Good day, Dr. V N Kalpana. 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.

OK. Good morning. Doctor Kalpana Vien, currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Axillary College Autonomous Vellore.

On and bottom and Mallow I'm married and my husband works as a professor and director at CIMR Vit University Value and I have a kid who is in Class 2 and Srishti Srishti Vidyasaram and I hold a PhD degree in nanobiot technology from School of Bioscience and Technology Vit University where my research really focused on green synthesis of nanoparticles for which is being produced against webminarial vector and.

Parasite control. I have over 8 years of teaching experience as well as research experience and I was guided undergraduate as well as postgraduate students. And currently I'm handling subjects like advanced microbiology, Microbial Physiology and metabolism, immunology and immunotechnology and so on. And my research interests mainly includes on microbial biotechnology, immunology, nano biotechnology and enzymology and so far I have published.

I also received a research awards from VIT University for 2015 to 2018 for the three consecutive years and I'm passionate about integrating teaching and as well as mentoring students towards the scientific inquiry.

Nearly 16 international journals and.

Thank you, Professor Kalpana, for sharing your background and accomplishments. These details provide a comprehensive view of your expertise and experience. Let us delve further into assessing your capabilities and alignment with the role we're discussing. Could you elaborate on one of your most impactful research publications or projects? Specifically, I’d like to understand the research question you addressed, your methodology, and the outcomes.

OK, uh, so my PhD, uh, research focused mainly on green friendly, that is eco friendly zinc oxy nanoparticles using a plant extract that is mainly large and area sicaria that is nothing but a bottle cord, which called which we usually have a common name. And this bottleboard peel has been taken for my study. And from this peel, the nanoparticles have been synthesized and this nanoparticles were tested against. Malaria causing vector both.

Malaria causing that is both vector at the parasite level. Vector here is anaphylaxis defensive and the parasite which I used is Plasmodium falciparum. Mainly the study is used to develop an effective, low-cost and environmentally safe strategy to control malaria.

Sure.

Go ahead, Professor. Please share the details of your synthesis and characterization process for the nanoparticles.

OK, I mainly synthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles using water as a solvent since water is in universal solvent. So I've used water in my study and.

I've just collected the peel of the bottle God and had dried it and just made it as a fine powder and I've just added the water and started to synthesize, make it as a plant extract. First this was my plant extract used as a substrate. And from this I then I've started to produce a nanoparticles by using zinc nitrate as zinc nitrate acid oxidizing HL and I used a magnetic stirrer to produce more amount of.

After uh, which the plant extract honey nanoparticles were combined together and it has been stirred continuously to to make the agent to reduce and finally it has been kept in the hot air having to make it completely dry once the particles has been dried. I've just hit characterizations techniques. So using the liquid part I have just synthesized with UV study and FTIR and the solid part I have used for.

Nanoparticles for 24 hours of continuous stirring.

SIM temp mainly for SIM and temp and.

Even I've gone for TGA analysis.

Thank you, Professor Kalpana, for that detailed explanation. It's evident that your methodology was systematic, combining eco-friendly synthesis with advanced characterization techniques for validating the properties and structure of the nanoparticles. As a follow-up, could you describe a significant challenge you faced during this research and how you addressed it effectively?

Yeah. The main challenge I have faced is in controlling the vector. So I have to collect the vector of the Hannifalist defensive first. I've started to collect the X of X, then with the larva and then with the huddle. So this study, I was mainly done in Nandanam Government Arts and Science College, where they have a special chamber to control this.

Uh, back to, to finish this study. So since because I don't have a chamber in vit, so I just shifted my studies to Dundrum Government Arts College. So I used to go there and collect some, you know, they have provided me with the hex and then I've just started to grow with larva and finally with the hardest. So handling the huddled mosquito is very much challenging. So this is a main challenging in my research area.

I see. Handling live vectors like *Anopheles stephensi* at different developmental stages, especially in controlled environments, indeed poses significant challenges, both logistically and technically. Collaborating with Nandanam Government Arts and Science College for access to specialized facilities was certainly a resourceful solution. Now, shifting our focus a bit—how do you integrate your research findings into your teaching, particularly when guiding students in courses like Advanced Microbiology or Immunotechnology?

OK, uh, actually I used to.

I will begin by identifying A focused research team which aligns with the departmental goals, mainly by applying for seed grant, collaborating with existing faculty, and involving postgraduate students and and as well since because I've had hands-on experience in self culture, PCR, immunoprecipitation, Western plotting analyzer, so I'm also trained in rodent handling for toxicity and drug delivery studies following some ethical guidelines so I can.

