Sarat Chandra Togarcheti is an Assistant Professor in Centre for Life Sciences at Mahindra University. He was awarded PhD from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 2018. He has received “Best Ph.D. Thesis award” for the year 2018 from IIT Bombay.

He is an experienced fermentation scientist with transferable skills from industry and academia. He has 10 years of experience in bioprocess development, scaling up of microbial fermentation processes for food/ bio-actives production, Life Cycle and Sustainability Analysis. He has experience in developing bioproducts and flavors via bacterial and fungal fermentations from bench scale to demonstration at pilot scale. He has practical knowledge in yeast manufacturing and in-depth understanding of yeast biomass processing, applications of yeast derivatives in consumer foods & cell nutrition.

• Ph.D. (2013 to 2018), Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India
• M.Tech. in Industrial Biotechnology (2010- 2012), National Institute of Technology Suratkal, Karnataka
• B.Tech. in Biotechnology (2006- 2010), Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management, Andhra University, India

Publications

• Sarat Chandra, T*., Ramesh Babu, P., 2020. Comparative life cycle assessment of EPA and DHA production from microalgae and farmed fish. Clean Technologies, 3(4), 699-710.

• K. Madhubalaji, T Sarat Chandra, V. S. Chauhan, R. Sarada, S. N. Mudliar, 2019. Chlorella vulgaris cultivation in airlift photobioreactor with transparent draft tube: effect of hydrodynamics, light and carbon dioxide on biochemical profile particularly ω-6/ω-3 fatty acid ratio. Journal of Food Science and Technology, 1-11.

• T. Sarat Chandra, M. Maneesh Kumar, S. Mukherji, V. S. Chauhan, R. Sarada, S. N. Mudliar, 2018. Comparative life cycle assessment of microalgae-mediated CO2 capture in open raceway pond and airlift photobioreactor system. Clean Technology Environmental Policy, 20(10), 2357-2364.
• Shahabazuddin, T. Sarat Chandra, S. Meena, R. Sukumaran, S. N. Mudliar, 2018. Thermal assisted alkali pre-treatment of rice husk for enhanced biomass deconstruction and enzymatic saccharification: Physico-chemical and structural characterization. Bioresource Technology, 263, 199-206.
• M. Maneesh Kumar, K. Prasad, T. Sarat Chandra, S. Debnath, 2018. Evaluation of physical properties and hydration kinetics of red lentil (Lens Culinaris) at different processed levels and soaking temperatures. Journal of Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences, 17(3), 330-338.

• Sarat Chandra, M. Maneesh Kumar, V. S. Chauhan, S. Mukherji, R. Sarada, S. N. Mudliar, 2017. Lifecycle assessment of biodiesel production coupled to biogas production from Scenedesmus dimorphus cultivated in outdoor open raceway pond. Resource Recycling and Conservation, 122, 286- 294.
• T. Sarat Chandra, S. Aditi, M. Maneesh Kumar, S. Mukherji, J. Modak, V. S. Chauhan, R. Sarada, S. N. Mudliar, 2017. Growth and biochemical characteristics of indigenous fresh water microalga, Scenedesmus obtusus cultivated in closed air lift photobioreactor: Effect of reactor hydrodynamics, light intensity and photoperiod. Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering. 40 (7), 1057-1068

• Sarat Chandra, R. S. Deepak, M. Maneesh Kumar, S. Aditi, V. S. Chauhan, S. Mukherji, R. Sarada, S. N. Mudliar, 2016. Evaluation of indigenous fresh water microalga Scenedesmus obtusus for feed and fuel applications: Effect of CO₂, culture conditions on growth and biochemical characteristics. Bioresource Technology, 207, 430-439
• M. T. Usha, T. Sarat Chandra, R. Sarada, V. S. Chauhan, 2016. Removal of nutrients and organic pollution load from pulp and paper mill effluent by microalgae in outdoor open pond. Bioresource Technology, 214, 856-860

• T. Sarat Chandra, S. N. Mudliar, S. Mukherji, S. Vidyashankar, R. Sarada, K. Krishnamurthy, V. S. Chauhan, 2015. Defatted algal biomass as a non- conventional low- cost adsorbent: Surface characterization and its adsorption characteristics by methylene blue based adsorption. Bioresource Technology, 184, 395-404
• G. Suvidha, T. Sarat Chandra, S. N. Malik, Abhinav Sharma, Satish. K. Lokhande, S. N. Mudliar, 2015. Ozone induced biodegradability enhancement and color reduction of a complex pharmaceutical effluent. Ozone Science and Engineering, 37(6), 538-545.
• G. Suvidha, A. Sharma, T. Sarat Chandra, S. N. Malik, V. Waindeskar, S. N. Mudliar, 2015. Effect of ozone pretreatment on biodegradability enhancement and biogas generation potential from bio-methanated distillery effluent. Ozone Science and Engineering, 37(5), 411-419

• Sarat Chandra, G. Suvidha, S. Mukherji, V. S. Chauhan, S. Vidyashankar, K. Krishnamurthy, R. Sarada, S. N. Mudliar, 2014. Statistical optimization of thermal pretreatment conditions for enhanced biomethane production from defatted algal biomass. Bioresource Technology, 162, 157-165
• Sarat Chandra, S. N. Malik, G. Suvidha, M. L. Padmere, P. Shanmugam, S. N. Mudliar, 2014. Wet air oxidation pretreatment of bio-methanated distillery effluent: Mapping pretreatment efficiency in terms color, toxicity reduction and biogas generation. Bioresource Technology, 158, 135-140
• S. N. Malik, T. Sarat Chandra, P. D. Tembhekar, K. V. Padoley, S. L. Mudliar, S. N. Mudliar, 2014. Wet air oxidation induced enhanced biodegradability of distillery effluent. Journal of environmental management, 136, 132-138

• K.V. Padoley, P.D. Tembhekar, T. Sarat Chandra, A.B. Pandit, R. A. Pandey, S. N. Mudliar, 2012. Wet Air oxidation as a Pretreatment Option for Selective Biodegradability Enhancement and Biogas Generation Potential from Complex Effluent. Bioresource Technology, 120, 157-164

• May 2018 to May 2019 -Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin.
• June 2019 to October 2021: Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellow, School of Chemistry, Trinity College Dublin
• November 2021 to July 2024: Senior Fermentation Scientist, Global Technology and Innovation Centre, Kerry Group, Naas, Ireland
• June 2016 to December 2016: Newton Bhabha Fellow, European Bioenergy Research Institute, Aston University, United Kingdom
• June 2011 to June 2013: CSIR- GATE- JRF, CSIR- National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur
• July 2013 to June 2016: CSIR- GATE- SRF, CSIR- Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysuru

• Bioactives from Microalgae
• Bioprocess development for production of enzymes, and bioactive peptides
• Bioprocess development for production of dairy, savory, meat flavors through fermentation of protein rich substrates
• Industrial wastewater treatment
• Life Cycle and Sustainability analysis of bioprocesses and bioproducts

Sudhanshu Shanker has expertise in structural bioinformatics, with a focus on developing theoretical models to address critical biological challenges. His research spans multiple domains, emphasizing the creation of innovative computational solutions.

He completed his Ph.D. at Jawaharlal Nehru University, where he developed Monte Carlo-based methods for biomolecular structure optimization and a density clustering method for analyzing hydration networks around non-Watson-Crick base pairs in RNA.

As a postdoctoral fellow at Kyoto University, Japan, he worked on a JSPS sponsored project on supramolecular polymerization and self-assembly systems. He later moved to Johns Hopkins University as a postdoctoral researcher in a Rosetta developer lab, where he focused on protein-carbohydrate interactions and developed CAPSIF, the first 3D-UNet and EGNN-based carbohydrate interaction site predictor. Subsequently, at The Scripps Research Institute, he led the development of AutoDock CrankPep V1.1, a state-of-the-art peptide docking method.

His current research interests lie in computational glycosciences, with a focus on developing new methods to study glycan-protein interactions and exploring the role of glycosylation in cancer and autoimmune diseases.

