Good day, Dr. Nivedita Singh. 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?

Yeah, this is good afternoon, all the yeah.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Goo goo, good afternoon.

You are able to hear me?

Hey.

OK, just a start.

Understood, Professor. Let us proceed. Could you provide a brief overview of your academic and professional background as it relates to bioinformatics and medical microbiology?

Yes, I'm Doctor Nivedita Singh. I am in right now. I am a Malvipur doctoral fellow at Banaras Hindi University.

My PhD was in was in drug discovery and medicinal chemistry and I I did my PhD from IIT Guwahati in Bioscience and bioengineering department and thereafter I I did 2 post doctoral fellow fellowship first was at Nipah Hajipur that was related to. Diabetic nephropathy, so there I develop in diabetic, diabetic mice model and they and using that biodiastic mice model I I understood the pathology of the disease and I found some interesting results like histone upregulation in kidney tissue is very unique phenomena I've discovered and that is actually not discovered yet so. That histone upregulation is a reason for transcription. Transcription machinery to setting off or returning of and thereafter because of this turning of of transcription machinery, what happens all the translational phenomena are negatively impacted and that was the reason for all the biological activities like or pathways like transport pathway and metabolic activity or severely down regulated in disease condition. And thereafter I used 2.

Methodology first is the hydro alcoholic extract of the benign spita and there and second one is the dehydrogen gear that is a single molecule. So this area is completely linked to the medical. Bioinformatics and currently the my current project is in in drug discovery in rare disease drug discovery. So here I I have developed homology modeling. Through homology modeling, I developed one computational 3D model and that model is. And it will use as a target protein for substrate specific substrate reduction therapy. This is a therapy like you we want to develop oral drug for a particular genetic disorder. In genetic disorder generally people don't talk about oral drug. So this is a new initiative by me in the direction of an oral drug discovery for metachromatic glucose dystrophy. So these areas right from PhD to post to my current post job I have.

And closely and working on medical bioinformatics. Thank you.

Thank you, Professor Singh, for sharing your background. It’s clear you bring both depth and breadth in bioinformatics and medical microbiology research. Let’s explore more about your experience and skills in detail. Could you walk me through how you've structured and delivered laboratory or theory-based courses, particularly in bioinformatics or medical microbiology, during your academic or professional tenure?

Yes, and since I have a very proficient expert expertise in drug designing and computer aided drug design, that is very important area in the drug discovery or drug development in the era of computational advancement. So I can design drug drug design and computational biology course for the for undergraduate and postgraduate students and that has very important that play important.

Who is that if student directly switch from academic Acadia to industry. So this course has a has its own importance. So I would like to take this course and if this course is not available in bit I'll I'll I'll design the space specialized course for drug design and and related actor related courses. Yes and.

Uh, what? Uh, the next question you asked?

Thank you for that explanation. My next question is: Could you provide an example of how you’ve previously evaluated students, such as through assessments, exams, or project work, and how you ensured fairness and academic rigor in the evaluation process?

So creativity, I think creativity is very important for students. And, and I I'm I strongly believe that every student has its own own. Qualities and a teacher has role to understand each and every student's quality. For that he he or she has to give it enough environment for to them to flourish their skill set. So my focus would be to move to. Toward the practical approach, because bioinformatics is not just rote learning, this is this is a practical, it demands practical approach. So I think if I, I will means I, I will develop more courses that can give them access for the practicality, practical understanding of bioinformatics courses like or computational biology. I have hands on experience or research experience on drug designs. I will go in drug design. I'll go in system biology because I know the network pharmacology very well. Even I know the new block transcriptomics and block and bulk bulk transcriptomics and bulk proteomics analysis using the bioinformatics tools like David String Cytoscape. So I can, I can work, I can directly form, form a course and. Practical course and explain students how how.

We can use this tool for real time activities like if we, I, I, I am not expecting a student just listen and learn and just keep their things in the, in the notebook. I want whatever they learn, they learn for the practical, practical purpose. Tomorrow they will go to the industry and they will they, they, they will be skilled for human resource for the industry. So my focus is.

