Department of Biological Sciences

Sharvan Sehrawat Shashi Bhushan Pandit

Sporulatingbudding yeast Alternative RNA splicinganalyzed by Non-covalent interactions of ubiquitin-like protein
(Sachharomycescerevisiae) a reporter assayin different yeast Hub1 and Ubiquitin.Structure of HIND (green) – Hub1
mutants (silver)complex superimposed with structure
ofUbiquitin (dark pink) – UIM (pink)

Shravan Kumar Mishra

Mitotracker staining showing Mitochondrial distribution as Developing nervous system in Drosophila embryo as

mitochondrial distribution in a revealed by mito-GFP expression revealed by immunostaining with ELAV

dividing embryonic stem cell in Drosophila fat body cells

Sudip Mandal 49

Some illustrations relating to faculty research interests (Cont'd)
CG

AT Complete synchronization of a multi-cell system with cells having
different oscillatory dynamics: (a) uncoupled, (b) coupled
Chaos Game Representation of HIV HXB2
whole genome

(A) HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase structure (B) Ring Graph representation of (A)

Somdatta Sinha

50

Department : Department
Details and Indices

51

Publications from the Department

Deep, J.S. & Sidhu,S. (2008) Methylation pattern of e-cadherin gene as epigenetic biomarker in
lung cancer patients. Res. J. Biotech.3, 32-34.

Deep, J.S. (2009) DNA Methylation - Epigenetics to Molecular Diagnostics.Res. J. Biotech.4, 3-
4.

Kumar,S., Jain,N. & Mukherjee, T.K. (2009) Role of RAGE in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis:
Promising prospects. Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology 165: 121–122.

Kumar, S., Lata, K., Mukhopadhyay, S. & Mukherjee, T.K. (2010) Role of estrogen receptors in
pro-oxidative and anti-oxidative actions ofestrogens: A perspective. Biochimica et Biophysica
Acta 1800: 1127–1135.

Sidhu,S.,Deep, J.S., Sobti,R.C.et.al (2010). Methylation Pattern of MGMT Gene in relation to
Age, Smoking, Drinking and Dietary Habits as Epigenetic Biomarker in Prostate Cancer
Patients.Gen. Eng. and Biotech. J.GEBJ-8 .

Mukherjee, T.K, Paul, K, Mukhopadhyay, S. (2011) Cell signaling molecules as drug targets in
lung cancer: an overview. Curr Opin Pulm Med 17:286-91.

Pan-Pan, J., Bedhomme, S., Prasad, N. G. & Chippindale, A. K. (2011). Sperm competition and
mate harm unresponsive to male-limited selection in Drosophila: An evolving genetic architecture
under domestication. Evolution 65, 2248.

Imroze, K. & Prasad, N. G.(2011) Sex-specific effect of bacterial infection on components of adult
fitness in Drosophila melanogaster.J. Evol. Biol. Res. 3, 79-86.

Imroze, K. & Prasad, N. G. (2011) Mating with large males decreases the immune defence of
females in Drosophila melanogaster. J. Genet. 90, 427-434.

Bedhomme, S., Chippindale, A. K., Prasad, N. G., Delcourt, M., Abbott, J. K., Mallet, M. A. &
Rundle, H. D. 2011. (2011) Male-limited evolution suggests no extant intralocus sexual conflict
over the sexually dimorphic cuticular hydrocarbons of Drosophila melanogaster. J. Genet. 90,
443-452.

Yadav, AK. & Bachhawat, AK.( 2011) CgCYN1, a plasma membrane cystine-specific transporter
ofCandida glabrata with orthologues prevalent among pathogenic yeast and fungi. J. Biol. Chem.
286, 19714-19723.

Jain, N.,Bhattacharya, M. & Mukhopadhyay, S.(2011) Chain Collapse of an Amyloidogenic
Intrinsically Disordered Protein. Biophys. J. 2011, 101, 1720-1729.

Bhattacharya, M.,Jain, N.& Mukhopadhyay, S.(2011) Insights into the Mechanism of
Aggregation and Fibril Formation from Bovine Serum Albumin.J. Phys. Chem. B. 115, 4195-
4205.

Bhattacharya,M.,Jain,N.,Bhasne,V.,Kumari,V. & Mukhopadhyay,S. pH-induced Conformational
Isomerization of Bovine Serum Albumin Studied by Extrinsic and Intrinsic Protein Fluorescence.
J. Fluorescence 2011, 21, 1083-1090.

Bhattacharya,M., Jain,N.& Mukhopadhyay,S.Kinetics of Surfactant-induced Aggregation of
52 Lysozyme Studied by Fluorescence Spectroscopy. J. Fluorescence 2011, 21, 615-625.

Nandy, B. & Prasad, N. G. (2011). Reproductive behaviour and fitness components in male 53
Drosophila are non-linearly affected by the number of male co-inhabitants early in adult life. J.
Insect Sci. 11, 67.

Imroze, K. & Prasad, N. G.(2011). Sex-specific effect of bacterial infection on components of adult
fitness in Drosophila melanogaster.J. Evol. Biol. Res. 3, 79-86.

Imroze, K. & Prasad, N. G.(2011) Mating with large males decreases the immune defence of
females in Drosophila melanogaster. J. Genet. 90, 427-434.

Pandit,A. & Sinha,S.(2011) Differential Trends in the Codon Usage Patterns in HIV-1
Genes.PLoS ONE. 6(12): e28889.

Kaur, H. & Bachhawat, A.K. (2011) “Dug1 peptidase” in Handbook of Proteolytic Enzymes, edited
by Neil D. Rawlings and Guy Salvesen,3rd Edition. Elsevier Press.

