Good day, Dr. K. Lokeshwaran. I'm Arjun. I've had a look through your background and your professional record. I'm interested in hearing more about your work and how you see yourself fitting in here with our faculty. Ready to start?

Please start by introducing your professional journey in academia.

Hi, good, good afternoon.

I'm doctor location so my qualification is MSA and PSD in biotechnology.

Uh, and uh, I have experience in industrial park.

So I done my PhD in weight, university area, fresh relations and some molecular biology and immunotechnology. So.

And I completed my PhD in V8 University 2017 and later I joined in Europeans Genomics private lab. He has a senior technical executive.

For the sender sequencing later kind of work and later then about two years I worked in European genomics private lab Bangalore and I in the year of 2017, two 2020 later I joined continue my industrial.

Job role to but Biotech Private Limited Bangalore so in the year of 20 August 22 years I worked as a senior scientist there and R&D department taking care of R&D department monoclonal and polyclonal antibody development.

And molecular biology related kind of work.

Uh, so, uh, later I got a opportunity for post-doc fellow in the University of Hong Kong.

Then the same kind of role as a monoclonal antiviral development through hybridoma technology and my area facilitation is the same through and after I turn back to India, I worked, I got opportunity product first list in imedia.

So these are my industrial experience so far.

That's all about myself as an economic line. This is new for me.

And uh, uh.

Thank you for sharing your academic and professional journey, Professor. I appreciate the detailed overview of your experiences.

Professor Lokeshwaran, let's begin with the verification of specific skills relevant to the role. How would you ensure students grasp the complexities of genetic counseling effectively in both theory and practical settings?

Once again. Once again.

How would you ensure students grasp the complexities of genetic counseling effectively in both theory and practical settings?

Uh, practical science, uh, the genticans are family, uh, history, family medical histories like risk assessment and, uh, that, uh, test management for prevention of various genetic disorders through the lab wise and through the to the commercial role, social role. Uh, so right now this has started from the lab related lab.

Uh, from the starting, uh, student levels to get the information collecting, analyzing of, uh, personal family histories of the risk assessment and those things, uh, uh, estimation of risk for individual and relatives. So the explanation of the genetic disorders, the inertance pattern and natural histories, uh, it will be a, a good for managing option to prevention. And major role of major disease pattern. So it will be helpful for the education level.

Then into the and testing with the possible outcomes and, uh, in the consent before the testing. So we get that information of over overall the individual person.

Understood. Could you elaborate on how you tailor your teaching methods specifically when addressing sensitive topics like hereditary risks or genetic disorders? What is your approach to making these discussions impactful and accessible for students?

Uh, so I have experience overall, uh, the genetic engineering model, so advanced, uh, technology in the molecular biology department. So, uh, overall I can able to take, uh, this, uh, uh.

That's the principle of genetics and overall that pre national diagnostic things and Genting related that once analytical techniques those areas I can cover it and also for I have that experience as industrial part. So based on all the sequencing related part like a forensic science of various.

Generics Labs technologies I can use in the two student level to check the promote the.

Uh, information on that?

To interact the teachings using a modern technology, a modern creative tools and it will be meant to guide the students to enhance the both academic knowledge and professional skills on that.

And.

Thank you. As a follow-up, can you outline a process you might use to evaluate students’ understanding of genetic counseling concepts and their ability to apply them practically? How do you measure their progress?

One second, Sir.

Take your time.

OK, on once again one second.

Of course, no rush.

What's again what you said?

I need the question one more time.

How would you evaluate students’ understanding of genetic counseling concepts and their ability to apply them practically? How do you measure their progress?

Uh.

Uh, like, uh, uh.

So check the dentica concepts to the students level to teach that overall gene DNA chromosomes that allele mutations and overall definitions in complex mechanisms on that and the step choice data is like a DNA gene chromosome and whatever disorders so this will be.

And the patterns of how it is working in that the therapeutic way and in medical analysis medical way, how would that the gentic counseling things are going on right now through the genetic disease to find out which disease it is, which chromosome pattern it's a MIS yeah missing in that overall gene. So this like a simple clinical and population based scenarios how the patients is affecting on that those information. Thank you and also for.

Like a through explanations with the structure.

Like a group discussion and classroom activities to improve their people, students mindset and whatever Genting testing and counseling and.

It's a ethical issues if whatever discussions based on that gender testing and counseling and knowledge of that genetic things and short test and diagram and and checking with understanding of oral questioning like that.