Meet the to develop or to create environment, learning environment as such that they will be the future entrepreneur for the industry and for academia. So means they can excel in whatever field they want to go after. After taking the taking the academic experiences and academic skill set, whatever they want to do, they excel in that area.

Yes, thank you.

Thank you for sharing your philosophy on student evaluation and development. It’s clear you emphasize a practical, skill-driven approach to inspire creativity and foster industry readiness. Next, could you elaborate on any specific examples where you guided student projects or research activities? What was your approach to mentoring, and how did you ensure students achieved meaningful outcomes?

Yes, and I have an teaching experience in Punya College of Engineering where I was taking course of undergraduate. Biology for engineering course name, it was a I city approved course and that course was actually encompasses the biotechnology, microbiology, genetics and so many related subjects which can be integrated in the drug discovery. And in in the pharmaceutical world, so when I was teaching them, I first I taught through the through online, offline both the mode and then I found that then I used to take their tests on particular on some periodic basis like. 15 days and sometimes it it was it was too frequent, like one week and all. Whatever the lesson I gave in the last week. I, I took ten, I, I gave them 10 quizzes and they, I wanted to solve them. And not only that, I wanted them to explain why this, this multiple choice or subjective question was dealt with by them and what we're thinking behind that. So I discussed after evaluation, I discussed all the questions and I found that in that some students has good clarity and some has. Little less clarity than I focused I. Actually screen out those student who are weaker in clarity than I personally ask them what what what are the difficulties they are facing to understand the topic. And then when I found that some, some, some, some difficulty feedback from all the students who had not performed well, then I collected all the information and then. Then try to better my better my explanation things. So this way I had not only catered the good student, but I also catered the student who had learned. Who were not understanding with my style of teaching. So I changed my style of teaching because student had different student has different learning power and different approach to take the things information so I I as a teacher has to.

Understand how students are actually performing and what are the their strength and what are their weaknesses. So this this is my approach, my usual approach. I always try to make sure that all the students who are who are receiving minor, whatever knowledge I am providing then they will receive in full-fledged manner and they will receive most of the information that I am giving. Thank you.

Thank you, Professor Singh, for sharing such a thoughtful and inclusive approach to guiding students and ensuring their development. It’s commendable that you adapt your teaching methods to address diverse learning needs and actively support students who may be struggling. Next, I’d like to focus on your research contributions. Could you describe a specific research publication of yours that you are particularly proud of, including its impact and the process you undertook to accomplish it?

Uh, yes, uh, this is very interesting question. Actually, I am very much excited to, uh, during my PhD, actually my PhD was most challenging PhD, the all batchmates. Actually, I, I was in bioinformat biotechnology lab and my research journey of PhD started with bioinformatics drug designing. I designed a drug, I designed 200 plus drugs and a drug candidate using. Designing is different story. It can be. It can be possible if if you have a good chemistry knowledge and all. And since my chemistry my BAC was in chemistry so I have good chemistry understanding. So I design compound using the substrate. Sorry structure based approach means using the structure activity. Protein active site and pharmacophore understanding. I designed 200 plus Jenthin based compound and these 200 plus are unique compounds design and thereafter a a through using ADME properties I and different other analysis tool I understood the most 8 most potent and specific compound and I I screened out eight most potent and active compound and then the major challenge was synthesizing those 8 components. Gen. thin synthesis of Gen. thin derivative. PDS job actually the existing methodology was very was not uh, supportive for large scale synthesis. If I want to make diversity of compound, then it it is not possible through the existing methodology. So I completely from this sketch I developed new methodology and the I developed 2 synthesis chemical synthesis route for synthesizing. The 8 Gen. thin derivative that I designed SO11 synthesis route was of.

