Hello.

Please start by introducing your professional journey in academia

Hello my name is Doctor Sudhika Bhadra and I have. Recently completed my PhD in biotechnology. From National Institute of Technology, Warangal.

Okay, so you recently completed your PhD in biotechnology at NIT Warangal. Was your research focused on a particular area within biotechnology, or did you work across several subfields?

Hello my name is Doctor Sudhika Bhadra and I have. Recently completed my PhD in biotechnology. From National Institute of Technology, Warangal. And my research area focuses on development of bioelectrochemical system. Which is required for integrating wastewater treatment. With microbial uh. Ecology. And uh, uh. Ecosystem remediation. And and my research area focuses primarily on microbial fuel cell. Which inflict the microbial genetics. Electrochemistry. And. Engineering. Especially wastewater engineering together. And together so that. Sustainable developmental goals can be achieved related to wastewater technology.

Hello my name is Doctor Sudhika Bhadra and I have. Recently completed my PhD in biotechnology. From National Institute of Technology, Warangal. And my research area focuses on development of bioelectrochemical system. Which is required for integrating wastewater treatment. With microbial uh. Ecology. And uh, uh. Ecosystem remediation. And and my research area focuses primarily on microbial fuel cell. Which inflict the microbial genetics. Electrochemistry. And. Engineering. Especially wastewater engineering together. And together so that. Sustainable developmental goals can be achieved related to wastewater technology. And I have. 400 plus citations with around 15 plus. Uh, ECI? Paper, of which nine are in Q19 are in Q1 journals. And uh. And moreover, I have also done work in collaboration with foreign universities such as McGill University. In Canada and I have future plans of working. With the University of Alberta, which is also in Canada. And apart from that I have also teaching experience in NIT Warangal where I have done assisted in B.Tech and M Tech. Laboratory courses and also mentored B.Tech M Tech students. And my long term goal is. To establish a lab in green bio. Bioenergy systems lab which will be properly dedicated towards microbial and genetic microbial and genetic development of. Bacterias of microorganisms that are required in which water treatments. So that their efficiency in. Wastewater treatment and sustainability goals can be achieved. And I want to. Assist in the world. Multiply aspire to working with it. Because of their. Strong research ecosystem and their interdisciplinary innovative research areas.

That's quite an interdisciplinary focus — integrating microbial fuel cells, electrochemistry, and wastewater engineering. When you teach students about the basics of microbial ecology or environmental biotechnology, what's one foundational concept you find most important to convey early on?

Alright, so you’ve got over 400 citations, several Q1 publications, and direct teaching and mentoring experience at NIT Warangal, plus international collaborations — that’s a strong background. When you were assisting with B.Tech and M.Tech lab courses, what was a specific strategy or tool you found especially effective for helping students grasp complex concepts in microbial genetics or bioelectrochemical systems?

MMM, that's a good question. The specific strategy will be was that I found that practical demonstrations of complex experimental. Experiments. Before letting them do the experiments by themselves, a practical demonstration of the experiments was helpful. And group discussions among themselves so that they can understand the basic concept and have a clarity was very helpful too. And before starting with the experiment, basic knowledge of the idea was provided which helps them the helps them to grasp the complex ideas. Very fast.

So, in your recent publication—“Simultaneous organic wastewater treatment and bioelectricity production in a dual chamber microbial fuel cell with Scenedesmus obliquus biocathode”—you worked at the intersection of environmental biotechnology and microbial ecology. If you were to introduce this research to an undergraduate class, how would you break down the core idea so that students from a non-bio background could grasp its significance?

