Dr. Nitesh Kumar Khandelwal is fascinated by the role of membrane proteins in solute transport and signaling. He uses a wide array of tools such as structure biology, microbiology, molecular biology, cell biology, biochemical and biophysics to dissect mechanisms involved in drug resistance and pathogenicity. His goal is to develop structure-guided therapeutics to tackle human fungal and bacterial pathogens.

He identified the functions of three orphan ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters in Candida albicans using gene manipulation, drug screening, and yeast genetics (PMID:29158264, 2702605, 30642932). He solved the first yeast vacuolar ABC transporter (Ycf1) structure in multiple conformations representing the snapshots of transport cycle and post-translational modification mediated regulation (PMID: 3527748, 38493146, 39209537, 38352558).

In another project, by employing cryo-EM, he investigated the structure and inhibition mechanisms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis essential transporter efflux protein A as a novel drug target (PMID: 40169593). This finding revealed the structural basis for the synergistic effects of two small molecule inhibitors and their potential for combination therapies in anti-tuberculosis treatment.