Students' section

Undergraduates

• Students graduated in the year 2021 have done very well and placed in renowned institutes for perusing higher studies. Debarpita Datta secured AIR 16 rank in Gate -2021 in Biotechnology (BT) paper, AIR 112 rank in JAM - 2021 in Biotechnology (BT) paper. She was selected in TIFR, Mumbai, IISER Kolkata, IISER Mohali, NBRC for post-graduation. She has also secured AIR 19 in AIIMS exam for M. Biotechnology. She is currently perusing Post Graduation from TIFR Mumbai.
• Shilabrata Banerjee (BATCH OF 2021) secured JAM 2021- AIR 47, GATE 2021 (Life Sciences) - AIR 81, GATE 2021 (Biotechnology) - AIR 214. He qualified JGEEBILS (TIFR), 2021 and selected in NIT Rourkela (M.Sc. - Life Sciences), IISER Mohali (Int PhD - Biological Sciences), IACS - IITKGP (M.Sc. - Chemical and Molecular Biology). He was a DST INSPIRE Scholar since 2018.
• Prithwiraj Mukherjee (BATCH OF 2021) AIR 9 in JAM Biotechnology, AIR 44 in GATE Life Science., AIR 109 in GATE Biotechnology. Qualified TIFR. Currently, he is a student of IIT Bombay pursuing masters (M.Sc.) in Biotechnology.
• Upasana Ghosh (BATCH OF 2021) secured AIR 5 in IIT JAM Biotechnology, AIR 44 in GATE Life sciences. She has also qualified the written round of TIFR and was chosen for the first round of interview- based on SOP - at TIFR Mumbai. Currently, she is pursuing M.Sc. Biotechnology at IIT Bombay.
• Amritesh Sarkar (BATCH OF 2021) qualified in TIFR/JGEEBILLS exams and qualified in JAM 2021 also. got selected in TIFR-HYDERABAD, TIFR-DBS Mumbai, IISc Bangalore, IISER Pune and IIT Kharagpur.
• Sneha Das (BATCH OF 2021) Qualified JAM Biotechnology, GATE Life Science and Biotechnology. Shortlisted for TIFR interview in 2021. Secured a rank of AIR 15 in All India entrance test of AIIMS and took admission in master’s in biotechnology in All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
• Snigdha Sau (BATCH OF 2021) qualified TIFR/JGEEBILS and JAM (Biotechnology) exam in 2021. She got selected in TIFR-HYDERABAD, IBAB(Bangalore) and NBRC.
• Students graduated in 2022 have done extremely well. Ayush Bagchi has secured an excellent result in GATE-BT, AIR 1, JAM BT – AIR 50, GAT B – AIR 8, GATE XL – AIR 103, TIFR GS – Qualified and selected at TIFR Mumbai and NCBS Bangalore, selected for the Campus France Charpak Masters BCS Scholarship, 2022.
• Upal Chatterjee qualified IITJAM BT, GATE XL, GAT B; 2022.
• Shirsha Mukherjee cleared IIT JAM – AIR 32, GAT B – AIR 61; 2022.
• Dibyo Mazumder appeared for IIT JAM-BT – AIR 198, GAT-B – AIR 70, JGEEBILS, COGJET, GATE XL – AIR 136; 2022.
• Liana Mukherjee has made into IISc Bangalore, for M.Sc. in Life Sciences and she ranked AIR 128 in IITJAM, GAT B – AIR 34; and she qualified JGEEBILS.
• Mallar Dasgupta has made into IIT, Indore for M.Sc. in Biotechnology. He also qualified TIFR, IIT-JAM – AIR 128, GATE-XL – AIR 414, GATE-BT – AIR 1522, GAT-B – AIR 33.
• Aishani Sengupta, current 3rd yr student was awarded with JBNSTS BKMB Scholarship 2020.
• Shrijeet Kolley, a student of undergraduate 2nd year has won the DST INSPIRE scholarship for 2022-23. Ishita Chanda received the Inspire scholarship from DBT in 2022.
• Aritra Ghosh, Megharanjani Mitra, participated in "International Conference on Climate Change: Global Cooperation" and secured 2nd position in Poster Presentation (Junior Category). Teesta Bhowmick bagged third position in model presentation for the project, “Sound induced SCP (Single cell Protein: Sounds Good!)” at ICEES 2022, Khulna University, Bangladesh.
• A group of first year students, Debleena Bandyopadhyay, Arijit Samanta, Hrishab Paul, Soham Deb, Sauswarya Majumdar, Aratrik Banerjee, Sinchani Chandra, Srijani Maity, took part in SN Bose science fair, an intercollege competition and bagged the 2nd position.