Desai, P.R., Thakur, A., Ganguli, D., Paul, S, Morschhauser, J. & Bachhawat, A.K. (2011).
Glutathione utilization by Candida albicans requires a functional DUG pathway and OPT7, an
unusual member of the oligopeptide transporter family. J. Biol. Chem. 286, 41183-41194.

Paul, K. & Chattopadhyay, K. (2011) Unfolding distinguishes the Vibrio cholerae cytolysin
precursor from the mature form of the toxin. Biochemistry50, 3936-3945.

Chattopadhyay, K. (2011) Overview of protein molecular structures: Implications for functions. In
Fundamentals and Current Topics in Molecular Structure Research, 115-146 .

Deep, J. S. (2012) "Aberrant Methylation in Promoters of GSTP1, p16, p14, and RASSF1AGenes
in Smokers of North India," ISRN Pulmonology, doi:10.5402.

Trivedi, R. R. and Bhattacharyya,S. (2012) Constitutive internalization and recycling of
metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5).Biochem.Biophys. Res. Commun. 427, 185-190.

Dalal, V., Bhattacharya, M., Narang, D., Sharma, P.K. & Mukhopadhyay, S.(2012) Nanoscale
Fluorescence Imaging of Single Amyloid Fibrils.J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 3, 1783-1787.

Bhattacharya, M. & Mukhopadhyay, S. (2012)Structural and Dynamical Insights into the Molten-
globule form of Ovalbumin. J. Phys. Chem. B 116, 520-531.

Raote,I., Bhattacharyya,S. & Panicker,M. M. (2012) Functional Selectivity in Serotonin Receptor
2A (5-HT2A) Endocytosis, Recycling and Phosphorylation.Molecular Pharmacology.

Kaur, H., Ganguli, D. & Bachhawat, A.K. (2012). Glutathione degradation by the alternative
pathway (DUG pahway) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is initiated by the (Dug2p-Dug3p)2
complex, a novel GATase enzyme acting on glutathione. J. Biol. Chem. 287, 8920-8931.

Pandit,A., Kumar,A.D & Sinha,S. (2012) Multi-fractal analysis of HIV-1 genomes. Mol.
Phylogenet.Evol. 62, 756–763 .

Publications (cont’d)

Kumar, A. & Bachhawat, A. K. (2012) Pyroglutamic acid: throwing light on a lightly studied
metabolite. Curr. Sci.102 , 288-297.

Khan, J., Gupta, S., Chattopadhyay, K.& Mukhopadhaya, A. (2012) Refolding and functional
assembly of the Vibrio cholerae porin OmpU recombinantly expressed in the cytoplasm of
Escherichia coli. Protein Expr.Purif. 85, 204-210.

Kumar, S., Kushwaha, H., Bachhawat, A.K.,Raghava, G.P. & Ganesan, K. (2012). Genome
sequence of the oleaginous red yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides MTCC 457.Eukaryot.Cell. 11,
1083-1084.

Kumar, A., Tikoo, S., Maity, S., Sengupta, S., Sengupta, S. , Kaur, A. & Bachhawat, A. K. (2012)
Mammalian proapoptotic factor ChaC1 and its homologues function as γ-
glutamylcyclotransferases acting specifically on glutathione. EMBO Reports, 13, 1095-1101.

Bachhawat, A.K., Thakur, A., Kaur, J. & Zulkifli, M. (2012) Glutathione transporters.
Biochim.Biophys.Acta.1830, 3154-3164.

Paul, K. & Chattopadhyay, K. (2012) Single point mutation in Vibrio cholerae cytolysin
compromises membrane pore-formation mechanism of the toxin. FEBS J279, 4039-4051.

Sandhu, K.S., Li, G, Poh, H.M., Quek, Y.L., Sia, Y.Y., Peh, S.Q., Mulawadi, F.H., Lim, J., Sikic, M.,
Menghi, F., Thalamuthu, A., Sung, W.K., Ruan, X., Fullwood, M.J., Liu, E., Csermely, P. & Ruan, Y.
(2012) Large-scale functional organization of long-range chromatin interaction networks.
Cell Rep. 2, 1207-1219.

Nandy, B., Abhilasha, J., Zeeshan, S. A., Sharmi, S.& Prasad, N. G. (2012) Degree of adaptive
male mate choice is positively correlated with female quality variance. Scientific Reports.
Doi:10.1038/srep00447.

Khan, I. & Prasad N. G. (2012)The aging of the immune response in Drosophila melanogaster. J.
Gerontol.Biol. Sci. doi:10.1093/Gerona/gls144.

Banerjee, K. Kr., Ayyub, C., Ali, S. Z., Mandot, V., Prasad, N. G. & Kolthur-Seetharam, U. (2012)
dSir 2 in the adult fatbody but not muscles regulates lifespan in a diet-dependent manner. Cell
Reports.doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2012.11.013.

Fatima, U., Singh, B., Subramanian, K. & Guptasarma, P. (2012) Insufficient (sub-native) helix
content in soluble/solid aggregates of recombinant and engineered forms of IL-2 throws light on
how aggregated IL-2 is biologically active. Protein J. 31, 529-543.

Dhaunta, N., Arora, K., Chandrayan, S.K. & Guptasarma, P. (2013) Introduction of a thermophile-
sourced ion pair network in the fourth beta/alpha unit of a psychophile-derived triosephosphate
isomerase from Methanococcoides burtonii significantly increases its kinetic thermal stability.
Biochim.Biophysics Acta (Proteins and Proteomics).

