Ms. Heena Shoket, a research scholar in the School of Biotechnology at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra has been declared qualified for the award of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) The candidate has worked on the topic “Investigation into the Genetic interactions of F-box Motif Encoding gene YDR131C with Certain Replication Fork Associated Factors in Saccharomyces cerevisiae” under the supervision of Dr. Narendra K Bairwa, Assistant Professor, and co-supervision of Prof. V. Verma, Former Professor, School of Biotechnology, SMVDU. Ms. Heena Shoket presented her research work at International Conferences and published her research findings in the SCIE Journals. The candidate expressed her gratitude to the School of Biotechnology and SMVD University for providing all facilities and necessary support for carrying out the research work and support from DBT, DST GOI funding agency. Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor, SMVDU Prof. R.K. Sinha, and committee members congratulated the candidate and wished her a bright future ahead.

Miss Arti Rathore, an alumnus of M.Sc. Biotechnology (Batch 2018-2020) of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra, has qualified the prestigious National Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) Exam and eligibility for Assistant Professor conducted under the Joint CSIR-UGC Test June-2021. She obtained All India Rank 03 (AIR-3) in Life Sciences. Ms. Arti has been a recipient of the Student Merit Cum Means Scholarship Scheme (SMMSS) on account of her academic performance. She has been an all-rounder at the University and also actively participated in many academic events, cultural activities and fests. Prof. (Dr.) Ravindra Kumar Sinha, Vice Chancellor, SMVDU, congratulated the candidate and wished her a successful career ahead. Biotechnology is one of the illustrious Schools of the University offering Integrated and Master's Program in Biotechnology catering to the needs of students in pursuit of quality education in the country. The state-of-art infrastructure available has honed the research skills of the students and scholars as is evident from the excellent publications, patents and placements.

Dr. Vidushi Abrol, CSIR-Research Associate (RA) and alumnus of School of Biotechnology, has been awarded for the best oral presentation for the paper, titled “DES-based Mutagenesis, Chemical profiling, and De-replication of natural products isolated from Penicilliumoxalicum” in the “International Conference on Emerging Trends in Biosciences and Chemical Technology-2022” held at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU) in Collaboration with CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicines on 3rd-5th Dec, 2022. The paper is an except from her doctoral thesis, titled “Studies on Secondary Metabolites Production in Important Fungi by Chemical Mutagenesis”, guided by Dr. Sundeep Jaglan, CSIR-IIIM Jammu and Dr. Sharada. M. Potukuchi, SMVD University.

Recently, on CSIR-IIIM 82 Foundation Day Celebration i.e. 1 Dec., 2022, she receive 3rd best research paper in area of Fermentation and Microbial Biotechnology by Prof S P Gautam, (former-Chairman, Central Pollution Control Board, New Delhi, India).The findings of her oral presentation are having a major application as a new array of molecules and the enhanced yield of important metabolites for drug industries and societal benefits. The research has been appreciated by delegates, and Prof. RK Sinha, VC SMVDU; Dr. Asha Chaubey, Principal Scientist, Head Fermentation & Microbial Biotechnology Division; Head, SoBT Dr. Ratna Chandra, SMVDU.

Ms. Meenu Sharma, a research student, in the School of Biotechnology at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU) has been declared qualified for the award of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).The candidate has worked on the topic, titled “Investigation into the Role of F-box Motif Encoding Gene SAF1 in Combination with Certain Genome Stability Regulators in the Maintenance of Genome Stability and Stress Response in S. cerevisiae” under the joint supervision of Dr. Narendra K Bairwa, Assistant Professor and Ramalingaswami Fellow, SMVDU and Prof. V. Verma, Former HoS, School of Biotechnology, SMVDU. Ms. Meenu Sharma was also awarded the “FEMS Meeting Grant for Early Young Scientists” and “Genetic Society of America (GSA) Travel Grant” for the presentation of her research work at international conferences, and she published her research findings in the SCIE journals.The candidate has expressed her gratitude to the School of Biotechnology and SMVD University for providing all facilities and necessary support for carrying out the research work, and for the support received from DBT, the DST GOI funding agency. Prof. R.K. Sinha, Vice-Chancellor, SMVDU, and committee members congratulated the candidate and wished her a bright future ahead.

