Session 10 Women in Science

5th April Session 10 (Committee Room 1)
2024 Women in Science

Chairpersons: Suraksha S. Diwan & Pooja
Bhagat
Co-Chair: Charu Dogra Rawat & Vartika Mathur
1500- Keynote Lecture
1525 Daman Saluja (Sr. Professor, Dr. B R Ambedkar
Offline Center for Biomedical Research, DU)
“Novel strategies of drug development for enhanced
antimicrobial efficacy in Neisseria gonorrhoeae”
1525- Keynote Lecture

1550 Radha Prasanna (Professor, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi)
Offline
“Microbes as revitalizing options in protected
cultivation”
1550- Jyoti Vakhlu (Professor, School of Biotechnology,

1610 University of Jammu)
Offline
“Saffron microbe interaction: questions that beg
answer”
1610- Tista Prasai Joshi (Scientist, Nepal Academy of
1625 Science and Technology, Nepal)
Online
“Potential pathogenic bacteria in drinking water of
Nepal”
1625- Vartika Mathur (Professor, Sri Venkateswara
1640 College, DU)
Offline “Decoding the Dynamics of Insect-Plant
Interactions: Are microbes on the driver’s seat?”
Keynote Lecture
Daman Saluja (Sr. Professor, Dr. B R Ambedkar Center for
Biomedical Research, DU)
“Novel strategies of drug development for enhanced
antimicrobial efficacy in Neisseria gonorrhoeae”
Sr. Professor ACBR and
Joint Director Delhi School of Public Health, IoE
Former Chairperson Research Council
Director ACBR (2006-2010; 2017-2023)
AREA OF EXPERTISE Medical Biotechnology

Research Interests: Molecular diagnostics and drug development
ACADEMIC QUALIFICATION:
Ph.D. (1986, University of Delhi)
Post-doc NYU Medical Center, NY, USA for more than six years
PROFESSIONAL CAREER
MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS IN RESEARCH:
 Multiplex PCR-based diagnosis of Chlamydia trachomatis and
Neisseria gonorrhoeae, T vaginalis, Covid-19, Leukemia, and other
diseases.
 Licensed two diagnostic protocols for commercialization
 Molecular mechanism of Drug resistance and Drug development in
Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
 Understanding gene regulation of cancer progression
Member of the review committee of several journals of Wiley,

Springer and Elsevier. Prof Saluja has produced more than 35 Ph.D.
students and has several National and International research projects
Have 7 Patents, licensed two assays for commercialization.
Received several awards throughout career.
Publications More than 125 in International journals. Member

review committee of several journals of Wiley, Springer, and Elsevier.
h index 25, Scopus citation more than 2600.
Member task force committee of various funding agencies ICMR,
BIRAC, DST, and DBT. Has delivered several Invited talks in National
and International symposiums
Awards: National science talent, INSA Young Scientist, LSS Kumar

Memorial Award, Associate of IAS for four years, NIH fellowship, The
Biotech Product & Process Development and Commercialization
Award’, selected for Khorana Technology transfer program (IUSTF)
Keynote Lecture
Radha Prasanna (Professor, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi)
“Microbes as revitalizing options in protected cultivation”
Dr. Radha Prasanna has made significant and pioneering contributions
towards exploring cyanobacteria and their interactions with other
eubacteria and fungi besides plant-cyanobacteria interactions and their
role in elicitation of plant metabolic machinery and modulating the plant-
soil microbiome of crop plants through their multifaceted abilities as
plant growth promoting, biocontrol and biofortifying agents. Novel
microbial formulations including Cyanobacterial Biofilms have been
developed as technologies, which can provide 20-30% N savings,
stimulate crop growth, yields, soil nutrient availability and enrich
produce.
Her major inputs to agricultural microbiology have been towards
diversifying the role of cyanobacteria in crops other than rice and their
significant role as plant growth promoting inoculants for wheat, maize,
cotton, legumes and vegetable crops and as biocontrol agents against
phytopathogenic fungi in vegetable crops. She and her team have
undertaken comprehensive analyses of the taxonomic and niche-specific
diversity of cyanobacteria in diverse agro-ecologies of India, developed
biochemical and molecular markers and protocols for evaluating their
establishment in soil and colonisation in plants. For protected cultivation,
cyanobacteria-amended nursery mixes as disease, soil health restoration
and nutrient management options for enhancing vigor, yield and quality
of produce has been optimized. Several first-time reports were generated
through prospecting cyanobacteria as valuable sources of novel genes
and metabolites.
She has published more than 300 research papers [h index-65; Number
of citations: 12975] and deposited more than 300 sequences in the NCBI.
She is the recipient of Fellowship of NAAS (2005) and Academy of
Microbiological Sciences (FAMSc 2019), ICAR Panjabrao Deshmukh
Outstanding Woman Scientist Award (2012), Hari Krishna Shastri Award
(2017) and Best Teacher Award (2008), which highlight her passion and
excellence in teaching and research.
Jyoti Vakhlu (Professor, School of Biotechnology, University
of Jammu)
“Saffron microbe interaction: questions that beg answer”
Prof Jyoti Vakhlu has been former Director at the School of
Biotechnology, University of Jammu, India, with over 25 years of
dedicated service in academia. Her professional journey commenced as
a Research Fellow at the Biotechnology Division of the Indian Institute of
Integrative Medicine, Jammu, India, from 1994 to 1997. Building upon
this foundation, she transitioned to academia, joining the School of
Biotechnology at the University of Jammu, Jammu, India, as an Assistant
Professor in 1999. She is deeply committed to both teaching and
research, nurturing the minds of budding biotechnologists and making
significant contributions to the field. Her expertise lies in Molecular
Biology, Recombinant DNA Technology, Genomics, and Metagenomics.
Her group has dedicated significant attention to saffron research , aiming
to enhance its growth and productivity through innovative approaches.
Her group was the first to initiate the work on saffron microbiomics that
has now been taken up by the researcher’s world over. Her group also
attempts at using the microbiome of saffron as a biomarker in absence of
genetic diversity in saffron . Other notable aspect of her team’s work
involves the development of bioformulation based on Bacillus sp. strain
D5 (Bar D5) an indigenous saffron bacteria that has demonstrated to
double the yield of saffron spice as well as its corms in terms of size of
the corm. This bioformulation is ready for commercialization and at
present she is looking for the partners to commercialize it. Her team has
actively contributed to expanding saffron cultivation beyond traditional
areas. They have successfully introduced saffron cultivation in the
Poonch district, in Pir Panjal, Himalayas yielding commendable results.
These efforts have not only diversified agricultural practices but also
fostered socio-economic development by creating opportunities for local
communities.
In her professional journey so far she have published around 70 papers
in peer reviewed journals of international repute, mentored 10 Ph.D
students, 6 M.Phil students and more than 60 masters project students.
She has been able to attract extramural funding up to the tune of about
30 million Indian rupees from national as well internation funding
agencies, to name few DST,DBT, ICAR, DAAD, ICGEB, Sri Lankan
research agency and Austrian research agency .
Tista Prasai Joshi (Scientist, Nepal Academy of Science and