Nandy, B., Chakraborty, P., Ali, Z.S. & Prasad, N.G. (2013). Sperm competitive ability evolves in
54 response to altered operational sex ratio. Evolution. doi:10.1111/evo.12076.

Imroze, K. & Prasad, N. G. (2013) Adaptive male mate choice in relation to female infection status 55
in Drosophila melanogaster. J. Insect Physiol. 59, 1017-1023.

Nandy, B., Vanika, G., Udaykumar, N., Samant, M. A., Sen, S. & Prasad, N.G. 2013.Experimental
evolution of female traits under different levels of intersexual conflict in Drosophila
melanogaster.Evolution doi:10.1111/evo.12271.

Gupta, V., Zeeshan, S. A. & Prasad, N. G. (2013) Sexual activity increases resistance against
Pseudomonas entomophila in male Drosophila melanogaster. BMC Evolutionary Biology 13,
185.

Nandy, B., Gupta, V., Udaykumar, N., Samant, M., Sen, S. & Prasad, N.G. (2013) Evolution of
mate-harm, longevity and behaviour in male fruit flies subjected to different levels of interlocus
conflict. BMC Evolutionary Biology13, 212.

Rai, A. K., Paul, K. & Chattopadhyay, K. (2013) Functional mapping of the lectin activity site on
the Prism domain of Vibrio cholerae cytolysin: implications for the membrane pore-formation
mechanism of the toxin. J. Biol. Chem.

Yadav, R.K., Perales, M., Gruel, G., Ohno, C., Heisler, M., Grike, T., Jönsson, H.& Reddy, G.V.
(2013) Plant stem cell maintenance involves direct transcriptional repression of differentiation
program. Molecular Systems Biology.

Bhattacharya, M., Jain,N., Dogra,P., Samai,S. & Mukhopadhyay,S. Nanoscopic Amyloid Pores
formed via Stepwise Protein Assembly.J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2013.

Kumar, S., Kasturia, N., Sharma, A., Datt, M.and Bachhawat ,A.K. (2013) Redox-dependent
stability of the γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase enzyme of Escherichia coli: a novel means of redox
regulation. Biochem. J. 449(3),783-94.

Mandal,S., Sinha, S., & Sarkar,R.R. (2013) A Realistic Host-Vector Transmission Model for
Describing Malaria Prevalence. Pattern.Bull. Math. Biol. 75, 2499–2528.

Pandit ,Aridaman .,V,Jyothirmayi & Sinha, S. (2013) Analysis of dinucleotide signatures in HIV-1
subtype B genomes. J. Genet. 92, 403-412.

Priya, V.K.,Sarkar,S. & Sinha, S. (2013) Evolution of tryptophan biosynthetic pathway in microbial
genomes: acomparative genetic study. Systems Synth. Biol. DOI 10.1007/s11693-013-9127-1.

Tayal et al. Evolutionarily conserved and conformationally constrainedshort peptides might serve
as DNA recognition elements in intrinsically disordered regions. Molecular Biosystems 2014 (in
press).

Sakharwade, S.C., Sharma, P.K. & Mukhopadhaya, A. (2013) Vibrio cholerae Porin OmpU
Induces Pro-Inflammatory Responses, but Down-Regulates LPS-Mediated Effects in RAW
264.7, THP-1 and Human PBMCs. PLoS ONE 8(9): e76583.

Publications (cont’d)

Thakur, A. and Bachhawat, A.K. (2013) Mutations in the N-terminal region of the
Schizosaccharomyces pombe glutathione transporter pgt1(+) allows functional expression in
Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Yeast. 30, 45-54.

Tuli, A.., Thiery,J., Ashley, J.M., Michelet,X.,Sharma, M., Garg,S., Sanborn, K.B., Jordan, O.S.,
Lieberman,J.& Michael, B.B.(2013) Arf-like GTPase Arl8b regulates lytic granule polarization and
natural killer cell–mediated cytotoxicity. Mol. Biol. Cell 24, 3721-3735.

Bhattacharya, M. & Mukhopadhyay, S (2014) Studying Protein Misfolding & Aggregation using
Fluorescence Spectroscopy. inReviews in Fluorescence (Springer; invited chapter) Editor: Dr.
Chris D. Geddes.

Chandrayan, S.K, Prakash, S., Ahmed, S. & Guptasarma, P. (2014) Hyperthermophile Protein
Behavior: Partially-Structured Conformations of Pyrococcus furiosus Rubredoxin Monomers
Generated through Forced Cold-Denaturation and Refolding. PLoS One 9(3), e80014.

Dalal, V., Arya, S. & Mukhopadhyay, S. (2014) Nanoscale Optical Imaging of Amyloid Fibrils in
Bionanoimaging: Protein Misfolding & Aggregation (Elsevier; invited chapter will be published
soon) Editors Y. Lyubchenko & V. Uversky.

Prakash, S., Sundd, M., Guptasarma, P. (2014) The Key to the Extraordinary Thermal Stability of
P. furiosus Holo-Rubredoxin: Iron Binding-Guided Packing of a Core Aromatic Cluster
Responsible for High Kinetic Stability of the Native Structure. PLoS One 9(3): e89703.

Dhaunta, N., Fatima, U. & Guptasarma, P. (2014) Structural biochemistry of PfuALP : An alpha
lytic protease homolog from the hyperthermophile archaeon, Pyrococcus furiosus.
Extremophiles (in press).

Lata K, Mukherjee T,K. (2014) Knockdown of receptor for advanced glycation end products
attenuate ethinyl-estradiol dependent proliferation and survival of MCF-7 breast cancer cells.
Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 1840:1083-1091.

