Yes, we can begin.

Please start by introducing your professional journey in academia

I have a. Done my PhD in 2017.

Okay, so you finished your PhD in 2017 — mm-hm.

From. Defence Food Research Laboratory. My Coimbatore. So I have worked on mainly on mycotoxins. And biosensors. And after that my PhD have done in a poster doctor experience. In DRDOBU Center for Life Sciences Bar 3 University. As a CSIRRE. And the prestigious national postdoctoral fellowship like. DST. NPDF.

From 2000. 18 to 2022 together 2 post-datter fellowship I have more than. Around 4 years of experience as.

Dr., you mentioned working with biosensors and mycotoxins — when you're teaching students about these topics for the first time, what's your go-to analogy or foundational concept to help them understand the basics?

Alright, so you've got around four years of postdoctoral experience spanning multiple fellowships. You were starting to talk about your teaching—could you walk me through how you introduce the concept of mycotoxins to students who've never heard of them before?

So mycotoxins are generally. Secondary metabolites of the fungi. So Jan. Currently, everybody, because these are everybody. It's a very less common known about these things. Because mycotoxins are very dangerous, they can. Faster, especially very node. Dangerous. Condition like known as a cancer.

Now, Dr., given your track record with mycotoxins and biosensor development, where do you see the most fundable research directions in your field over the next few years? Which specific grants or funding bodies would you target to support and scale your work?

So now in this category, the mycotoxins are around. More than five types are there? Very important categories. They are like aflatoxin B1 and B2 acratoxin A&B. Feminosins, Deoxygen, Gerardinone. And this toxins known to cause the variety of. So we have to target like a department of Biotechnology DBT. And one more is the DST Department of Science and Technology. And one more CS. Another is ICM R. We have to target this for 1/4 funding organizations in India.

Okay, so you're focusing on the major mycotoxins and targeting DBT, DST, CSIR, and ICMR for funding. If you were building a research group around biosensors for mycotoxin detection, what would be your approach to balancing interdisciplinary collaboration with your own publication goals?

I want to guide the. My upcoming like, uh, postgraduate. Underage students. To make some my own group.

So you're aiming to guide postgraduate and undergraduate students and build your own group.

And we can collaborate with the other departments. Also to especially chemistry and physics. We can make like nano biotechnology group. Under this nanobiotechnology. Right. So nowadays actually the research is interdisciplinary. Did not. Fully depends upon the biology it should it should be combination of like a. Physics and chemistry. So the chemistry because the sensors depends upon the mainly of the light. And field comes under the physics.

Right, so you’d pull in chemistry and physics to create a nanobiotech group, since the sensor work depends on those fields. How would you structure evaluation for students involved in this interdisciplinary work, so you’re assessing both their biology fundamentals and their contributions to the sensor development?

So we have. Have to take the help of the. Students also. And at the same time, same time we have to make some chemical sensor. The chemical sensors we have to take from. Yes, we have put all of like any sensor like especially nanotechnology based sensors means we have to synthesize. And we have to characterize. I will have to go for the application using like a very high end equipment in case of physics and the chemistry environment like. Uh, like a pure fluorescence instruments. And FTR instruments. And scanning ultra microscopes. And HRT electron microscopes.

You talked a lot about hands-on research and student involvement. Suppose you’re teaching a large introductory class—maybe two hundred students—and you can’t use slides or a traditional lecture format.

And so. These are the very high end equipment also we have to use, we have to enter this interconnect the physics and chemistry and biology students. So generally I'll keep the slides is the best way because we can we can you can see you can see that clearly to the even larger distance also because 200 students. And we can explain the. Very with beautiful pictures. And then like a very beautiful graphical abstracts. And overall the mechanisms. So that is the very good way is the. Slides slide presentation is a very good way here. Next.

Accreditation cycles can be demanding — if you joined our department and found that outcome assessment data was inconsistent across courses, how would you approach fixing that?

So we have to organize the seminars. And we have to organize some kind of lectures and we have to organize the from experts from the even the foreign country also. To understand the better in subjects. And also I have I will be involved in the like research, not research that administrative or administrative point of view. Like a question paper setting. Maybe also like taking care of the instruments. And like the taken parts.