Postgraduates

• Anubhab Sensharma, a PG 1st year student has qualified TIFR -GS (2021), IIT-JAM (2022) with AIR-317, GAT-B (2022). Aniket Mookerjee worked and published a paper titled "A study on the prevalence of antibiotic resistance among bacterial strains isolated from wastewater" published (ISBN no.978-81-956878-9-3). He also presented on “A Review on the Anthropogenic and Microbial Interaction in Shaping Sustainable Urban Microbiome.” in International Multidisciplinary Conference on "Geography, Environment and Sustainable Development" held on July 02-04, 2021. Mustafeez Ali Quaderi qualified JGEEBILS (TIFR GS 2022), IIT JAM 2022 AIR 957, GATB 2022 Rank 134.

Teachers' section

Dr Sudeshna Shyam Choudhury

• Dr. Shyam Choudhury received a project on the development of low cost easy to use instrument for quick validation of Geographic Indication, Darjeeling Tea. Code No. NTRF:198/2017, 2017-2018, As Co-PI, Total Rs 6,00,000/-.
• Dr. Shyam Choudhury is involved in DBT builder project as a PI (a joint project of Department of Microbiology & Biotechnology-Interdisciplinary Life Science Programme for Advanced Research and Education” for 5 years from 2021). Dr. Shyam Choudhury has a national patent on “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DETECTING TYPE OF TEA SAMPLE BASED ON QUANTUM YIELD” by Subhananda Chakrabarti, Suman Midya, Sudeshna Shyam Choudhury Bhattacharya, Prof. Samir Kumar Pal, from Electrical Engineering Department, IIT Bombay. Patent no. 368942- sanctioned date:29.6.2021.
• Dr. Pritam Biswas has completed his doctoral degree in February 2022 from St. Xavier’s College (autonomous) under Calcutta University under the guidance of Dr. S. Choudhury. Title of the thesis is “Biophysical and biochemical investigation on the Structure, Function and Dynamics of Biomolecules under physiologically relevant environments”.
• Other registered PhD students are:
  1. Debapriya Maitra—area of work— Tea plant growth promoting microorganisms (bacterial consortia)
  2. Meenakshi Mukherjee (Banerjee)- area of work -Soil Microbiota
  3. Priyanka Mukherjee—area of work—Structural and functional aspects of multitryptophan proteins
  4. Sejuti Ray—area of work--Effect of UV radiation on the therapeutic and commercial values of tea

Dr. Arup Kumar Mitra

Dr. Arup Kumar Mitra has received several projects in last few years including.

• WBDST sponsored project in 2017, on plant microbe interaction on arsenic remediation (No.794 (Sanc.) ST/P/S&T/1G-7/2015), Rs.19 lakh six thousand.
• WBDBT sponsored project on 2018 entitled Mangrove plants: A solution to bacterial, fungal, and cancerous growth. No.71(Sanc.)-BT/ST/P/S&T/2G-45/2017 Sanctioned amount: 14 lakhs 44 thousand.
• DBT Star College Grant: 2019-2022. Rs.62 Lakhs for the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Microbiology, St Xavier’s College.
• DBT, GOI, Development of Biological Control Technology for invasive species, Polyalthia suberosa, Hamjam, in Wildlife Sanctuary of Bethuadahari, West Bengal-(BT/PR39375/FCB/125/51/2020) as Co-investigator.
• DBT, GOI: Biology and Applications of Polyextremophilic Micro-organisms under the DBT Builder –St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous). Kolkata, Department of Microbiology &Biotechnology-Interdisciplinary Life Science Programme for Advanced Research and Education” Duration 5 years from 2021. Total Amount Sanctioned. Rs. 2 Crore 67 lakhs 26 thousand 826 only. Sanction No. BT/INF/22/SP41296/2020.
• DST-GOI: Estimation of the potential impact on human health of cyanobacteria..... a comparative assessment between India and Poland". Indo Polish Call for Proposal 2019 reg.

He is also involved in consultancy services and attached with CMS Limited and Hindustan 2Gums and Chemicals Ltd.

He has mentored the following students for their doctoral studies:

1. Dr. Saurav Sett, Department of Marine Science, University of Calcutta in August, 2019. Title of the Thesis: Study on In vitro Antibacterial and anti-fungal activity of selected mangrove plant extracts from Indian Sundarbans.
2. Dr. Debanjana Sengupta, Department of Microbiology, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata in October,2021. Title of the Thesis: Studies on Arsenic sequestration by bacteria in arsenic contaminated soil.
3. Dr. Puja Agnihotri, Department of Microbiology, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata in April,2022. Title of the Thesis: Understanding Arsenic bioremediation through interaction between Azolla microphylla and bacterial consortia.
4. Dr. Suhana Datta, Department of Botany, University of Calcutta in May, 2022. Title of the thesis: Evaluation of biochemical and biological activity of Calocybe indica P&C
5. Dr. Tamanna Sultana, Department of Microbiology, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata in June, 2022. Title of the thesis: Mangrove Plants: A solution to bacterial, fungal, and cancerous growth.

