I’m a microbiome scientist interested in exploring the potential of microbiome in improving health and well-being. I have >9 years of experience in human microbiome research. In these years, I have acquired skills in experimental design, anaerobic microbiology, multi-omics data analytics, tool development and led collaborative projects.
I received my PhD in Human gut microbiology at the Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University and Research, with Prof. dr. Willem M De Vos, Prof. dr. Hauke Smidt and Prof. dr. Leo Lahti. I studied the human gut microbiome at multiple levels from single bacterium, synthetic microbiomes to ecosystem level. Together with Leo Lahti, I have co-developed R packages that are widely used in microbiome research.
Apart from research, I enjoy creating acrylic paintings and consider my self an amateur chef.
Experience
February 2021 - February 2023
Post Doctoral Researcher at Medische microbiologie en infectiepreventie, Groningen and The Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu).February 2020 - Jan 2021
Post Doctoral Researcher at University Medical Center, Utrecht and Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu).
• Immune response in elderly subjects receiving vaccine(s). Investigation of various immune parameters and microbiota.March 2019 - Jan 2020
Post Doctoral Researcher at Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University and Research.
• Design and development of synthetic human gut microbiomes.
• Developing multi-omics integrative biodiscovery pipelines for efficient utilization of synthetic microbiomes in a variety of biotech applications.August 2014 - March 2019
PhD, Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University and Research.
• Used a combination of genomics, proteomics and anaerobic culturing to elucidate the physiology of core human intestinal bacteria.
• Used a combination of in-silico and in-vitro approach to develop a defined consortium of human intestinal microbiome.
• Developed analytical pipelines in R for high-throughput sequencing data (primarily 16S rRNA gene amplicon).June 2012 - June 2014
Junior Research Fellow, National Centre for Cell Science.
• Developed 48-well plate screening method for bio-molecules from bacteria isolated from various ecological niches of Western Ghats.
• Genome sequencing and analysis of potential novel anaerobic bacteria isolated from feces of healthy human subjects.
• High-throughput sequencing and data analysis of microbial community in human subjects with different dietary habits (The Pune Microbiome Study).