Ms. Monika Pandita, Researcher, School of Biotechnology at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, has been declared qualified for the award of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.).The candidate has worked on “Investigation into the Genetic interactions of Glyoxylate Pathway related F-Box motif encoding gene UCC1 with certain Genome Stability regulators in Saccharomyces cerevisiae” under the supervision of Dr. Narendra K Bairwa, Assistant Professor, and co-supervision of Dr. Rakesh Kumar, Assistant Professor, School of Biotechnology, SMVDU. Ms. Pandita presented her research work at the international conferences and published her research findings in the SCIE journals. The candidate expressed her gratitude to the School of Biotechnology and SMVD University for providing all facilities and necessary support for carrying out the research work and support from DBT, DST GOI funding agency. Prof. R.K. Sinha, Vice-Chancellor, SMVDU, and committee members congratulated the candidate and wished her a bright future ahead.

Researchers from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra led by Dr. Narendra K Bairwa, Faculty, School of Biotechnology, SMVDU, recipient of the prestigious Ramalingaswami re-entry fellowship, discovered the link between Autophagy (self-eating process) and Flocculation (cell aggregation behavior) using Yeast as the model organism. The research findings are published in the Journal of Biochemical and Molecular Toxicology, April 2022 issue.

The authors of the published study titled “Deletion of autophagy-related, ATG1 and F-box motif encoding YDR131C, together, lead to synthetic growth defects and flocculation behavior in Saccharomyces cerevisiae”, Ms. Heena Shoket, Ms. Sadia Pervez, Ms. Meenu Sharma, Ms. Monika Pandita, Ms. Vishali Sharma and Mr. Prabhat Kumar are researchers who contributed to the work. The laboratory of Dr. Narendra Kumar Bairwa is supported by DBT, SERB-DST, & SMVDU, for work on gene-gene interactions, genome stability regulation, stress response, and screening of small molecules for drug discovery.

Dr. Indu Bhushan, Assistant Professor, School of Biotechnology, SMVD University published a book entitled “Manual for Practical Biochemistry”.This book provides an introduction to Biochemistry and get readers familiar with techniques of biological courses, such as Biochemistry, Botany, Zoology, Microbiology and Biotechnology. The focus is to provide experimental lists with a full account of the practical steps necessary for carrying out each protocol. The text addresses routinely used protocols in Biochemistry as well as instruments and experimental problems of the field. The methods section contains detailed step by step descriptions of each protocol that should result in the successful execution of method.

Dr Narendra K Bairwa, Faculty Member, School of Biotechnology, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, presented a paper at the 31st Fungal Genetics Conference organized by the Genetics Society of America (GSA) from 15th -20th March at Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, California, the USA in both virtual and offline mode. The GSA is an international scientific society representing more than 5,000 researchers and educators around the world. The conference organized the sessions on the topics: cell biology and morphology, secondary metabolism and production of useful metabolites, stress, cross-species interaction, chromatin, heterochromatin, epigenetics, signalling and metabolism, and alike.Dr Bairwa presented the paper in the Comparative and Functional Genomics Session of the conference. He is a member of the Genetics Society of America (GSA). Dr Bairwa acknowledged the support provided by SMVDU, DBT, SERB, India, and collaborators.

Dr. Narendra K Bairwa, Faculty, School of Biotechnology, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, presented a paper in the GSAYGM22 (Genetics Society of America Yeast Genetics Meeting 2022) organized by the Genetic Society of America, at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) California.The conference organized sessions on various topics i.e. Tools and approaches for understanding the yeast genome, Genome integrity, Genetic networks of complex traits, Disease models and ageing, and alike. Dr. Bairwa's presentation was on the Genome integrity session of the conference in which around 6,000 researchers and educators around the world presented their research. He acknowledged the support provided by SMVDU, DBT, SERB, India, and collaborators.

Dr. Narendra K Bairwa, Assistant Prof., School of Biotechnology, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, presented a Paper titled “F-box motif encoding genes as the targets for the development of stress-tolerant traits in the fungal species” in the International Conference on Biotechnology for Resource Efficiency, Energy, Environment, Chemicals and Health (BREEECH-2021) organized by the Biotech Research Society of India (BRSI) at the Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, from 1-4th, December 2021.

The conference chairman and the President of BRSI, Prof. Sudhir K Sopory, Former Vice-chancellor of JNU, New Delhi, and the conference co-chairman, Prof. Ashok Pandey, Distinguished BRSI Fellow, CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, addressed the conference delegates in the first session of the conference.

The conference was attended by national and international delegates from various parts of the globe in online and offline mode, which deliberated on research topics such as Resource efficiency of Biotic material, Biofuels, Chemicals and Materials, Biomass and Waste management, Industrial Biotechnology, Biotechnology of Medicine and Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology in Food and Agriculture and Bioinformatics and data science.