Yeah, first I will let them know. What is a bioelectrochemical system? Especially a microbial cell which has been used in these research. So a microbial cell is a type of bio lifting chemical system that uses microorganism. In their anodic or even in cathodic chambers it can be used. So specifically in anodic chambers the microorganisms are used. And they are allowed to oxidize the organic matter that are present in the wastewater. And so that the electrons and protons are generated and these electrons then pass through an external circuit and go to the cathode while meanwhile. The protons that are released in the anodic chamber crosses through a proton exchange membrane that is in between sandwich in between the anodic and cathodic system. And they also reach. The strategic system, uh. Simultaneously in the Catholic part of the bioelectric ecosystem. These protons and electrons then finally combine and they get reduced in presence of oxygen to H2. And in this whole. System The wastewater is treated and by electricity is produced.

Yeah, first I will let them know. What is a bioelectrochemical system? Especially a microbial cell which has been used in these research. So a microbial cell is a type of bio lifting chemical system that uses microorganism. In their anodic or even in cathodic chambers it can be used. So specifically in anodic chambers the microorganisms are used. And they are allowed to oxidize the organic matter that are present in the wastewater. And so that the electrons and protons are generated and these electrons then pass through an external circuit and go to the cathode while meanwhile. The protons that are released in the anodic chamber crosses through a proton exchange membrane that is in between sandwich in between the anodic and cathodic system. And they also reach. The strategic system, uh. Simultaneously in the Catholic part of the bioelectric ecosystem. These protons and electrons then finally combine and they get reduced in presence of oxygen to H2. And in this whole. System The wastewater is treated and by electricity is produced. So who is from non biology background? They will be able to graph the basic principle of the bioelectric chemical system because that is mostly. Uh, engineering and electrical concept. And. The biology part will be taught later because the biology of what the microorganisms are being used that will be. Dissect that. Will be dissected and they will have a hands on training and a direct lab. Based on microbial ecology and genetic engineering in which they will be taught how to deal with the microorganism and to enhance their. Wastewater reduction capacity or even their electron producing capacity.

Okay, so you’d start by walking students through the mechanism, step by step, starting from the basics of how microbes oxidize organic matter to generate electricity while treating wastewater. If a student pushed back and said, “But why use this instead of conventional treatment methods?”—how would you address that in class to highlight the significance of your research?

Okay, so you'd break it down by starting with the basic mechanics of the system, using engineering and electrical analogies, before diving into the biology of the microbes themselves. Let’s switch gears—your thesis focused on integrating microbial genetics with wastewater engineering. Tell me about a time you had to simplify that work for students who were struggling with the genetics aspect.

Yeah, it happened not once. It happened frequently during my working tenure as a pH. D student. Because the students who are not well aware of genetics or microbial ecology, for them I have performed sequencing, DNA extraction, RNA extraction and then microbial DNA sequencing has been performed for them and they had been guided through the reports of how to identify which species particularly belong to which pylogenetic tree. So that they will be able to understand how these microorganism and their and their electron transfer capacity capacity or their electron transfer pathway has also been practically made them understood. So that they can be able to understand and grasp this knowledge and will be able to perform these MFC related projects or MFC related work in lab without any problem.

So you actually walked students through the sequencing process, from DNA extraction to phylogenetic analysis, so they could see how microbial genetics connects to practical engineering outcomes. When you were guiding them, did you ever encounter a misconception about how genetics impacts microbial fuel cell performance that you had to address directly?

Umm yeah, actually. The student don't easily get the fact that these microbial cell is directly get enhanced or directly get affected by the microbial microbes that you have been using. In the anodic God in the cathodic chamber. So you have to practically take out sample and put it in for genetic analysis. And then show them the. Microbes that are actually in the wastewater that are helping to oxidize the organic matter and and are. Related to electron transfer mechanism. So that is how students actually believe. Otherwise it is very hard for the students to believe that genetic engineering or. A microbiology or ecology is also connected to wastewater treatment.

Right, so you had to show them the sequencing and the microbes in action before they really believed genetics mattered for performance in fuel cells. When you’ve got a class that’s still skeptical even after the demo, how do you adapt your teaching to make sure they internalize that connection between microbial genetics and engineering outcomes?

