August' 2020 -   Present         : Assistant Professor (Stage-II), Department of Microbiology, Raiganj University

August' 2016- August' 2020 : Assistant Professor (Stage-I), Department of Microbiology, Raiganj University

July' 2013 - August' 2016         : Research Associate, Department of Bioinformatics, Bose Institute

• InSc Young Achiever Award 2021

• UGC DS-Kothari Postdoctoral Fellowship 2016

• SERB Overseas Travel Grant 2013

• Editorial board member in Evolutionary Bioinformatics

• Reviewer of BMC Genomics, Frontiers in Microbiology, Briefings in Bioinformatics, Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group)

Investigating Host- Pathogen interactions to delve deeper insight into the molecular pathogenesis of human and plant pathogens with therapeutic aims using Computational Systems Biology approaches.

Address: Department of Microbiology, Raiganj University

                    Collegepara, Raiganj, Uttar- Dinajpur, Pin-733134

                    West Bengal, India.

Email :    s.podder@raiganjuniversity.ac.in

• Identification of  fungal stress resistance genes in Brassica rapa

Crop protection from fungal infection is an earnest need in agricultural field. We are studying the Protein interaction and regulatory network  during fungal infections in B. rapa, an economically crop to find out the genes having potential to stress resilience by differential expression analysis and PCR validation.

• Devising Transcription Factor based antifungal targets against C. albicans in human

Being an opportunistic pathogen, C. albicans show dual behaviour in human. Commensalistic association of it contributes greatly to the maintenance of healthy homeostasis in the human body. Concomitantly, antifungal resistance is an increasing problem with the the pathogenic form of the fungi. Now a days,  effectivity of transcription factors as  antifungal drug targets puts a new dimension in devising antifungal measures. Thus, we aim to distinguish the transcription factors which are exclusively involved in fungal pathogenesis like oropharyngeal  candidiasis and vaginal candidiasis but not indispensable for fungal viability through network biology approach.

• Impact of SARS-CoV 2 infection in neurodegeneration of old aged people 

The whole world is witnessing increasing instances of emerging and re-emerging diseases caused by SARS-CoV2. Aged people have been craved more attention from the early stages of the pandemic, because the incidence of neurological disorder like Alzheimer's disease (AD) , other dementias, Parkinson's disease (PD) and other movement disorders rise exponentially from the age of about 60.  We are interested to investigate the role of cell specific regulatory RNAs towards inducing neurodegeneration in old age COVID-19 patient through single cell RNAseq data analysis of human brain. 

• To develop a knowledgebase on non-communicable disease  predisposition in tribal communities of Dinajpur districts

      There is a dearth of properly organized repository of health and clinical investigational records of the tribal of  Dinajpur            districts for easy access and deeper understanding of disease etiology.  We plan to develop a  knowledgebase of health             records  like disease prevalence and etiology and to develop a mathematical model for predicting pattern of disease susceptibility with the clinical  records in  two tribal populations (Polia and Santhal) in Dinajpur districts.

• Ms. Shayani Das Laha, M.Sc in Botany [ email: shayani.stars@gmail.com ]

• Mr. Deepyaman Das, M.Sc in Zoology [ email: deepyaman.das@gmail.com ]

• Mr. Ali Rejwan Kabir, M.Sc in Microbiology [email: alirejwan.stars1994@gmail.com ]

1. Title: Epidemiological Survey on tribal communities of Dinajpur districts in North Bengal to develop a knowledge base on disease predisposition for estimating disease etiology 

   Funding Agency : Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR),  GoI

    Duration: 3years

2. Title: Single nuclear RNAseq data analyses and construction of cell specific ceRNA networks in brain to unravel the impact of COVID-19 in aggravating neurodegenerative disorders with specific emphasis on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease 

    Funding Agency : Department of Biotechnology,  GoI 

   Duration: 3years

My group is looking for one motivated student with M.Sc in any discipline in Biology with  CSIR-NET/ICMR NET/ GATE  or equivalent qualification. Knowledge in computer applications is preferable.

Kabir AR, Podder S*. 2025. An integrated bioinformatics and machine learning-based approach to depict key 

immunological players associated with candidemia during immunodeficiency.Computational Biology and 

Chemistry. 119(2025)108505 . (Impact Factor: 3.1)

Das, Deepyaman and Soumita Podder*. 2024. Microscale marvels: unveiling the macroscopic significance 

of micropeptides in human  health. Briefings in functional genomics. elae018. ( Impact Factor: 4.24)

Das Laha S, Kundu A, Podder S*. Impact of biotic stresses on the Brassicaceae family and opportunities for 

crop improvement by exploiting genotyping traits. 2024.Planta. Mar 23;259(5):97. (Impact Factor: 4.28)

Das D, Chaudhury AA,  Ali MM, Alawam AS, Sarkar H, Podder S*. 2023. Insights into the identification and 

evolutionary conservation of key genes in the transcriptional circuits of meiosis initiation and commitment 

in budding yeast. FEBS Open Bio. (Impact factor :2.79)

Kabir AR, Chaudhury AA, Aladwani MO, Podder S*. 2023. Decoding the host-pathogen interspecies 

molecular crosstalk during oral candidiasis in humans: an in silico analysis. Frontiers in Genetics. (Impact 

Factor:4.77)

Das Laha S, Das D, Ghosh TC, Podder S*. 2022. Enrichment of intrinsically disordered residues in ohnologs facilitates abiotic stress resilience in Brassica rapa . Journal of Plant Research (In Press). (Impact Factor: 3.157).

