Institute of Bioinformatics

Lavanya M. Nambiar is pursuing her M.Sc. in Bioinformatics at Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) in Manipal. At IOB her research focuses on the microbial genomics of infectious diseases, with an emphasis on antimicrobial resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Deepika S. is pursuing an M.Sc. in Bioinformatics at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) in Manipal. At IOB, she is currently working on her master’s dissertation, which focuses on developing a bioinformatics resource to record and monitor adverse drug reactions in TB patients.

Manjunath B. Malshetty is pursuing his M.Sc. degree in Systems Biology at Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) in Manipal. At IOB, he is working on proteogenomic approaches for refinement of the genome annotation in eukaryotes using high-resolution mass spectrometry data.

Sahana Udupa is pursuing her M.Sc. degree in Bioinformatics at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) in Manipal. At IOB, she is working on Omics data analysis using a machine-learning based approach.

Vineet Upadhayay obtained his M.Sc. degree in Biochemistry from Jiwaji University, Gwalior, MP. At IOB, he did his Master’s dissertation on characterization of non structural proteins (Nsp2) of SARS-CoV-2 and plant serpins.

Gowrang KM obtained his M.Sc. degree in Infection biology from Uppsala University, Sweden. At IOB, he worked on characterization of SARS-CoV-2 envelope protein.

Lasyapriya Kanchi obtained her B.Tech in Biotechnology from NIIT University, Neerana, Rajasthan. At IOB, she worked on understanding the effect of gene mutations in the pathways causing pancreatic cancer.

Rakesh Kumar Yadav obtained his M.Sc. degree in Bioinformatics from Central University of South Bihar, Gaya. At IOB, he worked on variome analysis of SMAD4 in multiple cancer types.

Abhishek Goyal obtained his M.Sc. degree in Molecular Medicine from University of Leeds, United Kingdom. At IOB, he worked on analyzing the interactome of SARS-CoV-2 proteins with human ion channels.

Anushka Chakraborty obtained her B.Tech in Biotechnology from NIIT University, Neerana, Rajasthan. At IOB, she worked on understanding the effect of gene mutations in cell signaling pathways causing colorectal cancer.

R. Madhumita obtained her B.E. in Biotechnology from BMS College of Engineering. At IOB, she worked on the analysis of biosynthetic gene clusters in lichen-forming fungi.

J. Senthilkumar completed Msc Bioinformatics at Bharathiar University ,Coimbatore ,Tamil Nadu. At IOB, he did his Master’s dissertation on Understanding group V4 human serpins and its role in cancer using cancer genomic data integrative bioinformatics analysis

A.K.Lekhashree completed M.Sc. Bioinformatics at Bharathiar University ,Coimbatore ,Tamil Nadu. At IOB, she did her Master’s dissertation as understanding group V3 human serpins and its role in cancer using cancer genomic data integrative bioinformatics analysis.

Delna Mathew obtained her B.Tech. degree in Biotechnology from Sahrdaya College of Engineering and Technology, Calicut University, Kerala. Currently she is pursuing M.Tech. in Bioinformatics from Karunya University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. At IOB, she is working towards the integration and interpretation of phosphoproteomic data through visualization tools and curation of pathways.

C. Lakshmipriya is currently pursuing her B.Tech. degree in Bioinformatics from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. At IOB, she is being trained in analysis of human signaling pathways as a part of her internship program.

Rehmataj Javeed is currently pursuing her B.Tech. degree in Bioinformatics from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. At IOB, she is being trained in analysis of human signaling pathways as a part of her internship program.

Mathumitha Raju is currently pursuing her B.Tech. degree in Bioinformatics from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. At IOB, she is being trained in analysis of human signaling pathways as a part of her internship program.

Sphoorti Sood obtained her B.Tech. degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Currently she is pursuing M.Tech. in Computational Biology from Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Delhi. At IOB, she will be building computational framework for the analysis of genome wide CRISPR/Cas9 data.

Archana Rai obtained her M.Sc. degree in Bioinformatics from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi. She has worked as a software engineer at Cognizant Technology Solutions,Pune for two years where she was involved in developing web applications. Currently she is pursuing P.G. diploma in Bioinformatics and Rational Drug Design from Biotechnology Finishing School (BTFS), Bangalore. At IOB, she will be designing and building computational framework for the analysis of genome wide CRISPR/Cas9 data.

Nayana Gaur obtained her M.Sc. degree in Neuroscience from Kings College, London. She carried out her dissertation studies on biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease. At IOB, she is being trained in sample preperation for mass spectrometry based proteomic analysis, proteomic data analysis and annotation of human signaling pathways.

Anubhav Kaphle obtained his B.E degree in Biotechnology from Siddaganga Institute of Technology, Tumkur. He worked on the de-novo analysis of RNA-Seq data as a part of his B.E major research project. At IOB, he is being trained on the analysis of genomic and proteomic data as a part of his internship program.

Amutha Periyasamy obtained my M.Tech degree from Anna University, Chennai. Currently she is pursuing her Ph.D. work under the guidance of Dr. T. Rajkumar at the Department of Molecular Oncology, Cancer Institute (WIA), Chennai. At IOB, she is being trained in proteomic techniques.

Krutika M. Patil obtained her M.Sc. degree in Bio-technology from University of Mumbai, St. Xavier's College. She worked as Clinical Research Associate in C.L.A.I.M.S. Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, where she conducted and monitored trials on cosmetics and nutraceutical products, she also worked at Hinduja National Hospital and Research Centre, Mumbai where she was Research fellow and she carried out Survey of Antibiotic Resistance of respiratory pathogens, S. pneumoniae, H. influenzae, M. catarrhalis, S. pyogenes. Currently she is pursuing her Ph.D. from National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health (NIRRH), Mumbai, under the guidance of Dr. Srabani Mukherjee. She is funded by CSIR NET fellowship. At IOB, She is studying the molecular mechanism of pathophysiology of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).

Jacinth Rajendra obtained her M.Sc. degree in Biochemistry from University of Calcutta. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. degree under the guidance of Dr. Shilpee Dutt, ACTREC, Mumbai. She is working on understanging the mechanism of radiation resistance in Glioblastoma using quantitative proteomics approach. At IOB, she is doing differential proteomics in radiation resistant cells derived from Glioblastoma cell line using iTRAQ technology.

Dr. Subrat Kumar Das obtained his Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree from Armed Forces Medical College, Pune. Presently he is working as a Medical Officer with Government of India. He is interested in translational research in proteomics as a tool for discovery of diagnostic and prognostic markers in various diseases. At IOB, he is getting trained in development and analysis of human signaling pathways.

Neha Tanushree obtained her M.Sc. degree in biotechnology from CMR Institute of Management Studies, Bangalore affiliated under Bangalore University. She has also worked in Raman Research Institute in a biophysics lab on single molecular experiments. At IOB she is currently being trained in analysis of proteomic data and signaling pathways.

Sandeep Reddy is pursuing Integrated M.sc/M.tech at Insitute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology (IBB), University of Pune. He worked as a trainee at his host institute and various other institutes in field of metabolomics. At IOB he is currently being trained in the analysis of high throughput data.

Vatsal D. Pandey obtained his M.Tech. degree in Industrial Biotechnology from Bharath University, Chennai. He also obtained his M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from Jain University, Bangalore. He received a diploma the Career Award Certificate Program in Bioinformatics from Eauclaire Institute, U.S.A. Currently he is working as a trainee at NIMHANS-IOB laboratory.

Dr. Swati Sood obtained her Ph.D. degree in Life Sciences from Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. She is currently working under the guidance of Prof. S. Radhika as Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Cytology and Gynaecologic Pathology, PGIMER. Her doctoral work focussed on identifying DNA methylation based prognostic and predictive biomarkers in cervical cancer. Her current research work focusses on identification of proteomic biomarkers for the prediction of response in patients with invasive cervical cancer. At IOB, she is being trained in the proteomic techniques and bioinformatics analysis.

Munish Kumar obtained his M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. Currently he is pursuing his Ph.D. course under the guidance of Dr. V. K. Grover at the Department of Anaesthesia, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. At IOB, he is being trained in the techniques of RNA-Seq and bioinformatics analysis.

Poonam Saharan obtained her M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from University of Rajasthan, Rajasthan. Currently she is pursuing her Ph.D. course under the guidance of Dr. V. K. Grover at the Department of Anaesthesia, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. She is being funded by Junior Research Fellowship by UGC. At IOB, she is being trained in the techniques of Metabolomic and bioinformatics analysis.