Lata, K., Paul, K. & Chattopadhyay, K. (2014) Functional characterization of Helicobacter pylori
TlyA: pore-forming hemolytic activity and cytotoxic property of the protein. Biochem. Biophys.
Res. Com. doi:10.1016.

Paul, K. & Chattopadhyay, K. (2014) Pre-pore oligomer formation by Vibrio cholerae cytolysin:
Insights from a truncated variant lacking the pore-forming pre-stem loop. Biochem. Biophys.
Res. Com., 443, 189-193.

Kumar, S., Sharma, P., Aroka, K., Raje, M. & Guptasarma, P. (2014) Calcium binding to beta-2-
microglobulin at physiological pH drives the occurrence of conformational changes which cause
the protein to precipitate into amorphous forms that subsequently transform in amyloid
56 aggregates. PLoS One (in press).

Research Interests

Research Area Genetics / Evolution
Ecology & Animal Behavior
Faculty Immunology
Neurosciences
Stem Cell & Developmental Biology
Molecular Biology
Cell Biology
Microbiology
Biochemistry & Biophysics
Theoretical & Computational Biology

A.K.Bachhawat ▲ ▲▲▲

Purnananda Guptasarma ▲▲▲▲

Somdatta Sinha ▲▲

Samrat Mukhopadhyay ▲▲

N.G. Prasad ▲▲ ▲

A. Mukhopadhaya ▲ ▲▲

K. Chattopadhyay ▲ ▲▲▲

Lolitika Mandal ▲ ▲▲▲

Sudip Mandal ▲ ▲▲▲

Samarjit Bhattacharyya ▲ ▲▲

Kavita Babu ▲ ▲ ▲▲

Mahak Sharma ▲▲

Rachna Chaba ▲ ▲▲

Ram Yadav ▲▲▲

Shravan Kumar Mishra ▲▲

Rajesh Ramachandran ▲▲▲▲

Shashi Bhushan Pandit ▲

Kuljeet Sandhu ▲

Manjari Jain ▲▲ ▲

Sharvan Sehrawat ▲ ▲▲

Rhitoban Ray Choudhury ▲ ▲ ▲▲ 57

Faculty - Recognitions

Kavita Babu : Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award (IYBA), Department of
Biotechnology; Wellcome-DBT Intermediate Fellowship.

Anand Bachhawat : Fellow, Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi; Fellow, Indian
Academy of Sciences, Bangalore; Fellow, National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad; JC
Bose National Fellowship, 2012-2017; Member, Basic Research in Modern Biology Task
Force- of the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, Biochemistry, Biophysics,
Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Task Force of the Department of Science & Technology,
Govt. of India; Editorial Board - Current Science - since Jan 01, 2013; Editorial Board - J.
Biosciences - since Jan 01, 2010; Editorial Board - Microbial Cell - since Jan 01, 2014;
Editorial Board - J. Biol. Chem. - since July 01, 2014.

Samarjit Bhattacharya: Appointed Expert, Neurobiology Task Force of the Department of
Biotechnology, Govt. of India; Awarded TIFR alumni association patent award.

Purnananda Guptasarma: INSA Medal for Young Scientists, Indian National Science
Academy, New Delhi; AK Bose Memorial Medal, Indian National Science Academy, New
Delhi; Elected Young Associate, Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore; CSIR Young
Scientist Award, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, New Delhi; AVRA Young
Scientist Award, AVRA Foundation, Hyderabad; Wellcome Trust International Travelling
Research Fellowship, University of Cambridge; BK Bachhawat Memorial Travel Award;
Elected Member, Guha Research Conference, India; Appointed Editorial Board Member,
Prion; Appointed Expert, Energy Biosciences Taskforce of the Department of Biotechnology,
Govt. of India.

Lolitika Mandal: Wellcome-DBT Intermediate Fellowship.

Samrat Mukhopadhyay: Elected Young Associate of the Indian Academy of Sciences;
Invited talk at the Intrinsically Disordered Proteins Subgroup, Biophysical Society meeting,
San Diego; BK Bachhawat Memorial Travel Award.

Rajesh Ramachandran: Wellcome-DBT Intermediate Fellowship.

Kuljeet Sandhu: Award of honour from Indian science congress, shillong chapter; Award of
honour from INSPIRE internship camp (DST).

Mahak Sharma: Wellcome-DBT Intermediate Fellowship.

Somdatta Sinha: Fellow, Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi; Fellow, Indian
Academy of Sciences, Bangalore; Fellow, National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad; JC
Bose Fellowship; Fellow, Institute of Advanced Study, Berlin; International Fellow, Santa Fe
Institute; Council member, Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore; Academic Council
member, University of Hyderabad; Editorial Board, Current Science; DST-PAC member on
Animal Sciences; INSA-INSPIRE Faculty Fellow Selection Committee member.

Ram Yadav: Ramalingaswami fellow, Department of Biotechnology; Innovative Young
Biotechnologist Award (IYBA), Department of Biotechnology.

Shravan Kumar Mishra : Appointed, Head, Partner Group (IISER Mohali), Max-Planck
Institute of Biochemistry, 2013; Junior Research Award for outstanding research in
58 Biochemistry, Max-Planck Institute, 2011.

