About me
I work as Post Doctoral Research Associate at Department of Entomology and Nematology University of Florida .
Philosophy
“When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.”- Steve Job’s father.
Education
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, University of Jena, Germany
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Molecular Biology, Excellent (summa cum laude), 2010 - 2016
University of Pune , Pune
- Master of Science (M.Sc.), Biotechnology, 6.54/10, 2004 - 2009
M. S. G. College Malegaon, Dist-nasik, Maharashtra, India
- Higher Secondary School, PCBM, 76 %, 2000 - 2002
Experience
January 2019 – December 2020
- Post Doctoral Research Associate (No cost Extension) at University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
- Patent and Manuscript writting.
February 2017 – December 2018
Post Doctoral Research Associate at University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
- Conduct research using molecular biology techniques.
- Brush border membrane vesicle preparation
- Cloning and expression in insect cell lines and in E. coli.
- Phage display experiments for screening peptides binding to insect gut.
- Analysis of MiSeq data for peptide (insert) identification in the bacteriophage.
- Analysis of protein protein interaction by using pull down assays.
- Enzyme activity assays.
- Cell culture maintenance and related techniques.
- Light microscopy to confirm binding of labelled proteins to insect gut.
- Protein protein interaction analysis using micro-scale -thermophoresis.
- Protein engineering and expression.
- Reports and manuscript writing.
October 2016 – January 2016
Post Doctoral Research Associate at Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
- Conduct research using molecular biology techniques.
- Brush border membrane vesicle preparation
- Cloning and expression in insect cell lines and in E. coli.
- Phage display experiments for screening peptides binding to insect gut.
- Analysis of MiSeq data for peptide (insert) identification in the bacteriophage.
- Analysis of protein protein interaction by using pull down assays.
- Enzyme activity assays.
- Cell culture maintenance and related techniques.
- Light microscopy to confirm binding of labelled proteins to insect gut.
- Protein protein interaction analysis using micro-scale -thermophoresis.
- Protein engineering and expression.
- Reports and manuscript writing.
January 2010 – June 2016
PhD in Molecular biology, at Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.
- Gene annotation for cotton bollworm.
- Insect rearing and bioassays.
- Protein purification.
- Transcriptomics using microarray.
- qRT-PCR experiments and analysis.
- Affinity purification of gut proteins.
- Mass spectrometry for identification of proteins.
- Enzyme assays for digestive proteases.
- Manuscript writing and publication.
- Behavioral and diet choice assays with insect larvae.
- Homology modeling for proteases enzymes.
April 2009 – December 2009
M. Tech. project student at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, Maharashtra, India.
- The project entitled “Analysis of phloem proteome of potato in response to pathogen challenge” until December 2013.
- We were interested in the differentially expressed putative peptides/proteins in the phloem channel of both resistant and susceptible potato cultivars in response to pathogen challenge.
June 2008 – March 2009
Master’s degree project student at Plant Molecular Biology Division, National Chemical Laboratory, Homi Bhabha road, Pune, India.
- Abstract
- Helicoverpa armigera is polyphagous and devastating insect pest of economic importance. Larval growth on various diets was compared by taking weights. Fecundity of moth is studied. Maximum larval and pupal weight was studied. Amylase activities were detected in all the larval instars, and various diets. Initial instars had lower amylase activity which steadily increased up to the sixth larval instar. Difference in the quantities of amylase in midguts of H. armigera on feeding natural and artificial diets was evident. Legumes, vegetables, flowers and cereal categories were studied by taking representative of each category. Amylase activity and isoform patterns varied on host plant and artificial diet. Artificial diet fed H. armigera larvae had comparatively high amylase activity and several unique amylase isoforms. By studying variation in amylase activity we came to know H. armigera regulates the levels of digestive enzymes in response to macromolecular composition of the diet. These adjustments in the digestive enzymes of H. armigera may be to obtain better nourishment from the diet and avoid toxicity. Study of crude sorghum inhibitor was also studied against amylase. We are also going to study the expression of amylase in various instar and various diets.
March 2007 – July 2007
Project trainee at Biochemical Engineering Division, National Chemical Laboratory, Homi Bhabha road, Pune, India.
- Worked on the a summer project about “Preparation of cross-linked enzyme aggregates of L-aminoacylase via co-aggregation with polyethyleneimine”
June 2006 – March 2007
Bachelor’s degree project student at the Department of microbiology, University of Pune, Pune, India.
- Abstract:
- Chitin is the second number of abundant polysaccharide in the world. To utilize this abundant source of macromolecules it need to be degraded in to its monomer. For the degradation of chitin chitinase from bacillus will be a good candidate to utilize. In this project I have screened the chitinase producing bacilli and use it for production of chitin in flask level and visualize the degradation of chitin in to its monomer using thin layer chromatography and enzyme assay.