Sure, I can teach the students by mostly going for the virtual laboratory. So like mostly virtual classes.

So in such a way I can make the students related to my research here.

Thank you, Professor Kalpana. Incorporating practical, hands-on techniques and virtual lab simulations into your teaching is an excellent way to bridge your research with classroom learning, ensuring students gain both theoretical and applied knowledge. Moving forward, how do you approach mentoring undergraduate and postgraduate students in their research projects? What strategies do you employ to guide them effectively?

OK, I can guide students in formulating research questions, designing experiments, literature review, and data interpretation. I can also encourage them to present the findings and conferences and assist them in manuscript preparation. During my tenure at VIT as well as an Auxilium College, I've successfully guided both undergraduate and postgraduate research projects, so I hope I can mentor students.

In research project and as well as I can train them to participate in more international conference and present their findings in semi-nax.

Thank you, Professor Kalpana. Guiding students through formulating research questions, designing experiments, and encouraging them to present at conferences demonstrates your commitment to fostering academic growth and scientific inquiry. Now, let's discuss how you assess and evaluate students’ understanding and progress. Can you share your approach in establishing fair and effective assessment methods in the courses you teach?

I usually follow a Blender teaching approach where I can combine a conceptual lecturers, case studies, laboratory demonstrations and student late discussions. So based on this teaching method and and I usually encourage inquiry based learning by involving students and like how many research projects and I used to assist the students by continuous assessment methods like quizzes.

OK, so.

Presentations and problem-solving assignments to monitor the student progress.

That's a comprehensive approach, Professor Kalpana. Blended teaching methods paired with continuous assessment strategies like quizzes, presentations, and problem-solving tasks help provide a well-rounded evaluation of student progress and engagement. Lastly, considering your experience in teaching and research, how do you balance these dual responsibilities while ensuring excellence in both areas?

Balancing both the.

Research.

And balancing both research and teaching, balancing both the research and teaching us, it's quite, it's, it's like it's a tedious process, but I can plan my academic schedule systematically and I can set weekly research target and can involve students and ongoing projects and integrate and research topics into classroom teaching to balance both responsibilities efficiently.

Thank you, Professor Kalpana. Systematic planning, setting clear targets, and integrating research into teaching are indeed thoughtful ways to balance these dual responsibilities effectively. This concludes this phase of our discussion. Allow me a moment to proceed.

Yeah.

Professor, thank you for joining me today. To begin, can you discuss a specific course or topic in biomedical genetics that you find most rewarding to teach?

Sorry, can you repeat the question?

Of course. Could you discuss a specific course or topic in biomedical genetics that you find most rewarding to teach?

OK, I think, uh, PCR.

What is it about polymerase chain reaction (PCR) that you find especially engaging or rewarding to teach?

OK, uh.

Actually PCR is it's nothing, but it's a polymerase chain reaction.

Uh, it is used to mainly to amplify the DNA segments and there are three methods like denaturation, annealing and renaturation. The temperature which is used to set for denaturation is 94 to 98 and for annealing it is 52°C. And for the renaturation of the extension, we'll go with the 7072°C.

And uh, hmm.

Yes,

So PCR is very much important in biomedical genetics to identify the diseases, to diagnose the diseases. Even within a very small quantity of the DNA, we can produce millions to billions of DNA segments. And the things which we need to do this PCR is like template DNA primers, stack DNA polymerase, DNT, PS and mainly the buffer solution and we need a mission called thermal cycler mission.

Thank you for that detailed explanation, Professor. Could you also share how you illustrate such concepts, particularly the three steps of PCR, to students who may not have a strong background in molecular biology?

So I need to tell about in briefly about the steps involved in PCR. Am I right?

OK.

OK, I got it. Yeah, Yeah, sure. So actually as I said before, it has three steps. So PCR is nothing, but it's a polymerase chain reaction. So the steps in PCR is denaturation, tunneling, extension or can be called as an elongation. So As for the denaturation, we have a temperature of around 94 to 95°C. What is this denaturation step? So we have a double standard DNA.

That has to be heated and it has to be separated into at two single strands. And we have a next step call anili. So what is this Anneli? Now we have separated the DNA stance. So this short DNA text sequences, we call it as a Primus that will attach to the target DNA strands. And we have a third step and final step called extension or elongation. It is nothing but it's the temperature is around 72°C. So we need to add an enzyme that is particularly tap.

