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Faculty Profile : Dr. Priyanka Bajaj

Name: Dr. Priyanka Bajaj


Assistant Professor
pbajaj.04@niperhyd.ac.in
+91 40 23074750 Extn- 2032
My Citations


ADDRESS, ROOM NO

Department of Chemical Sciences
Room. No. MC 01, NIPER Hyderabad
Balanagar, Hyderabad-500037, TS, INDIA



QUALIFICATION: (REVERSE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER)

  1. PhD, 2014 - National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali
  2. M.Sc, 2009 - Kurukshetra University



EXPERIENCE
  1. Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Sciences, NIPER Hyderabad - December 2020 - Till Date
  2. Postdoctrate from University of Rochester, New York and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA (2014-2017)
  3. DST Inspire Fellow at Institute of Microbial Technology (CSIR-IMTech), Chandigarh (2018-2020)


COURSES HANDLING(PHD/M.PHARM)

  1. MC-830- Advanced Topics in Drug Action and Drug Design
  2. PT-690- Downstream Processing of Biological Fluids



PHD STUDENTS/MASTERS STUDENTS

PhD : 2(ongoing)



AWARDS / HONOURS

  1. INSA-INYAS fellow, 2020
  2. Selected as BRICS young scientist fellow and represented the country on Bioeconomy at BRICS young scientist conclave; Brazil, Nov, 2019.
  3. Selected for the prestigious DST-Inspire Faculty award 2018.
  4. Selected up to pre-final level for “International Innovation Cup” science competition by Merck, Germany, 2018
  5. Selected to attend 67th Nobel Laureate Meet being held in Lindau, Germany, June 2017
  6. Travel grant award for attending Lindau meet, 2017 by The Valley Foundation, Boston, USA http://www.thevalleefoundation.org/programs/lindau/priyanka-bajaj-phd.
  7. Department of Science and Technology (DST), International Travel Grant Award, (DST-ITS) July, 2013.
  8. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), International Travel Grant Award, July, 2013.
  9. Department of Biotechnology (DBT), International Travel Grant Award, June, 2013.
  10. Centre for International Co-operation in Science (CICS)- Indian National Science Academy (INSA), International Travel Grant Award, June, 2013.
  11. CSIR - Shyama Prasad Mukherjee fellowship for pursuing PhD (CSIR-SPM-SRF), 2012.
  12. Selected for post of examiner of patents and designs (Group ‘A’ Gazetted), Govt. of India, (DIPP), 2010.
  13. Indian Council of Agriculture Research, India-National Eligibility Test for post of scientist and Junior Research Fellowship for PhD (ICAR-NET-JRF), 2010.
  14. CSIR -Shayma Prasad Mukherjee fellowship -Junior Research Fellowship for pursuing PhD, most prestigious fellowship for PhD (CSIR-SPM-JRF), 2009.
  15. State Prathibha Samman by Chief Minister of Haryana, India (Mr. Bhupinder Hooda) for excellent Track record in academics, July 2009.
  16. CSIR-National Eligibility Test and Junior Research Fellowship (NET-JRF), 2008.
  17. Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) in Life Sciences with 99.9 percentile in the year 2008, All India Rank-13 and State Rank-5, 2008.
  18. DBT-JRF, with All India rank 32 for pursuing PhD, 2008.



RESEARCH AREAS/INTEREST

  • Biocatalysis and Biotransformations
  • Green Chemistry
  • Protein based Biotherapeutics (Biosimilars/Biobetters)
  • Bioeconomic process development for pharmaceutical Industry
  • Enzymology
  • Recombinant protein engineering and evolution in E.coli and yeast based expression systems

Dr. Priyanka Bajaj’s group has particular interest in green chemistry to make our pharmaceutical and fine chemical industry and industrial products more environmentally friendly and affordable for everyone. Her research mainly focuses on developing green biocatalytic processes and enzymes for complex synthetic chemistry challenges mainly focusing on synthesis of chiral compounds of pharmaceutical importance. The enzymes are studied in detail for their structure activity relationship and engineered using the techniques of directed evolution. The libraries of various substrates and enzymes are further screened in high throughput mode using LC/MS, GC/MS and UV-Vis spectrophotometry and upscale and downscale processes are optimized. The group is working on exploring wide range of enzymes including Aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDHs), Myoglobin, P450s and others.



