THE GROUP
NISHAD MATANGE
Principal Investigator
Nishad is an alumnus of St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, where he studied Life Sciences with a double major in Biochemistry. He then went on to complete an Integrated MS-Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Science. He moved to IISER-Pune in July 2015 as a Faculty Fellow and joined as an Assistant Professor in January 2021.
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Nishad is an enthusiastic science educator and researcher. When he is not fiddling around with Petri plates he is usually found with a tanpura, singing Hindustani Khayal music.
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nishad[at]iiserpune.ac.in
CHINMAYA JENA
Integrated Ph.D. scholar
Chinmaya holds a Bachelors degree in Biochemistry from the Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer. He joined the group in January 2021 and is currently trying to examine the role of quality control proteases in intrinsic and acquired antimicrobial resistance in E. coli.
He has a wide palette of interests ranging from cricket and chess to cooking and geopolitical affairs.
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jena.chinmaya[at]students.iiserpune.ac.in
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Twitter handle:
LinkedIn profile:
www.linkedin.com/in/jenachinmaya
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CHETNA YELPURE
Ph.D. scholar
Chetna holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Microbiology from the Abeda Inamdar Senior College, Pune. She joined the group in January 2021 and is currently thinking about antibiotic concentrations and their effects on the genetics of drug resistance.
Outside the lab, Chetna keep her self engaged with crafts and enjoys writing.
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yelpure.chetna[at]students.iiserpune.ac.in
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RHEA VINCHHI
Integrated Ph.D. scholar
Rhea completed her Bachelors in Microbiology from Ramnarain Ruia College, Mumbai. She joined the lab in August 2021 as an Integrated PhD student. She is currently studying evolution of small proteins which regulate two component systems in bacteria, and their implications in antimicrobial resistance.
When out of the lab, she likes to spend her time reading classics and painting.
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rhea.vinchhi[at]students.iiserpune.ac.in
MANASVI BALACHANDRAN
Masters' scholar
Manasvi completed her Bachelors in Microbiology, Zoology
and Chemistry from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore. She joined the group in August 2022 as an Integrated PhD student. Manasvi is currently exploring strategies for resensitisation of drug-resistant strains to antibiotics.
Her hobbies include hiking, sewing and reading. She also enjoys spending time with animals.
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manasvi.balachandran[at]students.iiserpune.ac.in
SAILLESH CHINNARAJ
Junior Research Fellow
Saillesh completed his Bachelors and Masters in science with a specialization in Biology at IISER Pune. He completed his Masters dissertation from the lab in mid 2023, and returned as a junior research fellow in October 2023. Saillesh is currently investigating the relationship between protein sequence and protein structure and function in the context of bacterial dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), using antimicrobial resistance as a phenotypic readout.
Recreationally, Saillesh engages in a variety of activities, which include playing football, playing video games, and reading.
saillesh.chinnaraj[at]students.iiserpune.ac.in
Avani Joshi
Junior Research Fellow
Avani holds a Master's degree from the Institute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology (IBB), Savitribai Phule Pune University. She joined the lab in January 2022 for her Master's dissertation and is now working as a Junior Research Fellow. She is investigating the physiological and environmental relevance of natural sequence variation among Colistin resistance-conferring enzymes.
Apart from science, she enjoys singing Hindustani Classical Music, playing chess, reading, and hiking.
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avani.joshi[at]acads.iiserpune.ac.in