Dr. Biswa Ranjan Meher

(Ph.D.: IIT Guwahati)

Assistant Professor

Computational Biology & Bioinformatics Lab, P.G. Department of Botany, Berhampur University, Odisha-760007, India.

........My Journey........

     Dr. Biswa Ranjan Meher received his M. Sc. degree from Utkal University-Bhubaneswar with Biochemistry as specialization. He qualified national level entrance examinations CSIR-NET and GATE to pursue Ph. D. in Biotechnology at Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IITG) under the supervision of Dr. Pradipta Bandyopadhyay. Subsequently, he worked as a Post-Doctoral Researcher at different US universities like the University of Kansas (KU), Kansas; Albany State University (ASU), Georgia; and University of Richmond (UR), Virginia. He also worked as a DS Kothari Post-Doctoral Fellow (DSKPDF) in the Department of Biochemistry at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India from 2014 to 2016. Before joining to his current position, he also served as an Assistant Professor in the DBT-BUILDER Programme at the Centre for Life Sciences, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi, India from 2016 to 2017. He has worked in several collaborative interdisciplinary research areas in USA, and in India. He is a recipient of National Doctoral Fellowship by AICTE, Govt. of India. Dr. Meher has expertise in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics and his research area focus on molecular modelling and simulations of biomolecules of therapeutic importance, structure based drug and vaccine design, pharmacologically bioactive natural products, development of Nano-medicine and their applications, understanding the protein conformations through structure network analysis, and application of computational tools to solve biological problems. His laboratory welcomes interested candidates to carry out research work in Molecular modelling and simulations of biomolecules and its applications in drug design and discovery.

Academic Qualifications:

  1. Bachelor of Science (Botany as Honors, Chemistry & Zoology as ancillary subjects), 2001, Panchayat College, Bargarh (Sambalpur University), Odisha, India.
  2. Master of Science (Botany with Biochemistry specialization), 2003, Department of Botany, (Utkal University), Odisha, India.
  3. Doctor of Philosophy (Biotechnology) with specialization in Computational Biology and  Bioinformatics, 2009, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, Assam, India.

Professional Work Experience:

  1. Assistant Professor, (Nov, 2017 – Till Date) at Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Laboratory, Department of Botany, Berhampur University, Odisha, India.
  2. Assistant Professor, DBT-BUILDRER Project, (Feb, 2016 – Oct, 2017) at Centre for Life Sciences, Central University of Jharkhand, Brambe, Ranchi, India.
  3. DS Kothari Post-Doctoral Fellow (DSKPDF) (July, 2014 to Feb, 2016) at Prof. Saraswathi Vishveshwara’s Lab., Molecular Biophysics Unit, IISc, Bengaluru, India.
  4. Post-Doctoral Research Scientist (March, 2013 to March 2014) at Computational and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Richmond, Virginia, USA.
  5. Post-Doctoral Research Associate (May, 2010 – Feb, 2013), at the Computational Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Natural Sciences, Albany State University, Albany, Georgia, USA.
  6. Post-Doctoral Research Associate (April, 2009 – April, 2010), at the Center for Bioinformatics and Structural Biology Center, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA.
  7. Junior Research Fellow (July, 2004 – Dec, 2004), at the Regional Plant Resource Centre, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India.

Subjects Taught:

Cell Biology, Biophysical Chemistry, Biochemistry, General Biology, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Nanobiotechnology.

Papers Reviewed from the Journal(s):

1) PROTEINS: Structure, function and Bioinformatics (WILEY publishers).
2) Journal of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Research (Academic Journals).
3) International Journal of Biological Macromolecules. (Elsevier)
4) Mini-Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry. (Bentham Science)
5) Molecular Simulation (Taylor and Francis)
6) Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group)

Awards and Distinctions:

  • Awarded the APJ Abdul Kalam Smruti Samman from Meher Samaj at village Laumunda, Odisha inAug, 2016.
  • Awarded the DS Kothari Post- Doctoral Fellowship by UGC, Govt. of India for Research and development in May 2014.
  • Qualified National Eligibility Test (June-2003) for Lectureship conducted jointly by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and University Grant Commission, India (CSIR/ UGC-NET)
  • Qualified the National level examination, Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering in Life Sciences (GATE-2004).
  • Received the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Research Fellowship for pursuing PhD in the Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam.
  •  Awarded the prestigious National Doctoral Fellowship by AICTE, New Delhi, Govt. of India for researchand development during Ph.D. program in 2006.
  •  Awarded Student Merit Scholarship at M.Sc. by Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
  • Awarded as the Best graduate for the year 2001 at Panchayat College, Bargarh for achieving the highest marks in any discipline of Arts, Science and Commerce.

Professional Society Membership:

  1. Member, International Society for Computational Biologist, (ISCB)
  2. Member, The Biochemical Society of IISc., Bangalore (BICS)
  3. Member, Indian Biophysical Society, (IBS)