Take your

Polymerase. So what is enzyme will do? It will add nucleotides and started to synthesize new DNA strands. So these three steps will be repeated for nearly 25 to 35 cycles and each cycle for every heat cycle we can have double the DNA hub after cycles. So what will happen? Millions of copies of the target DNA will be produced and the final outcome will be. A large amount of quantity, sorry large quantity of specific DNA segments will be produced that.

That can be used for further analysis.

Thank you for outlining that process so thoroughly, Professor. It’s clear you approach teaching PCR with meticulous detail. Calling the classroom discussion on this topic complete.

Can you repeat the question?

Of course. I was asking how you explain the steps of PCR, particularly to students who might not have a strong foundation in molecular biology. However, it seems you've already provided a clear and detailed explanation.

OK.

OK, I'll just start with like basic introduction. So PCR is polymerase chain reaction. It is a laboratory technique, OK, which is used to make many copies of specific DNA segment. It is like a DNA photocopying method. If you go for a Xerox shop or if you go for the photocopier, what you will do, you will keep a piece of a paper and you will take one piece of paper, whatever the information which is present on one piece of a paper will be photocopied to produce many copies, whatever you want.

It will take many copies of the print the same way the PCR is used here what it is like a photocopy and mission and here we are going to use a DNA. DNA is nothing but it's a double, double standard dehoxy repo nucleic acid which is genetic material which is present in every human beings. It's a very basic. So since we all know about it and with this PCR, as I said, it is a laboratory technique method and you can take many copies of DNA. And like, it's a photocopier, so if we call an easily call it as a.

DNA photocopying method 2 and what is its principle? So how does this PCR works? It works repeatedly by heating and cooling. So as I said denaturation and annealing and extension. So you can see the temperature which is varying there 94 and 50 and again 70. So repeatedly heating and cooling the DNA in presence of some enzymes, mainly the enzymes involved as tac DNA polymerases mainly in the presence of enzymes and the.

That was used to multiply the target DNA sequences. So what? So what will happen here in the sense one copy of a DNA segments, you will be checking it and you will go for the process of repeated heating and cooling. So in the presence of enzymes and the primers and you have to have DFTPS, it's repeatedly to produce multiple target DNA sequences.

If you need the applications, I can tell you mainly it is used to diagnose this disease. For example, if a person is suffering with some diseases where we need to provide the samples, it's very small amount of samples will not be enough. So we need more amount of samples. So we can depend mainly we rely mainly on PCR and even in DNA fingerprinting for mostly in genetic research and forensic science especially we need this PCR.

And.

OK, I can take them to the laboratory, I can have some sample amount of DNA. Practically I can demonstep demonstrate them to show how does a mission works.

Thank you, Professor. That was a thorough explanation of PCR and its applications. Let me dive deeper into connecting your research background with teaching. Looking at your expertise in biotechnology, particularly your work on microbial production of xylanase and other biotechnological methods, how do you approach teaching complex laboratory techniques like PCR to students who may not have a prior scientific background? How do you ensure they grasp both the theoretical and practical aspects effectively?

Understood. How do you assess whether the students have truly understood both the theoretical foundation of the process and its practical application, especially for students with varied learning paces?

OK.

I can make the students. I can assist the students, whether they understood the PCR or not, by assessing, by giving them some quizzes, or by giving them some problem solving questions. Or I can make them to do some presentation. Or I can make them to form a small peer group or to make some mini research projects so that I'd come to know whether the students really understood the PCR.

And they can apply it in practical way.

Thank you. Could

That's a comprehensive approach, Professor. By incorporating quizzes, problem-solving, peer discussions, and mini-projects, you're touching on multiple ways of engaging students and assessing their understanding. One follow-up question—when supervising mini-projects, especially on a technique like PCR, how do you guide students in troubleshooting experimental issues without directly providing them the answers?

Can you please come ahead? How will you?

How about you?

As the interview is meant to evaluate your approach, Professor, the focus remains on your perspective. Could you share how you guide students in independently troubleshooting their experimental challenges during a mini-project?

OK, sometimes even the PCR will give you some failed results of poor results. So this problems can be identified and corrected by troubleshooting. So what is the common problems and common solution in the sense like whenever the student have selected the wrong primer design or missing reagents or incorrect temperature settings or?

So in such a cases I can redesign the primal. So whatever the students have done with the wrong primary design, I can redesign the primer and I can check the reagents whether they have used it properly. I can even optimize the annealing temperature too. And sometimes even non specific bands that is extra unwanted bands may also causes some poor results or false results. In such a cases I can just go for. In such a cases I can increase the.