• Ph.D. (2010-2016) in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics; Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
• M.Sc. (2005-2008) in Bioinformatics; University of Allahabad, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh.
• B.Sc. (2000-2004) in Botany & Chemistry; University of Allahabad, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh

Publications

• Canner S.W., Shanker S., Gray J.J., “Structure-Based Neural Network Protein-Carbohydrate Interaction Predictions at the Residue Level”, Front. Bioinform. 3, 2023. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbinf.2023.1186531
• Shanker S., Sanner M., “Predicting Protein–Peptide Interactions: Benchmarking Deep Learning Techniques and a Comparison with Focused Docking”, J. Chem. Inf. Model. 63 (10), 2023. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jcim.3c00602

• Li M., Zheng X., Shanker S., Jaroentomeechai T., Kocer I., Byrne J., Cox E.C., Fu Q., Zhang S., Labonte J.W., Gray J.J., DeLisa M.P., “Fine-mapping the consequences of site-specific glycan installation by shotgun scanning glycomutagenesis”, PNAS 118(39) e2107440118, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2107440118

• Yamamoto T., Arefi H.H., Shanker S., Sato H., and Hiraoka S., “Self-Assembly of Nanocubic Molecular Capsules via Solvent-Guided Formation of Rectangular Blocks”, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 9(20): 6082-6088, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.8b02624

• Shanker S., Bandyopadhyay P., “How Mg2+ ion and water network affect the stability and structure of non-Watson-Crick base pairs in E coli Loop E RNA: A Molecular Dynamics and Reference Interaction Site Model (RISM) study”, Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics 35 (10): 2103-2122, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1080/07391102.2016.1213186

• Shrivastava R., Rakshit A., Shanker S., Vig L., Bandyopadhyay P., “A combination of Monte Carlo Temperature Basin Paving and graph theory: water cluster low energy structures and completeness of search”, Journal of Chemical Sciences: 1-10, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12039-016-1135-8

• Shanker S., Bandyopadhyay P., “Determination of low energy structures of a small RNA hairpin using Monte Carlo based techniques”, J. Biosciences 37(3): 533-538., 2012. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-012-9209-3
• Furtado J.P., Rahalkar A.P., Shanker S., Bandyopadhyay P., Gadre S.R., “Facilitating Minima Search for Large Water Clusters at MP2 level via Molecular Tailoring”, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 3, 2253-2258, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1021/jz300663u

• Shanker S., Bandyopadhyay P., “Monte Carlo Temperature Basin Paving with Effective Fragment Potential: An Efficient and Fast Method for Finding Low Energy Structures of Water Clusters (H2O)20 and (H2O)25”, J. Phys. Chem. A, 115 (42): 11866-11875., 2011. https://doi.org/10.1021/jp2073864
• Chaturvedi N., Shanker S., Singh V.K., Sinha D., Pandey P.N., “Hidden Markov model for the prediction of transmembrane proteins using MATLAB”, Bioinformation 7(8): 418-421, 2011. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3280443/

Non-Peer Reviewed

• Shanker S., Li M., Zheng X., Labonte J.W., DeLisa M.P., Gray J.J, “Geometric and energy calculations to predict protein stability and activity changes due to site-specific glycosylation”, Glycobiology 30(12): 1110-1110, 2020 : Conference Abstract.

• Shanker S., Bandyopadhyay P., “Interplay of Water molecules and Mg2+ ions in stability of non-Watson-Crick base pairs”, Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics 33: 57-58, 2015 : Conference Abstract. https://doi.org/10.1080/07391102.2015.1032705

• Postdoc Associate | Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, USA
  Supervisor: Prof. Michel F. Sanner | 8/2022-11/2023
• Postdoc Researcher | Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA
  Supervisor: Prof. Jeffrey J. Gray | 11/2018-7/2022
• Postdoc Researcher | Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
  Supervisor: Prof. Hirofumi Sato, Dr. Takeshi Yamamoto | 10/2016-10/2018

• Developing hybrid methods that integrate deep learning and physics-based approaches for biomolecular interaction analysis.
• Designing and advancing tools for the modeling and study of protein-carbohydrate interactions.
• Exploring the development of carbohydrate-based therapeutics.
• Investigating the role of aberrant glycosylation in autoimmune diseases and cancer.

Dr. Balan Ramesh is a computational biologist with a research focus on comparative genomics. With numerous publications in prestigious journals, he has made significant contributions to understanding complex non-model systems. His work spans various inter disciplinary fields, including sex chromosome and genome evolution, sexual selection, venom regulation and toxin synthesis, emphasizing the integration of computational tools with experimental research. Dr. Ramesh is dedicated to fostering innovation in the field and mentoring emerging scientists.

• Dr. Balan Ramesh has a Ph.D. with specialization in Quantitative Biology from University of Texas, Arlington

Publications

• Robben M;Ramesh B;Pau S;Meletis D;Luber J;Demuth J; (n.d.). ScRNA-seq reveals novel genetic pathways and sex chromosome regulation in Tribolium spermatogenesis. Genome biology and evolution. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38513111/
• Ramesh, B., Small, C., Bassham, S., Johnson, B., Barker, E., Rose, E., Currey, M., Healey, H., Myers, M., Ahnesjö, I., Lotta Kvarnemo, Monteiro, N., Cresko, W. and Jones, A. (2024b). Chromosome-scale genome assemblies for 10 syngnathiform fishes produced using a standardized sequencing and annotation workflow. Authorea (Authorea). [online] doi:https://doi.org/10.22541/au.172467565.57384610/v1.

• Ramesh, B., Small, C.M., Healey, H., Johnson, B., Barker, E., Currey, M., Bassham, S., Myers, M., Cresko, W.A. and Adam Gregory Jones (2023). Improvements to the Gulf pipefish Syngnathus scovelli genome. Gigabyte, [online] 2023, pp.1–11. doi: https://doi.org/10.46471/gigabyte.76.

• Firneno, T.J., Ramesh, B., Maldonado, J.A., Hernandez-Briones, A.I., Emery, A.H., Roelke, C.E. and Fujita, M.K. (2022). Transcriptomic analysis reveals potential candidate pathways and genes involved in toxin biosynthesis in true toads. Journal of Heredity. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esac015.

• Ramesh, B., Firneno, T.J. and Demuth, J.P. (2021b). Divergence time estimation of genus Tribolium by extensive sampling of highly conserved orthologs. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, [online] 159, p.107084. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107084.

• Ramesh, B. and Demuth, J. (2020). Using Ancestral Reconstruction of Chromosome Expression States (ARChES) to Understand the Evolution of Dosage Compensation. [online] Utexas.edu. Available at: https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/items/2b4aba04-7fd3-45e8-94c8-dd05b15e81be.

• Schield, D.R., Card, D.C., Hales, N.R., Perry, B.W., Pasquesi, G.M., Blackmon, H., Adams, R.H., Corbin, A.B., Smith, C.F., Ramesh, B., Demuth, J.P., Betrán, E., Tollis, M., Meik, J.M., Mackessy, S.P. and Castoe, T.A. (2019). The origins and evolution of chromosomes, dosage compensation, and mechanisms underlying venom regulation in snakes. Genome Research, 29(4), pp.590–601. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/gr.240952.118.

• Muthukumaran P, J. Aravind, A. Thirumurugan, Sridhar, S., Balan, R. and P. Indumathi (2017). Screening, Isolation and Development of Fungal Consortia with Textile Reactive Dyes Decolorizing Capability. Environmental science and engineering, pp.295–303. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48439-6_22.

• Kanmani, P., Kumaresan, K., Aravind, J., Karthikeyan, S. and Balan, R. (2016). Enzymatic degradation of polyhydroxyalkanoate using lipase from Bacillus subtilis. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 13(6), pp.1541–1552. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-016-0992-5.
• Aravind, Paulraj Kanmani, G.T. Sudha and Balan, R. (2016). Optimization of chromium(VI) biosorption using gooseberry seeds by response surface methodology. Global Journal of Environmental Science and Management, 2(1), pp.61–68. doi: https://doi.org/10.7508/gjesm.2016.01.007.
• Muthukumaran, P., Saraswathy, N., Yuvapriya, S., Balan, R., Gokhul, V. and Indumathi, P. (2016). In vitro phytochemical screening and antibacterial activity of Amorphophallus paeonifolius (Dennst. Nicolson) against some human pathogens. Available online www.jocpr.com Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research, [online] 8(2), pp.388–392. Available at: https://www.jocpr.com/articles/in-vitro-phytochemical-screening-and-antibacterial-activity-of-amorphophallus-paeonifolius-dennst-nicolson-against-some.pdf.
• Peraman Muthukumaran, Nachimuthu Saraswathy, Vijayasekar Aswitha, Balan, R., Venkatesh Babu Gokhul, Palanikumar Indumathi and Sivasubramani Yuvapriya (2016b). Assessment of Total Phenolic, Flavonoid, Tannin Content and Phytochemical Screening of Leaf and Flower Extracts from Peltophorum pterocarpum (DC.) Backer ex K.Heyne: a comparative study. Pharmacognosy Journal, [online] 8(2). Available at: https://www.phcogj.com/article/129 .
• Kumaresan, K., Balan, R., Sridhar, A., Aravind, J. and Kanmani, P. (2016). An integrated approach of composting methodologies for solid waste management. Global Journal of Environmental Science and Management, [online] 2(2), pp.157–162. doi: https://doi.org/10.7508/gjesm.2016.02.006.