You mentioned organizing seminars and inviting experts, plus handling administrative tasks like question paper setting and instrument management. But what would you do specifically to ensure the outcome assessment data is actually standardized—would you set up a cross-course rubric, or something else?

So generally in case of biology point of view, we have to organize the like a practical groups. Practical way we have to teach. So that laboratory, laboratory. Teachings for especially undergraduate and graduate students I will take. So that they can learn easily. And I'll help them also in case of dissertations.

So generally in case of biology point of view, we have to organize the like a practical groups. Practical way we have to teach. So that laboratory, laboratory. Teachings for especially undergraduate and graduate students I will take. So that they can learn easily. And I'll help them also in case of dissertations. And uh, I can, I can brainwash them to go for the research also. So like. The second participate. So especially somewhere we should not do biased. But if the students are complaining, means we have. Maybe there was some students are very in the single time itself, they can catch the subject. Some students won't catch in single time. So we have to take the extra care for the.

Dr., imagine a student formally complains that your grading is biased, but at the same time your department head is urging you to improve pass rates. How would you handle this situation, balancing fairness to the student and the pressure from your supervisor?

Student who is. Not catching the subject at single time. So we have to. Can we give the more time to? Next step.

Alright, you’re saying you’d focus on practical lab teaching to make things fair, and take extra care with students who struggle.

Given your research background, do you have any existing industry partnerships or connections that could help students access internships or real-world projects in fields like bioinformatics or biosensor development?

Yes, the some kind of known friends are there.

So. Who are working in the industries? And through them I can arrange some kind of industry widgets.

You mentioned you have some friends in the industry.

Okay, so you've arranged industry visits for students through your friends who work in the field. Can you name a specific company or lab where you've placed students for internships or collaborative work in bioinformatics or biosensor research?

So the best example is Laban Biologics Private Limited, Hyderabad. So this group is actively working on the development of biosensors for the detecting the pathogens in the food. So I can help. Them to go and learn from you. Next question.

You’ve shown you can structure student industry exposure, and you’ve got hands-on biosensor experience. Now, I’d like to check a few core skills for this role. If you’re teaching a lab-based course and a student keeps making mistakes in the protocol—say, inconsistent pipetting or contamination—how would you handle that situation to help them actually master the technique?

Under the I will try to perform the excitement with my own hands in front of them. And try to get the So generally we have to make the slides. RPPT presentation. With the graphical abstracts So generally we have to make the slides. RPPT presentation. With the graphical abstracts. So the the graphical upstairs can easily present the. The mechanism of the anti cancer studies.

So we have to cool him and I will proceed the experiment and that show him. With my own hands. So that they can learn the things easily. And they should not be in anxiety. So I'll try to calm down.

Under the I will try to perform the excitement with my own hands in front of them.

Alright, so you’d demonstrate the protocol yourself and help calm the student’s anxiety.

You'd perform the experiment yourself to help them learn, and show the steps directly. When you're teaching a theory-heavy topic—something abstract, like genetic algorithms or cancer bioinformatics—how do you make sure students really understand the concepts rather than just memorizing?

So you use graphical abstracts and presentations to make complex cancer mechanisms more understandable. When you're evaluating students on these kinds of topics, do you prefer written exams, oral exams, or some other method—and why?

So generally we have to make the slides. RPPT presentation. With the graphical abstracts. So the the graphical upstairs can easily present the. The mechanism of the anti cancer studies. Or rather, there is some kind of logarithms. Otherwise some kind of sensors also. So we have to explain some kind of. In some videos. So can you repeat?

You talked about using graphical abstracts and videos to explain complex mechanisms or algorithms. My question was, when you're actually evaluating students on those topics, do you prefer written exams, oral exams, or do you use some other method—and what's your reasoning for that choice?

So we have to do the return exams as well as what else both we have to do. And as per apnea, the best preference is the returned journey. And the the and we have to question whether the question the student is under understand or not simply or Bihar thing. So we have to go for the. Next question.

Okay, so written exams are your main preference, but you also use oral questioning to check for real understanding. When you’re guiding student research projects, how do you help them select a topic that’s both feasible and original—especially if they’re struggling to come up with ideas?