Ankur Tyagi obtained his M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. He is working as a Junior Research Fellow (JRF) under the guidance of Dr. Hemant Bhagat at the Department of Anaesthesia, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. At IOB, he is being trained in the techniques of RNA-Seq and bioinformatics analysis.

Tanvi Sharma obtained her M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from Panjab University, Chandigarh. Currently she is pursuing her Ph.D. course under the guidance of Dr. Hemant Bhagat at the Department of Anaesthesia, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. At IOB, she is being trained in the techniques of proteomic and bioinformatics analysis.

Kaurab Singh obtained his M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from University of Jammu, India. Currently, he is pursuing his Ph.D. course under the guidance of Dr. Sheetal Gandotra at CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), New Delhi. For this he is analyzing cell-cell interactions between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and human macrophages using molecular biology and proteomic approaches. At IOB, he is being trained in mass spectrometry-based quantitative proteomic approaches.

Benvil C. Rodrigues obtained his B.E. degree in Biotechnology from P. E. S. Institute of Technology, Bangalore. He had worked on a project titled "In vitro analysis of fibrinolytic enzyme of earthworm Perionyx excavatus" as a part of his B.E. course. At IOB, he is being trained in the proteomic data analysis and annotation of signaling pathways.

Ashutosh Rai obtained his M.Sc. degree in Biochemistry from Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra. He is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Neurosurgery, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. He is funded by Junior Research Fellowship from CSIR. At IOB, he is being trained in the techniques of proteomics and bioinformatics analysis.

Himani saini obtained her M.Sc. degree in Biochemistry from Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra. She is a Ph.D student at the Department of Neurosurgery, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. She is funded by Junior Research Fellowship from ICMR. At IOB, she is being trained in the techniques of proteomics and bioinformatics analysis.

Akshatha Prasanna obtained her B.E. degree in Biotechnology from the Viveshvaraya Technological University, Belgaum. Currently she is pursuing M.Tech. degree in Bioinformatics at the Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering, Bangalore. At IOB, she is being trained in the analysis of genomic and proteomic data as part of her internship program.

Mayuri Rane obtained her B.Tech. degree in Biotechnology from the Viveshvaraya Technological University, Belgaum. She worked as a Production Officer at Cipla, Goa for three years. Currently she is pursuing M.Tech. degree in Bioinformatics at the Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering, Bangalore. At IOB, she is being trained in the analysis of genomic and proteomic data as part of her internship program.

Padmavathi Patelkana obtained her B.Tech. degree in Bioinformatics from the S.R.M University, Chennai. She worked as a Project Engineer at Wipro Technologies, Bangalore. Currently she is pursuing M.Tech. degree in Bioinformatics at the Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering, Bangalore. At IOB, she is being trained in the analysis of genomic and proteomic data as part of her internship program.

Sureetha Asokan obtained her masters degree in Nutrition Food Service Management and Dietetics and Biochemistry at Avinashilingam Deemed University. She also obtained a masters degree in Molecular Biology with an emphasis on Bioinformatics from San Jose State University, California. She has worked with immunohistochemical mapping of Bone Morphogenetic Protein 4 in developing chick heart embryo and also semaphorins in cancer. Her primary area of interest is signal transduction pathways especially calcium signaling.

Dr. Vaishali Kerekatte obtained her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, U.S.A. Subsequently, she carried out her post-doctoral research at the University of California at Berkeley, USA, where she was analyzing chemotherapeutic effects of indole compounds on breast cancer cells. She has been working in the Life Sciences industry for about 5 years as a technical specialist. At IOB, she is working on the chemokine signal transduction pathway, with an emphasis on CXCL12 signaling.

Vinayakumar C. Karintha obtained his M.Sc. degrees in 'Chemistry' and 'Material Science and Engineering' from Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam and University of Arizona in Tuscon, respectively. Subsequently, he also obtained his M.E. degree in Bioinformatics from University of Chicago. He has been working as a software developer for the last 13 years. His major expertses include web based application development using JAVA, Coldfusion, PHP platforms and relational databases including MySql and Oracle. Currently, he is working as a Principal Consultant with AccionLabs, Bangalore. At IOB, he is being trained in the analysis of human signaling pathways.

Chithra Mathews, obtained her M.Sc. degree in Bioinformatics from Union Christian College, Aluva affiliated to Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala. At IOB she is being trained on development and analysis of human signaling pathways.

Debalina Das Majumder obtained her M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from Assam Central University. She has worked as R & D Assistant in a project entitled "Role of RNAi machinery on heterochromatin assembly and silencing in Drosophila" in the joint collaboration of Indian Institute of Chemical Technology and Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad. She has worked on another DBT funded project "Functional characterization of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) PE/PPE protein having SH3 binding domain" at the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad. At IOB, she is being trained in the analysis of human signaling pathways.

Karishma Kumar obtained her B.Tech. degree in Biotechnology from the M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore. She has been working as a Senior Systems Engineer at Infosys Limited, Bangalore for four years. Currently she is pursuing M.Tech. degree in Bioinformatics at the Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering, Bangalore. At IOB, she is being trained in the analysis of genomic and proteomic data as part of her internship program.

Komal H. Nandeesh obtained her B.E. degree in Computer Science from the Viveshvaraya Technological University, Belgaum. Currently she is pursuing M.Tech. degree in Bioinformatics at the Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering, Bangalore. At IOB, she is being trained in the analysis of the analysis of genomic and proteomic data as part of her internship program.

Raghavendra K. Shivappa obtained his B.E. degree in Information Science and Engineering from the Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum. Currently he is pursuing M.Tech. degree in Bioinformatics at the Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering, Bangalore. At IOB, he is being trained in the analysis of genomic and proteomic data as part of his internship program.

Sunitha S. Reddy obtained her B.E. degree in Information Science and Engineering from the Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum. Currently she is pursuing M.Tech. in Bioinformatics at the Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering, Bangalore. At IOB, she is being trained in the analysis of genomic and proteomic data as part of her internship program.

Sushma S. Ananda obtained her B.E. degree in Biotechnology from the Acharya Institute of Technology, Bangalore. Currently she is pursuing M.Tech. degree in Biotechnology at the Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering, Bangalore. At IOB-NIMHANS laboratory, she is being trained in the proteomic analysis of human brain as part of her internship program.

Preethi V. Gopinathan obtained her B.E. degree in Medical Electronics Engineering from the Viveshvaraya Technological University, Belgaum. Currently she is pursuing M.Tech. degree in Bioinformatics at the Oxford College of Engineering, Bangalore. At IOB, she is being trained in the analysis of NextGen sequecing data as part of her internship program.

Shruthi Prakash obtained her B.E. degree in Computer Science from the Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum. Currently she is pursuing M.Tech. degree in Bioinformatics at the Oxford College of Engineering, Bangalore. At IOB, she is being trained in the analysis of NextGen sequencing data as part of her internship program.

Jayasankar M. J. obtained his B.Sc. degree in Microbiology from Amrita University. Kollam. Currently he is pursuing his M.Sc. degree in Computational Biology and Bioinformatcs from Amrita University. At IOB, he is being trained on development and analysis of human signaling pathways.

Preeti Rawat obtained her M.Sc degree in Systems Biology and Bioinformatics from the Panjab University, Chandigarh. Her academic project involved identification of miRNAs associated with pancreatic adenocarcinoma. At IOB she is being trained on development and analysis of human signaling pathways.

Rashmi Rikhi obtained her M.Sc degree in Systems Biology and Bioinformatics from the Panjab University, Chandigarh. Her academic project involved prediction of suitable model organism for pre-clinical trials in the treatment of Glaucoma. At IOB she is being trained on development and analysis of human signaling pathways.

Harshavardhan Budamgunta obtained his M.S. degree in Medical Biotechnology from Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. Currently he is working as a Research Assistant in the lab of Dr. Roman Zubarev, MBB, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. His major area of focus is in sample preparation, method devolopment in LC, LC-UV, LC-MS/MS and clinical proteomics. At IOB, he is being trained in programming using python and biopython.

Dr. Nivedita Mitra obtained her Ph.D. in Biophysics from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. She has done her postdoctoral work at UC San Diego and Yale University in Molecular and Cell Biology and Biochemistry. Currently she is working as a senior key expert at Siemens Healthcare India. Her research interest is in in-vitro diagnostics.