• Balan Ramesh is currently working as an Assistant Professor at Mahindra University.
• He has done Post-Doctoral Fellow with specialization in Comparative Genomics and Transcriptomics from University of Idaho

• Members of a species (males and females) share the same genetic material (DNA), yet there are remarkable morphological and functional differences between the sexes. These differences primarily arise due to the sex chromosomes (traditionally X and Y chromosomes), which determine the sex of a species. However, across the animal kingdom, there is a wide variety of sex-determination systems. This variety is especially true for fishes, which shed light on the early stages of sex chromosome evolution, which in turn helps us understand the genes and gene network responsible for the differences between the sexes. With sequencing technologies, comparative framework, and cluster computers, I am excited to answer questions broadly under the umbrella of Why there is a difference in lifespans between the sexes. What factors accelerate or decelerate aging? How does the accumulation of mobile genetic elements (Transposons) on sex-limited chromosomes affect aging? Do sexually dimorphic species live longer than monomorphic species? Tackling these questions would provide sex-specific genes responsible for rapid growth and fast aging that control cell cycle, gene transcriptions, and translations. To summarize, I am a computational biologist interested in studying the role of sexual selection in the evolution of sex chromosomes and sex determination mechanisms and its effects on aging and lifespan.

Biopharmaceutical Technology is a highly translational area that brings together molecular biologists, biochemists, analytical chemists and chemical and biomedical engineers to develop novel therapeutic solutions. Within this, Dr. Srishti Joshi is active in the structural characterization space. Because of the inherent structure to function relationship, biopharmaceuticals need to be characterized throughout their life cycle from early stages of cell culture till approval of Drug Product and after. Dr. Joshi’s research expertise includes developing comprehensive analytical platforms using biophysical techniques and validated methods for characterization of protein-based biopharmaceuticals including biosimilars.

Dr. Joshi has a diverse global educational background. She obtained her bachelors from University of Delhi, India, Masters at University of Nottingham, UK, PhD (molecular biology and biochemistry) from Massey University, NZ and gained post-doctoral experience at Massey University, NZ; Korea University, South Korea and the DBT Centre of Excellence for Biopharmaceutical Technology (DBT-COE-CBT), IIT Delhi.

In addition to research, she also holds significant administrative experience. She served as the Coordinator for Analytical Characterization Division within DBT-COE-CBT from 2018-2023, Coordinator for Bioprocessing Society of India (BPI) from 2021-23. She has a keen interested in Internationalization of Higher Education and has served as the Coordinator of International Programs at IITD from 2023-24. She joined Mahindra University as an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Life Sciences in Sept 2024.

• Ph.D. – Molecular Biology and Biochemistry – Massey University (NZ) – 2010- 2015
• M.Sc – Crop Biotechnology and Entrepreneurship – University of Nottingham (UK) – 2008- 2009
• B.Sc – Botany (Hons) – Delhi University – 2005-2008

• Joshi, Srishti¹; Dubey, Ankita¹; Rathore, Anurag S., Protocol for simultaneous quantification of 20 amino acids in cell culture for biopharmaceutical development, BioTechniques (2023)
• Rachayita Nag, Joshi, Srishti, Anurag Rathore, Subhabrata Majumdar, Profiling enzyme activity of L asparaginase II by NMR based methyl fingerprinting at natural abundance, Journal of the American Chemical Society, (2023) 145, 19, 10826–10838
• Joshi, Srishti¹; Bhattacharya, Sanghati¹; Rathore, Anurag;  A native multi-dimensional MAM workflow for at-line characterization of mAb titer, size, charge, and glycoform heterogeneities in cell culture supernatant, Journal of Chromatography A (2023), 1696, 463983

• Joshi, Srishti; Nupur, Neh;  Nikita; Saxena,  Bhattacharya;  Sanghati,  Roy;  Souhardya, Taking the individual bias out of examining comparability of biosimilars: A case study on monoclonal antibody therapeutics,  International Journal of Biological Macromolecules (2022), 227, 124-133
• Rathore, Anurag S., Srishti Joshi, Ahluwalia, Akshdeep; Auclair, Jared, On replication in biopharmaceutical analysis, LCGC North America, (2022), 40, 11, 536-542
• Joshi, Srishti; Upadhyay, Kratika; Rathore, Anurag S., Fluorescence detection as a sensitive, orthogonal alternative to UV detection for charge variant analysis of monoclonal antibodies: Trastuzumab as a case study, Journal of Chromatography B, (2022), 123511
• Joshi, Srishti; Khatri, Lakshya Raj; Kumar, Ashutosh; Rathore, Anurag S., NMR based quality evaluation of mAb therapeutics: A proof of concept higher order structure biosimilarity assessment of trastuzumab biosimilars, Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis, (2022), 114710
• Bhojane, Purva. P; Joshi, Srishti; Sahoo Jagriti, Sushree; Rathore, Anurag S, Unexplored excipients in biotherapeutic formulations: Natural osmolytes as potential stabilizers against thermally induced aggregation of IgG1 biotherapeutics, PharmSciTech, (2022), 23

• Joshi, Srishti; Maharana, Chinmoyee; Rathore, Anurag S. An application of Nano Differential Scanning Fluorimetry for Higher Order Structure assessment between mAb originator and biosimilars: Trastuzumab and Rituximab as case studies, Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis, (2021), 113270
• Joshi, Srishti; Khatri, Lakshya Raj; Kumar, Ashutosh; Rathore, Anurag S., Monitoring size and oligomeric-state distribution of therapeutic mAbs by NMR and DLS: Trastuzumab as a case study, Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis, (2021) 195, 113841
• Srishti Joshi, Sudha Kumari, Anurag S. Rathore, Identification and characterization of carbonylation sites in trastuzumab biosimilars, International Journal of Biological Macromolecules (2021), 169, 95-102

• Joshi, Srishti; Rathore, Anurag. S, Assessment of Structural and Functional Comparability of Biosimilar Products: Trastuzumab as a Case Study, BioDrugs,(2020), 34, 209-223
• Mishra, Avinash; Bansal, Rohit; Sreenivasan, Shravan; Dash, Rozaleen; Joshi, Srishti; Singh, Richa; Rathore, Anurag S; Goel, Gaurav; Structure-based Design of Small Peptide Ligands to Inhibit Early-Stage Protein Aggregation Nucleation, Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, (2020), 60 (6), 3304-3314

• Khosa, Jiffinvir; Lee, Robyn; Joshi, Srishti; Shaw, Martin; McCallum, John; Macknight, Richard, A Guide for the Cultivation of Onion under Controlled Environment Conditions, HortScience, (2018), 53, 12, 1746-1749

• McKenzie, Marian J; Chen, Ronan KY; Leung, Susanna; Joshi, Srishti; Rippon, Paula E; Joyce, Nigel I; McManus, Michael T, Selenium treatment differentially affects sulfur metabolism in high and low glucosinolate producing cultivars of broccoli (Brassica oleracea L.), Plant physiology and biochemistry, (2017), 121, 176-186

• McManus, Michael T; Joshi, Srishti; Searle, Bruce; Pither-Joyce, Meeghan; Shaw, Martin; Leung, Susanna; Albert, Nick; Shigyo, Masayoshi; Jakse, Jernej; Havey, Michael J; Genotypic variation in sulfur assimilation and metabolism of onion (Allium cepa L.) III. Characterization of sulfite reductase, Phytochemistry, (2012), 83, 34-42

Reviews/Major Reference Works/Book Chapters/Articles

• Joshi, Srishti; Gomes James, Affordability and Financial Challenges in the Internationalisation of Higher Education, International Seminar on Internationalisation of Higher Education, 2024