Honorary, Adjunct & Visiting Faculty

Prof. Raghavendra Gadagkar,
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
Honorary Professor

Prof. Jayant Udgaonkar,
National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore
Adjunct Faculty

Prof. Amitabh Joshi,
Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced
Scientific Research, Bangalore
Adjunct Faculty

Dr. Amitabha Chattopadhyay,
Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology, Hyderabad
Adjunct Faculty

Dr. Girish Sahni,
Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh
Adjunct Faculty

Prof. T. R. Rao,
Ex-Department of Zoology, University of Delhi
Visiting Faculty

59

Faculty - Research Support

Kavita Babu : Rs. 42.00 Lakhs
Innovative Young Biotechnologist grant Rs 350.00 Lakhs
Wellcome-DBT Intermediate grant
Rs. 324.00 Lakhs
Rajesh Ramachandran
Wellcome-DBT Intermediate grant Rs. 327.00 Lakhs

Mahak Sharma Rs. 320.00 Lakhs
Wellcome-DBT Intermediate grant
Rs. 67.00 Lakhs
Lolitika Mandal
Wellcome-DBT Intermediate grant Rs. 30.00 Lakhs

Sudip Mandal Rs. 74.50 Lakhs
DBT grant Rs. 42.00 Lakhs

Somdatta Sinha Rs. 35.00 Lakhs
JC Bose grant
Rs. 62.65 Lakhs
Ram Yadav
Ramalingaswami grant Rs. 50.20 lakhs
Innovative Young Biotechnologist grant
Rs. 22.40 Lakhs
N. G. Prasad
DST grant Rs. 41.89 Lakhs
Rs. 33.19 lakhs
Kausik Chattopadhyay Rs. 20.00 Lakhs
DBT grant
Rs. 55.00 Lakhs
Arunika Mukhopadhaya -------------------------
DBT grant Rs. 1896.83 lakhs

Samrat Mukhopadhyaya
CSIR grant

Anand Bachhawat
DBT grant
DST grant
JC Bose grant

Samarjit Bhattacharya
NIH-DB grant

60

Departmental Seminars

The Department has several kinds of seminars during the entire academic year: 61

1. Wednesday research seminars: These seminars are delivered by members of different research
groups in the department on three out of the four Wednesdays in each month, throughout the
teaching semester. Each research group is allotted a slot for a given Wednesday (3-4pm). The PI
and/or members of the research group talk about some aspec(s) of ongoing, or planned work.

2. Seminars by Invited Speakers: Noted biologists from around the country, and abroad, are invited
by a faculty member to give a seminar at IISER Mohali, whenever the opportunity presents itself.

3. Faculty candidate seminars: Candidates who apply for a faculty position at the department
initially send in their application with a CV to the Dean, Faculty at IISER-M. They are then assigned
a file with a number by the Dean's office. The DBS faculty then meet 3-4 times each year to short-list
candidates for the next stage of the consideration process. Short-listed candidates are invited to
spend a day interacting with the faculty at IISER Mohali, and asked to give a seminar (open to all
faculty, students and staff) on their proposed work and future plans. Subsequently, 2-3 times each
year, the departmental faculty reconvene to discuss the candidatures of those who have visited and
given seminars since the last meeting, and there is a further short-list made which is forwarded to
Dean, Faculty, for further processing.

4. Undergraduate seminars: 4th year BS/MS students have to make presentations as part of their
seminar delivery courses. These courses take place in both the odd and even semesters of each
academic year (IDC451 and IDC452).

5th year BS/MS students are required to make a presentation on their two- semester thesis project.
They make a presentation after their first semester, which is open to all departmental faculty. After
two semesters, they make an open presentation (open to all faculty and students of the institute),
followed by a thesis defence with a small committee.

5. Graduate and postgraduate seminars: PhD students have to mandatorily deliver seminars
during the first two semesters, as part of their coursework (IDC451 AND IDC452). At the end of their
first year, PhD students are expected to deliver a seminar on their proposed doctoral research
projects, as part of their comprehensive examination. Towards the end of their PhD, students are
required to deliver a seminar to the department/institute before submitting their thesis, and then an
open seminar at the time of their thesis defence, prior to a viva-voce examination with a small
committee.

HETeU-LEReU LabsThe HETeU-LEReU labs at the Department

HETeU-LEReU is an acronym for 'high-end teaching usage – low-end research usage'.

The setting up of these labs is an effort to combine two unfulfilled needs, to mutual advantage, in a manner
that is probably unprecedented. Read on, to see the 'what', 'wherefore' and 'how' of this effort..…..

= NEED 1 – HETeU, and associated issues

HETeU has to do with our 5-year integrated BS-MS degree students, especially during their '3rd and 4th
years, as they specialize in Biological Sciences. Such students need to be exposed to modern techniques,
and gain 'hands-on' experience in these techniques, in order to graduate from IISER-M with adequate
exposure to (and experience, in using) modern techniques. If they do not do so, such students will not benefit
from the research expertise available amongst faculty, and end up graduating with mainly classroom-derived
knowledge, or perhaps the barest of practical laboratory training and experience. Since DBS houses almost
all modern biological facilities and has faculty with the requisite expertise, it is desired that our BS-MS
students benefit from this availability. However, there is neither the time available to train all BS-MS students
in all techniques on 'high-end' sophisticated research instrumentation available in the department, nor is
there the inclination to give such students direct access to sophisticated instruments (given concerns about
instrument safety, and costs of maintenance and repair).

= NEED 2 – LEReU, and associated issues

LEReU relates to students, or faculty, carrying out research – who do not have the time, inclination, or
background, to train on specific sophisticated instrument facilities (particularly if the need for such facilities
arises only rarely in their research group), but who still have a need to use such facilities, either now and then,
or routinely but using only a very low level of sophistication. Generally, such a need is fulfilled through
collaborations, but there is always paucity of time in the lab possessing the requisite expertise, which
becomes rate-determining for research. Enough student-training also does not occur, in this mode.
Therefore, there is a need for LEReU. Students with a LEReU need could be either from the 5th year of the
BS-MS degree program (carrying out a one-year thesis project, even while attending some classes), or from
the Ph.D program. LEReU needs are present 'all-year-round'.