8 uh, chemical synthesis steps and the second synthesis route was 6 chemical synthesis register. So using that the both the chemicals in the root I, I synthesized 8 compound and thereafter I tested the 8 compounds by activity and all the 8 compounds are bioactive and behaved similar similar way as I found in my drug designing bioinformatic studies. So I can say this was the. And this actually, the, this process was so unique that it is now patented. So I am happy about that and I am excited about this, this whole study. This was a very fascinating study of my PhD and I did well. Actually, I'm very proud of my research journey in my PhD and thereafter during my neighbor study, nobody has so far discovered that histone upregulation could be a region.

For for transcriptional shutdown in diabetic nephropathy. So this is a unique phenomena I discovered and I am also in this phenomena in this study. I in in future if I get opportunity to serve in faculty as a faculty as a researcher in vit, I'll start, I'll pursue this research histone up regulation. Why actually this histone upregulation is happening and what are the reason behind this upregulation? So this will be a groundbreaking.

Or groundbreaking research in the in the field of diabetic nephropathy. And the third I am working on the rare disease drug discovery where people less talk about oral drug for genetic disorder. So I have completely taken a new path for oral drug discovery. So these all the throughout my research journey. I am proud of my research and I have published 13. Overall publication out of them, 12 our first author and nine of them. Are in Cuban journal, so I actually happy with my performance and in future if I get get opportunity I will try to make it more accelerated in terms of research output as well as.

For exploring the different field of research, including my existing research areas.

Thank you.

Thank you, Professor Singh, for articulating your impressive research achievements. Your work spanning drug discovery, chemical synthesis, histone dynamics, and rare disease drug development clearly demonstrates your innovation and dedication to advancing scientific knowledge. Let us now discuss your experience in collaborating with industry or consultancy projects. Could you provide an example where you've engaged in such work, detailing your role and the impact of your contributions?

Collaborative research Naipaul Hajipur research is very collaborative research because if you see my. Paper research article you will find the collab, the affiliation of isar Berhampur Central university of Haryana. Dipsar, Delhi. So these people these amazing people are from there through from different part of the India are collaborating in this research and this research.

In more elaborated way in my future future research journey.

Thank you.

Thank you for sharing your collaborative experiences, Professor Singh. It's evident that you have fostered multidisciplinary partnerships in your research and have a strong inclination to bridge academia with industry. These efforts significantly enhance the practical impact of your work. Let's move forward to discuss your teaching approach. How do you ensure your communication style and teaching methods effectively engage students and convey complex topics clearly and succinctly?

Because. Yes, this is very important question because we we do not understand who is receiver. We have to 1st understand who are receiver. If the students are knowledge receiver and we are knowledge provider so but students are living being they have own knowledge also they can communicate with us as so we have to understand how they are receiving what they have some knowledge also previous knowledge also.

So we have to understand how they are the what, what are their their existing knowledge and what new I am giving to them and how these whole knowledge if we also have to understand is there any knowledge biasness there in them? And if there there is knowledge biasness, we have to clear it. And, and I also have to understand as a teacher, I also have to understand is there knowledge biases in me? Because we all are human being. We need to understand the things and.

Uh, how the, how the receiver are taking means how the students are taking the knowledge. So this is an, this I think I, I always try to explain the matters in, in, in practical way. And like, I, I, if I have to explain them the protein structure, I have to explain why actually protein structure.

Prediction is required why I have why protein, what is the role of protein to why people the scientists are very fond for protein structure to understand what is actually protein, what is actually the enzyme and how and what is their role first, then why I am teaching something the importance of teaching. Is need to deliver first. Need to be delivered first to the student. Why? And then they, they need to learn about protein, they why they need to learn about, about their information first. So that I need to give because without giving the practical connectivity, I think knowledge giving knowledge is just a rote learning. So I always try to emphasize that student first understand why they are learning something and what and how they can learn. In better way than they can connect with the world with their learning.

Thank you, Professor Singh, for elaborating on your thoughtful and reflective approach. Your emphasis on understanding both the students' prior knowledge and their practical application of new concepts highlights your commitment to meaningful and impactful learning experiences. Let’s now explore another dimension of the role. How have you contributed to curriculum development or accreditation processes in your teaching or academic journey so far?

