberg E
doi:10.1073/pnas.1936192100Fast manipulation of cellular cAMP level by light in vivo
Schröder-Lang S, Schwärzel M, Seifert R, Strünker T, Kateriya S, Looser J, Watanabe M, Kaupp UB, Hegemann P, Nagel G
doi:10.1038/nmeth97505 / Our people
Science is a shared
pursuit.
Led by Prof. Suneel Kateriya, the lab brings together postdoctoral, doctoral and master's researchers working across photobiology, optogenetics and cilia biology.
Dr. Rajani Singh
Postdoctoral Fellow (DST WISE SCOPE)
Jitender Doot
Ph.D. Scholar
Alka Kumari
Ph.D. Scholar
Manisha
Ph.D. Scholar
8 members · postdoctoral fellows, Ph.D. scholars, M.Sc. students and staff.
Meet the whole team-
Nobel Prize for light-gated ion channels and optogenetics
Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel receive the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Prof. Kateriya co-authored the channelrhodopsin-1 and -2 papers.
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IFT20 guides channelrhodopsin into the ciliary membrane
Kumari A, Mohanty S, Samanta S, Kateriya S. Molecular Biology Reports 53, 1662.
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A BLUF domain that drives an efficient light-gated endonuclease
Rahamtullah, Jitender, Kaushik MS, Chauhan S, Mohanty S, Penzkofer A, Möglich A, Kateriya S. The FEBS Journal.
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IFT88 and IFT52 regulate turnover and trafficking of Chlamyopsin6
Sushmita K, Sharma S, Singh R, Kateriya S. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 827, 154041.
Collaborations · Prospective researchers · Enquiries
Prof. Suneel Kateriya
School of Biotechnology
Jawaharlal Nehru University
New Delhi 110067, India