Research

Major Thrust Area of Research

Molecular Parasitology with special emphasis to Molecular Biology of Infectious Diseases

Apicoplast of Plasmodium sp.

I'm currently working on the apicoplast of Plasmodium vivax. We are the first group to report complete sequences of some major coding regions from P. vivax apicoplast Genome where we have characterized the differences between the major coding regions of apicoplast genome of P. vivax in comparison with that from P. falciparum and other Plasmodium species.

My group is also looking into various nuclear encoded proteins that are hypothesized to be targeted to the apicoplast and may be invovled in the various metabolic pathways believed to be functional within the organelle.

Other Areas of Research Interests

Malaria Parasite Biology and Immunology, Host – Parasite Interaction studies, Cancer Cell and Molecular biology, Cancer Gene Transcriptional and Translational Regulation, Drug target identification and designing.

Projects Completed

University Grants Commission, Govt. of India funded major project "Characterization of Isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway enzymes from Plasmodium vivax" (2013-2016)
DST Fast Track project (2010-2013): Cloning and Characterization of the major regions of the plastid DNA from Plasmodium vivax

PhD/ Project Students Supervised

PhD Students: Total 7

On-Campus as Supervisor: 4 (Two Awarded; Two ongoing)
On-Campus as Co-supervisor: 1
Part-time/Off-Campus Co-supervisor: 2 from National Institute of Pathology (NIOP), New Delhi (Two awarded); 1 from Amity University, Jaipur Campus, Jaipur (Ongoing)

M.E. Dissertation: 5

As supervisor (On-Campus):

Isolation and characterization of novel ribosome maturation protein from Plasmodium vivax
Isolation and characterization of novel Zn binding protein from Plasmodium vivax

As Co-supervisor (Off-Campus):

Frequency Specific Neuronal Activation to Decipher the Functional Role of Octopmainergic Neurons in Olfactory Information Processing and Locomotor behavior
Study of Novel Transcription Factors in Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells
Role of EHD2 ATPases and Rab GTPases in the recycling of CAVI to the Plasma Membrane

M.E. Research Projects: Over 23

M.Sc. Students projects:

16 students of M.Sc. (Biological Sciences)
4 Thesis

BITS Pilani