SPONSORED PROJECTS

  1. PI: DST-inspire faculty grant (2018-2023) (1,12,40,000- Salary + 7 lakh annual research grant)
  2. PI: BIRAC-PACE grant and Co-PI: Dr. Vikas Tyagi, Thaper University, Patiala (2019-2021) (50,00,000 INR)
  3. PI: Industry Project grant and Co-PI: Dr. Vinay Kumar Kanchupalli (2020-2021) (25,61,000 INR)



PUBLICATIONS / BOOK CHAPTERS

  1. Moore E.J., Steck V., Bajaj, P and Fasan, R (2017) Chemoselective Cyclopropanation over Carbene Y-H insertion Catalyzed by an Engineered Carbene Transferase. J. Org. Chem., 83(14):7480-7490.
  2. Bajaj P., Sreenilayam, G., Tyagi, V., and Fasan, R. (2016) Gram-Scale Synthesis of Chiral Cyclopropane- Containing Drugs and Drug Precursors with Engineered Myoglobin Catalysts Featuring Complementary Stereoselectivity. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 55(52):16110-16114.
  3. Tyagi, V., Sreenilayam, G., Bajaj, P., Tinoco, A., and Fasan, R. (2016) Biocatalytic Synthesis of Allylic and Allenyl Sulfides through a Myoglobin-Catalyzed Doyle-Kirmse Reaction. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 55(43):13562-13566.
  4. Tripathy, R.K., Aggarwal, G., Bajaj, P., Kathuria, D., Bharatam, P.V., and Pande, A.H. (2017) Towards Understanding the Catalytic Mechanism of Human Paraoxonase 1: Experimental and In Silico Mutagenesis Studies. Appl Biochem Biotechnol. (doi: 10.1007/s12010-017-2424-5).
  5. Bajaj P., Tripathy, R.K., Aggarwal, G., Datusalia A.K., Sharma S.S. and Pande A.H. (2016) Refolded Recombinant Human Paraoxonase 1 Variant Exhibits Prophylactic Activity Against Organophosphate Poisoning. Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. (doi: 10.1007/s12010-016-2091-y).
  6. Aggarwal, G., Bajaj, P., Tripathy, R.K. and Pande, A.H. (2016) Toward Understanding the Catalytic Mechanism of Human Paraoxonase 1: Site-Specific Mutagenesis at Position 192. PLoS One. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147999).
  7. Parikh, H., Bajaj, P., Tripathy, R.K. and Pande, A.H. (2015) Improving properties of recombinant Ssopox by site-specific pegylation. Protein Pept Lett. 22,1098-1103.
  8. Beladiya C., Tripathy, R.K., Bajaj P., Aggarwal G. and Pande A.H. (2015) Expression, purification and immobilization of recombinant AiiA enzyme onto magnetic nanoparticles. Protein. Expr. Purif. (doi: 10.1016/j.pep.2015.04.014).
  9. Iyengar, S.A.R., Bajaj, P., Tripathy, R.K. and Pande, A.H. (2015) Improving storage stability of recombinant organophosphorus hydrolase. Protein. Expr. Purif. (doi: 10.1016/j.pep.2015.01.012).
  10. Bajaj P., Aggarwal, G., Tripathy, R.K. and Pande, A.H. (2015) Expression and purification of biologically active recombinant human paraoxonase 1 from inclusion bodies of Escherichia coli. Protein. Expr. Purif. (doi: 10.1016/j.pep.2015.05.011).
  11. Bajaj P., Aggarwal, G., Tripathy, R.K. and Pande, A.H. (2014) Interplay between amino acid residues at positions 192 and 115 in modulating hydrolytic activities of human paraoxonase 1. Biochimie. 105, 202-210.
  12. Bajaj, P. and Pande, A.H. (2014). Stabilization Studies on Bacterially Produced Human Paraoxonase 1 for Improving Its Shelf Life. Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12010-014-0806-5).