Temperature and we can design better Primus too. And even primary DYMO formation causes also may results to failure results or weak or very low yield of product also may occur. So all these techniques will have some solutions either by increasing annealing temperature or by changing some solutions or we can design the primary or we can select the primer and I can increase the template amount also. Even I can increase the template amount or increase instead of going for 25 to 35 cycles.

I can even increase cycle #2.

Thank you for that detailed explanation, Professor. It’s clear you take a very systematic and practical approach to troubleshooting, which is essential for guiding students through the nuances of complex techniques like PCR. On that note, let me move on to the next section.

Professor Kalpana, could you provide an overview of your three-year research roadmap in the field of biomedical genetics, highlighting how it aligns with institutional objectives and contributes to advancing the discipline?

Uh, actually, I should, uh, tell you about the research in, uh, biomedical genetics following some institutional guidelines, am I right?

Yes, Professor. Please outline your proposed research over the next three years, focusing on its alignment with institutional goals and how it could contribute to advancing the field of biomedical genetics. Take your time to elaborate.

OK.

Go ahead, Professor. I'm listening.

I have some handsome experience in cell culture, PCR, immunoprecipitation, western blotting, ELISA both in vitro and in Vibo studies. I'm also trained in rodent handling for toxicity as well as in drug delivery studies following some ethical guidelines. So I would begin by identifying focus to research them.

Research theme which aligns with the departmental goals.

And mainly apply for seed money grants, collaborate with existing faculty and also I involve postgraduate students and I would gradually procure some essential equipment through funded projects and I can publish initial fundings to attract larger grants.

And so in such a way I can contribute my research too, which aligns with VIT.

Thank you, Professor. How do you plan to scale your laboratory and mentor junior students to ensure a continuous pipeline of high-quality publications? Could you elaborate on specific strategies or structures you would put in place?

I can identify the difficulties that the students face, or I can identify what what difficulty through their assessments, and I can provide some.

Additional study materials I can contact some small group mentoring and I can encourage peer learning and regular feedback will help me to improve their confidence and performance. So based on the feedback from the students, I will just find out what is the what is their idea or innovation or their interest in project and I will put in them and I'll put them into the research and I'll ask them to present their findings in small groups like national conferences or international.

Conferences or present their ideas in other colleges or institutions.

Understood, Professor. Thank you for sharing that perspective. Lastly, could you explain how you intend to leverage international collaborations to enhance your research, particularly in terms of boosting citation metrics and global impact?

OK, I can.

I can collaborate with other professors who works in abroad and or in mainly in transdisciplinary fields and you can contact them. I can even foreign exchange programs, student exchange programs, faculty exchange programs, everything will be utilized by me properly. And I can, I can join with those professors and we'll start writing with high, start publishing high manuscript and high impact paper.

I can apply for some grants. Initially as I was working at CM college I just started with a mini project that is Tamil Nadu Scientific Council. So I have applied my project and they have sanctioned a small amount of 7000 so for a year. So like this I can apply for some other like agencies like DBT, DST say and I can extend my research.

Please

And.

Area also.

Thank you, Professor Kalpana. I appreciate your insights into your research roadmap and strategies. Let me make a note of this.

Professor, please explain how you would implement an active learning model like the Flipped Classroom for a large enrollment course in Biomedical Genetics—without relying on slides. Include specifics on activities, structure, and engagement techniques.

OK, there are different teaching strategies. As of now, I follow a blended teaching approach. Even a flipped classroom methods can be applied for the students and the flipped classroom in the sense I have to give the previous day the students work so that they prepare and come and the next day they have to work on it. So even this blended teaching approach and conceptual cases, case studies and laboratory demonstrations and student lead discussions also. Or many teaching methodologies out there.

So and Dave and I encouraged them to do participate in many research projects and so that the students will be well versed instead of being put in in the same classroom and learning. So the teaching methodology if it varies, the students also will gain more knowledge and they will be interested to study to focus on.

Genetics.

Thank you, Professor. Let us delve deeper into your approach. You mentioned various teaching methodologies, including case studies and laboratory demonstrations. For a Biomedical Genetics classroom, particularly with complex topics like gene expression or epigenetics, how do you evaluate the success and student engagement of these non-lecture methods you’ve implemented? What metrics or mechanisms do you use to measure their effectiveness?

Time is up! Ending the interview now.