Career Destinations- Muzaffarnagar 🇮🇳 - Delhi 🇮🇳 - Chandigarh 🇮🇳 - Davis 🇺🇸 - Bengaluru 🇮🇳 - Hyderabad 🇮🇳

I am working as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Sangareddy, Telangana, India. Earlier I worked as a DST-INSPIRE Faculty Scientist at the Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology, Bengaluru, Karnataka, from Aug 2019 to Sep 2022. My research focuses on the microbiome, microbial genomics, and evolution. I am always enthusiastic about scientific discussions and possible collaborations; feel free to email me. 

Earlier from Oct 2016 to July 2019, I worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of California, Davis in the lab of Prof. Mitchell Singer in the Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics at the College of Biological Sciences. Majorly I tried to understand the evolutionary origin of Type IV pili system, aerotaxis chemosensory systems, gliding motility, and polysaccharide secretion systems in myxobacteria using high throughput genomic approaches. Simultaneously, I also pursued transcriptomic studies to understand the Myxococcus xanthus developmental cycle regulation and identify the differences between vegetative and peripheral rods in myxobacteria.

I carried out my Ph.D. (Microbial Genomics) research at the Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), a Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) institute, Chandigarh, India under the guidance of Dr. Srikrishna Subramanian. My research work was focused on Understanding genome complexity and bacterial social networking among myxobacteria. I was a CSIR Junior Research Fellow (2011-13) and CSIR Senior Research Fellow (2013-16) during my Ph.D. 

Before joining my Ph.D., I completed my Masters in Science (Biotechnology) from the School of Biotechnology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. During these two years, I received the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) fellowship. I carried out my Master's project supervised by Dr. Swati Tiwari, Assistant Professor in the School of Biotechnology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. 

Earlier, I received B.Sc. [Life science] degree from DAV Degree College, Muzaffarnagar, UP, affiliated with Chaudhary Charan Singh University [formerly Meerut University], Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India.

• Aug 2023 Inducted as an Associate of the Indian Academy of Science (IASc), Bangalore

• Sep 2022 AMI Young Scientist Award (Environmental Microbiology) by the Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI)

• Dec 2021 Bioclues Innovation, Research and Development (BIRD-2021) award from BIOinformatics CLUb for Experimenting Scientists (BIOCLUES) Society

• Feb 2021 AMI Best ‘Faculty Oral Presentation’ Award in Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI)-INSCR 2021

• July 2019 EMBO Travel Award to attend EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization) Practical Course in Italy

• July 2019 UC Davis Postdoctoral Scholar Association Travel Award to attend EMBO Practical Course in Italy

• 2019-24 DST-INSPIRE Faculty Fellowship (11.24 million INR Funding from Department of Science & Technology)

• Mar 2018 ASM Postdoctoral Travel Award to attend ASM-Microbe 2018 in Atlanta on June 7-11, 2018

• Nov 2017 Science Communication Fellowship, awarded by UC Davis FUTURE & Powerhouse Center, Sacramento, CA

• Feb 2016 Travel Bursary from Immunology Foundation, New Delhi

• Jan 2016 DBT International Travel Fellowship to attend Gordon Research Conference (STIM 2016), California, USA

• Dec 2015 Travel Bursary from INSA-Centre for International Cooperation in Science (CICS), Chennai

• 2013-16  Senior Research fellowship from Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), India

• 2011-13  Junior Research fellowship from Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), India

• 2009-11  Department of Biotechnology (DBT) scholarship during Masters

1. • 2023-Present: Departmental Representative of the 1st Library Advisory Committee (LAC), IIT Hyderabad, India

   • 2022-Present: Faculty Placement Coordinator, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Hyderabad, India

   • 2021-2022: Hostel Warden, Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

   • 2019-2022: Placement Officer, Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

   • 2016-2019: Career Development Chair, UC Davis Postdoctoral Scholar Association 

   • 2016-2017: Alternate Elections Committee Chair, University of California Postdoctoral Union UAW 5810

   • 2017-2019: Elections Committee Chair, University of California Postdoctoral Union UAW Local 5810

1. Editorial Board member

   • Editor at Microbiology Spectrum, an American Society for Microbiology Publication (2021-Present; Second Term from 2024-2027)

   • Associate Editor at Genomics, an Elsevier Publication (2019-Present)

2. Reviewer for funding agencies

   • Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India

   • Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN), Ministry of Education, Government of India

   • Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong

   • Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), French National Research Agency

3. Reviewer: as verified on Publons:

   • Nature Communications

   • Applied and Environmental Microbiology (AEM)

   • BMC Genomics

   • Front. Microbiol.

   • Front. Plant Sci.

   • Genomics

   • Archives of Microbiology (AOMI)

   • Genomics Data

   • Marine Genomics

   • PeerJ

4. Frontiers Research Topic Editor for ‘Frontiers in Genetics’ (IF: 3.3) and ‘Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution’ (IF: 2.4) 

   • Research Topic: Flexibility in the Genome and Proteome: An Adaptive Toolkit for Organisms

5. Frontiers Review editor: Evolutionary and Population Genetics, part of the journal(s) Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Genetics and Plant Science.

6. Performance Reviewer: “Excellence in Postdoctoral Research Award-2018” provided by UC Davis Postdoctoral Scholar Association (UCD-PSA) 

7. Abstract Judge: 2018 Postdoctoral Research Symposium (PRS-2018) organized by UC Davis Postdoctoral Scholar Association (UCD-PSA)

8.  Juror: Undergraduate Biological and Agricultural Sciences section during California State University Student Research Competition held on May 4-5, 2018