Biological and Life Sciences 

Rupesh Chillale

Assistant Professor

PhD (Jawaharlal Nehru University)

Research Interests: Auditory Perception, System Neuroscience, Brain and Music, Artificial Intelligence, Brain-Computer-Interface

Ratna Ghosal

Associate Professor

PhD (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore)

Research Interests: Ecology, Animal Behavior, Conservation Biology.

Manish Grover

Assistant Professor

PhD (Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru)

Research Interests: Genetics, Caenorhabditis elegans, Stress Responses, Innate Immunity, Microbiome

Jitesh Jhawar

Assistant Professor

PhD (Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru)

Research Interests: Animal Behaviour, Collective Behaviour, Self Organisation, Ecology and Evolution, Population Dynamics, Mathematical Modelling, Theoretical Ecology

Ajay Kohli

Professor

PhD (University of East Anglia)

Research Interests: Plant Abiotic Stress Tolerance, Crop Nitrogen Use Efficiency, Molecular and Evolutionary Genetics of Crop Adaptation, Redox Biology and Development in Plants, Rice Biotechnology, Translational Plant Biology for Climate-Resilient Agriculture, Agricultural Research Innovation and Systems Leadership for Food Security

Ashutosh Kumar

Associate Professor

PhD (Integral University)

Research Interests: Nanomedicine, Targeted Drug Delivery, RNA Therapeutics, Immunoliposomes, Macrophage polalization, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Breast Cancer

Shomen Mukherjee

Associate Professor

PhD (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel)

Research Interests: Species Coexistence, Disease Ecology, Life-history Evolution

Bhuvan Pathak

Assistant Professor

PhD (University of Arkansas)

Research Interests: Plant Genetic Engineering, Genome Editing

Balaji Prakash

Professor

PhD (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore)

Research Interests: Structural Biologist, Besides Basic Science, His Interest In Interdisciplinary Research Led To Fascinating Applications Across Disciplines, For Example The Use Of Bacteria And Yeast For The Printing And Fabrication Of Electronic Circuits, Micro Lenses For Oleds And Braille Printing On Ordinary Paper, And Designing / Re-Engineering Antibodies For Pharmaceutical Companies.

Ashim Rai

Assistant Professor

PhD (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research)

Research Interests: Cytoskeleton, Single-molecule Biophysics, FRET Biosensors, DNA Origami

Subhash Rajpurohit

Associate Professor

PhD (Maharshi Dayanand University)

Research Interests: Species, Climate Warming, and Evolution

Rama Ratnam

Professor and Dean, Graduate School and Research

PhD (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Research Interests: Neuroscience, Brain And Behavior, Sensory Processing, Neural Engineering.

Balachandran Ravindran

Visiting Professor

PhD (University of Delhi)

Research Interests: Life Sciences, Microbiology, Immunology and Parasite Biology.

Souvik Sen Gupta

Associate Professor & Assistant Dean

PhD (Jadavpur University)

Research Interests: Anti-Leishmanial Therapeutics, Molecular Parasitology, DNA Damage And Repair, Biochemistry

Krishna Swamy

Associate Professor

PhD (Academia Sinica)

Research Interests: Evolutionary Systems Biology, Genetics And Molecular Biology, Computational Biology, Comparative Genomics.

Vivek Tanavde

Associate Professor; Associate Dean, Sciences

PhD (Mumbai University)

Research Interests: Adult Stem Cells, miRNA Regulation Of Cell Differentiation, Cancer Biomarkers, Connecting Transcriptome To Cellular Phenotype.

Noopur Thakur

Associate Professor

PhD (Uppsala University)

Research Interests: Signaling, Cancer And Epigenetics.

Tathagata Bhowmik

Doctoral Student

Research Interests: Animal Behaviour, Ecology, Wildlife Endocrinology, Environment

My research is an assessment of the health of an ecological indicator species, the mugger crocodile (Crocodylus palustris), through behavioural, physiological, biochemical, and physical wellness parameters in a free-ranging population.

Aishwarya Joshi

Doctoral Candidate

Research Interests: Molecular Mimicry in Bacterial Pathogenesis, Cytoskeletal Remodeling in Host-pathogen Interactions, Reconstitution Biology, Computational Approaches for Drug Repurposing

The cytoskeletal network plays a crucial role in maintaining cell shape, cargo uptake, transport, cell migration, and cell division. Pathogens target this network for cellular entry, replication and spread. Salmonella enterica is a prime example of a bacterium that manipulates cytoskeletal processes for invasion by secreting pathogenic factors that mimic native cytoskeletal proteins. Despite identifying key Salmonella pathogenic factors like SopB, SopE, and SptP as regulators of the cytoskeleton, the mechanisms of molecular mimicry effectuated by these factors are not well understood. My project aims to address this gap through an interdisciplinary approach involving reconstitution biology, and FRET-based conformational biosensors to uncover the structure-function mechanisms and protein interactions used by these factors to hijack the host cytoskeletal network.

Rajsee Joshi

Doctoral Candidate

Research Interests: Reconstitution Biology, Host-Pathogen Interactions, Infectious Disease, Molecular Mechanisms

Salmonella enterica, an intracellular pathogen, establishes infection by forming a membrane-bound compartment known as the Salmonella-containing vacuole (SCV). To hijack host cellular machinery and create a favourable replicative niche, the bacterium deploys a repertoire of effector proteins, which mimic and interfere with key host functions. My research focuses on understanding how a subset of these effectors manipulates the host microtubule-based transport system, forming a complex network that disrupts the regulation of motor proteins, an essential process that remains mechanistically unclear. To investigate these interactions at a molecular level, we employ DNA origami scaffolds and FRET biosensors, which enable precise spatial control and real-time monitoring of protein dynamics. This interdisciplinary approach provides valuable insights into the structural and functional mechanisms through which these effectors modulate motor protein activity, advancing our understanding of host-pathogen interactions.

Aditi Patel

Doctoral Candidate

Research Interests: Oral Cancer, Liquid Biopsy, Salivary-Exosomes, microRNA

Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) is predominant in the Indian subcontinent, with a poor survival rate owing to a high relapse rate and resistance to conventional chemotherapeutic drugs. Therefore, it is crucial to comprehend the molecular mechanisms of recurrence and to identify reliable and non-invasive biomarkers that effectively predict therapeutic outcomes. My research focuses on evaluating the potential clinical utility of salivary exosome-derived miRNA biomarkers in predicting chemotherapeutic response in oral cancer patients. I am also studying the functional and mechanistic relevance of these miRNAs, which are responsible for transforming the chemo-sensitive phenotype into a chemo-resistant phenotype.

Vaidehi Shah

Doctoral Student

Research Interests: Evolutionary and Molecular Biology

Kamayani Vajpayee

Doctoral Candidate

Research Interests: Forensic Genetics, Nanobiotechnology, Human Identification, PCR Inhibition

My PhD research focuses on elucidating the molecular mechanisms of PCR inhibition in forensic samples and aims to develop innovative solutions for forensic DNA analysis, ensuring robust amplification from degraded or inhibitor-laden evidence.