Dr. Ruchi Gaur obtained her M.Sc., M.Tech. and Ph.D. in Chemistry from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi. During her postdoc at The State University of New York (SUNY), Buffalo, US, she worked on multicopper oxidases in Bradyrhizobium japonicum and deciphered the mechanism of iron uptake in Candida albicans. She has also worked at University of Konstanz, Germany on marker protein elucidation in HPV induced carcinogenesis (E6AP inactivation) using Mass-Spectrometry. Later, at National Brain Research Centre, Manesar she worked on marker proteins identification in Angelman Syndrome (neuro developmental disorder) by Yeast-2-Hybridization Technique. Currently, as a Senior Scientific Officer, she is working in DBT-IOC Centre for Advanced Bioenergy Research, Indian Oil Corporation, R &D Centre, Faridabad. Her project encompasses utilization of different pretreatment technologies for bios to bioethanol for economical utililization of lignocellulosic biomass.

Dr. Stany B. C. is M.D. in Microbiology from Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Bangalore. She is currently working as a Senior Resident in Department of Microbiology in Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Bangalore. She has worked on infection control measures in intensive care unit and isolation of non-tuberculous mycobacteria from clinical samples. Her current interest is on incorporating molecular methods to detect mycobacteria from extrapulmonary and pulmonary samples.

Dr. Vijay B. Baladhye obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry from Dr. Babasaheb Ambedakar Marathwada University, Aurangabad. Currently, he is working as an Assistant Professor at Bioinformatics Centre, Savitribai Phule, Pune University. His research areas are Proteomics and Bioinformatics. His current research focuses on epiproteomic profiling of yeasts in response to chemical carcinogens. His study includes design and development of non-standard amino acid database (NSAAdb), develpoment of selenocystein and selenocysteine insertion sequence (SECIS) element prediction tool and understanding function of novel proteins for functional annotation.

Dr. K. Bhanuprakash obtained her Ph.D. degree in plant physiology from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. Currently, he is working as Principal Scientist in the department of plant physiology at Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore. His current research is on identification and characterization of plant proteins expressed under abiotic stress condition. He is also working on isolation and characterization of proteins regulating seed viability in horticultural crops.

Dr. P. Sriyutha Murthy obtained his Ph.D. degree in Zoology from University of Madras under Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS) fellowship. He is currently working as a Scientific Officer at Biofouling and Biofilm Processes Section of Water & Steam Chemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Center Facilities (BARC), Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) Campus, Kalpakkam. His current research focuses on identifying cues involved in settlement of barnacle larvae, biomarker in response to biocidal exposure and climate change effects on invertebrate larvae at the proteome level.

Dr. Anitha R.Sagarkar obtained her M.Sc. degree from Government Dental College, Bangalore. She is presently pursuing Ph.D.at M S Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, Bangalore. She is undergoing training on proteomics for her project on oral cancer.

Gorakh Raj Giri completed his M.Sc. in Biotechnology from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal. Currently, he is pursuing Ph.D. degree in Biotechnology in South Asian University, New Delhi. At IOB he had taken four days Workshop on Mass Spectrometry based Quantitative Proteomics for Beginners.

Himani Ashra obtained her M.Sc. degree in Botany from Delhi University. She is currently pursuing Ph.D. from International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi. Her work aims to identify salivary glands proteins from the insect. Brown planthopper (BPH) that interact with a protein from rice plants that is known to provide resistance against all biotypes of BPH.

Pooja Dixit obtained her M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from Panjab University, Chandigarh. Currently she is pursuing her Ph.D. under a collaborative project of DBT-IOC Centre for Advanced Bioenergy Research, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), R&D Centre, Faridabad, Haryana and Deakin University, Australia. She is working on isolation & identification of fungal accessory proteins involved in lignocellulosic biomass deconstruction.

Surbhi Goswami obtained her M.Sc. degree from Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. She is pursuing her Ph.D. from Chemical Glycobiology laboratory, National Institute of Immunology (NII), New Delhi. Her research interest includes application of metabolic glycan engineering (MGE) to alter cell surface glycans and its impact on cellular interactions and metabolic diseases.

Vandana Thakur obtained her M.Tech. degree in Biotechnology from West Bengal University of Technology (WBUT) and B.Tech. in Biotechnology from Amity University , Noida. Currently she is pursuing Ph.D. degree in malaria at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi. She is working on Plasmodium falciparum. Her lab aims to study organelle division and its related mechanism to identify novel drug targets.

Dibya Ghimire obtained her M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from South Asian University, New Delhi. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. from the same University. At IOB, she is being trained in sample preparation of mass- spectrometry based proteomic analysis and proteomic data analysis.

Athulya Ramesh obtained her M.Sc. degree from Amrita School of Biotechnology, Kerala. She is currently working as a Research Assistant at Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Biomedical Science and Technology, Kerala. Her recent work focuses on diabetic related cardiovascular diseases.

Ashwini A Shahadani has obtained her M.Sc. in Microbiology from Nagpur University and M.Phil. in Microbiology from Bharathidasan Open University, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu. Currently she is pursuing her Ph.D. from Department of Biotechnology, Businayana Mukundadas Sreenivasaiah College of Engineering (BMSCE), Bangalore. She is working on isolation, purification and characterization of antimicrobial peptides.

Nadine de Souza obtained her M.Sc. degree in Microbiology from the University of Pune. She is currently a Ph.D. student at the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa. Her area of study is the bioremediation of textile dyes using marine bacteria with a focus on understanding the mechanism of dye decolorization.

Ajay kumar obtained his M.Sc. in Plant Biotechnology from Genetics and Plant Breeding department of Banaras Hindu University (BHU). Currently, he is working as a Senior Research Fellow in Biotechnology division, CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh. His study aims to identify potential regulator related to tea quality.

Shruti Shah obtained her M.Sc. degree in marine microbiology from Goa University. She is currently working as a project assistant in the department of marine biotechnology in CSIR- National Institute of Oceanography, Goa. Her current research involves using marine bacteria for bioremediation of tannery and textile effluents. Her study aims to profile proteins of the organisms having heavy metal tolerance.

Elroy Joe Pereira obtained his M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from the Life Sciences Institute, Manipal. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. at the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa. His study focuses on the bioremediation of chromium by marine bacteria.

Aditi Bhowmik obtained her M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from SRM University, Tamil Nadu. She completed her Ph.D. from Department of Biotechnology, Assam University, Silchar on head and neck cancer in the population of Southern Assam. Her research interest includes study of alterations of different tumor suppressor genes in head and neck cancer (HNC) patients as well as early detection of HNC with the help of peripheral blood lymphocytes.

Sudipa Galgalkar obtained her M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded, Maharashtra. Currently, she is working with Siemens Healthcare, India as Lead Research Engineer. Her area of interest is to evaluate and understand clinically relevant advance diagnostic techniques.

Mohd Asad is currently working as a Research Associate at the Parasite Cell Biology Group at International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi. He did his PhD in Malaria Biology. His research work includes identification and characterization of various parasite proteins involved in the lipidmetabolism of Plasmodium falciparum which can be developed as drug targets.

Harish Shrikrishna Bharambe obtained his degree of M. S. (Pharm) Biotechnology from National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Hajipur, Bihar . He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. under the guidance of Prof. Neelam V. Shirsat, at Advanced Center for Treatment Research and Education in Cancer-Tata Memorial Center, Kharghar, Navi Mumbai. His study focuses on identification of the functional role of microRNAs in the pathogenesis of medulloblastoma.

Dr. Rajesh Kumar Vaid graduated in Veterinary Sciences from Haryana Agricultural University (HAU), Hisar in 1991. He joined as an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Scientist in Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in 1997 at Central Institute for Research on Goats (CIRG), Mathura. He obtained his Ph.D. in Veterinary Public Health from G B Pant University of Science and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand in 2004, in which he worked on Brucella proteins. Subsequently, he joined National Research Centre on Equines (NRCE), Hisar to work for establishment of microbial repository and is presently working as a Principal Scientist at National Centre for Veterinary Type Cultures (NCVTCC), NRCE, Hisar. As in-charge of Bacteriology Laboratory at NCVTCC, his research interests include genomic characterization of veterinary pathogens in microbial repository of NCVTCC, NRCE, Hisar. He is interested in polyphasic chracterization of novel veterinary bacterial species and studies on antimicrobial resistance of animal pathogens.

Dr Prabhakar S Kedar is a Scientist D in the Department of Hematogenetics at the National Institute of Immunohaematology (ICMR) Mumbai, India. He has completed his Ph.D. in Biotechnology from Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan under DST-JSPS Ronpaku Program in 2007. Further, he has obtained his post doctoral fellowship from the Harvard Medical School Boston, USA. He has also had training at MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine (WIMM) University Of Oxford (UK), His lab is currently working on various aspects of hematological disorders such as diagnosis and understanding molecular genetics and pathogenesis of red cell enzymopathies , red cell membrane disorders and methemoglobinemia by elucidating various genetic mutations.

