Curriculum Vitae

Education:

Micro-MBA 2017 University of California San Diego, USA

Ph.D. (Biological Sciences) 2008-2013 CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, India

M.Sc. (Master of Science) 2005-2007 University of Lucknow, India

B.Sc. (Bachelor of Science) 2002-2005 University of Lucknow, India

Research Experience:

1. Research Associate-III Dec, 2019- continued

Supervisor- Prof. Ajit Varki University of California San Diego, USA

• Development and characterization of novel Sialoglycan Recognition Probes (SGRPs) towards most predominant mammalian Sialic acid linkages and modifications.

2. Postdoctoral scholar Feb 2017- Dec, 2019

Supervisor- Prof. Ajit Varki University of California San Diego, USA

• Development and characterization of novel Sialoglycan Recognition Probes (SGRPs) towards most predominant mammalian Sialic acid linkages and modifications.
• Assessment of Sialic acid utilization in human infecting agents; bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoans and worms.

3. Postdoctoral Scholar Sep 2013– Feb 2017

Supervisor- Prof. Ilia Baskakov University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA

• Contributed to projects on role of Sialic acids with prion infectivity, resulting into unique mechanistic insight on transmission, immune evasion and microglia activation in prion diseases.

4. Research Fellow Feb 2008- Feb 2013

Supervisor- Dr. Jimut Kanti Ghosh CSIR- Central Drug Research Institute, India

• Design and synthesis of biologically active peptides of antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties.
• Identification of structural element responsible for LPS neutralization by bee venom peptide Melittin and frog peptide Temporin L.

Awards, Fellowships and Honors:

1. Prestigious ‘Dr. MM Dhar memorial Best Thesis Award in Biological Sciences-2012’ as a doctoral student in CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute.
2. Qualified national tests and received scholarship for doctoral dissertation from Govt. of India.
   • Qualified for National Eligibility Test for Lecturer ship (faculty position) conducted by “Council of Scientific and Industrial Research–University Grants Commission (CSIR-UGC)” in Dec 2007.
   • Qualified for 5 years Research Fellowship conducted by “Council of Scientific and Industrial Research–University Grants Commission (CSIR-UGC)” in June 2007

Mentorship:

1. Supervised 3 months lab training (course-BISP 199) for Vivian Dinh (Undergraduate Student from UCSD) at University of California, San Diego in 2018.
2. Supervised 2 months lab training for international Biochemical Engineering student- Aditi Agarwal (B. Tech., Pre-Final year, Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi) at University of California, San Diego in 2017.
3. Supervised 4 months lab training for master’s student- Avinash Jaiswal (M.Sc.- Microbiology, CCS-University Meerut, India) at CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow in 2011.

Technical Expertise:

1. Biochemical & Molecular biology techniques:

• Protein expression and purification- Bacterial and Mammalian expression systems.
• SDS-PAGE, Western Blotting, 2D-gel electrophoresis, ELISA.
• Isolation of plasmids from bacterial cells, genomic DNA isolation from bacterial/mammalian cells, mRNA isolation, mRNA expression (Quantitative PCR), transfections (PEI method).
• Hands on experience on cloning and site directed mutagenesis (don’t consider it as expertise).

2. Cell-Biological:

• Flow Cytometry.
• Immunohistochemistry and histological analysis.
• Fluorescence and Confocal microscopy.
• Cell Culture- experience of handling mammalian cell lines e.g. RAW 264.7, J774, BV2, L929, THP1, HEK-293A, CHO-K1, 3T3 cells, N2A (Neuroblastoma cell lines), C2C12 myoblasts/myotubes, HepG2, Ea.hy926 endothelial cell line.
• Isolation & maintenance of primary cells from rats/mice- peritoneal macrophages, Bone marrow derived macrophages, splenic macrophages, primary microglia (from Day1 pups) and PBMCs.

3. Biophysical:

• Fluorescence spectroscopy
• Circular Dichroism
• Dynamic light scattering

4. Chemical:

• Solid phase peptide synthesis and HPLC purification.
• HPLC identification and quantification of sialic acid and its substitutions.

5. Animal handling:

• Isolation and maintenance of primary macrophages/mononuclear cells from Rats/mice
• in-vivo screening of LPS induced inflammation in mice
• Antibody generation against small hydrophobic peptides in rat/mice.
• Establishment of systemic inflammation in mice by LPS administrations.

Transferrable Skills:

• Project Management.
• Leadership & Team work.
• Time and People Management.
• Critical thinking & Problem solving.
• Research & Analytical Skills.
• Communication Skills.
• Scientific Writing.
• Listener and Observer.
• Easy integration in multicultural environments.

Basic Software Efficiencies:

• Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Power-point).
• Origin-Lab, Sigma-Stat, Prism