Das D, Podder S*, 2022.  Deregulation of ceRNA Networks in Frontal Cortex and Choroid Plexus of Brain during SARS-CoV-2 Infection Aggravates Neurological Manifestations: An Insight from Bulk and Single-Cell Transcriptomic Analyses. Advanced Biology,  6(8):e2101310.  (Impact Factor: 3.57). 

Das D, Podder S*, 2021.  Unraveling the molecular crosstalk between Atherosclerosis and COVID-19 comorbidity. Computers in Biology and Medicine, 134:104459.  (Impact Factor: 6.69).

Das D, Sarkar S, Podder S*, 2021. In-silico identification of key regulators instigating the pre-meiotic phase during respiration in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. FEMS Yeast Research, 18;21(2):foab006.(Impact Factor: 3.13).

Podder S*, Ghosh A, Ghosh TC, 2021.  Mutations in membrane fusion subunit of spike glycoprotein play crucial role in the recent outbreak of COVID19. Journal of Medical Virology,93(5):2790-2798. (Impact Factor: 20.69).

Podder S*, Saha D, Ghosh TC, 2019. Deciphering the intrinsic properties of fungal proteases in optimizing phytopathogenic interaction.  Gene, 30;711:143934.  (Impact Factor: 3.688).

Biswas K, Acharya D, Podder S, Ghosh TC, 2017. Evolutionary rate heterogeneity between multi- and single-interface hubs across human housekeeping and tissue-specific protein interaction network: Insights from proteins and its partners properties. Genomics , 110(5):283-290. (Impact Factor: 2.386).

Hazra J, Mukherjee P,  Ali A, Podder S, Pal M, 2017. Engagement of Components of DNA Break Repair Complex and NFκB in Hsp70A1A Transcription Upregulation by Heat Shock Proteins. PLOS ONE,  18;12(1):e0168165.   (Impact Factor: 3.057).

Saha D, Podder S, Ghosh TC, 2016. Overlapping Regions in HIV-1 Genome Act as Potential Sites for Host-Virus Interaction. Frontiers in Microbiology, 4;7:1735.  (Impact Factor: 4.235).

Biswas K, Chackraborty S, Podder S*, Ghosh TC, 2016. Insights into the dN/dS ratio Heterogeneity between Brain Specific Genes and Widely Expressed Genes in Species of Different Complexity. Genomics, 108(1):11-7 (Impact Factor: 2.386).

Saha D, Podder S, Panda A, Ghosh TC, 2016. Overlapping genes: A significant genomic correlate of prokaryotic growth rates. Gene 15; 582(2):143-7, (Impact Factor: 3.688).

Acharya D, Mukherjee D, Podder S, Ghosh TC, 2015. Investigating different duplication pattern of Essential Genes in Mouse and Human. Plos One, 10(3):e0120784. (Impact Factor: 3.057).

Saha D, Panda A, Podder S, Ghosh TC, 2015. Impact of Overlapping genes in Thermophilic Adaptation of Bacteria. Extremophiles, 19(2):345-53. (Impact Factor: 2.346).

Das J, Podder S*, Ghosh TC, 2014. Insights into the miRNA regulations in human disease genes. BMC Genomics, 15:1010. (Impact Factor: 3.867). 

Panda A, Podder S, Ghosh TC, 2014. GC-made protein disorder sheds new light on vertebrate evolution. Genomics, 104(6 Pt B):530-7. (Impact Factor: 3.867).

Das J, Chackraborty S,  Podder S, Ghosh TC, 2013. Complex-forming Proteins Escape the Robust Regulations of miRNA in Human. FEBS Letters, 587(14):2284-2287. (Impact Factor: 3.519). 

Podder S, Ghosh TC, 2012. Evolutionary Dynamics of Human Autoimmune Disease Genes and Malfunctioned Immunological Genes. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 12(1):10. (Impact Factor: 3.406).

Sen K, Podder S, Ghosh TC, 2011. On the quest for selective constraints shaping the expressivity of the genes casting retropseudogenes in human. BMC Genomics, 12:401. (Impact Factor: 3.867). 

Podder S, Ghosh TC, 2011. Insights into the Molecular Correlates Modulating Functional Compensation between Monogenic and Polygenic Disease Gene Duplicates in Human. Genomics, 97:200-204. (Impact Factor: 2.386).

Sen K, Podder S, Ghosh TC, 2010. Insights into the genomic features and evolutionary impact of the genes configuring duplicated pseudogenes in human. FEBS Letters, 584: 4015–4018. (Impact Factor: 3.519).

Podder S, Ghosh TC, 2010. Exploring the Differences in Evolutionary Rates between Monogenic and Polygenic Disease Genes in Human. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 27:934-941. (Impact Factor: 13.649).

Podder S, Mukhopadhyay P, Ghosh TC, 2009. Multifunctionality dominantly determines the rate of human housekeeping and tissue specific interacting protein evolution. Gene, 439:11-16.(Impact Factor: 2.319).