Even after a demo, if they have a doubt then I will, I will. Umm, frame my sentences better and uh, I will give them a much more. A basic. Clarity of how these electron transfer mechanism works. From the genetic overview or from the microbial inter overview, so that the electron transfer mechanism pathway becomes very clear. Once the electron mechanism pathway becomes cleared, it will be very easy for the student. To believe, To actually, uh. Grasp the concept of. Uh, genetic engineering along with wastewater treatment.

Given your background in bioelectrochemical systems and microbial fuel cells, where do you see the most promising and fundable research directions over the next three years? Which specific grants or funding agencies would you target to support that work?

Yeah, the most promising and fundable research area in microbial fields still related to bioelectrochemical system will be. By hydrogen production. But that will be that is done with another part of electrochemical system that is microbial electrolyte itself.

Yeah, the most promising and fundable research area in microbial fields still related to bioelectrochemical system will be. By hydrogen production. But that will be that is done with another part of electrochemical system that is microbial electrolyte itself. So microbial electrolysis cell is very much. Included in bio hydrogen production because the government now is very much dependent on the 3rd generation field and biohydrogen is one of the most prominent. Apart from that, the. Even algal biphill is very much in demand nowadays. Because. These algal biofuel. Is extracted from algae.

Alright, so you're seeing biohydrogen production as the most fundable direction, possibly through microbial electrolysis cells. For something like that, which funding agencies or grant programs would you prioritize—would you look more to Indian government sources like DST or DBT, or target international programs like those in Canada, given your collaborations?

Yeah, the most promising and fundable research area in microbial fields still related to bioelectrochemical system will be. By hydrogen production. But that will be that is done with another part of electrochemical system that is microbial electrolyte itself. So microbial electrolysis cell is very much. Included in bio hydrogen production because the government now is very much dependent on the 3rd generation field and biohydrogen is one of the most prominent. Apart from that, the. Even algal biphill is very much in demand nowadays. Because. These algal biofuel. Is extracted from algae. So these are also then directly converted into. Well, so one of the research that even I had in my doctoral degree was. Using algal biocathode in MFC. So these algae apart from generating oxygen in the cathodic chamber and enhancing the. Operational condition of the system and lowering the cost relating to sustainability, they also grew. Algae in the. Catholic chamber so. These algae can in turn be extracted and dried, and their fatty acid content can be. Monitored the pit content can be monitored and they can be converted into biofuels. So these two are nowadays very much in demand. Apart from that, in MSC can also be integrated with sustainable agriculture where. Land microbial fuel cell is also now in demand Where uh, eatable, uh, vegetables are eatable plants can be used to treat wastewater and in turn can be reseatable plants can be used in normal. Aging Purpose. So these are very much now in demand and. Agencies that I will be targeting for funding will be DBT DST. Uh, third is also uh. Agency that gives grant. And apart from the Spark is also that gives a grant and it allows international collaboration with other nations. So that these are the organizations that can easily give grants and I will be targeting them for funding. Up my projects.

Alright, so you've highlighted biohydrogen production via microbial electrolysis cells and algal biofuel as top fundable directions, especially given the push for third-generation fuels. For something like algal biofuel, what do you see as the biggest challenge in scaling from lab research to industry, and how would you pitch that to a funding agency?

Alright, so you’d focus on clarifying the electron transfer pathway and relate it directly to the genetics, making the mechanism more tangible for students who still have doubts. Now, Professor, VIT emphasizes hands-on learning and practical skills. How would you go about designing and delivering a laboratory course that aligns with this, especially for students in biotechnology or bioinformatics?

Yeah, I have a. Uh, in my mind about designing a particular course. Uh, that will be directly helping the student to go. Hand in hand with genetics. The and wastewater treatment. So in these basic mechanisms of DNA and RNA preparation, their extraction. And they are profiling, then pylogenetic analysis, then how to handle DNA, RNA and basic laboratory protocols. All will be dealt with. So these laboratory developmental. Course I will be preparing and it will be very helpful for the students of VIT where practical purpose and practical. Experiment, uh, experimentation is very much uh, uh. In the curriculum.