• Rathore, Anurag S; Guttman, Andras; Shrivastava, Anuj; Joshi, Srishti, Recent progress in high-throughput and automated characterization of N-glycans in biopharmaceuticals, Trends in Analytical Chemistry TrAC (2023), 117397
• Sarin, Deepika; Joshi, Srishti; Rathore, Anurag S, Hydrophobic Interaction Chromatography, Liquid Chromatography: Fundamentals and Instrumentation, Third Edition, edited by Drs. Salvatore Fanali, Bezhan Chankvetadze, Paul R. Haddad, Colin Poole, and Marja-Liisa Riekkola. Elsevier, 2023 (book in production)

• Rathore, Anurag S.; Joshi, Srishti; Establishing Analytical and Functional Comparability for Biosimilars, Recent advances in Biopharmaceutical Analysis, LCGC North America, (2022), July.
• Shrivastava, Anuj; Joshi, Srishti; Guttman, Andras; Rathore, Anurag S; N-Glycosylation of monoclonal antibody therapeutics: A comprehensive review on significance and characterization, Analytica Chimica Acta, (2022), 339828
• Joshi, Srishti; Nupur, Neh; Gulliarme, David; Rathore, Anurag S; Analytical similarity assessment of biosimilars: Global regulatory landscape, recent studies and major advancements in orthogonal platforms, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, (2022), 36

• Rathore, Anurag S.; Joshi, Srishti; Dash, Rozaleen; Nupur, Neh; Sreenivasan, Shravan; Emergence of India as a Global Manufacturing Hub for Biosimilars, BioPharm International, (2021) 34; 11, (pp.42-44)

• Rathore, Anurag S.; Joshi, Srishti; Liquid Chromatography| Historical Development, 2019, Encyclopedia of Analytical Science (pp.86-92)
• Rathore, Anurag S.; Krull, Ira; Srishti Joshi, Analytical Characterization of Biotherapeutic Products, Part I: Quality Attributes, LCGC North America, (2018) 36: 376-384.
• Rathore, Anurag S, Krull, Ira; Srishti Joshi, Analytical Characterization of Biotherapeutic Products, Part II: The Analytical ToolBox, LCGC North America (2018) (In-print Nov Issue).
• Rathore, Anurag S; Joshi, Srishti; Bhargava, Ankita; Nupur, Neh, Development and Commercialization of Biosimilars in India: Current Regulatory and Clinical Experience, Biosimilars, 2018, Springer, 653-674

• Joshi, Srishti; Leung, Susanna CS; McCallum, John A; McManus, Michael T, Comparison of Nitrite Reductase (AcNiR1) with Sulfite Reductase (AcSiR1) in Allium cepa (L.), Molecular Physiology and Ecophysiology of Sulfur, 2015, 93-97

Thesis

• Joshi, Srishti; Interaction between sulfur (S) and nitrogen (N) assimilation pathways in response to S and N supply in onion (Allium cepa L, 2014 Massey University

• 2024 – Present Assistant Professor Center for Life Sciences Mahindra University.
• Research Associate – Massey University, NZ – 2014-2015
• Post-Doctoral Fellow – Korea University – South Korea – 2015- 1016
• Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi 2016 – 2024

• The Biologics Analysis and Research Lab – Our research focuses on addressing contemporary and emerging physicochemical characterization needs of the biopharmaceutical industry through structural analysis. This includes:
• Designing efficient, High-Throughput, multi-attribute analytical workflows for physicochemical characterization of biologics including biosimilars and emerging modalities.
• Understanding impact of stress on Critical Quality Attributes and its fingerprint on product quality and stability.
• Current specific interests include – analytical Quality by Design (aQbD) in biopharma, multi-attribute monitoring methods and quantitative biosimilarity scoring.

Having a background in Bioinformatics, Swarit Jasial did his Masters in Life Science Informatics and PhD in Computational Life Sciences from University of Bonn, Germany. During his studies, Swarit was involved in several projects concerning data mining and machine learning. He worked in the research area of computer aided drug design or Chemoinformatics. His PhD work focused on analysis of multitarget activities and assay interference characteristics of pharmaceutically relevant compounds. He studied promiscuity of compounds present in publicly available databases and his data analysis revealed interesting results for state-of-the-art PAINS filters, which are generally used to flag assay interference compounds. The machine learning models built in this project further extended the capacity of PAINS filters as they also took structural context into account. He published his studies in several journals mostly belonging to American Chemical Society (ACS).

Swarit Jasial did his post doctoral studies (2019-2024) in Data-Driven Chemistry lab, Data Science Center, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Japan where he also worked as a specially appointed assistant professor. He worked on projects such as predicting antiviral activity of odorants with Kao corporation and monomer concentration prediction of polymerization reactions from infra-red spectra in collaboration with JSR corporation. He also supervised students in their research focusing on Chemoinformatics.

• Ph.D. in Computational Life Sciences, Bonn-Aachen International Center for Information Technology (B-IT), Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Germany (2015-2019)
• M.Sc. in Life Science Informatics, Bonn-Aachen International Center for Information Technology (B-IT), Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Germany (2012-2014)
• B.Tech. in Bioinformatics, Jaypee University of Information Technology, Waknaghat, India (2007-2011)

• Wakiuchi, A.; Jasial, S.; Asano, S.; Hashizume, R.; Hatanaka, M.; Ohnishi, Y.; Matsubara, T.; Ajiro, H.; Sugawara, T.; Fujii, M.; Miyao, T. Chemometrics Approach Based on Wavelet Transforms for the Estimation of Monomer Concentrations from FTIR Spectra. ACS Omega 2023, 8, 19781-19788.

• Jasial, S.; Hu, J.; Miyao, T.; Hirama, Y.; Onishi, S.; Matsui, R.; Osaki, K.; Funatsu, K. Screening and Validation of Odorants against Influenza A Virus Using Interpretable Regression Models. ACS Pharmacol. Transl. Sci. 2022, 6, 139-150.

• Tamura, S.; Jasial, S.; Miyao, T.; Funatsu, K. Interpretation of Ligand-Based Activity Cliff Prediction Models Using the Matched Molecular Pair Kernel. Molecules 2021, 39, 2000103.

• Miyao, T.; Jasial, S.; Bajorath, J.; Funatsu, K. Evaluation of Different Virtual Screening Strategies on the Basis of Compound Sets with Characteristic Core Distributions and Dissimilarity Relationships. J. Comput. Aided Mol. Des. 2019, 33, 729-743.

• Jasial, S.; Gilberg, E.; Blaschke, T.; Bajorath, J. Machine Learning Distinguishes with High Accuracy between Pan-Assay Interference Compounds That Are Promiscuous or Represent Dark Chemical Matter. J. Med. Chem. 2018, 61, 10255-10264.
• Vogt, M.; Jasial, S.; Bajorath, J. Extracting Compound Profiling Matrices from Screening Data. ACS Omega 2018, 3, 4706-4712.

• Jasial, S.; Bajorath, J. Dark Chemical Matter in Public Screening Assays and Derivation of Target Hypotheses. Med. Chem. Commun. 2017, 8, 2100–2104.
• Jasial, S.; Hu, Y.; Bajorath, J. How Frequently Are Pan-Assay Interference Compounds Active? Large-Scale Analysis of Screening Data Reveals Diverse Activity Profiles, Low Global Hit Frequency, and Many Consistently Inactive Compounds. J. Med. Chem. 2017, 60, 3879-3886.

• Jasial, S.; Hu, Y.; Vogt, M.; Bajorath, J. Activity-Relevant Similarity Values for Fingerprints and Implications for Similarity Searching. F1000Research 2016, 5 (Chem. Inf. Sci.): 591.
• Jasial, S.; Hu, Y.; Bajorath, J. Determining the Degree of Promiscuity of Extensively Assayed Compounds. PLoS One 2016, 11, e0153873.
• Jasial, S.; Hu, Y.; Bajorath, J. Assessing the Growth of Bioactive Compounds and Scaffolds over Time: Implications for Lead Discovery and Scaffold Hopping. J. Chem. Inf. Model. 2016, 56, 300-307.
• Jasial, S.; Balfer, J.; Vogt, M.; Bajorath, J. Determination of Meta-Parameters for Support Vector Machine Linear Combinations. Mol. Inf. 2015, 34, 127-133.