  13. Bajaj P., Tripathy, R.K., Aggarwal, G. and Pande, A.H. (2013). Characterization of human paraoxonase 1 variants suggests that his residues at 115 and 134 positions are not always needed for the lactonase/arylesterase activities of the enzyme. Protein Sci. 22, 1799-1807.
  14. Nankar, S.A., Bajaj, P., Sravanthi, R. and Pande, A.H. (2013). Differential interaction of peptides derived from C-terminal domain of human apolipoprotein E with platelet activating factor analogs. Biochimie. 6, 1196- 1207.
  15. Kar, S., Bajaj, P., Tripathy, R.K. and Pande, A.H. (2013). Chemical nature of polar functional group in oxidized acyl chain of phospholipid uniquely modifies the properties of lipid particles. J. Membrane Biol. 246, 443-452.
  16. Kar, S., Patel, M.A., Tripathy, R.K., Bajaj, P. and Pande, A.H. (2013). Oxidized-phospholipids in reconstituted high density lipoprotein particles affect structure and function of recombinant paraoxonase 1. Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 1831, 1714-1720.
  17. Kar, S., Patel, M.A., Tripathy, R.K., Bajaj, P., Suvarnakar, U.V. and Pande, A.H. (2012). Oxidized phospholipid content destabilizes the structure of reconstituted high density lipoprotein particles and changes their function. Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 1821, 1200-1210.
  18. Bajaj, P* (corresponding author) and Mahajan, R. (2019) Cellulase and Xylanase synergism in Industrial Biotechnology. Accepted in Appl Microbiol Biot (DOI: 10.1007/s00253-019-10146-0)
  19. Bajaj, P. Aggarwal, G. Tripathy, R.K. and Pande, A.H. (2014) Paraoxonase 1 as a Pharmacologic Agent: Limitations and Perspectives. The Scientific World Journal. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/854391).
  20. Singh, C. Singh, A. Langeh, U. Bajaj, T. Bajaj, P. et al. (2021) COVID-19 Altered Brain Signalling Pathways. COVID-19: Current Challenges and Future Perspectives, 1; 76-100; Bentham Books
  21. Singh, C. Heer, H. Kaur P.V. Bajaj, T. Singh, A. Bajaj, P. (2021) Impact of nano formulations of natural compounds in the management of neuro degenerative diseases. Recent Advances in the Treatment of Neurodegenerative Disorders, 1; 178-207; Bentham Books



PATENTS

  1. Abhay H. Pande, Priyanka Bajaj, Rajan K. Tripathy, Geetika Aggarwal. Recombinant human paraoxonase 1 enzymes, method of generation and uses thereof. (Indian Patent Granted # 334103 & PCT/IB2014/058461).
  2. Abhay H Pande, Priyanka Bajaj, Rajan K Tripathy and Ankita Jadhav. Recombinant SsoPox enzymes, method of generation and reusable nanobiocatalyst of same (Patent pending Application # 902/DEL/2014 & PCT/IB2014/064616).



INVITED TALKS

  1. Sept 20th, 2019, “Developing new Biocatalysts to solve pharmaceutical and environmental challenges”. Babashaeb Bhimrao Ambedkar Central University, Lucknow, India
  2. Nov 7th 2019, “Role of Biocatalyst in boosting Bioeconomy”. Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics, Rio De Janiero, Brazil. 4th BRICS Young Scientist Conclave.



LABORATORY FACILITIES DEVELOPED FOR RESEARCH / TEACHING

NA



ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

NA



ANY OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION

Various Positions are open for applying for prestigious fellowships like NPDF and MK Bhan.
PhD students will their own fellowship can also directly contact to PI.