So you’d structure a lab course where students actually extract DNA and RNA, do profiling, and carry out phylogenetic analysis themselves, not just watch demos. Suppose some students struggled to connect those hands-on activities to real-world applications. How would you assess whether your approach is actually helping them bridge that gap?

Yeah, in genetics or microbiology or molecular biology, when hands on experimentations are going on. The hands-on experimentists are not very easy. It has to be repeated several times and sometimes result doesn't come at once. So the students need to be. Doing these experiments several times before having a graph. Of these experimentation. And I will be helping them with frequent experimentation and so that their hands on training becomes. Unique and they can become an expert in these techniques and once these techniques become very useful for them they will be able to connect it with the real world problems of wastewater technology because once you have the basic idea and hands-on training of all these experimentation, the. The connection between the two. Subjects that the connection between the two. Feels becomes very easy. So that will be where I will be helping them.

Alright, so you'd ensure students repeat experiments until they're proficient, and you'd help them see that mastery in the lab actually makes the theory click for real-world wastewater problems. Before we wrap up this topic, VIT also places strong emphasis on mentorship. How would you approach mentoring undergraduates to help them build a solid foundation for research—especially if they're interested in emerging fields like biomedical genetics or bioinformatics?

Yeah, I will be very enthusiastic about taking up undergraduate and postgraduate students and we'll be helping them to take mentoring them. For their projects, even in biomedical genetics, because genetics is a very fundamental subject that means to be. Monitored or that needs to be mastered before you go out with any other interdisciplinary area. So. I have very much knowledge in genetics and have practical hands on training in genetic engineering. So that will be helping me to help the students of postgraduate and undergraduate to complete their projects that will be related to if. Biomedical engineering or bioinformatics because that would be very helpful in sequencing of the microbes that can actually help in remediation of wastewater or remediation of groundwater and ecosystem establishment or maintenance. So that will be a very much a challenging and but very much exciting job opportunity.

So you're emphasizing mastery of the fundamentals in genetics, and you see your own hands-on background as a way to mentor students in both biomedical genetics and bioinformatics, especially through projects relevant to environmental remediation. If you had an undergraduate who's struggling to connect the computational side of bioinformatics with the wet-lab genetics work, what's one concrete step you'd take to help them bridge that gap?

Umm that gap will be firstly umm. Now clarifying the these. Step or clarifying the work where they are getting struck. So once you, uh, manage to. To notice the. Step or the gap that you are not able to find answer to. If you can identify that then you work on the. Problem uh. And. Once you find the solution of the bioinformatics. Part and then you can easily go on to the weight lab. Data, uh. So, uh, so firstly it I will be telling, telling them to emphasize more on the viral informatics. Part where and clarify their basic knowledge on my. Once the Barden formatic sequencing can be mastered then they can confirm or Co confirm their data. In the lab lab. Using genetic analysis. Or molecular biology. So that will be my approach.

You mentioned earlier that you’ve developed lab courses and mentored students closely. Beyond teaching and research, what role do you see yourself playing in department-level responsibilities—things like curriculum committees, outcome assessment, or program reviews?

Yeah, I will be very much into curriculum developmental activities where several new curriculum can be developed and. Interdisciplinary areas can be integrated into core biology or cold biotechnology sections. Such as genetic engineering or microbiology or bioinformatics that are part of code biology. But interdisciplinary areas such as wastewater treatment, which also comes under environmental biotechnology, can be integrated. And course curriculum can be maintained and I can be helping them to. Actually build a course. Environmental Biotechnology. And apart from that, I am very eager to take up any administration role in Heavy. Where I can showcase my? Leadership Committee.

So you're eager to drive curriculum development and integrate interdisciplinary topics like environmental biotechnology into core biology programs, and you're open to administrative and leadership committee work as well. Accreditation cycles can be pretty demanding—if you joined the department and noticed outcome assessment data was inconsistent across courses, how would you approach fixing that?