And we should base any PPTS and the examples based on it will be help the students understood both scientific principles and real life relevance through the genetics human departments. How water dull genetic test comes how the patients treat with the.

Doctors like that I can explain to the students like me. I take the classes.

Got it. Let's move forward. Teaching theory and laboratory courses involves a blend of clear communication and hands-on experience. How do you design laboratory sessions to ensure students grasp both foundational techniques and advanced genetic engineering concepts effectively?

So genetic engineering counseling right now, so far, uh, uh, basic level of teaching, uh, teaching kids are available for, uh, especially like, uh, uh, uh, genetic engineering model for like a cloning and those kind of things. Right now the teaching kids available with the commercially. So those I can, I take for my, uh, practical classes. And also some forensic kids are, uh, most of diagnostic molecular diagnostic kids and genomics related sequencing, but NGS those kind of inform.

I can give the theoretically and make it a practically with their samples like that and also for.

Right now that modern things are forensic related science, they have the kit for that to testing the samples with the forensic level dry sample and wet samples. Those information I take we can like if possible we can take it for a visit of that customer visit of that places how the genetic process, genetic testing process is going on.

Those kind of activities, I, we can, I can involve in that and take that, uh, student to, uh, improve this, uh, skills of the genetic testing.

Understood. A critical component of being a Genetic Counseling Professor involves guiding student projects and research effectively. How do you mentor students in developing their own research ideas, particularly when it comes to writing proposals for genetic studies or experiments?

OK, uh.

Umm, like choose in a specific topic and, uh, focus, uh, on that, uh, specific genital disease, which can, we can focus on that any, uh, in that inheritance pattern of population variations like gene disease association like that. I just go for the students to make a survey, literature survey on that, like reviews articles and reliable journals on that.

And add a further map on a gap of that.

Particular any specific target of.

Genetic genetic disorders I can take the dose disease part and checking the methodology overall the study and and validate the techniques and the standard protocols to align with the students and discuss with the review papers initially which kind of disease I can take it for that.

And I can take for the data collection so far up to date water haul information related particular disease to our things and make maintain the lab records and whatever reviews I generated those information, I keep it properly and check with that students how they, where they individual performance, how they are.

How they are focusing more and once.

Focus on more relevant topic for them. So that kind of topic I chosen to given to the students and make a proper handling and guidance of that particular topic of that students.

Thank you, Professor. Clear communication is vital not only for teaching, but also for fostering structured learning. Can you share how you ensure that your lectures, discussions, and materials meet diverse student needs while maintaining academic rigor?

So Gen. P counseling, uh, mostly it's, uh, relevant to the, uh, research part and also in, uh, hospitals, uh, how they are, uh, their particular diseases taken. So initially that prenatal, uh.

And uh to train the students in the clinical risk assessments.

Uh, routine patient care of, uh, to integrate that genetics, communications, those kind of activities, uh, to objective way in that hospital, how they are processing those kind of, uh, patient level details and, uh, role of gent, uh, and common genetic disorders, whatever scene and those things and check, uh, and also. Uh, interpretation of test results? How they're testing the results with the different patient data?

And what kind of risk assessment and and counseling of families with those individual informations those kind of like and check with that and.

These are the lecturer base and presentation wise and multidisciplinary discussion of various disorders using real hospital cases record like that way that teaching method I have can focus with the students and prepare the students for.

Uh, real, uh, patient interaction, that kind of activities, if possible, I can make it arrangement for that.

Thank you for the detailed explanation. Genetic counseling often involves professional engagement not only in academia but in industry or consultancy. How have your experiences in industry projects or consultancy shaped your approach to teaching genetic engineering and counseling?

Uh, the genetic counseling in the industrial path mostly that prenatal and diagnostic, we most of the companies are detecting detection of the genetic chromosomal disorders in the fetus before the birth.

These these pregnant diagnostic way the most of the companies are facing focusing on more interest on that right now. They're guiding the parents through testing and risk and results and non directive manner and the role of industry in that.

The prenatal diagnostic example the biotechnology and diagnostic industry playing a major role to developing and producing the this the prenatal testing technologies used in hospital and counseling centers right now and and industry developed tools like ultrasound, the imaging, cytogenic test and molecular genetic test like a PCR.

NGS and non-inventive prenatal testing. These technologies support accurate risk assessment during a counseling and diagnostic industrial development tools like industrial visit or training to in particular areas.