= SOLUTION – HETeuLEReU Labs

Everyone recognizes that it is difficult to find funds to fulfill (or justify) either the HETeUneed, or the LEReU
need, independently. Clearly, if only BS-MS students were to end up using HETeUinstruments, each
instrument would be used for only a week, or a fortnight, each year, by each batch of students, and gather
dust for the remainder of the year. On the other hand, if only fifth year MS students and Ph.D students were to
end up using LEReU instruments, the argument could be easily made that this would be a luxury; such
students could arguably spend the requisite time, and learn to use sophisticated instruments, if and when
they need them. Therefore, a HETeU lab is a viable proposition if and only if it is combined with a LEReU
need, since such a blending of HETeU and LEReU needs alloweach facilityto get used all the time (not
seasonally), and takes academic and research student training to 'the next level'. The question is, are there
low-end-sophistication instruments available ?Fortunately, in recent times, many different manufacturers
have come out with 'low-end' benchtop instruments (of both lower sophistication, and price). Combined with
IISER's currently available financial resources, and the mandate to take teaching, and training related to
research to the next level, the available of such instrumentation allowed us to fulfill the HETeU-LEReU need
admirably.

= IMPLEMENTATION – We have procured twenty different types of facilities, including instruments for
analytical electrophoresis, chromatography, fluorescence microscopy, confocal microscopy, scanning
electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy,
FTIR spectroscopy, circular dichroism, stopped-flow absorption, fluorescence, and CD spectroscopy, plate-
readers for ELISA, fluorescence and luminescence assays, regular PCR, real-time PCR, centrifugation,
ultracentrigugation, bio-layer interferometry, cell disruption, plant growth, and three-dimensional
biomolecularvisualization and analyses.

62 The HETeU-LEReU labs are to begin functioning in the fall, from the first semester of academic year 2014-2015.

Admissions-Related Processes and Programs

The office of the Dean, Academics, at IISER-M, is responsible for all admissions; however, the 63
Department of Biological Sciences assists the Dean's office and also operationally oversees large
parts of many admissions-related processes, described below:

1. Integrated BS-MS program admissions : Admissions to the integrated BS-MS program
are handled centrally by a joint admissions committee consisting of members representing
all five IISERs, and all admitted candidates are provided with a fellowship, subject to a
minimum level of academic performance.

BS-MS admissions to IISER-M are NOT handled at the departmental level. However, when
BS-MS students have finished two years of coursework in all the science subjects, they are
required to choose any one out of the four main science subjects (i.e., biology, chemistry,
physics or mathematics) as a 'major' subject. To aid this, each department participates in a
special program in which students ending their second year are informed about what they
might expect to study, if they choose to do a major in biology. This program is held in the end
of March, or in the beginning of April, every year. After this, much of the academic program
for the third, fourth and fifth years of the BS-MS program (including the process by which
research supervisors are allotted for the fifth year thesis project) is handled by the
department, in collaboration with the office of Dean, Academics.

2. Integrated MS-Ph.D program admissions : Admissions to this program are overseen by
the department. Eligibility criteria are routinely advertised on the institute's website, and the
admissions are conducted in the summer of each year. Shortlisted candidates are invited
for an entrance examination/interview towards selection. It may be noted that the
department is extremely selective about these admissions, and only exceptionally
meritorious, and motivated, candidates displaying a clear aptitude towards research are
admitted. All admitted candidates are provided with a fellowship.

3. Ph.D admissions : Ph.D admissions are done at the beginning of each semester, twice a
year, and advertisements appear on the website towards the end of each semester.
Candidates who apply – through an electronic applications process - are screened
according to extant eligibility and shortlisting criteria, and invited for
examinations/interviews.

4. Summer Progams : The department participates in three kinds of summer research
training programs : (i) IISER's own BS-MS students are required to do summer projects.
Some do it at IISER-M; (ii) IISER participates in an inter-academy summer program
supervised by the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, which allots some summer
students to research supervisors at IISER; (iii) IISER-M advertises a summer program
open to students from around the country, in the month of February/March.

Departmental Administration

The department conducts its work through the following committees, each of which has a
convener and a co-convener, as well as members, from amongst departmental faculty.

Committees for academic affairs management (AAM-1 to AAM-5)
AAM-1 Admissions
AAM-2 Curriculum Management and Senate Liaison
AAM-3 Integrated BS-MS Affairs
AAM-4 Integrated MS-Ph.D Affairs
AAM-5 Ph.D Affairs

Committees for research affairs support (RAS-1 to RAS-9)
RAS-1 Space Utilization and Establishment
RAS-2 Departmental Instrumental Facilities
RAS-3 Departmental Computational Facilities
RAS-4 Engineering Services Liaison
RAS-5 Purchase Liaison
RAS-6 Stores Liaison
RAS-7 Library Liaison
RAS-8 Radioactivity management, waste disposal, housekeeping
RAS-9 Research Student Liaison

Committees for faculty affairs management (FAM-1 to FAM-4)
FAM-1 Faculty Committee
FAM-2 Inter-Departmental Liaison and Departmental Budgets
FAM-3 Departmental Seminars and Symposia
FAM-4 Retreats and Official Events

The convener and co-conveners exchange duties every year. To learn about whom to contact,
in respect of a particular issue, or subject, please write to [email protected] to
64 inquire.