Show generally the research topic should be. Simple and it should be executed in the lab.

Alright, so you keep research topics simple and doable in the lab. Switching gears, can you walk me through your own PhD specialization—what was your main research focus,

And I will check the instruments also whether the equipments available in the. VAT. So I have worked on mycotoxins. Especially this is Pangal biology. I will. Because this is. Are very dangerous, as previously told.

Uh, it caused cancer. But in India and you own the throat, worldwide, it is highly net.

You focused your PhD on mycotoxins, especially in fungal biology, and you mentioned checking equipment availability before starting lab work.

You mentioned mycotoxins can cause cancer and they're a major concern worldwide, especially in India. How did your research on mycotoxins influence the topics or methods you use when mentoring students on their own lab projects?

Here I required like one of the equipment like HPLC and. Uh, techniques. That's pressure, because in siliculture techniques I can demonstrate the how the. This guy, uh, mycotoxins cause the cancer.

So you mentioned using HPLC and other analytical techniques to demonstrate how mycotoxins cause cancer, tying your research tools directly into student learning. Shifting focus a bit, can you give an example of a research paper you published in a well-regarded journal, and explain what made that work significant in your field?

And the HPLC technique. I heard I will lose for the. For sure because these are my. So I have published like a LWT Food science and technology really. Uh, paper. Which is mainly focused on the. Uh, suppression of the. Uh, Geraldine or mycotoxin using the Kakuma long agential ieline?

So your LWT Food Science and Technology paper focused on suppressing a mycotoxin using a specific plant agent. Can you talk about the real-world impact—did your findings influence industry practices, or get cited in later work?

So we have tested this season because Karakumalanga is an Indian scenario, they are generally using in the. Necessary to influence the industry. Industry. We can use them as a. Especially in case of seed. If you want to store. So we can mix them and store them means it act as a strong antifungal agent. And it can inhibit the. Fungal growth as well as mycotoxins. So that.

So we have tested this season because Karakumalanga is an Indian scenario, they are generally using in the. Necessary to influence the industry. Industry. We can use them as a. Especially in case of seed. If you want to store. So we can mix them and store them means it act as a strong antifungal agent. And it can inhibit the. Fungal growth as well as mycotoxins. So that. Agent for the inhibiting the fungus and myport. So I have worked in the. Just like rasa food. Private company. So there I have prepared like some kind of fruit. Looks like a mango fruit.

Alright, so mixing Karakumalanga as an antifungal agent helps prevent fungal growth and mycotoxin contamination during seed storage. Thinking about your industry experience, have you ever been involved in consultancy for food safety or bioinformatics projects—what was your role, and how did you bridge academic research with real-world needs?

So we have tested this season because Karakumalanga is an Indian scenario, they are generally using in the. Necessary to influence the industry. Industry. We can use them as a. Especially in case of seed. If you want to store. So we can mix them and store them means it act as a strong antifungal agent. And it can inhibit the. Fungal growth as well as mycotoxins. So that. Agent for the inhibiting the fungus and myport. So I have worked in the. Just like rasa food. Private company. So there I have prepared like some kind of fruit. Looks like a mango fruit. And I have worked on the quality. And afterwards it will transfer to the market. So my main role is the quality microbiology. List. So general I used to demonstrate and show them.

So you worked with Rasa Food Private Company and developed something like a mango fruit product—sounds like you bridged your academic research directly into a practical food industry setting. When you worked with the company, how did you communicate complex scientific findings to team members or stakeholders who didn't have your technical background?

Uh, two to three times. So that I used to show the how the. Because if you check these things and you have. You have to adjust the microbial volume.

Alright, so your main role at Rasa Food Private Company was quality microbiology, and you demonstrated processes directly to the team. When you're teaching or presenting,

So you show the process two or three times to help the team understand microbial adjustments. When you’re teaching students, how do you make sure your explanations are clear and structured so everyone can follow, even if some have less background knowledge?

So generally food is highly condemned because highly generally foods are highly perish. To spoil. So that I will explain them how it will be spoiled through the bacteria or some kind of fungi. How to avoid them? Maybe through the kind of PPT and videos?