Dr. P. Sandeep Koka obtained his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Tulane University, USA. His work focused on the role of oxidative stress induced apoptosis mechanisms in prostate cancer cells. He then joined Bio-Rad Laboratories as Field Application Specialist and was involved in multiple roles such as customer support, sales support and marketing. Currently he is a Facility Manager for SRM-DBT partnership platform project for Advanced Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd. (alspl).

Dr. Anuj Kumar obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular Virology from Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in 2015. His Ph.D. work involved deciphering the mechanism of hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication and developing anti-HCV agents. Currently, he is working as a Research Associate at National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) Bangalore. His project work deals with whole genome sequencing of Flaviviruses using next generation sequencing platform.

Dr Deepali Krishan Bhat obtained her Ph.D. in renal transplantation from Department of Transplant Immunology and Immunogenetics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi. Her work involved studying the role of HLA, MICA and NKG2D receptor molecules in renal allograft prognosis. She is currently working as a post doctoral fellow at National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore. Her project aims at understanding the immune responses in the marine organisms focussing on the immune regulatory checkpoints.

Dr Maroudam Veerasami obtained her Ph.D.in Biotechnology from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), Hyderabad. She is currently working as a Scientist in Translation Research Platform for Veterinary Biological, DBT-TANUVAS, Chennai. She was involved in an Indo-UK project for development of recombinant BCG vaccine and diagnostics for animal TB and received a BIG-BIRAC award for developing an affordable Animal TB diagnostics. She is interested in identifying specific diagnostics proteins for differentiation of pathogenic and non-pathogenic TB.

Dr. Debpriyo Kumar Dey obtained his B.Sc. degree in Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandary (B.V.Sc. & A.H.) from Assam Agricultural University and is registered as a practising Veterinary Physician under the Veterinary Council of India. Currently, he is pursuing his M.Sc. in Animal Biochemistry from Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. His work in the immunochemistry lab of the Animal Biochemistry Division deals with immunological studies and characteristic effects of peptides on osteoblasts and bone health. His main area of research focuses on the effects of neuropeptide Y on osteoblasts and their gene-marker expression.

Dr. Sushant S. Vinarkar obtained his M.D. degree and Senior Residency in Pathology at Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), Mumbai and one year Post-Doctoral Certificate Courses (PDCC) in Haematopathology from P.D. Hinduja Hospital and Research Centre, Mumbai. He is presently pursuing his fellowship in Molecular Genetics at Tata Medical Centre, Kolkata. His main interests are in the field of Haematopathology and solid tumours pathology.

Malini Menon obtained her M.Sc. in Biotechnology from Banasthali University, Rajasthan. Currently she is pursuing her Ph.D. in the HIV-AIDS Laboratory, JNCASR, Bangalore under the guidance of Prof Udaykumar Ranga. Her research interest includes the identification of functional significance of HIV-1 Tat signature amino acid residues (SAR).

Sonam Verma obtained her M.Sc. in Biochemistry from University of Lucknow, Lucknow. Currently she is working as a Ph.D student in the Reproductive Cell Biology Laboratory, National Institute of Immunology (NII), New Delhi under the guidance of Dr S.K.Gupta. Her research interest includes the role of different cytokines on the process of trophoblast invasion.

Deepak Balamurali completed his M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from SRM University, Kattankulathur, Tamil Nadu. He has previously worked with Lifecell International as an Executive in the Cord Tissue Processing Department for a period of 13 months. He is currently employed as a Project Associate with the National Cancer Tissue Biobank- an organization which functions at the Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. At present, he is working on exome sequencing of tumor samples using the NGS platform.

Aniket G. Patankar obtained his M.Sc. in Biotechnology from Fergusson College, Pune. He is pursuing his Ph.D in the Department of Gamete Immunobiology (GIB) under the guidance of Dr. Priyanka Parte at the National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health (NIRRH), Mumbai. His area of research is abnormal chromatin compaction and its effect on fertlity. His project focuses on significance of retained histones in mature human spermatozoa.

Premakumari Venkatesh obtained her M.S. in Translational Biotechnology from University of Florida and her B.Tech in Biotechnology from St. Peters University. She is currently working as a Senior Research Fellow in the "Animal Biotechnology Career Enhancement Program" in Translational Research Platform for Veterinary Biologics (TRPVB) at Chennai. Her current research focuses on "Expression of candidate miRNAs in dogs with dilated cardiomyopathy".

Vijaya Lakshmi K obtained her M.Tech. in Genetic Engineering from SRM University and her B.Tech. in Biotechnology from Prathyusha Institute of Technology and Management, affiliated to Anna University, Chennai. Currently she is working as a Senior Research Fellow in BIG-BIRAC grant for the project titled "Affordable point of care animal TB diagnostic kit for TB control" at the Translational Research Platform for Veterinary Biologicals (TRPVB), TANUVAS, Chennai.

John Peter obtained his M.Tech in Biotechnology from Sathyabama University, Chennai. Presently he is working as a project scientist at National Cancer Tissue Bio-bank, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai.

Shrikant Jagannathrao Karegaonkar is pursuing his Ph.D. in the field of Plant Molecular Biology from CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India. He completed his M.Sc. in Biotechnology from Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University (SRTM) university, Nanded. Currently he is working on isolation, cloning and functional characterization of genes involved in the synthesis of terpenes in plants.

Athulya Ram is currently registered for a BS-MS dual degree program in Mathematics at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram. She is working under Prof. M. P. Rajan in mathematical modelling of biological systems.

Parvathi S is currently pursuing a BS-MS Dual degree at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram. She is currently working on "Mathematical Modeling of Cancer Cells" under Dr. M P Rajan, Professor, Department of Mathematics, IISER, Thiruvananthapuram.

Neha PRS is currently pursuing a BS MS dual degree program at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram. For her Masters project, she is involved in mathematical modelling of cancer under the guidance of Prof. M P Rajan.

Sharvani S Nandikol obtained her M.Sc. degree in Biochemistry from Gulbarga University, Gulbarga, Karnataka. Presently she is a Junior Research Fellow at CSIR-NCL, Pune.

Dr. Sunil G. Babu obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, A.P. in 2006. In 2001 he joined as a Lecturer in Biochemistry at Bundlkhand University, Jhansi, U.P, there he served for 4.5 years and joined in Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, U.P as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biotechnology in 2005. His research interests include the role of SNP's in cancer progression and prevention, host-pathogen interactions at miRNA level and immunomodulation. Currently his lab is engaged in predicting and evaluating the functional role of viral miRNA's on cellular mRNAs.

Raksha A. Ganesh obtained her M.Sc. degree in Genetics from University of Mysore, Mysore. She is currently pursuing her PhD under Dr. Ravi Sirdeshmukh at Mazumdar Shaw Center for Translational Reseach (MSCTR),Bangalore, whose lab works on discovery proteomics to clinical applications on Glioblastoma multiforme and low grade gliomas. Her research work involves developing draft pathway map of an orphan GPCR in Glioblastoma multiforme through experimental and bioinformatics approach.

Archana Chaudhari obtained her M.Sc. degree from Calicut University, Kerala. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Biochemistry Department from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (MSU), Gujarat. She is working as a DBT- SRF in the Probiotics Group of MSU. Her doctoral work focuses on development of genetically engineered Escherichia coli strains for amelioration of fructose induced dietary disorders.

Ruma Raghuvanshi obtained her M.Sc. degree in Industrial Biotechnology from Sardar Patel University, Gujarat. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Biochemistry Department from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (MSU), Gujarat. Her research interest is in developing novel genetic engineered Probiotics.

Lakshmi Mahendrawada obtained her M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad. Currently she is working as a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Her research topic is on the Chromosomal Instability and Organization in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Neelam Maharshi obtained her M.Sc. degree in Biochemistry from University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal. Currently she is working as a Junior Research Fellow at the Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Her research topic is on the Chromosomal Instability and Organization in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Deepash Kothiwal obtained his M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from Suresh Gyan Vihar University, Jaipur. Currently he is working as a Senior Research Fellow at the department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. His research topic is on the Chromosomal Instability and Organization in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Dr. Nikhil Ratna obtained his M.B.B.S degree from Dr.NTR University of Health Sciences, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India. He is pursuiing his Ph.D. in Clinical Neurosciences at NIMHANS under ICMR fellowship. His work includes clinical assessment of patients with neuropsychiatric illnesses and pursue research in specified area. His study focuses on understanding the mechanisms of Huntington's disease and other proteopathic neurodegenerative disorders using patient derived lymphoblastoid and other cell lines and transgenic drosophila models.