And supporting to the genetic counseling services validate provide a test kits and platforms and quality control and standardization. These are to train the students part how the healthcare professional in the test interpretation data. Those information they can get and industry based research projects like integration of new genetic markers.

Cost effective, those information that we have to check initially later than we, uh, go with that research project with the internship based, uh, uh, collaborations with the academia and students may participate in such a project as a part of industrial training or internship. So it will be helpful for the students and also get the knowledge of basic information how that industrial party is working on, uh, uh, industrial is working on the Sergenti counseling method and genetic counseling tools, how they're making and.

Industrial collaborator with hospitals and universities. Improvement of yearly and non-inventive tests.

How the instrument machines are working on that and pre test and post test counseling integrations, expansion of test purpose limitations and those in datas integration. They can know the knowledge of particular genetic counseling things. They can get information on that and lecturers trainings. These will be helpful for the students through academic and industrial.

Bridge forms.

Big bond on that.

Thank you, Professor Lokeshwaran. Your insights reveal a comprehensive approach to both academic and industrial engagement in genetic counseling. Let me proceed to verify your remaining skills.

Apart from that, uh, remaining skills means apart from this gendering counseling, you're asking how it is, Sir?

Professor, just to clarify, are you asking whether we are assessing skills beyond genetic counseling for this role? Could you specify what you’re referring to?

You're asking about my my experience on the Gendry counseling and apart from gending counting what and all experience you're asking like that way.

Understood, Professor. For now, I'd like us to start with your teaching experiences. Specifically, could you describe a foundational course or topic in genetic counseling that you find particularly rewarding to teach?

Uh, in my case, I have experience majorly on that, uh, uh, advanced techniques in molecular biology and, uh, molecular diagnostic genomics part, like a sequencing and immunotechnologies and those kind of activities. My major course I'm planning to stay and, uh, few part, I am the genetic engineering, uh, and, uh, basic, uh, level of genetic topics.

It is my planned course for that taking a students.

Thank you, Professor. It sounds like you're structuring your focus around advanced molecular biology techniques, genomics, sequencing, and genetic engineering principles. Could you elaborate on how you typically approach teaching complex topics like molecular diagnostics to ensure students grasp them effectively?

OK, molecular diagnostic in GMT counseling.

Like, uh, mostly in that, uh.

Advanced molecular diagnostic involves to confirm like a power PCR and RTPCR to check with that whole exome that.

Checking the detection of CDL Hello.

Yeah.

Thank you, Professor. It sounds like you're emphasizing critical techniques such as PCR, RT-PCR, and whole-exome sequencing for molecular diagnostics. When teaching these methods, how do you ensure students not only understand the technical processes but also their practical applications in genetic counseling scenarios?

Uh, practical experience, Uh.

Uh, experience in, uh, back experience in.

Like a.

Take your time, Professor—feel free to elaborate. How do you guide students to connect these advanced techniques with real-world genetic counseling applications?

Uh, converse techniques, uh.

Umm, like a?

Professor, are you referring to teaching students how to apply diagnostic techniques in understanding genetic conditions during counseling sessions? Could you expand on that?

So advanced techniques in gender counseling, uh, like, uh, by and fro, uh, like, uh, making a genomic studies and molecular interaction, uh, molecular studies, uh, to assessing diagnostic these techniques, uh, uh, traditionally using method and relate detection for that.

Preventive strategies and DNA sequencing detect the point mutations and next generation gives the whole information and complex rare genetic disorder information we can get in NGS like a mixed generation sequencing like old exome sequencing.

And all genome sequencing. Through this way we can identify the rare genetic disorders complexities we can understand and also like.

Fluorescent inside application so to detect the micro deletion, duplication process and chromosome abnormalities. So we can use this FISH method to pre national and oncology genics part. We can explain the students for this FISH method and comparative genomic hybridation microarray this is a.

Uh, detection of copy number variations, so high resolution you use in this method, uh, disorders and unexplained congenital armament release, we can explain through microarrays and genome calibration method. And another thing is our Multiplex ligation depending probe amplification like MLPA. So detecting detect the gene deletion and duplication path in muscular dystrophy cancer suspicious.

Those kind of.

Uh, MLPA detection things we can use in this method, uh, for molecular technique, advanced techniques and uh, prenatal diagnostic text means uh, NIPT and uh, uh, immunogentis, uh, sampling of cytogenetics, molecular analysis part to recur the port pre and post testing counseling design way we can use our advanced techniques of molecular biology and also.