Sometimes these can happen. With when you join newly to an organization, taking up some roles can be challenging. And I will be. Trying to manage and. Go around these problems. With taking up. These roll differently with a different approach and. Otherwise, there are always uh. Good to have a communication with people who are with a higher management, managerial role and. Asking them about what will be the right approach to go about about these problems. So I think if I go about these problems then like this way, these will get resolved very soon.

Okay, so you’d talk with senior faculty and management to get their input on the right approach for fixing inconsistent outcome data, rather than just diving in alone. If, after those conversations, you found there was no standard process for collecting or reporting outcome assessments, what concrete step would you take to establish one?

Then I will be providing my own idea about I will. I will read through those problems, I will identify the problem area and I will try to fix it by giving my own input. About how to go around that problem. And if that helps, I think I will be pretty much in a good area. Choose to kiss my talent because some solutions need to be given from your side. So I will be taking up the in charge and I will go around the problem and I will try to solve it by myself. And I will try to come up with a with few ideas that can be. Implemented to solve this problem. Any other questions you have?

You mentioned stepping up and taking charge when you see gaps or problems in academic processes. Imagine this scenario: a student formally complains that your grading was biased, but at the same time, your department head is pushing you to raise pass rates. How would you handle that tension between upholding your grading standards and responding to pressure from above?

I will be balancing both. First of all if I have if someone if some any of the students has raised this issue, I will be having an one meeting with the student and will be showing him the answer sheet that he has written and. And I will be showing my marked distribution. Mechanism how I've given the student the mark based on his answer. And I think that will solve the problem because once you have the answer sheet shown to the student, that student can have a better knowledge of how the marketing has been given to him according to the answers written. So I think that will be solved and accordingly I can take action from above the about increasing the marking system as you told by the upper level. So I think I can manage that and I can maintain a balance between both.

I will be balancing both. First of all if I have if someone if some any of the students has raised this issue, I will be having an one meeting with the student and will be showing him the answer sheet that he has written and. And I will be showing my marked distribution. Mechanism how I've given the student the mark based on his answer. And I think that will solve the problem because once you have the answer sheet shown to the student, that student can have a better knowledge of how the marketing has been given to him according to the answers written.

So you'd walk the student through their answer sheet and your marking scheme to demonstrate your fairness — that transparency's important. But say your department head insists you need to adjust your grading to help more students pass, even if you feel the current standard is academically sound. How would you respond if they kept pushing?

Alright, Dr., thanks for sharing your approach to those kinds of challenges. Given your background in microbial fuel cells and environmental biotechnology, do you have any connections to industry or experience bringing real-world problems into your classroom? How have you helped students get exposure to actual industry practices or internship opportunities?

Yeah, actually I have taken a visit to many wastewater industries, especially I had wastewater treatment plant right in my university. So I have the chance to earn the opportunity to go and visit it, how it works and how wastewater is treated. How then how you can collect the wastewater and I have a few of. The knowledge of you wastewater treatment plants nearby. Where they take students for internship and so that they can be treated and they can be trained. About how to go around with wastewater technology area.

Yeah, actually I have taken a visit to many wastewater industries, especially I had wastewater treatment plant right in my university.

Yeah, actually I have taken a visit to many wastewater industries, especially I had wastewater treatment plant right in my university. So I have the chance to earn the opportunity to go and visit it, how it works and how wastewater is treated. How then how you can collect the wastewater and I have a few of. The knowledge of you wastewater treatment plants nearby. Where they take students for internship and so that they can be treated and they can be trained. About how to go around with wastewater technology area. So. So these areas, these industries such as the milk industry and there are many. Cotton Industry. Tree and these are very common in these areas such as coffee industry. These are very common in these areas and. I have knowledge a few of these industries where students can go for internship and we can have a collaboration or partnership with these industries to give us the wastewater and we can treat and build them. Prototype of microbial fields that will be helped them to treat the wastewater as well as generate direct electricity. Which will be. Which is the main purpose of microbial field cells where both? Wastewater is treated and electricity is also produced simultaneously. So yeah, I have these not. Is about this industry. Which I can take up into. Having a collaboration work.