Patents Awarded and Filed:

1. PATENT APPLICATION PUBLICATION (21) Application No.201931008079 A, INDIA; Date of filing of Application :01/03/2019 (43) Publication Date : 29/03/2019
   Title of the invention : HUMECTANT HAND AND SURFACE SANITIZER AND PROCESS OF PREPARING THE SAME
   International classification :A01N25/22
   Name of Applicant : Satwik Majumder, Arup Kumar Mitra
   Name of Inventor : Satwik Majumder,Arup Kumar Mitra, Aditi Das, Anish Pyne, Anwit Sadhukhan, Twisha Chatterjee, Vidhi Agarwal.
   
2. PATENT FILED: No. 202031029308.Dated 10.07.2020. Subject : Exocaria agallocha is a natural important source of Bergenin.Published on 14.01.2022
   Name of the Inventor: Tamanna Sultana, Arup Kumar Mitra and Satadal Das.

Dr. Kasturi Sarkar

• Dr. Sarkar is a PhD mentor in the department of Microbiology. Her PhD student Ritun Chakraborty received her doctoral degree in 2020 for her work on Probiotics. Currently, Dr. Sarkar is supervising two students, Ms. Senjuti Banerjee who has completed her pre-submission seminar and Mr. Subhrajit Banerjee, who is working on different aspects of prebiotics and probiotics.
• Dr. Sarkar is working as a PI in DBT builder project (a joint project of Department of Microbiology & Biotechnology-Interdisciplinary Life Science Programme for Advanced Research and Education” for 5 years starting from 2021).
• She has received an Intramural research grant from St. Xavier’s college, Kolkata in 2023.
• Dr. Sarkar acts as a reviewer in the journal ‘Toxicology Reports”.
• She acts as a programme coordinator for MOOC program on B.Sc. Microbiology course.

Dr. Debjani Dutta

• Dr. Dutta is a PI in the DBT builder project (a joint project of Department of Microbiology & Biotechnology-Interdisciplinary Life Science Programme for Advanced Research and Education” for 5 years starting from 2021).
• Dr. Dutta is involved in teaching a significant part of the ‘Microbial Biotechnology’ syllabus for the PG departments of Microbiology and Biotechnology of Calcutta University since last 13 years.

Dr. Mahashweta Mitra Ghosh

• Dr. Mitra Ghosh is a PhD mentor in the department of Microbiology St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata and currently four students are registered under her.
• Dr. Upal Das Ghosh has been awarded with his Ph.D degree from Biotechnology Department Calcutta University in the Year 2015.He worked on Microbe assisted Phytoremediation
• Dr. Chinmay Saha has been awarded with his Ph.D degree from Biotechnology Department Calcutta University in the Year 2017. He worked on Endophytic bacteria. Meesha Singh registered in the Department of Microbiology, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata worked on Antibiotic resistant bacteria isolated from environmental samples has completed her pre-submission seminar
• Biswajit Biswas worked on Mangrove Microbe Interactions has completed his pre-submission seminar
• Mayurakshi Nag is currently registered in the Department of Biotechnology, Calcutta University. Her area of research is Study of a tripartite interaction between a yeast Rhodotorula mucilaginosa JGTA-S1 and its endosymbiont diazotrophs in the improvement of rice nutrition
• Souradip Basu is currently registered in the Department of Microbiology, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. His area of research is A Longitudinal study to gain insights into the Gut Bacterial Abundances and Associated Diet Practices of important ethnic tribes of West Bengal
• Rupsha Karmakar is currently registered in the Department of Microbiology, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. Her area of research is Study on the Distribution of Antibiotic Resistance through Ill-managed Wastewater Across Various Regions of West Bengal, India
• Dr. Mitra Ghosh acts as a reviewer in the Journal Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology
• Dr. Mahashweta Mitra Ghosh has received a WBDST (WBDST236 (Sanc./ST/P&T/1G-39/2017) grant titled ‘Identification of major pathogenic microbes in hospital effluents using metagenomic screening and design of potent inhibitors using virtual screening of medicinal plant library against them’ of Rs. 14 Lakhs in 2018.
• Dr. Mitra Ghosh is working as a PI in DBT builder project (a joint project of Department of Microbiology & Biotechnology-Interdisciplinary Life Science Programme for Advanced Research and Education” for 5 years from 2021).
• Dr. Mitra Ghosh has received an Intramural research grant from St. Xavier’s college, Kolkata in 2023.
• Dr. Mitra Ghosh has submitted Metagenome sequence data at the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA) and Biosamples under accession numbers: SAMN11571463 and SAMN1157147. Metagenomics of Wastewater of West Bengal: Accession: PRJNA883026 ID: 883026 Submission Date: 22-Sep-2022
  1. Sample name: WE2019 BioSample Accession: SAMN30958930, BioSample ID: 30958930, Collection Date: 2019-11-23, SRX17674869: Effluent from uninhabited island of Indian Sundarbans, SRA ID: 24574679
  2. Sample Name: RK22022, BioSample Accession: SAMN30963768, BioSample ID: 30963768, Collection Date: 2022-03-16, SRX17675582: Domestic Wastewater Sample from inhabited, island of Indian Sundarbans, SRA ID: 24575392
  3. Sample Name: RK32022, BioSample Accession: SAMN31063832, BioSample ID: 31063832, Collection Date: 2022-03-17, SRX17734450: Healthcare facility wastewater sample from inhabited island of Indian Sundarbans, SRA ID: 24639840
• Dr. Mitra Ghosh has submitted Metagenome sequence data at the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA) and Biosamples under accession numbers: SAMN11571463 and SAMN1157147. Metagenomics of Gut Microbiome of tribals of West Bengal are submitted in NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA) and Biosamples under accession numbers
  1. SRX5459403, SRX5459389, SRX5459385 for Savar kid, Savar Male and Savar Female. Date: 4 th March 2019
  2. SRX10655654, SRX10651311, SRX10650646 for Bhutia Kid, Bhutia Male and Bhutia Female.
  3. SRX10752763, SRX10766711, SRX10759329 for Mech Kid, Mech Male and Mech Female. Date: 21st April 2021 for both Bhutia and Mech