Alright, so you use PPTs and videos to help students understand food spoilage and prevention. For student evaluation—besides written exams, do you use any practical lab assessments or project-based grading to measure their skills?

How to improve the quality I will show them?

You’d show them practical ways to improve food quality during your teaching—understood. What’s one concrete lab activity or demonstration you use to let students apply these concepts hands-on, rather than just hearing about them in a lecture?

So generally we have to take the students to the. Industry and we have to show them how the things will be working on like industry, business. Cell plan so the. They will get the more experienced knowledge. So that will help to even that to gain a. Easy to understand and they can write perform very well in the example.

Alright, so you take students to the industry to see real operations, helping them get hands-on experience and making it easier to understand and perform well. Thinking about exam duties—when you're evaluating students, how do you make sure your assessments are fair and consistent, especially when grading practical work or projects?

So generally without partiality only I will do the grading systems. So. Mostly based on. Conditions and oral oral assessment only, I will do that. Next question.

So you base your grading on oral assessments and set clear conditions to avoid partiality. When guiding student research projects, what's your approach if a student comes to you with a proposal that's ambitious but maybe not fully practical—how do you help them refine their idea?

So we have to go through the literature, search previous published papers. At least 10 years old papers you have to take and we have to read the sense background. So so from the background point of view have taken we have to read and we have to redefine the objectives and redefine the. Outcome of the study. Next question.

Alright, you mentioned taking students through literature reviews and refining objectives based on background research for ambitious projects. Switching gears, can you tell me about how you communicate complex or technical concepts to students in a way that’s structured and easy for them to grasp, especially when teaching theory or lab courses?

Generally from the graph is the PPTS and video. This is the easy way to grab the students.

The practically also we have to demonstrate them. If possible.

Okay, so you rely on graphs,

Right, so you demonstrate practicals whenever possible, not just theory. For your PhD, what was your area of specialization, and how did your research contribute to advancements in your field?

Especially we have to frame the food. Microbial safety rules, especially in India, the mycotoxins are hiding neglected.

So, uh. As per the FAO.

Okay,

So you’re referencing FAO guidance—how did you incorporate those international standards or recommendations into your research or industry projects, especially regarding mycotoxin safety?

So, uh. As per the FAO. Uh, that kind of the foods are contaminated with. So I have published 1 representation journalism with the food control. So you have used the agential eyes to control the mycotoxins.

So you published a paper in Food Control using agents to control mycotoxins,

So based on because we have to survey the food. Through the local agriculture markets. And we have to get through the lab. And save. So I have worked on like Rasa Foods Pvt. Ltd. And helped them to make how to improve this?

So based on because we have to survey the food. Through the local agriculture markets. And we have to get through the lab. And save. So I have worked on like Rasa Foods Pvt. Ltd. And helped them to make how to improve this? Safety and quality of the. The products that especially like a mango. So especially like a microbial contamination. So it is to spoil within uh, because the food. Food juice has to say at least say at least for. This month. So, but there's in sometimes, uh. In some batches they used to kill the like a froth and bubbles like that. So I had put them because of the. Microbial contamination you have the breed very. And.

So you worked with Rasa Foods, doing surveys at local agri-markets and lab analysis to help them improve. What was one specific quality challenge they faced, and how did your input help them address it?

Alright,

So I helped them how to avoid the microbial contamination. So. Is the essential. So I recommended like a use of a. Proper pasture resistance techniques.

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

And elaborate like laminar airflows we have to use. And the the steady room we have to maintain. Can you continue once again?

Right, you’re saying that maintaining laminar airflow and a sterile room is essential—those are good points for controlling contamination. Just to confirm, is there anything you’d like to ask about the Assistant Professor (Research) role or about the team before we finish?

So here I whether I can? Doing the my research independently. Or otherwise I have to. Research. By collaborating the. Uh, especially all the departments like biotechnology. We've been instead like that. So this is 1 dot and one. It's like whether I have to be responsible for the. Maintenance of the instruments. Especially for fiscal equipments. Like annual maintenance? And maybe functioning.