Personal Information

Dr. Janmejay Pandey

Assistant Professor

M.Sc. (Biotechnology), Ph.D. (Life Sciences; IMTECH - CSIR-JNU, Chandigarh)

janmejay@curaj.ac.in

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  • Adaptive Microbial Physiology and its Role in Antimicrobial Resistance

  • Microbial Metabolis & Microbial Genetics, 

  • Molecular Microbial Ecology

​Academic Qualifications:

  • Ph.D. (2009, Biotechnology) -JNU, New Delhi & CSIR- IMTECH, Chandigarh India
  • M.Sc. (2002, Biotechnology) - Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra- Haryana India
  • B.Sc. (2000, Zoology, Botany and Chemistry) - Kumaun University, Nainital, India
  • Qualified CSIR -UGC NET (LIFE SCIENCES) in 2002 and 2003 with rank in top 10% qualified candiates
  • Qualified GATE (LIFE SCIENCES) in 2003 with a 97.58 percentile 

Research Training: 

Postdoctoral Training

  • 2010-2012 Senior Postdoctoral Fellow- School of Medicine, Georgia Health & Sci. University. Augusta (2 Years)
  • 2009-2010 Postdoctoral Fellow – Gordon Centre for Integrated Sciences, Univ. of Chicago. Chicago (1 Year)

Other Research Training

  • June 2008 – Nov 2008 – CSIRO Black Mountain Laboratory, Canberra - Australia (6 Months)
  • June 2007 – August 2007 – EPFL, Lausanne - Switzerland (2 Months)

 

Research Interest

Major Research Interest of the lab: 

Characterization of major proteins present in biofilm matrix as potential drug targets for anti-biofilm drug discovery: 

Our lab is interested in understanding the molecular basis of Bacillus subtilis biofilms with a special focus on the proteinaceous components of the Extracellular Matrix (ECM) that constitutes the major physical barrier between the external environment and the resident bacterial cells. It also protects the resident microbial cells from exogenously used traditional antibiotics, other disinfectants, and the host immune system.  Our research group is studying the Bacillus subtilis ECM and biomolecular interactions therein for identifying potentially novel drug targets for the discovery and development of ‘Novel Anti-biofilm Therapeutics”. We are also interested in extrapolating the findings from the Bacillus subtilis model for developing anti-biofilm therapeutics and prophylactics in pathogenic organisms, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus and their multiple drug-resistant strains, respectively. 

In our group, we use state-of-the-art experimental methodologies from Basic Microbiology, Bioinformatics, Molecular Biology, Recombinant DNA Technology, Protein Biochemistry, Microbial Genomics, and Transcriptomics to address to most pertinent questions related to "Adaptive Microbial Physiology and its role in the development of anti-microbial resistance'. The knowledge gathered from these studies is being implemented to develop pathogen-specific 'anti-dormancy & anti-biofilm therapeutics that could be combined with existing and newly discovered antimicrobials for effective treatment and mitigation of biofilm-forming chronic pathogens including Clostridium difficile.  

Molecular and evolutionary characterization of microbial degradation of anthropogenic xenobiotics: 

Our lab is also interested in investigating the processes involved in evolving new metabolic capabilities for the degradation of anthropogenic xenobiotic compounds. It is widely acknowledged that microorganisms had rather little time to evolve efficient metabolic pathways and related mechanisms for the degradation of xenobiotic compounds. Our long-standing research interest is focused on the microbial capability to evolve catabolic pathways and other accessory mechanisms, e.g., co-transformation, chemotaxis, biofilm formation, etc., for the degradation of anthropogenic compounds. With an enhanced understanding of molecular and evolutionary characteristics of microbial degradation of anthropogenic xenobiotics, it will be possible to engineer microbes that may be expressing chimeric catabolic pathways using enzymes from multiple organisms and targeted evolution of inefficient enzymes to bestow them with enhanced degradative capabilities.

S. No. Authors Title of Article Journal/Conference Details Journal/Conference Publication Year
1 . .
  1. Comparative analysis of soil microbial diversity across textile wastewater effluent stream(s) of Sanganer region, Rajasthan  (SERB/YS/LS/2013- 294)

Attended

  1. Delivered "Invited Lecture (in Online Mode)" at "International Conference on Recent Innovation in Biotechnological, Chemical and Environmental Sciences- Organized by University College of Science, MLSU, Udaipur. Rajasthan. March 15-16, 2023. 
  2. Attended and Delivered "Invited Speaker lecture" at - "International Conference on Emerging Trend in Biosciences and Chemical Technology " organized by Shi Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra, Jammu & Kashmir. December  3-5, 2022.
  3. Attended and Delivered "Invited Speaker lecture" at - 7th Annual International Conference of Indian Network for Soil Contamination Research on Modulating The Environment with Microorganisms. November 8-11, 2022. - Organized by INSCR
  4. Attended and Delivered "Invited Speaker lecture" at - 6th Annual International Conference of Indian Network for Soil Contamination Research on Microbes in Sustainable Development, November 15 -18, 2021. - Organized by INSCR
  5. Attended and Delivered "Expert Lecture" at Webinar On - Recent Trends & Advances in Bioremediation Technologies, August 16-17, 2021, Organized by C. U. Gujarat
  6. Attended and Delivered "Invited Speaker Lecture" at Southeast Asian Regional Symposium on Microbial Ecology (SARSME- 2020), 12 -14 February, 2020. Organized by International Society for Microbial Ecology & Microbial Ecology Network of Nepal. 

 

Organized

  1. Organizing Secretary - 5 Day Workshop and Hands-on-Training - "Perspective of Big Data Analytics in Biological Sciences., organized by School of Life Sciences, C. U. Rajasthan (March 27 -29, 2023)
  2. Organizing Committee Members of the 6th Annual International Conference of Indian Network for Soil Contamination Research on Microbes in Sustainable Development, November 15 -18, 2021
  3. Organizing Committee Member, 61st Annual International Conference of Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI). 
  4. Organizing Secretary, International Conference on Molecular Basis of Diseases and Therapeutics (ICMBDT)- 2019.