[6] After a postdoctoral stint at Harvard University with Nobel laureate Robert Burns Woodward,[7] he returned to the Indian Institute of Science, where he has been ever since as a faculty member in the Molecular Biophysics Unit.
During his PhD, Balaram studied the use of negative Nuclear Overhauser effect signals as probes of macromolecular conformations.
[2] Balaram's main area of research has been the investigation of the structure, conformation, and biological activity of designed and natural peptides.
He has been a major contributor to the evaluation of factors influencing the folding and conformations of designed peptides, and has investigated structural elements playing a key role in the formation of secondary structural motifs such as helices, beta turns, and sheets.
Along with Isabella Karle, a frequent collaborator, he has also pioneered the use of alpha-amino isobutyric acid to induce and retain helicity and constrain peptide conformations.