Biotech genomics tools, uh like database interpretation, Product database interpretation of a genetic variance.

Uh, like, uh, pathogenic, uh, or any pathologic classification, those information we can, uh, differentiate through these tools And, uh, imaging part means a lot of 3D, a lot like 3D ultrasounds, MRI.

Heating will help the correlate the genotype with the Pinot types. These are the advanced imaging and Jupyter typing method. And finally combining molecular cells, family history and the clinical data.

The integrative counseling approaches enable the personalized risk assessment. It will be used to these are the advanced techniques we can detection of genetic disorder deal and support the family planning and preventive strategies. The other thing it will be improves the counseling and provide the objective of molecular techniques. It will be for the peoples, Yeah.

Thank you, Professor. You've provided a comprehensive overview of advanced molecular diagnostic techniques, imaging methods, and integrative counseling approaches. It’s clear that you combine technical expertise with a strong focus on application and patient outcomes. As a follow-up, how do you typically assess whether students in your courses have successfully mastered these advanced topics and techniques? What methods or strategies do you use for evaluation?

In, in student level and student level, it will be uh, uh, the genetic, uh, the molecular, uh.

Diagnostic will be helpful for the basic research part and then it will be helpful for actually elaborate with these functionalities and these techniques skills. It will be useful for the future of the student.

Basic theoretical way we can explain that and then we can taking the visit of that particular areas if possibilities to demonstrate and practically practical with testing and mutation detection and project level things.

We can explain to the students and other thing how it will be explained how to use this basic.

Diagnostic material, diagnostic skills and improvising with that testing of this genetic counseling. That way we can helpful for that first theoretically we can explain that and then take it to the practical level way.

Understood, Professor. You emphasize a foundational approach, starting with theoretical explanations and progressing to practical applications like mutation detection, diagnostic testing, and project-based learning. This structure seems well-aligned to prepare students for real-world challenges. Let’s proceed.

Professor Lokeshwaran, I see your impressive background in biotechnology and experience in techniques such as PCR amplification, gene cloning, and ELISA assay optimization. Your achievement of the Senior Research Fellowship and GATE certification also stands out. Let us delve deeper into your academic research. Could you highlight one of your key research projects during your Ph.D. at VIT University, and describe its objectives and outcomes? How did it contribute to the understanding or advancement of genetic counseling?

Uh, my, uh, complete, uh, uh, PSD, uh, things is a molecular antibiotic development in VAT, uh, university, uh, it's a little one to heart disease. So there's monocular antibody in.

Uh, uh, genetic counseling, I can not much, much in that involved, but that molecular biology skills, uh, uh, that most of the molecular diagnostic things we can, we can improvise in this Gentry counseling point in Genting counseling, the monoclonal antibody is important for molecular diagnostic and detection of genetic disorder at the protein level and prenatal and prone.

Screenings, uh, this will be helpful for this, uh, my whatever PSD, PSD research for, uh, in, uh, done with the molecular, uh, monoclonal antibod development, those we can as applications in, uh, way I can use your sergiantic counseling. So in this genetic counseling, the maps can detect the abnormal proteins caused by gene mutation. Example detection of dystopian protein.

Efficiency or cystic fibrosis protein the abnormalities like that way and prenatal screening. The maps can be used in the aminolytic fluids and when the protein markers linked to the genetic disorders. And also another thing can carrier detection will be used as some maps detector in ZM enzyme deficiency abnormal proteins in the carrier.

And research and drug development it will be useful for supports development of.

Like that way I can incorporate my maps development with this Gentry counseling test.

The therapist for objective disorder so.

It sounds like your work on monoclonal antibody development could indeed have far-reaching applications in genetic diagnostics and prenatal screening, especially for detecting protein markers and enzyme abnormalities linked to genetic disorders. Your explanation connects well to molecular biology as a tool for advancing genetic counseling methodologies. To expand further: As a Genetic Counseling Professor, how would you guide students in understanding the integration of molecular diagnostic tools—like monoclonal antibodies—into practical and clinical genetic counseling workflows? How would you structure classroom instruction or hands-on labs to help students bridge theory and application in this area?

Uh.

The integration of integration of monoclonal antibody I can take in classroom.

Take your time,

Through the counseling gentle.

One second.

Understood. Could