Ms. Vidushi Abrol has been declared qualified for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Biotechnology at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU), Katra. The candidate has successfully defended her doctoral thesis, titled “Studies on Secondary Metabolites Production in Important Fungi by Chemical Mutagenesis”, conducted under the Joint Supervision of Dr. Sundeep Jaglan, Principle Scientist, CSIR-IIIM Jammu and Dr. Sharada. M. Potukuchi, Associate Professor & Head, School of Biotechnology, SMVDU. Ms. Abrol has published research papers in high impact factor international peer-reviewed journals. She has been a recipient of many awards at international and national conferences. The student has been a grantee of financial assistance from Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Department of Science Technology (DST), Govt. of India.During the oral defence, Prof. RK Sinha, Vice-Chancellor, SMVDU; Prof. Ashok Sharma, Dean, Faculty of Sciences & Dr. Ratna Chandra, Nominee Head, SoBT were present.

Dr. Indu Bhushan, Faculty, School of Biotechnology, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU), Katra, along with his research team, has been working on the Coronavirous related management and global literature for quite sometime, and has subsequently published many papers in the reputed SCI journals of high impact factor.

One of the narrative prospects highlighting the role of bioactive compounds and probiotics in management of COVID-19 has been indexed in the database of World Health Organization (WHO) for "COVID-19 Global Literature on Coronavirus Diseases".The narrative review entitled “Bioactive compounds and probiotics-a ray of hope in COVID-19 management” is co-authored by Mahima Sharma, Malvika Mehta, Shivi Badyal, Varun Sharma, Indu Sharma, Hemender Singh, and Srinivas Sistla.

Dr. Bhushan has also been working on various aspects of bioactive compounds, nanoparticles and their role in human health. Furhter, he is working on exploring the human microbiome with respect to different diseases.

Ms. Savita Sharma has been declared qualified for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D.) in Biotechnology by Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU).The candidate has worked on the topic, titled “An Investigative Study on in vitro Regeneration and Production of Phytochemicals in Selected Medicinal Plant Species”, under the supervision of Dr. Sharada M. Potukuchi, Associate Professor, School of Biotechnology, SMVDU, Katra.

Ms. Savita has published her research findings in the SCI-E Journals of repute and also presented many papers in International and National Conferences. The candidate has expressed her gratitude to the School of Biotechnology and SMVD University for providing all facilities for carrying out the research work.Prof. Ravindra Kumar Sinha, Vice Chancellor of the University; Prof. Ashok Sharma, Dean, Sciences and Prof. V.K Bhat, Dean Humanities & Social Sciences congratulated the candidate for the useful findings on selected medicinal plants of UTJK. The protocols developed during her research work can be used for maximizing biomass and metabolite content for the commercial exploitation and applications in herbal drug-based industries of Boerhaavia diffusa and Rhynchostylis retusa.

Research scholar in the School of Biotechnology, Ms. Meenu Sharma, working under the supervision of Dr. Narendra K Bairwa, Assistant Prof. and co-supervision of Prof. V.Verma, former HOD, SoBT, SMVDU, published a paper titled “Genetic interaction between RLM1 and F-box motif encoding gene SAF1 contributes to stress response in Saccharomyces cerevisiae” in the SCI-indexed Journal “Genes and Environment”. The published work can be accessed using the following URL https://genesenvironment.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s41021-021-00218-x

The published works report the role of the RLM1 transcription factor encoding and SAF1 genes in the regulation of phase transition in Saccharomyces cerevisiae model organism, due to stress. The study highlights the analysis of in-Silico databases for hypothesis generation and experimental analysis using the gene-gene interaction approach. The laboratory of Dr. Narendra Kumar Bairwa is supported by DBT, SERB-DST, and SMVDU and the main focus of research is to understand the gene-gene interactions, genome stability regulation, stress response, screening of small molecules for drug discovery.

Dr. Shafaq Rasool, Faculty, School of Biotechnology, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU), presented a paper titled “Myxobacterial Strain discovery for novel anti-infectives” in the 2nd International Conference on Advances in Management, Engineering & Technology (ICAMET-2022), organized by RSP Conference Hub, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India.

The paper explained how Myxobacteria bacteria can serve a role in natural product drug-discovery like novel anti-infectives to combat the coming pandemic of antimicrobial resistance. The findings discussed in the presentation were highly appreciated by the experts and was awarded best presenter award.Dr. Rasool thanked the organisers for appreciating the efforts made by the research group at SMVDU on Myxobacteria and to all the team members for contributing in this research area. The funding received from DST (GOI) on Myxobacterial research was also acknowledged by the faculty. She expressed her gratitude to Prof. R.K. Sinha, Vice Chancellor, SMVDU, for the support.