Technology, Nepal)
“Potential pathogenic bacteria in drinking water of Nepal”

Dr. Tista Prasai Joshi is a senior scientist at the Nepal Academy of
Science and Technology (NAST) for the last 20 years. She received a
M.Sc. degree in Environmental Microbiology and an M.A. degree in
Anthropology from Tribhuvan University, and a Ph. D. degree in
Environmental Engineering in 2017 from the University of Chinese
Academy of Sciences (UCAS) with the UCAS Excellent International
Student award. Dr. Tista’s research is focused on drinking water quality
and purification which appears in many leading journals, such as Water
Research, Chemical Engineering Journal, Journal of Hazardous Materials,
Science of the Total Environment, Environmental Pollution, and so on.
She has been awarded the OWSD-Elsevier Foundation award in
Biological Sciences representing the Asia Pacific region in 2019 and
UNESCO-OWSD early career fellowship in 2019. Dr. Tista has been
decorated with Nepal Vidya Bhusan “Ka” by the honorable President of
Nepal in 2017. She was nominated as one of the 50 visionaries of Nepal
and was saluted with a medal in 2022. Dr. Tista advocates gender equity
in Science and promotes women scientists in Nepal. She is founding
member of Women Scientists Forum Nepal (WSFN-NAST) and life
member of Women in Science and Technology (WIST) Nepal. She is
facilitating many early-career women pursuing their postgraduate and
Ph.D. research in her laboratory at NAST.
Vartika Mathur (Professor, Sri Venkateswara College, DU)
“Decoding the Dynamics of Insect-Plant Interactions: Are
microbes on the driver’s seat?”
Prof. Vartika Mathur has been working in the Department of Zoology, Sri
Venkateswara College, University of Delhi since 2006. She completed her
MSc (2002) and MPhil (2003) from University of Delhi and PhD (2012)
from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. She is a fellow of Institute
of Eminence (IoE), University of Delhi from June 2022. Her research
interest is determining the effects of biotic and abiotic plant stresses at
morphological, chemical and molecular levels and alteration in its
interactions with symbiotic microbes, insects and their parasitoids.
Through her work, she reported for the first time, the occurrence of
extrafloral nectar (EFN) in the family Brassicaceae (in Brassica juncea)
and subsequently observed increase in EFN secretion in damaged plants
indicating its role in plant immunity.
She started the API lab in 2011 and has been working on ecological,
chemical and molecular aspect of intricate animal, plant and microbe
interactions for their sustainable utilization in agriculture, environment
and health sectors. Her ongoing National and International research
collaborations focus on inter-disciplinary research for natural resource
management and sustainable strategies for crop management,
therapeutics, biodiversity conservation and environmental protection.
She teaches Animal behaviour, Research methodology, Environmental
management and Wildlife conservation and management. She also
volunteers as research advisor to Department of pulmonary medicine,
critical care and sleep medicine, AIIMS, New Delhi.

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5th April Session 10 (Committee Room 1)

2024 Women in Science

1525- Keynote Lecture

1550- Jyoti Vakhlu (Professor, School of Biotechnology,

AREA OF EXPERTISE Medical Biotechnology

Member of the review committee of several journals of Wiley,

Publications More than 125 in International journals. Member

Awards: National science talent, INSA Young Scientist, LSS Kumar

Tista Prasai Joshi (Scientist, Nepal Academy of Science and

“Potential pathogenic bacteria in drinking water of Nepal”

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