Dr Jani R. Bolla appointed Fellow and Tutor in Biochemistry at St Peter’s College

St Peter’s College is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Jani R. Bolla as Fellow and Tutor in Biochemistry at St Peter’s College and the first Louise Johnson Associate Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Oxford.

Dr Bolla studied Chemical Sciences at Pondicherry University before completing his doctoral research at Iowa State University. His academic journey developed through a growing interest in understanding biological systems at the molecular level, particularly how complex cellular processes can be explained through chemistry, structure, and mechanism. After his PhD, he moved to Oxford in 2015 to join Professor Dame Carol Robinson’s group in the Department of Chemistry as a postdoctoral research associate. That experience, at the interface of chemistry, biochemistry, and structural biology, strongly shaped his development as an academic. In 2021, he was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, which enabled him to establish his own research group in Oxford.

At St Peter’s, Dr Bolla joins Rank Fellow and Tutor in Biochemistry, Professor Nick Lakin, in administering the Biochemistry course at St Peter’s College. Dr Bolla will teach undergraduate Biochemistry, with a focus on the cellular, molecular, physical, and mechanistic foundations of the subject. He will also assist with teaching and supervising Part II, Master’s, and DPhil students in the Department of Biochemistry.

Dr Bolla’s research focuses on the transport and assembly of lipids and proteins in the double-envelope membranes of Gram-negative bacteria and chloroplasts. These systems are especially interesting because they must coordinate transport, assembly and quality control across multiple membrane layers while maintaining membrane integrity. More broadly, he is interested in molecular and cellular biochemistry, membrane protein biology, and the structural and mechanistic basis of membrane organisation.

Dr Bolla became interested in this area through a longstanding fascination with how cells build and maintain highly organised membrane systems. Biological membranes are dynamic, highly regulated structures that underpin compartmentalisation, signalling and transport. Double-membrane systems are particularly compelling because they present an additional layer of complexity. Chloroplasts and Gram-negative bacteria also offer an opportunity to study related systems in parallel, allowing us to identify deeply conserved principles while also understanding how these pathways have adapted over evolutionary time. This combination of mechanistic detail, structural complexity and evolutionary perspective is what continues to fuel his interest in the field.

Before taking up this post, Dr Bolla worked as a postdoctoral research associate in Professor Dame Carol Robinson’s group in Oxford, where he developed expertise in structural mass spectrometry and membrane protein biochemistry. Upon being awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship in 2021, Dr Bolla established an independent research group in Oxford’s Department of Biology. He was also a Stipendiary Lecturer in Biochemistry at New College between 2022 and 2025, which gave him valuable experience of Oxford tutorial teaching and of supporting students across varying stages of their degree. In 2023 he received an ERC Starting Grant, awarded through the UKRI Frontier Research Guarantee scheme, to support his research on membrane biogenesis and protein assembly.

You can explore his latest publications here.