• 2024 – Present Assistant Professor Center for Life Sciences Mahindra University.
• Specially Appointed Assistant Professor, Data-Driven Chemistry Laboratory,Data Science Center, Division of Materials Science, Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST), Nara, Japan (2019-2024)

• The main theme of our research is Computer-Aided Drug Design or Chemoinformatics. It is the application of informatics in the field of Chemistry where we utilize data related to compounds or approved drugs against certain diseases. We try to develop new computational techniques or models to analyze and predict activity of compounds against different targets in order to find potential drug candidates. These drug candidates can further be proposed for validations in drug discovery programs.
• Our research focuses on finding trends in data (data mining) and machine learning with biological and chemical data. With machine learning algorithms, computers are able to learn structural patterns or information which might be responsible for the activity of a certain compound against a biological target. We are passionate to know how does an algorithm work in finding hidden patterns in the data and how to make a machine learn related to specific problem in hand. Therefore, we work on the developmental aspect of models/techniques and their interpretability.
• Our current research interests include integration of knowledge from various domains for better predictions and rationalization, utilization of generative AI for de novo molecular design, targets and pathway identification for natural products.

Bhaskar Paidimuddala obtained his M.Sc. in Biochemistry (Gold medalist) from Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati. He qualified in various national level exams: ICMR-JRF, CSIR-UGC NET and GATE. With the support of ICMR fellowship, he did his Ph.D. in the Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai. His Ph.D. work was focused on the Biochemical and Structural characterization of Xylose Reductase from a novel yeast, Debaryomyces nepalensis in the scope of development of enzyme-based bioprocess for the production of xylitol, a natural sugar substitute for the diabetic patients.

He did his first post doc (2018–2019) specialized in structural biology at Boston Children’s Hospital/ Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA, where he was well trained in negative electron microscopy and novel protein structure determination procedures. His second postdoc (2019–2023) specialized in Immunology was carried out at Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, USA. His research work on NAIP-NLRC4 Inflammasome that confers immunity against pathogenic bacterial infections revealed the unprecedented molecular mechanisms of inflammasome activation and bacterial flagellin induced immune response. During his postdoc, he acquired the skills in mammalian cell-based protein expression and purification, inflammasome related functional assays and cryo-electron microscopy.

He joined the Centre for Life Sciences at Mahindra University as an Assistant Professor in March 2024. His current research focuses on the elucidation of human inflammasome signalling pathways and functional roles of NLR family proteins using cellular, biochemical and structural approaches for the development of effective therapeutics to treat the inflammasome associated immune diseases and cancers.

• Ph.D. Biotechnology (Specialized in Biochemistry & Structural Biology), Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India. (2012–2018)
• M.Sc. Biochemistry, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India. (2010–2012)
• B.Sc. Biotechnology, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India. (2007–2010)

• Paidimuddala, B., Cao, J. and Zhang, L. (2023) Structural basis for flagellin-induced NAIP5 activation. Science Advances, 9: eadi8539.
• Paidimuddala, B*., Cao, J*., Nash, G., Xie, Q., Wu, H. and Zhang, L. (2023) Mechanism of NAIP-NLRC4 inflammasome activation revealed by cryo-EM structure of unliganded NAIP5. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, 30: 159–166. (*equal contribution)Nash, G., 
• Paidimuddala, B. and Zhang, L. (2022) Structural aspects of MHC expression control system. Biophysical Chemistry, 284: 106781.
• Paidimuddala, B., Mohapatra, S.B., Gummadi, S.N., and Manoj, N. (2018) Crystal structure of yeast xylose reductase in complex with a novel NADP-DTT adduct provides insights into substrate recognition and catalysis. The FEBS Journal, 285: 4445–4464.
• Paidimuddala, B., Aradhyam, G.K., and Gummadi, S.N. (2017) A halotolerant aldose reductase from Debaryomyces nepalensis: gene isolation, overexpression and biochemical characterization. RSC Advances, 7: 20384–20393.
• Paidimuddala, B., Rathod, A., and Gummadi, S.N. (2017) Inhibition of Debaryomyces nepalensis xylose reductase by lignocellulose derived by-products. Biochemical Engineering Journal, 121: 73–82.

• 2024- Present Assistant Professor Center for Life Sciences Mahindra University.
• Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Chemical Physiology and Biochemistry, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital/ Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

• Human immune system fights against infections and pathological conditions. It comprises a complex network of immune cells and proteins that specifically recognize pathogen associated and damage associated molecular patterns, and execute the immune responses. Among the immune proteins, the Nucleotide-binding domain and Leucine rich Repeat containing (NLR) family proteins are specialized in responding to microbial infections and metabolic distress, and establishing the innate immunity (a first line of defense) by forming inflammasomes (the large multiprotein complexes that mediate inflammation) as well as the T-cell mediated adaptive immunity by activating the expression of major histocompatibility (MHC) molecules. Thus, NLR proteins are crucial for conferring immunity and implicated in various autoimmune, genetic, gastrointestinal, neurodegenerative diseases and cancers. Our research aims at the following,
• Understanding the functional and regulatory mechanisms of NLR family proteins in conferring immunity.
• Developing the effective therapeutics for inflammasome associated diseases and cancers

Dr. Jayato Nayak, is a prominent researcher with more than 9 years of experience in the field of novel design and applications embracing the theme of process intensification. He completed his M.Tech & PhD from NIT Durgapur on “Process Intensification in Acetic acid manufacture from waste material” and collaborated his research with CSIR-CMERI. His core expertise includes Process Intensification, Bioprocess Engineering, water and wastewater treatment, graphene integrated photocatalyst development and bio-synthesis of value-added products. Currently, along with the national collaboration with IITs, NITs and CSIR Labs, he has extended research collaborations with research professionals in Poland, Brazil, Malaysia, Vietnam etc. Till August 2022, he has published 25 international SCI/SCOPUS indexed peer reviewed journal papers, more than 10 book chapters and filed 3 patents. As of now, with more than 400 Citations, he is having h-index of 10 and i10- index of 11. He is providing his expertise as Resource person for several Webinars and FDPs; and also as Senior Editor, Review Editor, Guest Editor, Editorial board member and recognized reviewer of more than 15 international journals. He has received 2 best research awards and 5 distinguished awards from various National and International organizations.

Vision of research is the propagation of advanced thoughts to make a better future. Involvement of students in academic and research activities will nurture their developing minds. Indulgence of aspiring minds in novel research, journal publications and patenting can foster the desire of students.

For teaching the vision is to offer a student-friendly interactive atmosphere through the conduction of mutual understanding which will prosper the growth of knowledge from scientific and engineering perspectives. With a vision of incandescent knowledge with proper technical interaction, enrichment of brain could be fostered. Building of a strong learned character will be always encouraged.

• Total citations: 401, h-index:10, i10 index: 11 (as on 08.08.2022); Cumulative Impact Factor: ~111;
• Google scholar: https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=EunZG5AAAAAJ&hl=en ;
• Orcid ID:https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7678-2019
• International Journal Paper Publications(SCI/SCIE/SCOPUS/WOSindexed):

Authored Text/Reference Books :

• Concise Perspectives of Intellectual Property Rights, 2020, LAP-Lambert Publication, Mauritius , ISBN: 978-620-0-58914-9
• Versatility in the world of Chemical Engineers: Principles of Chemical Engineering, 2020, LAP-Lambert Publication, Mauritius , ISBN: 978-620-2-51797-3
• An insight to Cracking and Refining of Petroleum: Petroleum refining and Petrochemicals, 2020, LAP-Lambert Publication, Mauritius , ISBN: 978-620-2-51974-8
• Climate change and its Impact. 2020, Krishna-Hitech Publishers, Chennai, India, ISBN: 978-93-89878-14-1

Authored Book Chapters :

• Application of Electrospun Polymeric Nanofibrous Membranes for Water Treatment, In: Industrial Wastewater Treatment Emerging Technologies for Sustainability, 2022, Elsevier, ISSN 1872-4663 (electronic) Water Science and Technology Library ISBN 978-3-030-98201-0 ISBN 978-3-030-98202-7 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98202-7
• Photo (Catalytic) Oxidation Processes for the Removal of Dye: Focusing on TiO2 Performance, In: Advanced Oxidation Processes in Dye-Containing Wastewater. Sustainable Textiles: Production, Processing, Manufacturing & Chemistry , May-2022, Springer, Singapore. ISBN: 978-981-19-0986-3