Curriculum development, yes, I will try to see what are the curriculum already existing in the institution I'm I'm approaching and if I'll find some curriculum based on my understanding and my journey is required then I'll try to incorporate them. I will make extensive elaborative curriculum. Elaborate, elaborative syllabus for the particular. Course and will, will and also will look how students can get benefited from that particular course so yes and I have many things to give like first as I said, drug design and drug discovery second is the system biology where transcriptomics and proteomics can be incorporated in the study metabolomics also these all are very hot areas very clear areas very. Very future futuristic areas and 3rd is in 3rd is my chemo informatics since I have a chemistry background as well as biology. So how bioinformatics can help to understand the chemistry because they they have chemistry how molecules like smile what why they smile why the chemical compound can how the chemical compound can explain in? Smile what a smile represent. Similarly what is a CAS number?

These these small, small things are we use in day-to-day basis, but we don't understand why actually this is, you know, what are the mathematical descriptors working behind this. So chemo informatics is a new course can be implemented in the in the bioinformatics course apart from system biology and drug design, computer-aided drug, drug design, so and many more based on and many more like. Single gene transcription that is also part of the single gene transcriptomics and proteomics. Proteomics is also part of. The system biology, so many things I have to do. When I get in position, I'll research on the areas required for this, for this prestigious institution to work more, more pragmatically. So I'll contribute in this, these directions.

Thank you.

Yes.

Yes, go ahead.

This is very this is very important question because without funding nothing can be possible. So and our research is actually mainly the fund oriented research. Lots of funds are required. I have various plan for getting fund like as I am a woman I can go for women centric grant. Serve has lots of women centric grants. Like power grant and power grant, I am early career researchers so I can. And go for the early career research grant and a core research grant as also I can apply. And apart from that I am working on rare disease also. So rare disease research fund is also the also. Always a yearly basis it open for the researchers who are working on reducing. So I have lots of I have various plans for to get the research to extract the to get the research could get the research fund or good fund from the Government of India. From outside so and for that if collaboration will be applied, I will apply if collaboration, I will go for collaboration. If single, if I can get the fund, I will open that door also. So I have various plan to get fund and in long run I would like to take good quality students as a manpower for. As GRF as a PhD student to pursue areas of. The areas where I have ideas to work in different areas like histone upregulation I'll study in future so I I can write for project for on his own upregulation. Why this is happening? What are the factors behind this it? Second area on which I can write a grant is the is the three-dimensional structure of the protein that I have cloned already and and secondary structure I have found on the cerebroside sulfur transparency so. I I want to get fund on the 3D structure and I have plan I can get fund just I want is I want a position so that I can act as a faculty as a regular regular and so that I will be eligible for getting the advantage fund for regular employee not for the post doctoral. So I have ideas just I want a position where I can go and I can. Use that position for for getting fund from.

Thank you, Professor Singh. Lastly, could you share any experience you have with securing research funding or managing interdisciplinary or funded

Oliver all over these agencies who are providing fund like DST, DBT and Nserve and all the service is also part of DST. So I have various plans to get fund.

Thank you.

Yes.

With all your detailed inputs, Professor Singh, I believe I’ve gathered a comprehensive understanding of your expertise and academic vision. Is there anything specific you would like to discuss or highlight further before we conclude?

I have to understand. I want to know about the infrastructure VIT has for for research and I also want to understand. Will I be immediately take means? Well, I will be able to immediately take students as a PhD students because I have to start my research. If I joined BIVIT, I'll in in within one month. I will try to start my research journey apart from academic academic responsibility. So will my question is can I take students immediately if I join there? And yes. And apart from that I have gone through a faculty profile and that is very good. And I actually I was amazed at faculties are doing well in the VIT. So if I get opportunity, I will also.

I will also get space for working confidently and in in in areas where I am I want to explore. So yes, some questions, not much, but yes I have some questions.

Yeah.

Yes, go ahead.