Courses

BS-MS Core Biology Courses

1. BIO101: Cellular basis of life

2. BIO111: Biology Lab I

3. BIO102: Gene expression and development

4. BIO112: Biology Lab II

5. BIO201: Genetics and evolution

6. BIO211: Biology Lab III

7. BIO202: Behaviour and ecology

8. BIO212: Biology Lab IV

BS-MS Major Mandatory Courses

1. BIO301: Animals: Form and function

2. BIO302: Advanced cell biology

3. BIO303: Experimental design and hypothesis testing

4. BIO304: Essential biochemistry

5. BIO305: Advanced developmental biology

6. BIO306: Plants: Form and function

7. BIO311: Molecular methods in biology lab

8. BIO312: Development and physiology lab

9. BIO401: Structure and Function of genomes

10. BIO402: Microbial physiology and microbial genetics

11. BIO403: Advanced evolutionary biology

12. BIO404: Cellular and molecular basis of the immune response

13. BIO411: Bioinformatics lab

14. BIO412: Lab on biophysical and spectroscopic tools

BS-MS Major and Ph.D Electives

1. BIO307: Microbial Technology

2. BIO405: Advanced Biochemistry

3. BIO451: Microbial genetics

4. BIO452: Infectious diseases and epidemiology

5. BIO453: Principles underlying instrumental biomacromolecular analyses

6. BIO454: Neuroscience

7. BIO455: Computational Structural Biology

8. BIO501: Topics in biology-I

9. BIO512: Topics in biology-II

10. BIO601: Techniques in biology

11. BIO602: Regulation of gene expression

12. BIO609: Immunology

13. BIO610: Advanced topics in molecular genetics

14. BIO611: Fluorescence in biology

15. BIO612: RNA Biology

16. BIO613: Developmental Neurobiology

17. BIO614: Topics in evolutionary biology

18. BIO615: Developmental biology

19. BIO623: Protein folding, misfolding and amyloid biology

20. BIO624: Case studies in hypotheses-driven molecular and cellular biology

Inter- Disciplinary Elective Courses 65
1. IDC306: Biocomputing
2. IDC401: Theoretical biology
3. IDC403: Protein Engineering
4. IDC620: Computational Biology

BS-MS 3rd Year Batch BS-MS 4th Year Batch
BS-MS 5th Year Batch

Departmental Staff Members
(Scientific / Technical / Support)

66

Campus Life Campus

67

Campus Life

The 'tri-city' of Chandigarh-Mohali- There are currently four hostels at IISER
Panchkula is one of India's best cities to live and Mohali, each with a capacity of approximately
work in, by many different indices. It has often 250 students. All rooms are for single occupation
been ranked at the top of the country's list of state with attached balcony. Each floor has six
capitals and union territories, in different common wash rooms. The hostels have mixed
analyses published by various magazines. population of girls, boys, MS and PhD students;
whereas the living sections for the genders are
The IISER Mohali campus, covering an area segregated, each hostel has a common TV room
of 125 acres, is situated in the south-east of with attached canteen, as well as an attached
Mohali, in Sector 81 (note : the numbering mess for the main meals, along with some other
scheme for sectors is contiguous with the sectors common areas for study and extra-curricular
of Chandigarh). activities.

Currently, the campus consists of students' IISER Mohali has numerous clubs which

hostels, faculty housing, one academic-cum- organize different activities. Some of these are -

research block that is ready and functional (with the music and dance club, the sports club, the art

another nearly ready), a lecture hall complex club, the quiz club, the drama club, the

featuring multiple halls for the teaching of 125, environmental club, the adventure club and a

250, or 500 students at one time, a shopping YATN (Youths' Attempt to Nurture) group that

complex for basic amenities (featuring a bank works to provide education to children of laborers

and a post-office), a library which combines print involved in construction works at IISER.

and digital books and journals, an informatics Activities : All the clubs are managed by
center, and a central analytical facilities building, students, creating a vibrant environment. So, if a
featuring large and sophisticated facilities for student has a hobby, there will be definitely a
inter-disciplinary research, such as high-field place to put those interests, and skills, to use!
NMR, crystallography, mass spectrometry et And for those who want to learn, provided there
cetera. are enough students, these clubs also organize

classes. For example, in the past, guitar classes

and Taekwondo classes have been organized for

interested students. An inter-IISER sports week

is organized once a year, in which students can

compete in many different sports with students

from other IISERs. Cultural evenings are

frequently organized at IISER Mohali. During

these, students display their talents to the entire

campus community. Besides the clubs for extra-

curricular activities, there is a Curie club, a

Biology discussion forum, a physics forum called

68 Phy@I and a mathematics group.

IISER Mohali currently has a basic gym facility. There are
also spaces available for in-door games such as table tennis
and badminton.

The area at the center of the complex of four hostels has
a basketball court and a volley ball play area which are
invariably occupied by students during the evenings,
creating an atmosphere of energy and movement!

There is also a ground for football and cricket behind the
area housing the hostels, with some basic seating
arrangements for viewers.

69

Campus Life (cont’d)

Library and computer center : The campus The institute has two capable counsellors who
library houses all the books necessary for students may be approached at any time for help. IISER
required for their course work. Books can be issued Mohali also assigns one mentor (faculty member) to
and returned periodically, as in any library. The a group of students to help familiarize them with
library also has e-journals and archives of most academic and social issues; at all times, during one's
scientific journals, along with newspapers and campus stay, each student has an assigned mentor,
magazines for leisure reading. The hostels also have although - for BS-MS students - the mentor assigned
a library for non-academic books for students, which is different during the first two years of common
may be issued like the course books. The digital studies, and during the remaining three years of
library is situated within the Central Analytical Facility specialization.
building which contains many computers with
internet access for computer sciences students.
Together with the institute Computer center, the
library is due to move very soon into new premises –
in a building glowing with natural lighting and an
intriguing architectural plan!