You mentioned leveraging those industry visits, but I'm curious—can you walk me through a specific assignment or project where students had to apply what they learned at the wastewater plant to solve a real-world problem in your course?

Right, so you’ve actually visited wastewater treatment plants, and you’re aware of where students can get hands-on internship experience. When you send students for that kind of industry exposure, how do you evaluate whether what they learned matches up with your academic objectives for the course?

Okay, so you’ve developed connections with local wastewater plants and industries, and you’re already thinking about how students could work directly with them, even prototyping microbial fuel cells with actual industry samples. Shifting gears a bit, for a role like this, strong communication and a clear, structured teaching style are critical. Can you share how you make sure your lectures—or even your lab sessions—are easy for students to follow, especially when the material gets technical?

Yeah, when the material will be getting technical, first of all will be to break down the material into simpler points. That the students can easily grab. The concept. So once the technical points are broken down into few simpler points and we can go point by point. So once one of the point is. Then only I will be moving on to the next. Points so that the students can have a actual can have a total risk of the concept. So that is how the technical problems are solved. Otherwise if you give real life examples or real life scenario based examples real life analogies. That helps the student to take up the and understand the concept much more easily. So that we that is how I will be taking up that challenge.

Yeah, when the material will be getting technical, first of all will be to break down the material into simpler points. That the students can easily grab. The concept. So once the technical points are broken down into few simpler points and we can go point by point. So once one of the point is. Then only I will be moving on to the next. Points so that the students can have a actual can have a total risk of the concept.

Right, so you break technical content into clear points and only move on once students have grasped each one — that stepwise approach helps a lot. Now, Dr., you mentioned earlier your hands-on experience in genetics and genetic engineering. If you were guiding a student project in cancer bioinformatics, what kind of research question would you encourage them to pursue, and why?

Right, so you break things down step by step and make sure students are following before moving on, and you use real-life analogies to ground the technical material. You mentioned hands-on experience and your PhD earlier—can you tell me a bit about your dissertation or a key research publication, and how that work influences what you teach in the classroom?

Yeah, my PhD thesis focused on using microbial fuel cell to treat wastewater. So I have used different type of wastewater in different conditions and parameters. So to check in which condition the wastewater treatment was much more efficient and more power was generated because microbial cell can be used for both. Simultaneous treatment of wastewater and bioelectricity generation. So in the first experiment I have treated in synthetic wear sweater along with acidic water and it gave around 93% of COD removal with around 83.5. Milliwatt per meter cube of power density generation. But when the same amount of organic wastewater was treated with an algal biocathode microbial field cell. It showed that the algal bio cathode microbial field cell has the similar capacity to remove around 92.5% of cod removal capacity. With a lower density power density generating capacity, but it was. Kill hood because these microbial fields deal with biocathode, algal biocathode especially surrender mass obliques. These the algae species had the. Capacity to treat the wastewater with good amount of Co regeneration. COD removal efficiency. So this paper got published and these research got published in one of the top. UP Energy conversion and Management journal. It is having an impact factor of 10.9. So these paper research paper got published in this journal and I am very much happy to you to integrate these type of research into curriculum in vit because it has interdisciplinary effect. With first of all, with biology in its genetic engineering mechanism. Molecular biology in. Civil engineering kind of approach where you need to treat the wastewater. Then you have electrical engineering approach where you need to know about the electricity current. Basic mechanism of how current and electricity are generated. So these type of interdisciplinary approaches I will be like to incorporate and student. I think people students are nowadays very much interested in interdisciplinary areas where they can utilize their core biology and knowledge. Move on with something that can be very much useful in. Towards even sustainability and developmental goals.

Alright, we're wrapping up. Is there anything you'd like to ask about the role or the team?

Yeah. What will be my particular role that I have to play in VIT apart from doing research? Taking up classes. MMM.