Professor Rama Shanker Verma [Ph.D., FNASc, FBRSI, FAMI] Director, MNNIT Allahabad, Prayagraj-211004 (U.P.) Formerly Head of the Laboratory of Stem Cell and Molecular Biology Department of Biotechnology, Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai-600036, Tamilnadu, India

 Contact Details:

Education

1. Ph.D., Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi [1984]
2. M.Phil., Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi [1980]
3. M.Sc. Biochemistry, Allahabad University, Allahabad [1977].

Academic Experience

1. Professor at Department of Biotechnology-IIT-M, Chennai [2009-2021]
2. Adjunct Professor at Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology - Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia [2016-2019]
3. Associate Professor Department of Biotechnology-IIT-M, Chennai [2004-09]
4. Research Assistant Professor at Department of Medicine, Indiana University Medical Center, Indianapolis, IN, USA [1999-2000]
5. Associate Professor Department of Biotechnology-NIPER, Mohali, Punjab [1998-99]
6. Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Punjab University, Chandigarh [1998]
7. Research Assistant Professor at Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA [1997-98]
8. Senior Scientist at Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA [1995-97]
9. Visiting Research Associate at Department of Medicine, Indiana University Medical Center, Indianapolis, IN, USA [1994-95]
10. Staff Fellow at NCI-NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA [1991-93]
11. Post-Doctoral fellow and Instructor Indiana University Medical Center Indianapolis, IN, USA (1986-1991)

Industrial Experience

1. Head, Pharmacology Division-Lupin, Pune [2004]
2. General Manager, Department of Biotechnology- Cadila Healthcare Ltd., Ahmedabad [2000-04]

Award / Honors

1. FNASc (Fellow of National Academy of Sciences India-2014)
2. Applied Biotechnology and Applied Pharmacy Senior Scientist Award-2014
3. Fellow of Society for Applied Biotechnology-2011
4. Fellow of Association of Microbiologists of India- 2010
5. Genome Pioneer Recognition Award-2008
6. Fellow Madras Science Foundation 2006
7. Life time Achievement Award Nation Society

Area of Research

1. Trans-differentiation study of stem cell into cardiac tissue and elucidation and mechanism and genetic and epigenetic level
2. Study on 3D culture of stem and cancer cells under microgravity
3. Construction of novel cyto-lytic fusion proteins (immunotoxin) against cancer
4. Drug Delivery System against leukemia
5. Liver and Heart-valve tissue engineering
6. Elucidation of Notch and Wnt signaling pathway in Fanconi Anemia (Rare blood disorder)

Academic Activities

1. Faculty selection committee member at several Indian institutes such as IIT’s NIPER and various Institutions/Universities
2. External and internal examiner for the award of Doctor of Philosophy
3. Expert / Reviewer for DBT-Wellcome trust, DBT, DST, BRNS, ICMR and DRDO funding agencies
4. Chairman of Biosafety committee, Institute ethics committee and animal ethical committee at IIT, Madras [2004-Present]
5. Member of Board of Governor National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) Mohali.
6. Member Stem cell committee nominated by President of India.
7. Chairman and Member of Board of Studies in more than 50 universities.

Scientific Production

Guided 32 Ph.Ds/M. Tech and MS students. Published 185 research papers andseveral book chapters (15) and review papers on Stem Cell Biology, Tissue Engineering, Fanconi Anemia and Immunotoxin based cancer therapeutics. Papers published in various prestigious journals such as: Blood, JCI, JBC, BBA, J of Material Science, Drug Discovery today, Oncotarget, Advanced Healthcare Material, Cancer letter, Apoptosis, Nanomedicine etc. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=VERMA+RS

https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=LrxrULcAAAAJ&hl=en

ORCHID ID 000-0001-7287-7803

Patents

Patents Filed              –          23

Granted                      –            3

Transfer to Industry     –            1

Book’s Edited

1. Rama S. Verma Resistance to Immunotoxins in Cancer Therapy (2015) Edited319-17274-3 ISBN 978. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland.
2. Rama S. Verma and Seeram Ramakrishna: Eds Biomaterials: Biosensors (2020) current opinion in Biomedical engineering https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobme.2020.07.001 2468-4511/© 2020 Published by Elsevier Inc.Netherlands