Shakuntala Mahilkar
National Institute of Virology, India
Biography
I am senior research fellow at National Institute of Virology (NIV), University of Pune, Maharastra, India. Currently I am writing my Ph.D. thesis entitled “Identification and characterization of regulatory elements on Hepatitis E virus Genome†under the supervision of Dr Kavita S. Lole. My Ph.D work is to explore the Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) genome for the regulatory elements involved in replication and transcription. HEV is a single stranded positive sense RNA virus which utilizes RNA Dependent RNA Polymerase (RdRp) for its replication and transcription. Identification of binding region for RdRp will give us insight of how HEV maintain its replication as well as transcription and translation within a small genome, and also an idea about the virus life cycle. This study will further help in designing the antiviral therapies for HEV infection. Earlier in the year 2006-2007 I worked as a Junior Research Fellow at School of Biotechnology on the project entitled “Metabolic engineering of E. coli to remove the bottlenecks in recombinant protein expression†sponsored by Department of Biotechnology (DBT). I Qualified All India Combined Entrance Test for admission in M.Sc. Biotechnology programme in 2003 conducted by the JNU, New Delhi, and completed my Masters in Biotechnology from Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla in the year 2005, during that period I did project work on the topic “Studies on microbial tyrosinase and ï¢-tyrosinase.†Also I completed winter training at National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), New Delhi, on the topic “Cloning of WRKY gene from Oryza Sativa.â€