Dr. Madhumita Maitra

Dr. Maitra has acted as a PhD mentor and the following students has received their doctoral degree under her guidance.

• Atrayee Roy in Biochemistry, Vidhyasagar University awarded PhD in July 2021
• Puja Agnihotri in Microbiology, St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta University awarded PhD in May 2022.

Dr. Maitra is a PI in the DBT builder project (a joint project of Department of Microbiology & Biotechnology-Interdisciplinary Life Science Programme for Advanced Research and Education” for 5 years starting from 2021).

Dr. Riddhi Majumder

• Dr. Majumder acts as a resource person in the Integrated PhD course of Chemical Biology (IACS and IIT-KGP) and BS-MS course of IACS (Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science).
• Resource person in student and school teacher training outreach program of IACS
• Resource person in student and school teacher training outreach program of Dept of Higher Education Govt of West Bengal and INSPIRE (Govt. of India) via JBNSTS.
• Organizer of workshop on Science outreach (Govt of India).

Dr. Jaydip Ghosh

• Dr. Ghosh is involved in DBT builder project as a PI (a joint project of Department of Microbiology & Biotechnology-Interdisciplinary Life Science Programme for Advanced Research and Education” for 5 years starting from 2021).
• Dr. Jaydip Ghosh is mentoring the following students for their doctoral thesis.
  1. Sejuti Ray: Research focus: Study of antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anticancer properties of active biomolecules from different tea variants.
  2. Bedaprana Roy: Research focus: Characterization of novel poly-extremophilic bacteria and exploring their potential applications in industry and agriculture.
  3. Arindam Dasgupta: Research focus: Bio-control of dengue by targeted manipulation of mosquito gut microbiota and designing a herbal mosquito repellent with no negative effect on non-target organisms.

Dr. Anindita Banerjee

Dr. Anindita Banerjee is currently supervising 3 Ph.D students and many summer trainees.

She is mentoring the following Ph.D students.

• Mr. Subhajit Saha –Department of Microbiology, St. Xavier’s College registered in June 2018. He is working on the reproductive biology of mangroves with an emphasis to variability in gene expression of the self-incompatibility (SI) related genes.
• Ms. Aratrika Samajdar- registered under Department of Microbiology and Chemistry, St. Xavier’s College. She is working on the synthesis of novel transition metal complexes and their bioactivity role in terms of antioxidant and anti-cancerous role.
• Mrs. Nirza Mokhtan- registered under Department of Microbiology, St. Xavier’s College and Department of Botany, CU. She has been working on Himalayan plants mainly on Bergenia species. She is working on Potential application of flowers of Bergenia species against oral bacteria.

Dr. Banerjee is acting as a PI in DBT builder project (a joint project of Department of Microbiology & Biotechnology-Interdisciplinary Life Science Programme for Advanced Research and Education” Duration 5 years from 2021).

Dr. Banerjee has received Intramural grant from St. Xavier’s college, Kolkata in the year 2022-23. She acted as programme coordinator for MOOC program on B.Sc. Microbiology course in 2018. She acts as a reviewer in the ‘Journal of Ethnopharmacology’.