Dr.Sharad Daulatrao Pawar is currently working as a Research Officer (Pharmacology) at the National Research Institute of Basic Ayurvedic Sciences (NRIBAS), Pune. He obtained his M.V.Sc. degree in Pharmacology and Toxicology from Bombay Veterinary College, Mumbai and Ph.D. in Biochemistry under guidance of Dr. Rajesh Dabur at NRIBAS, Pune (affiliated to University of Pune). His research areas are in vitro screening of Ayurvedic drugs for their anticancer and antidiabetic activities using cell based assays and to explore their mechanism of action using mass spectrometry platform.

Dr. Shashi Prakash Singh obtained his Ph.D. degree from Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai. He worked on the molecular genetic characterization of thyroxine 5' deiodinase in Dictyostelium. He is currently pursuing his postdoctoral work with the group of Dr. R. Baskar at Indian Institute of Technology Madras. His current research focuses on identification of caffeine targets and proteins involved in lateral inhibition.

Sanjay S. Bankapur obtained his M.Tech (Computer Science) from International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. from National Institute of Technology (NIT), Surathkal under the guidance of Dr. Nagamma Patil. His current research involves designing and developing efficient algorithms for Predicting Protein Structures.

Manojkumar Vilas Avaghade obtained his M.Sc. degree in Medical biotechnology from Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences, Ahmednagar. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. under Dr. Dhiman Sarkar at CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. His research work involves drug target identification, protein purification and characterization.

Amreesh Parvez obtained his M.Sc. degree in life science from JNU, New Delhi, India. He is a Ph.D. student under the guidance of Dr. Priti Saxena at South Asian University, New Delhi. His work focuses on lipid modifying enzyme, Escherichia coli based metabolomics, biofilm metabolomics and proteomic approaches for mycobacteria.

Vandita Dwivedi obtained her M.Sc. degree in Zoology from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. She is a Ph.D. student at National Institute of Immunology (NII), New Delhi. She is currently working at Chemical Glycobiology laboratory (NII) under Dr. S. Gopalan Sampathkumar. Her work focuses on the role played by glycans in modulating various cellular, physiological and Immunological events.

Veena Sinha obtained her M.Sc. degree in Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from Delhi University. She is pursuing her Ph.D. degree from the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi, registered with Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, under the guidance of Dr. Neeti Sanan Mishra. Her current research work at ICGEB involves analysing the mechanism of salt stress in B2 overexpressing plants and checking for FHVB2 interacting partners that impart salt stress in this system. Her work focuses on validating additional networking elements that may be involved in regulating gene expression through miRNAs.

Shafeeque C. M. obtained his M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from Bharathiar University, Coimbatore. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree at Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), Thiruvananthapuram under the guidance of Dr. Moinak Banerjee. His study focuses on methylation pathway genes which respond to environmental cues and regulate gene expression.

Sandeep Sharma obtained his M.Sc. degree from Kumaun University, Nainital. He is currently working as a Research Fellow in Division of Plant Physiology, Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) Pusa Campus, New Delhi. His current research work is on plant mineral nutrition.

Devasmita Chakravarty obtained her M.Sc. degree in Microbiology from St. Xavier's College, Kolkata. Presently she is working as a Junior Research Fellow at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata under the guidance of Dr.Arun Bandyopadhyay. Her broad area of research is in cardiovascular diseases.

Arti Sharma obtained her M.Sc. degree in Biochemistry from University of Jiwaji, Gwalior. She is currently a Ph.D. student under the guidance of Dr. S. Ponmariappan at the Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE), Gwalior. Her study focuses on identification of surface biomarker of Clostridium botulinum which can be used as a diagnostic or vaccine candidate molecule against botulism.

Rahul Chavan is working as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at UM-DAE Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences , Mumbai University. He recently submitted his Ph.D. degree thesis in Applied Biology to Mumbai University, his work involved influenza research from the Haffkine Institute of Training, Research and Testing, Mumbai. His research focuses on the discovery of predictive biomarkers in viral infections especially in influenza and malarial infections.

Nikhil Skariah Samuel obtained his M.Sc. degree in Bioinformatics from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. He has completed a project on the effects of monosodium glutamate in probiotic bacteria and human peripheral cells. He worked on the analysis of RNA-Seq data as a part of his M.Sc. project.

Rohan Vijaykumar Kansara obtained his M.Sc. degree in Plant Biotechnology from Navsari Agricultural University, Gujarat. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree under the guidance of Dr. R. M. Patel in Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at Navsari Agricultural University, Gujarat. His research work involves to regenerate finger millet plants against blast disease tolerance through in vitro mutagenesis.

Rakesh Kumar Tiwari obtained his M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Uttar Pradesh and M.Phil degree in Biotechnology from Madurai Kamraj University, Tamil Nadu. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree under the guidance of Dr. Madhulika Dixit at Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai. His study focuses on understanding the molecular pathways initiating endothelial dysfunction in diabetic patients.

Nagalakshmi N. obtained her M.Sc. degree in Medical Microbiology from Kasturba Medical College, Manipal. She is currently working as a lecturer at Department of Microbiology, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal. Her study focuses on the development of therapeutic agents against multidrug resistant bacteria and evaluation of in vitro and in vivo bactericidal activity of lysostaphin against methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

P. Umadevi obtained her M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from the School of Biotechnology, Madurai Kamaraj University, Tamil Nadu. She is currently working as a Scientist (Biotechnology) at the Indian Institute of Spices Research (ICAR), Kozhikode, Kerala. Her study focuses on the application of proteomics in host- pathogen interaction, biotic and abiotic stress of black pepper and mining of antimicrobial peptides from spice crops.

Dr. Varun Dhir obtained his MBBS and MD (Medicine) degrees from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi and a Doctor of Medicene degree (DM) in Clinical Immunology from Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), Lucknow. He joined Post Graduation Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh as faculty in 2011. His major area of interest is rheumatological diseases, specifically rheumatoid arthritis and the action of the disease modifying anti-rheumatic drug Methotrexate.

Dr. Shampa Sarkar (Biswas) obtained her Ph.D. degree in life sciences from CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (CSIR-IICB), Kolkata. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Physiology in the Department of Biological Sciences, Presidency University, Kolkata. Her doctoral work focussed on the role of Nitric oxide and embryo-implantation. Her current research work emphasizes on the cross talk of signalling molecules in embryos and the endometrial bed in different disease models like Premature Ovarian Failure (POF) and Endometriosis.

Dr. Prabir. K. Mukhopadhyay is an Associate Professor of Physiology in the Department of Biological Sciences, Presidency University, Kolkata. He has obtained his Ph.D degree in Science from CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (CSIR-IICB), Kolkata. His doctoral work focussed on Implantation associated rat uterine Mannose-binding protein. His current reasearch activities are focussed on Environmental toxicity. His investigations are to determine the mitigatory aspect of arsenic toxicity using dietary modulations.

Ms. Kalyani P. obtained her M.Sc. degree in Food Biotechnology from Oil Technological Research Institute, Anantapur. She is a Ph.D. student at Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad (JNTUH) under the guidance of Dr. Kaiser Jamil and has submitted her thesis on ‘Genetic aspects of anemia in cancers’. Her research interests include nutrition genomics and cancer biology.

Neetika Jaisinghani obtained her M.Sc. degree in Life Sciences from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. under Dr. Sheetal Gandotra at CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), New Delhi, whose lab mainly works on host- pathogen interactions in Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Her research work involves elucidating the mechanism of lipid uptake by Mycobacteria from the host and foamy macrophage formation.

Ankur Bothra obtained his M.Sc. degree in Molecular and Human Genetics from Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi. He is currently a Ph.D. scholar at CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), New Delhi under the guidance of Dr. Vivek Rao. His research work involves understanding the intricacies of lipid metabolic pathways in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. His prime objective is to understand the biological/molecular funtion(s) of Mmpl family of genes in the same. He is currently studying the underlying pathobiology of tuberculosis from the pathogen perspective.

Dr. Radhika Srinivasan obtained her M.D. degree in Pathology from Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh and her Ph.D. was in cancer research from the Imperial College School of Medicine (Hammersmith Hospital Campus), London. She is currently working as a Professor in the Department of Cytology and Gynecological Pathology at PGIMER, Chandigarh. Her research interests include the application of molecular diagnostic markers in Fine-needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) and discovery of diagnostic, prognostic and predictive biomarkers in gynecological cancers especially cervical and endometrial cancers. She is a member of the expert committee for developing guidelines for screening and management of cervical cancer.

