About PI

Hem Chandra JhA, Phd, frsb

I started my research journey from Dept. of Biochemistry, Bose Institute Kolkata as Junior Research Fellow. I was awarded a PhD degree from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani. I have done PhD thesis work at the National Institute of Pathology-ICMR, New Delhi, India from 2005- 2010. Further, I moved to the Dept. of Microbiology, School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 2010 for post-doctoral research. There my research work mainly focused on “Tumor Virology”, where I joined Prof. Erle S Robertson research group http://microb205.med.upenn.edu/. Before joining IIT Indore, I was working as a Research associate at the same place from March 2015 to June 2016. My PDF research work mostly consisted of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), Kaposi Sarcoma associated Herpesvirus (KSHV) associated malignancies using the tools of epigenetics, DNA damage, cell proliferation and drug discovery. As a Principal Investigator, my research group has an interdisciplinary approach. We are looking for viral, bacterial, parasitic pathogens in Cancer and Neurodegeneration. In cancer, we are currently working on gastric and oral. In neurodegeneration, we are looking at Multiple Sclerosis and Alzheimer's. Cerebral Malaria is also being investigated to see the dual association of virus and parasites. Recently we are actively working on SARS-CoV-2 associated spectrum in terms of comorbidities, drug design, and mutations.