I am a dynamic Plant Biotechnologist with broad expertise from routine and specialist analytical testing to mentoring postgraduate students and supporting trainees. The knowledge I gathered all through my career has made me multidimensional like a combo of multidisciplinary areas, especially Biotechnology and Bioinformatics.
I have worked on the cereal killer of rice, Magnaporthe oryzae which causes rice blast disease. My contribution to research during my Ph.D. throws a lot of new insights in regard to the functioning of G-Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) in this plant pathogenic fungus.
I have a research interest in plant-pathogen interactions especially the Magnaporthe-rice pathosystem. Presently, I am interested in identifying and characterizing the set of genes affecting pathogenicity along with deciphering the novel effectors playing role in the rice-blast fungus interaction. I am more interested in unraveling the complex signaling networks involved in the blast pathogenesis as well as finding an eco-friendly cure for the devastating blast disease to safeguard economically important rice crops.
Interested research aspirants with CSIR/UGC NET and besides having own fellowship such as MANF, DST-INSPIRE, etc may send their CVs and research interest to nazmiara.dbs@presiuniv.ac.in to work in my laboratory.
- Ph.D. Biotechnology, National Institute of Technology Durgapur (January 2018)
M.Tech. Biotechnology, West Bengal University of Technology (2009)
M.Sc. Bioinformatics, Allahabad Agricultural Institute-Deemed University (2006)
B.Sc. Major in Biological Techniques & Specimen Preparations, University of Burdwan (2004)
Work Experience
- Assistant Professor, Department of Life Sciences, Presidency University, Kolkata (Since March 2019 to present)
- JRF & SRF in the Department of Biotechnology, NIT Durgapur (2011 to 2018)
- Assistant Professor, Postgraduate Department of Biotechnology, Oriental Institute of Science & Technology, Dewandighi, Burdwan, Affiliated to Vidyasagar University (Nov 2009 to June 2010)
Awards and Recognition
- Awarded Start-up Research Grant by Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB), DST, Government of India - 2019 in Plant Sciences
- Qualified West Bengal State Eligibility Test (SET) - 2017 in Life Sciences
- Qualified ASRB (ICAR) NET - 2015 in Agricultural Biotechnology
- Awarded UGC Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF), 2010-11
- Awarded Merit certificate for scoring the highest DGPA in M.Tech.
- Current Research Activities:
1. An ongoing CRG project entitled "Functional inter-connection between WISH and cell-wall biosynthesis / remodelling pathway in rice blast fungus" Dr. Subhankar Roy Barman (PI), Dr. Utpal Adhikari (Co-PI), Dr. Nazmiara Sabnam (Co-PI), DST-SERB, Govt. of India, 2022-2025.
2. Principal Investigator of SRG project entitled "Functional characterization of novel secreted effectors in Magnaporthe oryzae", DST-SERB, Govt. of India, 2019-2022. (Completed)
- Administrative Responsibilities:
1. Member of Colloquium Committee (2022)
2. Member of Library Committee (2022)
3. Member of Shared Equipment and Core Facility Maintenance Committee (2022)
4. Co-ordinator of subjects such as Bioinformatics, Molecular Biology, etc.
5. Co-ordinator of a major paper 'Biostatistics and Bioinformatics - BT0703' for M.Sc Biotechnology with two specializations in Plant Biotechnology and Microbial Biotechnology courses (2019).
6. In-charge of the establishment of Bioinformatics laboratory (2019-2020).
7. Member of the Biosafety Committee of the School of Biotechnology, Presidency University, Rajarhat, Newtown, Kolkata (2019-2020).
I have taught Biotechnology, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Bioinformatics subjects over the past couple of years along with my own studies. I am experienced in teaching and served as an Assistant Professor in the Postgraduate Department of Biotechnology, Oriental Institute of Science & Technology, Affiliated to Vidyasagar University, Dewandighi, Burdwan. During that period I taught two postgraduate courses such as M.Sc. Biotechnology, and M.Sc. Biochemistry.
I have also taught two advanced postgraduate courses such as Plant Biotechnology and Microbial Biotechnology in the School of Biotechnology, Rajarhat Newtown Campus (2019-2020).
As a Biotechnologist, my specialized subjects are Recombinant DNA Technology, Advanced Molecular Biology, Plant Biotechnology, Microbial Technology, Bioinformatics, and Bioprocess Engineering, etc.
Life Member of Indian Mycological Society
1. Afzal Hussain, Ashfaq Hussain, Nazmiara Sabnam, Chandan Kumar Verma, and Namita Shrivastava. "Insilico exploration of the potential inhibitory activity of DrugBank compounds against CDK7 kinase using structure-based virtual screening, molecular docking, and dynamics simulation approach." Arabian Journal of Chemistry 16, no. 2 (2023): 104460.
2. Debrup Sarkar, Satyabrata Majumder, Kalyan Giri & Nazmiara Sabnam, In silico characterization, molecular docking, and dynamic simulation of a novel fungal cell-death suppressing effector, MoRlpA as potential cathepsin B-like cysteine protease inhibitor during rice blast infection, Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics, (2022), DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2022.2139763
3. Pallabi Saha, Atrayee Sarkar, Nazmiara Sabnam, Meghana D Shirke, H B Mahesh, Aman Nikhil, Anantharamanan Rajamani, Malali Gowda, Subhankar Roy-Barman, Comparative analysis of secondary metabolite gene clusters in different strains of Magnaporthe oryzae, FEMS Microbiology Letters, Volume 368, Issue 1 (2021), fnaa216, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fnaa216
4. Nazmiara Sabnam and Subhankar Roy Barman. "WISH, a novel CFEM GPCR is indispensable for surface sensing, asexual and pathogenic differentiation in rice blast fungus." Fungal Genetics and Biology 105 (2017): 37-51. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fgb.2017.05.006
5. Subhankar Roy-Barman, Ravindra A. Raut, Atrayee Sarkar, Nazmiara Sabnam, Sanjukta Chakraborty, and Pallabi Saha. "Recent advances in the development of transgenic crop plants, biosafety aspects, and future perspectives." Plant Biotechnology (2017): 271-411. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781771885812 - Cat# N11896.
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