Dr. Kusum Sharma obtained her M.D degree in Microbiology from Government Medical College, Amritsar in 2001. After finishing her Senior Residency, joined the institute in 2005 as faculty. She is currently designated as associate professor in Medical Microbiology department at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. Her fields of interest include molecular diagnosis of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis such as, Tuberculous meningitis, Ocular Tuberculosis, Gastrointestinal Tuberculosis etc. and studying drug resistance and pathogenesis of extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and tuberculosis (TB) co-infections.

Dr. Nalini Gupta is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cytology and Gynaecological Pathology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. She did her senior residency in Pathology from PGIMER and was selected as Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) fellow in the Young Bio-medical scientists program at the Manchester Cytology Centre, Manchester, U.K. She learnt liquid-based cytology (LBC) and its various applications during this fellowship and conducted numerous workshops in LBC throughout the country. Her main area of research interest includes development of new bio-markers and prognostic markers in gynaecological cancers especially cervical and endometrial cancers. She is a cytopathologist and has worked on human papillomavirus detection in oesophageal, head and neck and cervical cancers.

Dr. Pradeep Kumar obtained his Ph. D degree in Veterinary Gynaecology and Obstetrics from Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izatnagar. He is currently working as a scientist in the Department of Animal Physiology and Reproduction at ICAR- Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes, Hisar, Haryana. His research interests include semen biology, semen proteomics and discovery of predictive biomarkers for bull fertility.

Mr. Kaurab Singh obtained his M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from University of Jammu, India. He is a Ph.D. student under the guidance of Dr. Sheetal Gandotra at CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), New Delhi. His study aims on analyzing cell-cell interactions between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and human macrophages using molecular biology and proteomic approaches. At IOB, he is being trained in Mass Spectrometry-based quantitative proteomic technologies.

Ms. Bhairavi Vajaria obtained her M.Sc degree in Biochemistry from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara. She is pursuing her Ph.D. degree from the Gujarat Cancer and Research Insitute (GCRI), Ahmedabad, registered with The M.S. University of Baroda, Vadodara under the guidance of Dr. Prabhudas S. Patel. Her current research work at GCRI involves monitoring of glycosylation changes in oral precancerous conditions and Oral Cancer (from blood and saliva) for early detection, prognosis and treatment monitoring of oral cancer patients.

Mrs. Avinash Kaur obtained M.Tech (Biotechnology) from National Institute of Technology (NIT), Durgapur and is currently pursuing Ph.D. degree at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi, under the guidance of Dr. Dinesh Kalyanasundaram. Her current research interest involves designing of medical devices for early detection, quantification of common diseases (Cholera, Rheumatic fever, etc.) from saliva samples and to study the relationship between the inflammatory biomarkers and changes in pH at the site of implant for the development of innovative orthodentic sensor.

Dr. Kaveri Sidhu obtained her Ph.D. degree from International Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi, where she worked on analyzing the relationship between structure and function in hepatitis B virus X protein. She is currently working as a research associate at ICGEB in the Virology Group. Her current research interest involves studying the role of trans-acting transcription factors and cis-DNA elements in determining the selection and firing from mammalian origins of DNA replication.

Ms. Razia Sultana obtained his B.E, M.Tech. degree in Biotechnology from Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum. She previously worked as Research Associate in the Microbiology and Mutagenicity lab. She is currently working as a Research Associate in the air pollution related diseases and diagnostic centre in SDS Tuberculosis Research Centre and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (SDS TRC & RGICD), Bangalore. She is also involved in establishing a research facility named as Advanced Molecular Diagnostic Research Centre in SDS TRC & RGICD.

Dr. Vijaya Pandey obtained her Ph.D. degree in Life Sciences from the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi. She is currently working as a Research Associate in the Virology Group of ICGEB. Her doctoral work focused on unravelling the mechanisms of deregulation of cellular replication factors by viral oncoprotein Hepatitis B virus X antigen (HBx). Her current research focusses on deciphering strategies employed by viral oncoproteins (such as HBx of HBV and E6 and E7 oncoproteins encoded by Human papilloma virus) playing a role in epigenetic alterations contributing to virus-induced cancers.

Dr. A. Sudhakar obtained his Ph.D. degree from Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai, India. He is currently working at Animal Breeding group, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), India. He is interested in genetic improvement of cattle and studying genomic selection in cattle and buffalo to improve milk production and fertility traits. His group coordinates genetic improvement programs on 7 breed combinations in dairy cattle and 4 breeds of buffalo in India under National Dairy Plan apart from technically and financially supporting semen stations across country to produce disease free frozen semen doses from high genetic merit bulls.

Dr. Manjulatha K. is a Principal Investigator, DST WOSA, at the University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India. She obtained her Ph.D. degree from Gulbarga University, Karnataka, India. Her research interests include metabolomics of natural products by systematic study of unique chemical fingerprints of small molecule metabolites. This involves understanding their biological importance and interactions with macro and small molecules in biological systems using hyphenated techniques such as LC-MS, GC-MS and NMR-based studies. She is also interested in studying the synthesis of small molecules using "greener" techniques and medicinal chemistry in anti-infectives, anticancer molecules and antioxidants.

Prof. Adhar C. Manna is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the Presidency University, Kolkata, India. He completed his Ph.D. in molecular biology from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi before working as a Research Associate at the Duke University Medical Center, North Carolina, USA. Further, he has obtained his post doctoral fellowship from the Rockefeller University, New York, USA. He has also held the post of Research Assistant Professor at Dartmouth Medical School, USA followed by a stint as Assistant Professor at the University of South Dakota, USA. His lab is currently working on various aspects of biology such as (i) understanding molecular genetics and pathogenesis of S. aureus to develop anti-virulence by elucidating virulence gene regulation by Sar family of transcriptional regulators; (ii) developing antimicrobials based on ZnO nanoparticles; and (iii) production of biofuels using waste materials.

Dr. K. J. Suneetha is a Technical Officer at the Laboratory of Fungal Pathogenesis, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad. She obtained her Ph.D. degree from the University of Madras, Chennai in 2013. Currently, she is working on "Iron homeostasis in Candida glabrata". She is interested in understanding response of Candida glabrata, an opportunistic pathogen, to iron availability in the human host.

Dr. Archana Bharadawaj Siva is a Principal Scientist at the CSIR-Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India. She obtained her Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. Currently, she has initiated work in the evolving area of Microbiome-Metabolome inter relationship in health and diseases. Her primary area of interest is to identify the molecular basis of infertility (both women and men) using human and animal models.

Dr. Amit Rawat is an Assistant Professor in the Pediatric Allergy and Immunology Division at the Advanced Pediatrics Centre, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh. He has obtained his MD degree in Pathology and a Postdoctoral certificate (PDCC) in Laboratory Immunology. His area of interest including immunological disorders of children especially primary immunodeficiency diseases and pediatric autoimmune disesases.

Dr. Ravi Shankar obtained his Master’s degree in Microbiology from GKVK, Bangalore and Doctoral degree in microbiology from University of Sydney, Australia. His post-doctoral work was in Biochemistry division of Indian Institute of Science. He has industrial experience in Sami chemicals and Jubilant Biosys. Currently he is working as Associate Professor at R.V.College of Engineering in the dept of Biotechnology. His current area of interest are in renewable energy and biosensors.

Anjum A. Ahmed is a Software Engineer graduated from Dr Ambedkar Institute of technology (Computer Science) , currently working as a Senior software Tester at Nonlinear Dynamics which is part of Waters Corporation. Nonlinear Dynamics develops small-molecule applications and Proteomics applications which deliver highly-accurate quantitative data analysis with simplicity, scalability, statistical processing and improved visualizations.

Rajeswari. R has obtained her Master s degree in Pharmaceutical technology from SASTRA University,Thanjavur,India. Currently she is working as a senior research fellow at the department of ocular pathology, Vision research foundation, Sankara Nethralaya Chennai. Her research topic is on the role of tumor microenvironment in the progression of Retinoblastoma.

Sukrut C Kamerkar completed his Masters in Biology and is currently pursuing Ph.D. at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune (IISER Pune) in the lab of Dr. Thomas J Pucadyil. His research interest is in finding out novel membrane fission catalyst present in cytosol.

Dr. Uttam Mete obtained his M.Sc. degree in General Surgery and M. Ch. in Urology both from Post Graduate Institute of Medical Institute & Research (PGIMER) Chandigarh. He is also the Fellow of Royal College of Surgeons (Edinburgh). Currently he is working as faculty member in the Department of Urology in PGIMER, Chandigarh. His area of interest is uro-oncology and urolithiasis.

Dr. P. L. Natarajan obtained his M.B.B.S degree from Dr. MGR Medical University, Chennai and Ph.D from Madras University, Chennai. Currently he is working as Scientist "B" in HIV-TB clincal trials in National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT), Chennai.

