Professor and Dean Student Affairs&Chief Proctor
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22 years of experience working as a microbiologist
Worked at the University of Texas Health Science Center, USA, Naval Medical Research Unit San Antonio, TX, and Polytechnic institute of New York University, USA
Got an Erasmus Mundus fellowship, in 2017. Handled Turning Grand, 2022 University East London, UK
Obtained funding from the Department of Defense, USA, USA-NSF-SBIR, DST-SERB, DBT, AYUSH, and ICMR as Principal Investigator.
50 research voyages and multiple EIA and Potable water quality assessment studies.
Observing nature and enjoying the colors of the sea waves have always been my hobby. One day I noticed some glittering sparkles in an estuary bay in my hometown. As the atmosphere grew darker the sparkles grew brighter, and at that time a boat passed, rippling the water, and I saw more golden ripples.
I grew more interested and looked closely and discovered that it was bioluminescent bacteria causing the glittering in the water. These sparkles intrigued me enough to pursue my masters in microbiology, culture and identification of bioluminescent bacteria. This is the way I began in the field of microbiology and then continued my journey with heavy metal-resistant bacteria.
After my master's degree I worked as a technical assistant on a government-funded grant at the Center of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu India, in which I worked on the culture and identification of bacteria, fungi and Actinomyces from different environments and some vertebrates. I received very good exposure to microbiology from this project. After one year I joined another government funded project in the microbiology division, in which I worked on collection and culture, identification and virulence factors of human pathogens including Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella sp.
Shigella sp. and Escherichia coli. Following that I was promoted to Junior Research Fellow, Senior Research Fellow and finally Post Doctoral Fellow. I worked on this project for 8 years.
In my position as Junior Research Fellow at Annamalai University, I served as lab in-charge for conducting various microbiological research experiments. In the course of my Senior Research Fellow tenure I continued as lab In-charge and instructor for 50 postgraduate students. Supervision included the analytical and experimental task teams and the final results and scientific reports reviewing team.
In addition to microbiological studies for my doctoral work at Annamalai University, I developed bioactive compounds from sea snake venom using animal models (For this study I had animal handling training and ethical approval). I have effectively completed 10 years of research in India (1999 to 2008).
During Postdoctoral Fellow in the Dental School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA), I work with oral microorganisms and particularly cariogenic bacterial adherence and biofilms. I have been exposed to various oral microbiological techniques by Dr. Bennett T. Amaechi, Associate Professor and Director of Cariology, Dr. Brian L. Wickes, Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology, and Dr. Valerie Lee, Assistant Professor, Biomaterials, all at UTHSCSA.
