Field of Study India: Bioengineering

Sonika Chibh

Dr. Sonika Chibh is a postdoctoral fellow at Tel Aviv University, Israel. She obtained her B.Tech. in biotechnology degree from Jaypee University of Information Technology, Solan, Himachal Pradesh in 2014, and her master’s (M.Tech.) in biotechnology from Thapar University, Patiala, Punjab in 2016. She then received her Ph.D. in 2022 from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research/ Institute of Nanoscience and Technology Mohali, Punjab. Her Ph.D. work focused on the formation of self-assembled peptide-based nanoparticles as a drug delivery system in cancer therapy. Her postdoctoral research at Tel Aviv University focused on the development of monoclonal antibodies against phenylalanine for the treatment of phenylketonuria, with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

Dr. Sonika Chibh has published several research articles in recognized international journals during her Ph.D. and postdoctoral studies. She received a George S. Wise Post-doctoral fellowship at Tel Aviv University in 2022. During her Ph.D. she received the Young Researcher award in an oral presentation organized by SYBS in 2021. She also received the Best Poster award in Bengaluru Nano in 2022.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Dr. Chibh is working on a project entitled “Design of Chemokine-Based Self-Assembled Nanoparticles for Receptor-mediated Specific Drug Delivery”. This project is in collaboration with Dr. Shuguang Zhang and MIT Institute Professor Robert Langer, who is the father of controlled drug delivery.

Nilotpal Majumder

Nilotpal Majumder is a Ph.D. candidate at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. He is currently designing a biomimetic chemically modified silk fibroin gelatin bioink for 3D bioprinting of cartilage tissue. His doctoral thesis primarily focuses on modulating the associated chondrogenic signalling pathways using various small-molecule modulators to develop phenotypically stable articular cartilage grafts. He has publications in reputed journals like Advanced Functional Materials, Advanced Healthcare Materials, and ACS Applied Material & Interfaces.

Nilotpal holds a BTech-MTech dual degree in biotechnology from KIIT University, Bhubaneswar. He worked on a project funded by the government of India (BIRAC) as a project engineer to develop an automated electromagnetic wave-based tissue processing device.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow at Tufts University, Medfor, MA, Nilotpal is exploring various external cues (microgravity, magnetism) to induce cellular assembly within the 3D bio-printed constructs. The main objective of his research will be to develop a 3D bio-printed macroscale organoid that can closely recapitulate the native human tissue microarchitecture and physiology. In his free time, he enjoys reading non-fiction, watching sci-fi movies and television series, and exploring historical places.

Lubhanshi

Lubhanshi is a Ph.D. candidate at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Mumbai. Her thesis focuses on the specificity of effector proteases towards host proteins that are crucial in host proteasomal degradation pathways. Using techniques such as fluorescence spectroscopy and mutational analysis, she is looking for the mechanism of selective recognition of ubiquitin-like proteins by deubiquitinating enzymes.

Lubhanshi holds a bachelor’s degree in science from Kurukshetra University, and a master’s degree in chemistry from Guru Jambeshwar University of Science and Technology, Haryana. As a researcher, she likes to participate in science outreach programs.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow, Lubhanshi is exploring the host pathways that are affected by the deubiquitinating enzymes. Primarily, her focus lies in understanding how various effector proteases impact the host’s ubiquitination machinery, thereby facilitating the pathogens’ survival and replication. In her leisure time, she likes to sketch and paint. She enjoys travelling and exploring nature and diverse food from various cultures.

Manzoor Koyakutty

Dr Manzoor Koyakutty is a Professor at Amrita Center for Nanoscience and Molecular Medicine, Kochi. He has worked extensively in molecular mechanisms responsible for cancer progression, drug-resistance, and tumor immunology, and developed many novel cancer-nanomedicine formulations and immunotherapeutic for leukemia, liver tumor and glioblastoma. His lab currently investigates systemic immune-suppression in peripheral organs as well as local tumor-microenvironment and developing novel nano-bio engineering tools to overcome such immune-suppression.

He has published > 150 papers in peer reviewed journals including Biomaterials, Small, J. of Controlled Release, Sci. Reports, Int. J Immunopharmacology with H-index 48 and citation 10530, and filed 40 patents of which 20 granted and 06 licensed for translational development. He was elected as Fellow of National Academy of Science, India (2017), top 2% scientist by Stanford University rating, 2022, received Amrita University Faculty Gold Medal 2023, and Chancellors Award 2024.

During the Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship, he is working with Dr Henry Brem and Dr Betty Tylor, Glioma Center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, USA, for the combinatorial targeting of brain tumor immuno-biology using intracranially injectable nano-hydrogel system. This work may help glioma patients to have better therapeutic outcome.