Jagadish Chandrabose S is currently working as a scientist in National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (ICMR), Chennai and he is awaiting to defend his Ph.D. viva-voce. He is interested in designing vaccine for tuberculosis and HIV.

Dr. Ritu Gupta is an additional Professor at the Laboratory Oncology Unit of Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital at AIIMS, New Delhi hold M.D. degree in Pathology from Kasturba Medical college, Manipal. Her laboratory deals with diagnosis, prognostication and treatment monitoring of patients with hematological malignancies. She is actively involved in many research projects on multiple myeloma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia.

Gagandeep Kaur has done her Msc (hons) in Microbiology from Panjab university, Chandigarh. Currently, she is working as a JRF for a DST funded project. Her work is focussed on metatranscriptomic analysis and functional characterization of metabolically active genes of microbial consortium of polluted soil and water.

Dr. Jyothi V. Mallia obtained her Ph.D. degree in Science (Genetics and Biotechnology) from Manonmaniam Sundarnar University, Thirunelveli. Currently, she is working as postdoctoral researcher under DST (WOS-A) scheme in National Institute for Research In Reproductive Health (ICMR). Her area of research is cytogenetics and molecular studies in spontaneous abortion.

Ms. Neeta Salgaonkar obtained her M. Sc. degree in Biotechnology from University of Mumbai. Currently, she is working at Dr. D. Y. Patil Biotechnology and Bioinformatics Institute, Pune. She is involved in identifying the antioxidative DNA damge properties of Chito-oligosaccharides, biologically extracted from seafood waste. Her research interest involves molecular biology and enzyme technology.

Anupama C obtained her M.Sc. degree in Biochemistry from Kuvempu University. Presently she is working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biotechnology at Siddaganga Institute of Technology (SIT), Tumkur, Karnataka. She is currently working on Green synthesis of nanoparticles using herbal extracts. Her area of research is proteins purification & characterization.

Dr. S. Krishna Sundari obtained her Ph.D. from Barkat Ullah University, Bhopal & The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi. She did her post doctoral work on plant-microbe interaction at INRA, Champenoux, France. Presently, she is working as Associate Professor at Jaypee Institute of Information Technology (JIIT), Noida. Her area of research is microbial biotechnology with applications in agriculture and environment. She is interested in exploring the therapeutic potential of bioactive compounds of plant and microbial origin using animal/human cell cultures.

Prakriti Gupta is currently pursuing her M.B.B.S. from Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi. She has undertaken a project entitled ´Serum light chains as a diagnostic marker in monoclonal gammopathies´ for an ICMR STS Program 2014. She is also an Elsevier Student Ambassador for the year 2014-15. She hopes to pursue medical research after her post graduation.

Preethi Rajamannar is currently pursuing her B.Tech in Genetic Engineering from SRM University, Chennai. She has completed a project on ´Isolation, extraction and characterization of proteases from Bacillus megaterium´ as a part of her academic curriculum. She plans to pursue further research in the field of Neurobiology or Proteomics.

Dr. Priyadarshini Chatterjee obtained her Ph.D. degree in Immunology from National Institute Immunology (NII), New Delhi. She worked as a post doctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School, USA focusing on infection immunity and autoimmunity. She is currently working as an Assistant Professor in Regional Centre for Biotechnology (DBT-UNESCO Institute), Gurgaon. Her work involves understanding the cellular and molecular basis of autoimmunity linked to deficiency of certain complement proteins.

Shruthi Lingaiah obtained her M.Tech degree in Industrial Biotechnology from Manipal University, Manipal. After working as a research trainee at Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore for a year, she joined the Molecular Medicine Department at St. John´s Research Institute, Bangalore as a Junior Research Fellow. Her work focuses on screening for molecular markers of cancer and HIV.

Dr. Bhumesh Kumar obtained his Ph.D. degree in Plant Physiology from CCS Haryana Agricultural University. He did his post-doctoral work at ARO, Volcani Centre, Israel and International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi. Currently, he is working as Senior Scientist in Directorate of Weed Science Research (ICAR). His research areas are molecular biology of climate change and herbicide resistance.

Dr. Jaya Shukla obtained her Ph.D. degree in Nuclear Medicine (Radiopharmacy) from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. Currently, she is working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nuclear Medicine, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. Her area of research is drug delivery and development of radio labeled drugs for diagnosis & therapy.

Dr. Shalmoli Bhattacharyya obtained her Ph.D. degree from the Department of Experimental Medicine and Biotechnology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. She is presently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biophysics, PGIMER, Chandigarh. She is working in the areas of cellular biophysics and stem cell biology. Her laboratory is currently invlolved in the study of epithelial to mesenchymal transition in cancer and cancer stem cells.

Krishna L. is currently pursuing her M.Sc. Integrated degree in the Institute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, University of Pune. She has completed a project based on suppression of HBV by a vector based approach as a part of her academic curriculum. She wishes to pursue research in infectious diseases.

Dr. Venkataseshan Sundaram obtained his MD degree in Pediatrics followed by his Doctorate in Medicine (DM) degree in Neonatology from Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research. He currently works as a Faculty in the Department of Pediatrics, PGIMER, Chandigarh. His primary area of interest is neonatal severe sepsis and he is currently involved in discovering the molecular level mechanisms that are associated with progression of sepsis to severe sepsis.

Krishna L is currently pursuing her M.Sc. Integrated degree in the Institute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, University of Pune. She has completed a project based on suppression of HBV by a vector based approach as a part of her academic curriculum. She wishes to pursue research in infectious diseases.

Priya Krithivasan obtained her M.Sc. degree in Bioinformatics from the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom. She is currently working for Ganit Labs at Strand Life Sciences, Bangalore. Her research involves NGS and proteomics data analysis in cancers.

Priyanka Sharma obtained her M. Tech. degree in Information technology (Bioinformatics) from Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad (IIITA). Currently, she is pursuing her Ph. D. degree in Biotechnology under the guidance of Dr. Rinu Sharma in the Cancer Research Lab of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Dwarka, Delhi. Her work involves studying expression of miRNAs in esophageal cancer to determine potential minimally invasive/non-invasive diagnostic marker.

Shivam Singh obtained her M.Sc. degree in Zoology from Hans Raj College, University of Delhi. She is pursuing her Ph.D. in cancer biology under the guidance of Dr. Rinu Sharma at the University School of Biotechnology, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Dwarka, Delhi. Her research work involves functional analysis of immunoregulatory molecules in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Akhilandeswarre D. obtained her M. Sc. degree in Microbial Gene technology from Madurai Kamaraj University, Tamil Nadu. Currently, she is pursuing her Ph. D. degree in Biotechnology under the guidance of Dr. Sabu Thomas in the Cholera Research Lab of Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Kerala. She is involved in identifying potential drug targets for inhibiting biofilm formation in the pathogenic members of Vibrionaceae family employing transcriptomic and proteomic techniques.

Karthika S. obtained her M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam and currently pursuing her Ph.D. degree under the guidance of Dr. Sabu Thomas at Cholera Research Lab, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Kerala. Her research involves identifying the role of bacterial biofilm in non-healing chronic Diabetic ulcers.

Dr. Paresh Sharma obtained his Ph. D. degree in Molecular Parasitology from BITS, Pilani, Rajasthan. He did his post-doctoral work in Malaria Biology at NIAID, National Institute of Health, USA from 2010-2013. He joined the National Institute of Animal Biotechnology in January 2013 as Scientist C. His research interest involves understanding the genetic basis of disease in domestic animals. He is also keen to develop rapid diagnostic kit for various livestock diseases.

Dr. A. Riyasdeen obtained his Ph. D. degree at Department of Animal Science, Bharathidasan University, Tami Nadu, under the guidance Prof. M. A. Akbarsha. His research focused on therapeutic evaluation of transition metal complexes on cancer cell line through apoptotic pathways. He is currently working on proteomic analysis and therapeutic evaluation of snake venom.

Dr. Jogadhenu Syama Sundar Prakash is currently working as an Associate Professor at the University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India. He holds a Ph.D. degree from Hamdard University, New Delhi, India. He is interested in identifying gene regulation by putative transcription factors in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 to determine how they trigger gene expression changes when cells respond to environmental changes. His laboratory employs genetic and molecular approaches, transcriptional profiling, ChIP on chip studies, and genome wide computational prediction of cis-regulatory elements, to identify regulons of putative transcription factors. As part of this work, they have discovered a novel heat responsive transcriptional regulator in Synechocysti.