• Aerobic synthesis of value-added organic acid: Routes towards sustainable industrialization, in: Green Innovation, Sustainable Development, and Circular Economy, 1stEdition, 2020, CRC Press, Taylor & Francis, Florida, United States, ISBN 9780367441746
• Green Synthesis of Food Flavouring Agents, in: Green Innovation, Sustainable Development, and Circular Economy, 1stEdition, 2020, CRC Press, Taylor & Francis, Florida, United States, ISBN 9780367441746
• Metabolic products of mixed culture fermentation, PP: 75-92, in: Engineering of Microbial Biosynthetic Pathways. 1stEdition, 2020, Springer, New York, United States, Online ISBN 978-981-15-2604-6
• Bacterial Production of Organic Acids and Subsequent Metabolism, PP 153-173,in: Engineering of Microbial Biosynthetic Pathways. 1st Edition, 2020, Springer, New York, United States, Online ISBN 978-981-15-2604-6
• Nanomaterials for photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide, in: nanomaterials for CO2capture, storage, conversion and utilization, 1st Edition, 2020, Elsevier, New York, United States , ISBN: 9780128228944
• Clean Water Reclamation from Tannery Industry Wastewater in Membrane Integrated Green Approach, in: Integrated and Hybrid Process Technology for Water and Wastewater Treatment, 1stEdition, 2020, Elsevier, New York, United States , ISBN: 595806.
• Prediction of NOX Concentration in the Vicinity of Cement Industry Employing AERMOD Dispersion Modeling, pp 473-487, in: Clean Water Advances in Computational and Bio-Engineering, CBE 2019, 1stEdition, 2020, Volume 2, Springer, ISBN: 978-3-030-46942-9
• Recent trends of mixed biopolymers in food and its diverse applications, In: Recent Advances in Food Biotechnology, 1stEdition, 2020, Volume 1, SpringerNature, Malaysia.

International/National Conference Papers/Proceedings :

Online full paper publication in Conference Proceeding :

• A Green Process for Acetic Acid Production, ISBN 978-93-84468-30-9, 47-51, URL: org/images/extraimages/615045.pdf

• Existence of Cohesive Force Explains All Phenomena that are in Material Which Holds Strong Bond of All Forces of Attraction: A Case Study with Carbon Material, AIP Conference Proceedings 2087, 020015 (2019); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5095231
• Development of integrated photo-catalyst adsorbent (IPCA) for simultaneous capture and conversion of CO2 tomethanol, AIP Conference Proceedings 2105, 020006 (2019); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5100691

• 2022 – Present Assistant Professor Center for Life Sciences Mahindra University

• Currently possessing several years of experience in Bioprocess Engineering, biofuel generation, photocatalysis, graphene based nanomaterial development, water and wastewater treatment by Membrane Technology, valuable product generation and polishing by Membrane Technology, performing different types of bio-sample analyses, development of novel membrane based process technologies, Membrane characterization, Sample Characterization, different types of membrane synthesis methods, development of mathematical models, Cost analysis, Statistical error analysis tools, Sustainability and process intensification analysis etc. Experienced in handling high end analytical and chromatographic instruments, pilot scale set-up, computer simulation languages and design and optimization softwares.
• For Further research, the vision leads towards the propagation of advanced thoughts to make a better world for the better future. The vision may include production of bio-based products from wastes, waste water reclamation, environmentally benign process and technologies, development of novel schemes and bench-scale set-up, waste-to-wealth transformation, development and usage of low temperature and low energy consuming processes, finding of sustainable solution out-performing the classical technologies and analysis of process intensification. Development of Research Laboratories (membrane technology and Photocatalyst) with GOI funds and further commercialization of the developed technologies will be main focus of R& D strategy.
• Collaborative research: National/International universities and research centres: Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland), University Kebangsaan Malaysia, Laboratory of Processes (Brazil), Institute for Tropical Technology (Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology), Hanyang University (Republic of Korea), Wroclaw University of Science and Technology (Poland), CSIR – NIIST, IIPE Vizag, IIT Khargpur, NIT Durgapur, CSIR-CMERI, Jadavpur University, Burdwan University, KIITs Bhubaneswar, Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education etc.

Current research is getting continued on the following areas:

• Production of Bio-Methanol and its derivatives from CO2
• Production of Biodiesel
• Production of Bio molecules (food additives) from biomass
• Production of bio surfactants
• Treatment of wastewater/ Degradation of Pollutants (PAH/PAC)
• Development of Novel Membranes and modules

Thakur Santosh is an Assistant Professor in the Centre for Life Sciences at Mahindra University. He earned the Doctor of Philosophy in Knowledge Capturing and Analysis of Big Data from Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad. He has nine years of experience in teaching and research.

• Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology (Indian school of Mines), Dhanbad in 2021.
• M.Tech. (CSE) from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University -Hyderabad -in 2012.

Journals :

• Thakur, S., Dharavath, R., Shankar, A., Singh, P., Diwakar, M., & Khosravi, M. R. (2022). RST-DE: Rough Sets-Based New Differential Evolution Algorithm for Scalable Big Data Feature Selection in Distributed Computing Platforms. Big Data.

• Thakur, S., Dharavath, R., & Edla, D. R. (2020). Spark and Rule-KNN based scalable machine learning framework for EEG deceit identification. Biomedical Signal Processing and Control, 58, 101886.
• Santosh, T., Ramesh, D., & Reddy, D. (2020). LSTM based prediction of malaria abundances using big data. Computers in Biology and Medicine, 124, 103859.
• Santosh, T., & Ramesh, D (2020). Machine Learning Approach on Apache Spark for Credit Card Fraud Detection Machine Learning Approach on Apache Spark for Credit Card Fraud Detection.

• Thakur, S., & Dharavath, R. (2019). Artificial neural network-based prediction of malaria abundances using big data: A knowledge capturing approach. Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health, 7(1), 121-126.

Conferences :

• Santosh, T., & Ramesh, D. (2019, May). DENCLUE-DE: Differential Evolution Based DENCLUE for Scalable Clustering in Big Data Analysis. In International Conference on Computer Networks and Inventive Communication Technologies(pp. 436-445). Springer, Cham.

• Thakur, S., & Dharavath, R. (2018). KMDT: A Hybrid Cluster Approach for Anomaly Detection Using Big Data. In Information and Decision Sciences(pp. 169-176). Springer, Singapore.

• Santosh, T., & Ramesh, D. (2017, October). Spark Based ANFIS Approach for Anomaly Detection Using Big Data. In International Conference on Next Generation Computing Technologies(pp. 450-458). Springer, Singapore.

• 2022- Present Assistant Professor Center for Life Sciences Mahindra University.
• Assistant Professor in Woxsen University, Hyderabad from June-2021 to July-2022.
• Assistant Professor in DIT University, Dehradun from Jan- 2013 to Feb-2021.

• Current research interests in the areas of Data Science, Machine learning and Blockchain.

Varun Kumar received his Ph.D. in Biotechnology from the Jaypee University of Information Technology, Himachal Pradesh. His doctorate research was carried out in a Programme support under ‘Centres of Excellence’ scheme of DBT, Gov. of India. Dr. Kumar’s research contributed to the elucidation of novel metabolic pathways for the biosynthesis of major phytochemicals in endangered Himalayan medicinal herbs. He is a recipient of ‘ARO postdoctoral fellowship’ of the Volcani Center, Israel, and the ‘Maria Zambrano postdoctoral fellowship’ of UPM, Spain. His postdoc research at ARO led to improved plants’ response to necrotrophic and insects’ pathogens. Dr. Kumar’s research revealed the mechanisms behind induced resistance in a variety of plant species including; chrysanthemum flowers and leaves of petunia, tomato and Arabidopsis. During his postdoc at CBGP, Spain, he investigated novel mechanisms of perception of plant cell-wall derived oligosaccharides and immune activation in Arabidopsis thaliana. His current lab interests are focused on engineering suitable hosts for production of high-value industrial phytochemicals, and the developing eco-friendly pest control strategies for controlling crop diseases.

• Ph.D. Biotechnology (2012-2017), Jaypee University of Information Technology, Solan, H.P., India
• M.Sc. Biotechnology (2008-2010), Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India
• B.Sc. Botany, Zoology, Chemistry (2005-2008), Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India.

• Wang R, Kumar V, Sikron-Persi N, Dynkin I, Weiss D, Perl A, Fait A and Oren-Shamir M (2022). Over a thousand-fold synergistic boost in viniferin levels by elicitation of Vitis vinifera cv. Gamay Red cell cultures over-accumulating phenylalanine. J. Agric. Food Chem. 70: 5049-5056.

