Principal Investigator
Dr. Arindam Mondal
Associate professor (2023-present)
Assistant professor (2016-2023)
Ph.D in Biotechnology from University of Calcutta
Dr. Arindam Mondal is an Associate Professor in the Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology at IIT Kharagpur. Dr. Mondal worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Virginia and at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He dedicated his research career to developing a molecular-level understanding of RNA virus replication machinery, their evolution strategies, and their interaction with the host. Dr. Arindam Mondal has received the Ramalingaswami Re-entry Fellowship from Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, The Early Career Research Grant from Department of Science and Technology and Faculty Excellence Award from IIT Kharagpur.
Post-Doctoral Researchers
Dr Indrani D Jaana
Ph.D in Biotechnology (Virology), Institute of Life Sciences (ILS) Bubaneswar
Institutional Post Doctoral Fellow, IIT Kharagpur (IPDF): May 2018-May 2022
ICMR-Research Associate: May 2022- Feb 2024
National Post Doctoral Fellow (NPDF): Apr 2024-Present
Dr. Indrani D Jaana is trying to elucidate the complex network of interactions between influenza virus RNP and several host kinases to understand the complex dynamics utilized by the virus to thrive in the system.
Dr. Sudip Nag
Ph.D in Biochemistry, University of Calcutta
ICMR-Research Associate: 2021-Present​
Dr. Sudip Nag is interested in developing rapid low-cost molecular diagnostic tests for the detection of various viral and bacterial infections at the point of care. Currently, Sudip is working under the joint guidance of Prof. Arindam Mondal and Prof. Suman Chakraborty from the Mechanical Eng. Department, for developing novel diagnostic technologies for the detection of pathogenic infection.
Ph.D. Students
Aratrika De
PMRF, 2020-Present
Masters in Chemical & Molecular Biology, IIT Kharagpur & IACS Kolkata (2018-20)
Aratrika is interested in characterizing mutational hotspots in the influenza virus RNA polymerase and elucidating the molecular mechanism by which such hotspots regulate viral RNA synthesis and virus replication.
Soumik Dey
PMRF, 2022- Present
Masters in Zoology from West Bengal State University (2019-21)
Soumik is interested in understanding the precise molecular mechanism by which DEAD box RNA helicases regulate influenza virus RNA synthesis and virus life cycle.
Anup Kumar Nath
JRF,2022- Present
Masters in Zoology from Berhampur University, Odisha.
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Anup is currently working to identify and characterize novel phosphorylation sites in Influenza virus polymerase regulating viral RNA synthesis and virus life cycle.
Sayan Das
UGC SRF, 2020-Present
Masters in Biochemistry from University of Calcutta (2017-19)
Sayan is focussed to characterize the interaction between viral NP and NS1 proteins in molecular detail and trying to understand its role in the context of virus life cycle.
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Manoj Si
UGC JRF, 2022- Present
Masters in Microbiology from Vidyasagar University
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Manoj is focused towards developing novel peptide based therapeutics that can block RNP assembly and hence influenza virus replication.
Pramit Das
UGC-JRF, 2024-Present
M.Sc Biotechnology, University of Calcutta (2021-2023)
​B.Sc Microbiology, University of Calcutta (2018-2021)
During his master’s, he worked with viral non-structural protein and its interaction with actin cytoskeleton to modulate viral transport. Right now, he is interested in understanding the immune response during influenza infection.
Undergraduate & Postgraduate Students
Anchal Thakur
MSc Internship student (2024-present)
BSc. Microbiology from Bhaskaracharya college of Applied Sciences, Delhi University
Anchal has joined the lab for her Master’s thesis project aimed towards characterization of the role of post-translational modification of influenza virus nucleoprotein (NP) in regulating RNP structure & function.
Priya Rupesh
M.Tech. in Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering (2024-Present)
M.Sc in Zoology from Lalit Narayan Mithila University , Darbhanga
Rupesh has joined lab for M.Tech. thesis project. His objective is rapid detection of non small cell lung carcinoma by identifying EGFR mutation using isothermal nucleic acid amplification.
Ayush Munshi
B.Tech. in Biotechnology and Biochemical Eng.
(2023-present)
Ayush is currently working on investigating the role of DDX3X protein in the host innate immune pathways in the context of Influenza B infection through structural and interactome analysis
Project Fellows:
Arijit Bera
M.Sc. in Human Physiology from Vidyasagar University
Project JRF, 2023- Present
Arijit is working to develop a “fever-panel”, based on rapid isothermal nucleic acid amplification integrated on a microfluidics platform, for the point of care detection for different respiratory pathogens. Before joining the Molecular Virology laboratory, Arijit worked as JRF at IIT Jodhpur. Arijit has completed his masters in Human Physiology from Vidyasagar University, West Bengal, in 2020.
Haimanti Nath
M.Sc. in Agricultural Biotechnology from GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (2022-2024)
Project JRF, January 2025- Present
Haimanti is interested in developing rapid low cost molecular diagnostic test based on isothermal nucleic acid amplification for the point of care detection of different human respiratory diseases including lung cancer.
Devraj Sarkar
•Masters in Zoology, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Centenary college (2020-2022)
Project JRF, December 2024- Present
Devraj is interested in the nuclear export mechanisms of influenza virus, and how the influenza virus exploit the host kinases, to coordinate nuclear export and increases virus propagation.
Prasenjit Nandi
Project Assistant (2017- Present)
Alumni:
1. Saptarshi Banerjee | Ph.D (2016-2022), RA (2022-2023) | Current status: Post Doc fellow at Stanford University, USA
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2. Nandita Kedia | Ph.D (2017-2023) | Current status: Postdoctoral Fellow at University of California Loss Angeles.
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3. Dipan Saha | M.Sc. (2017-18) | Current status: Ph.D student at University of British Columbia
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4. Abinash Mallick | M.Sc. (2018-19) | Current status: Ph.D student at IICB Kolkata
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5. Aratrika De | M.Sc. (2019-20) | Current status: Ph.D student at IIT Kharagpur
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6. Seemanti Aditya | M.Sc. (2020-21) | Current status: Ph.D student at IIT Madras
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7. Anantika Chandra | M.Sc. (2021-22) | Current status: Ph.D student at IISC Bangalore
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8. Priya Dutta | M.Sc. (2022-23) | Current status: Ph.D student at Rutgers University, USA
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9. Sunandini Bhattacharya | M.Sc. (2023-24) | Current status: Ph.D student at IIT Kharagpur
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10. Syamanthak Srikrishnan | B.Tech. (2020-21) | Current status: Fluidics engineer working with Delta Life science, Netherlands
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11. Karan Singh | B.Tech. (2022-23) | Current status: Ph.D student at University of Melbourne, Australia
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12. Amol Kalambe | M.Tech. (2023-24) | Current status: Assistant Faculty of Biotechnology, Narayana Educational Society, India
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13. Subhanita Roy | Project assistant (2020-22) | Current status: Project manager at IIT Kharagpur
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14. Ranjini Chowdhury | Project assistant (2020-2021) | Current status: Project manager at NIH, USA