Dr. Arnab Pal holds an MBBS degree from the University of Calcutta, West Bengal and M.D. and Ph.D. degrees in Biochemistry from AIIMS, New Delhi. He is currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, PGIMER, Chandigarh. His main area of research involves development of newer biomarkers for cancers. Currently, his laboratory is working to develop a tumor marker for early diagnosis of Oral Squamous Cell Cancers (OSCC).

Dr. Anup K. Ghosh, Assistant Professor at the Department of Medical Microbiology, PGIMER, Chandigarh, has a Ph.D. degree in Medial Microbiology (Mycology) from PGIMER, Chandigarh. He has previously worked as a Senior Postdoctoral Fellow at the Lombardi Cancer Research Center, Georgetown University, Washington DC, where he gained experience in gene deletion studies in the human pathogen Candida albicans. His main area of expertise is in molecular typing of pathogenic fungi. His current areas of research are early diagnosis and epidemiology of keratomycosis and taxonomy of medically important fungi. His ongoing research projects include ’Epidemiological study of fungal rhinosinusitis in North East India‘ (funded by DBT) and ’A systematic environmental survey for zygomycetes in the hospital and community‘ (funded by PGIMER research cell).

Kedar Ramakant Limbkar completed his Masters in Biotechnology from Visva-Bharati (Central University), Santiniketan. He is an ICMR-Senior Research Fellow currently working as a Ph.D. student under the guidance of Dr. (Mrs.) Limaye in National Centre for Cell Science, Pune. His work involves studying the effect of oral feeding of poly unsaturated fatty acids on hematopoiesis and thrombopoiesis in mice.

Dr. Pallavi Kshetrapal holds a Ph.D. degree from Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad where she worked on "Identification and Characterization of Modulators of the Homeotic gene Ultrabithorax in Drosophila melanogaster" under Prof. L.S. Shashidhara. She then went onto to complete her post doctoral research on the ’Biology of Notch‘ in the lab of Prof. Artavanis Tsakonas Spyros at Harvard Medical School, MA, USA. She is currently working as a Ramalingaswamy Fellow since 2013 at the Pediatric Biology Centre, Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), Gurgaon. Her area of research interest lies in the field of maternal and fetal health care.

Mrs. Ramya G. has a Masters degree in Biotechnology from Osmania University, Hyderabad. She also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Cyber Laws and IPR from the University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad. She is currently working as a Junior Research Fellow at the Computational Core for Plant Metabolomics (CCPM), International Institute of Information and Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad. Under the guidance of Prof. Abhijit Mitra, IIIT-Hyderabad and Dr. Kshitish Acharya IBAB, Bengaluru, she has worked on structural analysis of pre-mRNA among co-expressed mammalian genes with respect to alternative splicing. Currently, she is working in the field of plant metabolomics under Prof. Abhijit Mitra, IIIT-Hyderabad.

Shweta R. Gophane obtained her M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded. She is pursuing her Ph.D. degree in the lab of Dr. C. N. Khobragade at Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded. Her research work involves proteomic investigation of differentially expressed proteins at different stages in development of renal disorders.

Dinesh S. L. obtained his M.Sc. degree in Industrial Microbiology from the University of Madras, Chennai. Currently, he is pursuing Ph.D. degree in the lab of Dr.M. Sundararaman at Bharathidasan University, Trichy. His study involves exploration of biodiversity and novel biomolecules from marine sediments using metagenomic approach.

Dr. Thungapathra M. is Additional Professor at Department of Biochemistry, PGIMER, Chandigarh. She obtained her Ph.D. degree from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She made a major contribution in developing a live oral cholera vaccine during post doctoral research at IMTECH, Chandigarh. Her current research interests include development of a Vibrio cholerae chassis as a platform for making vaccines against diarrhoel diseases and studies on genetic regulatory networks mediated by estrogen receptor (ER) in postmenopausal osteoporosis.

Shraddha Mondal obtained her M.Sc degree in Biotechnology from KIIT University, Bhubaneshwar. After working as a scientist trainee at IIT, Kharagpur for a period of six months, she has now joined as a junior project fellow at HLL LifeCare Limited, Trivandrum. She is working under Dr. Rosemary M. J. on a project entitled “Polymeric hydrogel systems on tissue regeneration”

Chandrika Ghoshal obtained her M.Sc degree in Genetic Engineering from West Bengal University of Technology. She is currently working as a research assistant in the lab of Dr. Swathi Shetty at Centre of Human Genetics, Bangalore. Her work focuses on mutational screening of JAK2 gene in patients having polycythemia.

Swetha K. S. obtained her M.Sc in Biochemistry from Maharani’s Women Science College, Bangalore. She is currently working as a senior research fellow under the guidance of Dr. Chethan Kumar M. at JSS College of Arts, Commerce and Science, Mysore. Her ICMR funded study focuses on developing a novel antifibrotic strategy in the therapy for macular fibrosis using bioconjugation of digodeoxynucleotides.

Dr. Manu Sudhakar obtained his M.B.B.S degree from Government Medical College, Trivandrum. He is currently pursuing his integrated M.D. – Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute. He works on modulation of angiogenesis in adipose tissue.

Riju Roy Chowdhury obtained his M.Sc in Biotechnology from PES Institute of Technology, Bangalore. He is currently working as a Research Associate under Dr. Roshan Makam’s guidance on an Algal Biodiesel project at PESIT, Bangalore. His work involves extraction of triacylglycerols for biodiesel production from microalgae.

Swagatam Chakraborty obtained his M.Sc in Biotechnology from PES University, Bangalore. His past research projects include biological, physical and chemical analysis of water at IIM, Bangalore and a study on soil biochemistry at PES University. As a research scholar under the guidance of Dr. V. Krishnamurthy, he is working on humic substances in soil.

Lakshmi Narasimha obtained his MSc. degree in Animal Biotechnology from the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. He is now pursuing his Ph.D. at the Thrombosis Research Institute (TRI), Bangalore. He is being guided by Dr. Lakshmi Mundkur on an artherosclerosis vaccine project. His work involves a long-term kinetic study on APOB-/-/ Ldlr-/- knockdown mice to investigate the differentially expressed genes at different stages of disease development. He will employ microarray and molecular immunological techniques to aid him in this study.

Iswarya R. obtained her M.Sc degree in Biomedical Science from Bharthidasan University, Tamilnadu. Presently, she is working as a Project Assistant on a DST funded project in the lab of Dr. Chethan Kumar at JSS College of Arts, Commerce and Science, Mysore. Her work focuses on systemic studies on transport and localization of lutein and zeaxanthin in relation to age related macular degeneration.

Mahima Sundaresh is currently pursuing her M.Sc in Biomedical Genetics at VIT University, Vellore. She is working in Dr. Jayarama Kadandale’s lab at the Centre for Human Genetics, Bangalore as a part of her final semester project entitled “Mutational Analysis of CML and PML using FISH, SKY and Karyotyping”.

Ashish Bhushan is a research scholar at the National Institute of Pathology (NIOP), New Delhi. He is registered for a Ph.D. degree at the Symbiosis International University, Pune. His research work under the guidance of Dr. Sunita Saxena, NIOP, involves functional validation of putative molecular markers in ESCC cell lines.

Thiruvelselvan P. obtained his M.Tech in Industrial Biotechnology from Annamalai University, Tamilnadu. He is a research scholar at the Thrombosis Research Institute (TRI), Bangalore. He is registered for a Ph.D. degree at Manipal University. His area of work is mainly Molecular Immunology and Animal Cell Culture. He aims to employ immunophenotyping on samples from CAD patients and on experimental animal models as a part of his PhD. Project. He is working under the guidance of Dr. Lakshmi Mundkur at TRI, Bangalore.

Gayathry A. has qualified her MSc. in Microbiology from Bharathiar University, Tamilnadu. She is working as a junior project fellow at HLL LifeCare Limited, Trivandrum. Her work, under the guidance of Dr. Rajmohan G., involves development of external hemostats using chitosan.

Dr. Reshma Kumarchandra is professor at Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal University. She has 22 years of experience in teaching and has a Ph.D. degree from KMC, Mangalore. She has presented papers at national and international conferences and has published research articles to her name. Her research interests lie in the field of cancer and radiation and she is involved in studying herbs as radiomodulators. She has received a research grant from BRNS, BARC and is presently guiding one Ph.D. student.

Dr. M. G. Madanan obtained his Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry from University of Kerala then carried out Post-Doc from Philipps University, Marburg, Germany and presently working as a Scientist in Regional Medical Research Centre (ICMR) Port Blair. His area of interest include study of proteases of pathogen and their role in invasion and pathogenesis. Currently he is working on gelatinases of Leptospira and its role in pathogenesis and studying differentially expressed proteins during host pathogen interaction of leptospirosis.