• Kumar V, Elazari Y, Ovadia, R, Bar E, Nissim-Levi A, Carmi N, Lewinsohn E and Oren-Shamir M (2021). Phenylalanine treatment generates scent in flowers by increased production of phenylpropanoid-benzenoid volatiles. Postharvest Biol. Technol. 181: 111657.
• Wang R, Lenka SK, Kumar V, Sikron-Persi N, Dynkin I, Weiss D, Perl A, Fait A and Oren-Shamir M (2021). A synchronized increase of stilbenes and flavonoids in metabolically engineered Vitis vinifera cv. Gamay Red cell culture. J. Agric. Food Chem. 69: 7922-7931.
• Wang R, Lenka SK, Kumar V, Gashu K, Sikron-Persi N, Dynkin I, Weiss D, Perl A, Fait A and Oren-Shamir M (2021). Metabolic engineering strategy enables a hundred-fold increase in viniferin levels in Vitis vinifera cv. Gamay red cell culture. J. Agric. Food Chem. 69: 3124-3133.
• Fang F, Oliva M, Ovadia R, Bar E, Nissim-Levi A, Kumar V, Wang R, Neeman A, Zaccai M, Lewinsohn E and Oren-Shamir M (2021). Increased substrate availability reveals the potential of scentless lisianthus flowers in producing fragrant benzenoid-phenylpropanoids. Physiol. Plant. 172: 19-28.
• Kumari A, Kumar V and Malhotra N (2021). Stevia rebaudiana. In: Malhotra N and Singh M (Eds.), Himalayan Medicinal Plants. Academic press, pp. 199-221.

• Kumar V, Hatan E, Bar E, Davidovich-Rikanati R, Doron-Faigenboim A, Elad Y, Alkan N, Lewinsohn E, Spitzer-Rimon B and Oren-Shamir M (2020). Phenylalanine increases Chrysanthemum flower immunity against Botrytis cinerea attack. Plant J. 104: 226-240.
• Oliva M, Hatan E, Kumar V, Galsurker O, Nisim-Levi A, Ovadia R, Galili G, Lewinsohn E, Elad Y, Alkan N and Oren-Shamir M (2020). Increased phenylalanine levels in plant leaves reduces susceptibility to Botrytis cinerea. Plant. Sci. 290:110289.

• Kumar A, Kumar V, Krishnan V, Hada A, Marathe A, Parameswaran C, Jolly M and Sachdev A (2019). Seed targeted RNAi-mediated silencing of GmMIPS1 limits phytate accumulation and improves mineral bioavailability in soybean. Sci. Rep. 9:7744.
• Kumar V (2019). OMICS-based approaches for elucidation of picrosides biosynthesis in Picrorhiza kurroa. In: Banerjee R, Kumar GV and Kumar SPJ (Eds.), OMICS-Based Approaches in Plant Biotechnology. Scrivener Publishing, pp. 145–166.

• Kumar A, Kumar V, Krishnan V, Hada A, Marathe A, Parameswaran C, Jolly M and Sachdev A (2019). Seed targeted RNAi-mediated silencing of GmMIPS1 limits phytate accumulation and improves mineral bioavailability in soybean. Sci. Rep. 9:7744.
• Kumar V (2019). OMICS-based approaches for elucidation of picrosides biosynthesis in Picrorhiza kurroa. In: Banerjee R, Kumar GV and Kumar SPJ (Eds.), OMICS-Based Approaches in Plant Biotechnology. Scrivener Publishing, pp. 145–166.

• Kumar V, Sharma N, Sood H and Chauhan RS (2016). Exogenous feeding of immediate precursors reveals synergistic effect on picroside-I biosynthesis in shoot cultures of Picrorhiza kurroa Royle ex Benth. Sci. Rep. 6:29750.
• Kumar V, Malhotra N, Pal T and Chauhan RS (2016). Molecular dissection of pathway components unravel atisine biosynthesis in a non-toxic Aconitum species, A. heterophyllum Wall. 3 Biotech 6(1):1-10.
• Sharma N, Kumar V, Chauhan RS and Sood H (2016). Modulation of Picroside-I Biosynthesis in Grown Elicited Shoots of Picrorhiza kurroa In Vitro. J. Plant Growth Regul. 35(4):965-973.
• Kumar V and Chauhan RS (2016). Higher amount of steviol detected in the leaves of a non-toxic endangered medicinal herb, Aconitum heterophyllum. J. Plant Biochem. Biotechnol. 25(4):442-445.
• Kumar V, Shitiz K, Chauhan RS, Sood H and Tandon C (2016). Tracking dynamics of enzyme activities and their gene expression in Picrorhiza kurroa with respect to picroside accumulation. J. Plant Biochem. Biotechnol. 25(2):125-132.
• Kumar P, Kumar V and Kumar GV (2016). Biosynthesis and pharmacological evaluation of shikonin-A highly valuable metabolite of North-Western Himalayas: Mini Review. Medicinal Plants – International Journal of Phytomedicines and Related Industries 8(4):267-274.

• Kumar V, Sharma N, Shitiz K, Singh TR, Tandon C, Sood H and Chauhan RS (2015). An insight into conflux of metabolic traffic leading to picroside-I biosynthesis by tracking molecular time course changes in a medicinal herb, Picrorhiza kurroa. Plant Cell Tiss. Org. Cult. 123(2):435-441.
• Kumar V, Singh TR, Hada A, Jolly M, Ganapathi A and Sachdev A (2015). Probing Phosphorus Efficient Low Phytic Acid Content Soybean Genotypes with Phosphorus Starvation in Hydroponics Growth System. Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 177(3):689-99.
• Kumar V, Kumar V, Chauhan RS, Sood H and Tandon C (2015). Cost effective quantification of picrosides in Picrorhiza kurroa by employing response surface methodology using HPLC-UV. J. Plant Biochem. Biotechnol. 24(4):376-384.
• Kumar A, Kumar V, Lal SK, Jolly M and Sachdev A (2015). Influence of gamma rays and ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS) on the levels of phytic acid, raffinose family oligosaccharides and antioxidants in soybean seeds of different genotypes. J. Plant Biochem. Biotechnol. 24:204-209.

• Kumar V, Kayasth M, Chaudhary V and Gera R (2014). Diversity of diazotrophs in arid and semi-arid regions of Haryana and evaluation of their plant growth promoting potential on Bt-cotton and pearl millet. Ann. Microbiol. 64(3):1301-1313.
• Kumar V and Gera R (2014). Isolation of a multi-trait plant growth promoting Brevundimonas sp. and its effect on the growth of Bt-cotton. 3 Biotech 4(1):97-101.
• Gera R, Kumar V and Shekhawat K (2014). Genotypic diversity of native population of rhizobia nodulating Vicia faba plants in arid and semi-arid regions of Haryana (India). Ann. Microbiol. 64(2):619-626.
• Kayasth M, Gera R, Dudeja SS, Sharma PK and Kumar V (2014). Studies on salinization in Haryana soils on free-living nitrogen-fixing bacterial populations and their activity. J. Basic Microbiol. 54(3):170-179.
• Kayasth M, Kumar V and Gera R (2014). Gordonia sp.: a salt tolerant bacterial inoculant for growth promotion of pearl millet under saline soil conditions. 3 Biotech 4(5):553-557.
• Gera R, Kumar V, Kayasth M, Walia M, Singh S and Goyal S (2014). Exploring the potential of phosphate solubilising diazotrophic Pseudomonas sp Db76 as plant growth promoter for Bt cotton. Journal of Cotton Research and Development 28(2):311-315.
• Gera R, Bhatia R, Kumar V, Kayasth M, Walia M, Kaur H and Goyal S (2014). Diversity and antibacterial activity of actinobacteria isolated from cotton fields in semi-arid zones of Haryana. Journal of Cotton Research and Development 28(1):129-134.

• Kayasth M, Kumar V and Gera R (2013). Exploring the potential of PGPR strain Bacillus licheniformis to be developed as multifunctional Biofertilizer. Central European Journal of Experimental Biology 2(1):12-17.

• Kuhar K, Kumar V, Kansal R and Gupta VK (2012). Isolation and in silico characterization of cDNA encoding cyclophilin from etiolated Vigna mungo seedlings. Braz. J. Plant Physiol. 24(1):69-73.
• Gera R, Bhatia R and Kumar V (2012). Comparison of nodC and 16S rDNA gene analysis of rhizobia associated with legumes of arid and semi-arid regions of Haryana. Journal of Food Legumes 25(4):294-299.
• Kayasth M, Kumar V and Gera R (2012). Isolation and identification of diazotrophic Bacillus subtilis strain SS2 from saline soil and its potential to be used as Biofertilizer. J. Microbiol. Biotech. Res. 2(5):772-777.