Health Center: A medical officer is present Shopping complex/Bank : The shopping
at the IISER health center for 8 hrs each day, during complex has a few stores that attend to basic student
weekdays, and there are visiting doctors too (a needs along with a unisex salon. There is also a
Physician and Surgeon, and a Gynecologist) who campus restaurant- currently called “Zozen” - at the
come to the health center at specific times during the shopping complex for dining. Canara bank has a
week. The health center is equipped with basic branch situated in the complex, exclusively for IISER
medical amenities to provide immediate medical faculty, staff and students along with an ATM located
attention to students. Very soon, the health center is near the hostels. IISER Mohali also has a visitors'
to move into new premises which will additionally hostel where visiting family members of students
also have a small multi-bedded nursing center. may reside, along with visitors to the institute. In
College life can be stressful and confusing at times addition, there are two bus trips from the campus to
for students staying away from home and the nearby market area every evening, making it
experiencing challenging situations for the first time. easy for students to shop for daily needs unavailable
in the campus shop(s).

70

Opportunities cell : An Opportunity Cell is
present at IISER Mohali which is a joint student-
faculty venture to inform students about options for
summer/winter internships, PhD programs,
scholarships available, and also some job
opportunities. Although, currently, there is no
provision for organizing any campus interviews, this
cell aims to increase awareness about career
opportunities among the students.

Academics and teaching labs : The
department of Biology currently consists of 21 faculty
members, during academic year 2014-2015.
Classes take place either in the Lecture Hall
Complex or in a classroom in the Academic Block.
During extreme seasons, these classrooms are
equipped with facilities of maintaining moderate
temperatures.

The Lecture Hall Complex consists of six large The first academic-cum-research block (AB-1)
classrooms, four with a capacity of seating 125, and currently houses all departments, and consists of
two with a capacity of seating 250, along with a 500- various areas segregated for research lab, teaching
seater auditorium and an E-classroom providing labs, offices, and classrooms. The biology teaching
online course material and classes, including those lab is large enough to handle 100 students at one
held under the National Knowledge Network (NKN). time. The majors labs are equipped with basic
instrumentation to demonstrate virtually every
technique known to modern biology. There is a 71
separate section in this brochure on these labs,
which are called the HETeU-LEReU labs.

Students are exposed to experimental
knowledge from various fields of structural and
molecular biochemistry, molecular biology,
developmental biology, cell biology, immunology,
neuroscience, bioinformatics, molecular biophysics,
computational biology, ecology, evolutionary
biology, animal behavior, etc. using various model
organisms like plants, bacteria, yeast, Drosophila
and C. elegans etc. In addition to all these, there is
also a 3-dimensional computational molecular
visualization facility for introducing students to
biomolecular structure and function.

Campus Life (cont’d)

The MS Biology major students need to take up certain mandatory courses every semester along with
some electives, to complete their academic credits. A semester typically consists of 4-5 theory courses
and one practical course, with two mid semester exams followed by a final exam. Ph.D students also need
to take two semesters of courses, along with labs.

A weekly seminar series is conducted by the department which is a platform for Biology faculty
members and PhD students to present their research work to their colleagues and students.

72

Departmental Facilities
&

other Facilities

73

General Laboratory Facilities : Glimpses

Mass Spectrometry Molecular Modelling

Raman& AFM-coupled Confocal Microscopy Stem Cell Facility

74 High Frequency NMR Chromatography

Undergraduate Teaching Undergraduate Teaching

FTIR and Vibrational CD Tissue and cell culture

Cytometry and FACS Multi-detection Spectrometers 75

General Laboratory Facilities (cont’d)

Time-resolved Fluorescence Fluorescence Spectroscopy

DSC & ITC Calorimetry Analytical Ultracentrifuge

76 Surface Plasmon Resonance Confocal Microscope for fixed and live specimens

Continuous Flow-through System for Zebrafish Confocal Microscope with FCS capability

View of upcoming Animal House Building Inside view of Animal Facility Clean Corridor

Plant Growth and Culture Facility Plant Growth and Culture Facility 77

General Laboratory Facilities (cont’d)

Tissue and Cell Culture Facility Dynamic and Static Light Scattering

78

Directions to IISER-M

(1) Come due south (~ 8 km) from Tribune Chowk, along a 6-lane highway, until you reach a T-point
where IISER-M lies straight ahead (as shown in the photograph above). Enter the gate shown, and
ask for directions.

(2) Come east along the 8-lane highway in front of the Sohana Gurudwara, towards the Railway line near
Mohali (SAS Nagar) Railway Station. IISER-M is the last organization on the right, next to the new
Indian School of Business (ISB) and opposite to the Ryan International School, Mohali.

Brochure Design Team

Mr. Raghav Gupta (representing HIMSOFT solutions)
The Department of Biological Sciences represented by the faculty

& Head, DBS, ….and in particular the following members,
Photography : Dr. N. G. Prasad, Mr. Bhavin Kansara,
Mr. Ranjith Kumar, Prof. T.R. Rao, Mr. Anupam Pandey

Layout & Text : Ms. Sanica Sakharwade, Ms. Amanpreet Kaur,
Mr. Bhavin Kansara, Ms. Shikha Gupta,
and Head, DBS

Cover Credits : Front Cover Photograph (Dr. N. G. Prasad & Prof. N. Sathamurthy);
Back Cover Photograph (Mr. Bhavin Kansara)

The skies above IISER Mohali

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Multicolour Offset Printers & Manufacturer of Computer Stationery

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