• 2022- Present Assistant Professor Center for Life Sciences Mahindra University.
• Maria Zambrano Postdoctoral Fellow (2022), Center for Plant Biotechnology and Genomics, Madrid, Spain
• Postdoctoral Fellow (2018-2022), Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, Israel
• Senior Research Fellow-DBT COE Phase-II (2017), Jaypee University of Information Technology, Solan, H.P., India
• Senior Research Fellow-DBT COE Phase-I (2012-2015), Jaypee University of Information Technology, Solan, H.P., India
• Senior Research Fellow-ICAR (2011-2012), Division of Biochemistry, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India
• Senior Research Fellow-ICAR (2010-2011), Department of Microbiology, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India

Our lab goal is intended to make innovative changes for development of ‘Superior’ and ‘Stronger’ plants.

1. Engineering suitable hosts for production of high-value industrial phytochemicals
   
   Plants are a rich source for specialized metabolites serving in healthcare, nutritional and cosmetic industries. The supply of these metabolites is often obstructed due to the complexity of their tissue-specific production, existence of modified structures and lack of culture platforms and/or alternate production systems. These limitations pose challenges for industries in acquiring quality raw material with adequate amount of the target phytochemical. Our goal is to establish sustainable and superior production platform systems for specific phytochemicals of interest, by (a) Elucidation of biosynthetic routes for the production of target phytochemicals, and (b) Metabolic engineering either in the native host or in heterologous host for generation of superior systems.
   
2. Eco-friendly pest control strategy for economically important crops and ornamentals
   
   Plants suffer from pests and diseases causing losses worldwide of up to 40% of crop yields. The protection of plants from pathogens is provided mainly by use of chemical pesticides, that eventually harm the environment and the health of farmers and consumers, and often result in development of resistant pathogen strains. Our lab is interested in understanding and exploring natural plant immune mechanisms to induce resistance against crop diseases by: (a) Identifying and over-producing specialized metabolites involved in the plant defense response; (b) Understanding plant defense signaling upon pathogen attack; and (c) Identifying potential active natural molecules and the mechanisms by which they protect plants.

Akanksha Singh is an Assistant Professor in the Center for Life Sciences at the Mahindra University. She earned her PhD degree in the Department of Zoology, Banaras Hindu University. She investigated the evolutionary conservation of sexual behavioral traits, in a closely related Drosophila species using behavioral and genetic tools. Later, she moved to Cornell University and in collaboration with Syracuse University she identified the interaction between male and female reproductive proteins and their possible roles in reproduction using transgenic and omics technologies. The findings provide a deeper understanding on genetic and molecular basis of infertilities in a population and several pitfalls involved in the assisted reproductive technologies like In vitro fertilization. Then she moved to the Laboratory of Systems Genetics, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, Bethesda where she worked to understand the genetic basis of difference in sleep duration using Polycistronic CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technologies combined with transgenic approaches. She also undertook GWAS (Genome wide association studies) approach to identify sleep conservation in closely related Drosophila species.

• Ph.D. Zoology (2011-2015), Department of Zoology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India
• M. Sc. Zoology (2008-2010), specialization in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Department of Zoology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India
• B.Sc. Zoology (2006-2008), Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India

• Misra S, Buehner NA, Singh A, Wolfner MF 2022. Female factors are important for the seminal Sex Peptide’s association with sperm, in mated D. melanogaster. BioRxiv,
  https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.13.
  Under revision in BMC Biology.
• McCullough EL*, Whittington E*, Singh A*, Pitnick S, Wolfner MF, Dorus S 2022. The life history of Drosophila sperm involves molecular continuity between male and female reproductive tracts. PNAS, 119 (11): e2119899119. (*Co-first author) (Cover Page Image of the Issue)
  https://www.pnas.org/toc/pnas/119/11

Media coverage:

• Science Daily: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220308102840.htm
• Cornell Chronicle: https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2022/03/after-mating-fruit-fly-sperm-are-no-longer-fully-male
• Syracuse Univ News: https://thecollege.syr.edu/news-all/news-from-2022/as-biologists-observe-a-molecular-hand-off-that-plays-a-key-role-in-reproduction/
• Verve Times-News: https://vervetimes.com/biologists-observe-a-molecular-hand-off-that-plays-a-key-role-in-reproduction-sciencedaily/
• Phys.org News: https://phys.org/news/2022-03-biologists-molecular-hand-off-key-rol…
• News Medical Life sciences: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20220308/Research-sheds-light-on-important-events-that-may-play-a-role-in-infertility.aspx
• Singh A*, Buehner NA, Lin He, Baranowski KJ, Findlay GD, Wolfner MF 2018. Long-term interaction between Drosophila sperm and sex peptide is mediated by other seminal proteins that bind only transiently to sperm. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 102: 43-51.
• Singh BN and Singh A 2016. The Genetics of sexual behavior of Drosophila. Advances in genomics and genetics, 6: 1-9
• Singh A* and Singh BN 2015. Sperm displacement in the Drosophila bipectinata species complex: Evidence for interspecific variations. Behavioural Processes, 113:105-109.
• Singh A* and Singh BN 2014. Studies on remating behavior in the Drosophila bipectinata species complex. Evidence for sperm displacement in D. bipectinata. Current Science, 107: 511-515.
• Singh A* and Singh BN 2014. Role of sexual selection in speciation in Drosophila. Genetica, 142: 23-41.
• Singh A* and Singh BN 2013. Mating latency, duration of copulation, and fertility in four species of D. bipectinata complex. Indian Journal of Experimental Biology, 52:175-80.
• Singh A* and Singh BN 2013. Studies on remating behavior in the Drosophila bipectinata species complex: Intra- and interspecific variations. Behavioral Processes, 96: 79-87
• Singh BN and Singh A 2014. A new mutation in Drosophila parabipectinata. Drosophila Information Services, 97:175-17
• Singh BN and Singh A 2013. A new mutation in Drosophila malerkotliana. Drosophila Information Services, 96: 221-222

• 2022- Present Assistant Professor Center for Life Sciences Mahindra University.
• Research Fellow (2021- August 2022) Laboratory of Systems Genetics, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Maryland: (2021 – 2022)
• Postdoctoral Visiting Fellow (2019-2021) Laboratory of Systems Genetics, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Maryland: (2019 – 2021)
• Postdoctoral Associate (2015-2018) Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York: (2015 – 2018)

• Our research will focus to understand the genetic basis of certain common disease affecting human population. Using genome wide association studies (GWAS) and other omics (genomics and transcriptomics) as well as genome editing technologies we would be identifying specific risk alleles present in coding or non-coding regions (regulatory regions). The impact of this study will thereby provide pipelines for functionally identifying causal regulatory SNPs (and regulatory elements) of complex diseases. This will be of enormous benefit for a confident diagnosis, establishing personalized treatment options, and also surveillance for the high-risk patients and their relatives.
• In an other study I will be working to understand the systems genetics of sleep using Drosophila melanogaster as a model system where I would like to develop the relationship between gut microbiome and immune response with sleep in Drosophila.
  
  Awards
• 2021, Fellows Award for Research Excellence (FARE 2022), National Institute of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
• 2017, Postdoctoral Travel award (Award of $500) from Cornell University attend Sperm Biology Meeting held at Sheffield, UK
• 2014-2015, Senior Research Fellowship from University Grants Commission Research Fellowship in Science for Meritorious Students
• 2012-2014, Junior Research Fellowship from University Grants Commission Research Fellowship in Science for Meritorious Students
• 2011, Qualified GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering)
• 2011-2012, Graduate Research Fellowship, Banaras Hindu University, India
• 2010, Honorable Mention in Brain Awareness Week, Banaras Hindu University, India
  
  Others
• Society Service and Memberships: Indian Society of Cell Biology, Genetics Society of America, Society for the Study of Evolution, Society of Molecular Biology and Evolution, Animal Behavior Society
• Editorial and Peer Review Services:
  • Review Editor in Frontiers in Insects Science, Frontiers in Endocrinology, Frontiers in Physiology (special section on Reproduction)
  • Reviewer in journals such as Veterinary Sciences, Advances in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, STAR Protocols, Journal of Clinical Medicine, Animals, Genes, Biology, Cells, Insects, Life, Scientific Reports, Medicina, Journal of Personalized Medicine, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Medical Research Archives, Journal of Scientific Research Reports, Asian Journal of Research in Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, Plant Cell Biotechnology and Molecular Biology