TEAM | The Wangikar Laboratory

People: Team

Managers/Postdocs

Deepti Sahasrabuddhe

Senior Project Research Scientist | August 2019

About: Deepti oversees project coordination and industry collaborations, and is a certified project manager. She is also adept at seamlessly managing lab operations and people in the lab. With research experience at IIT Bombay, IISc Bangalore, and NII Delhi, her work spans protein and peptide chemistry, metabolic engineering, and metabolomics.

Interest (outside the lab): Playing with her son (and solving his school question papers) - when not attending meetings

Avinash Vellore Sunder

Research Associate | July 2024

About: Avinash has a PhD and postdoctoral experience in enzymology and biocatalysis, and research expertise in metabolic engineering and bioprocess technology. He earlier worked in the lab as a postdoc (from 2017-2019). He is the lab’s resident science communicator and contributes to writing manuscripts and grant proposals, preparing presentations, and generating content for the website and social media posts.

Interest (outside the lab): Other than science and writing, Avinash loves to read books, play badminton and Pokemon Go, and experiment with new cooking recipes.

PhD scholars

Sneha Ashokkumar Rana

PhD student, PMRF fellow | January 2020

About: Sneha holds a M.S. in Biochemistry from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat, and a B.S. in Biotechnology from Sardar Patel University, Gujarat. Her current Ph.D. research focuses on using mass spectrometry-based metabolomics approaches to identify novel biomarkers for Type 2 diabetes mellitus and its related complications in the Indian population.

Interest (outside the lab): Sneha loves to travel and be with nature.

Lokesh V

PhD student | January 2020

About: Lokesh holds a Master’s degree from IIT Kharagpur and is currently pursuing his doctoral research at IIT Bombay. His work primarily focuses on metabolic modeling for cyanobacterial biomanufacturing using Constraint Based Reconstruction and Analysis (COBRA).

Interest (outside the lab): Beyond research, Lokesh has interest in playing table tennis and socializing during his leisure time.

Kirti

PhD student | January 2022

About: Kirti holds a Master's degree in Biotechnology and a Bachelor's degree in Life Sciences. She has received extensive research training from esteemed institutions, CSIR-CDRI Lucknow, Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) Delhi, and IIT Delhi. Her current PhD work focuses on metabolic pathway engineering of cyanobacteria using a synthetic biology approach to produce value-added small molecules and chemicals.

Interest (outside the lab): Kirti enjoys reading, dancing, exploring places and people.

Gaurav Ganesh Bingi

PhD student, PMRF fellow | January 2022

About: Gaurav holds a Masters degree in Biological Sciences from NMIMS, Mumbai. His current research focuses on engineering cyanobacteria for the production of biologics, aiming to bridge synthetic biology with affordable healthcare solutions.

Interest (outside the lab): Beyond the lab, he enjoys expressing himself through dance, sketching his ideas on paper, and playing cricket.

Shayantan Banerjee

PhD student, PMRF Fellow | KCDH | August 2022

About: Shayantan holds a MS (by research) degree in Biotechnology from IIT Madras. His current research focuses on omics data analysis, and development of in silico techniques for identifying biomarkers associated with type 2 diabetes.

Interest (outside the lab): Reading books

Nikita Vijaykumar Savalsang

PhD student | August 2023

About: Nikita joined our lab after completing her Master’s in Biotechnology from Ramnarain Ruia College, Mumbai. She began her research journey at IIT Bombay as a JRF in 2022 and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. Nikita’s research focuses on understanding the metabolic dynamics of marathon and endurance exercise in the Indian population using mass spectrometry-based metabolomics and lipidomics. She is actively involved in developing targeted MS-based methods for biomarker analysis.

Interest (outside the lab): When she’s not decoding metabolism, she’s painting, mandala-ing, playing badminton, or passionately vibing to Seventeen like it’s her second job.

Keerthana Vinod Kumar

PhD student, PMRF Fellow | KCDH | August 2023

About: Keerthana holds a M.Tech in Medical Biotechnology, and is currently pursuing her PhD. Her research focuses on identifying population-specific metabolic signatures of prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes in Indian cohorts by integrating metabolomics data with machine learning–based approaches for biomarker discovery.

Interest (outside the lab): Keerthana seeks adventures, both in academic corridors and on the artistic canvas

Monalisa Kesh

PhD student | KCDH | January 2024

About: Monalisa holds a Masters degree in Biotechnology, Her current work focuses on diabetic kidney disease biomarker discovery and validation using mass spectrometry based metabolomics analysis.

Interest (outside the lab): She holds a senior diploma in Indian classical vocal music and enjoys reading, traveling, photography, and spending time with her dog.

Rishika Chatterjee

PhD student | August 2024

About: Rishika completed her Master’s in Microbiology in 2022 from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, with training in gas chromatography at CSIR-IICB. She previously worked as a JRF at IIT (BHU). Her current research focuses on engineering cyanobacteria for production of value-added chemicals.

Interest (outside the lab): Her interests beyond research include dancing, writing short stories and poems, and reading novels.

Sayeree Joardar

PhD student | IITB-Monash Academy | August 2024

About: Hailing from Kolkata, Sayeree completed her bachelor's at Techno Main, Salt Lake, and a joint master's from IIT Guwahati and Gifu University, Japan, specializing in bioactive food components and GC-MS techniques. She is currently focusing on metabolomics of fermented foods and advancing her skills in mass spectrometry.

Interest (outside the lab): She enjoys reading books, playing badminton, and listening to music.

Ujjiti Pandey

PhD student | KCDH | January 2025

About: Ujjiti holds a M.Tech degree in Bioengineering and Computational Biology from CSIR-NCL, with experience in mammalian cell culture. Her current research focuses on bioprocess optimization and metabolomics to enhance plasmid titers, an essential requirement for cell and gene therapy applications.

Interest (outside the lab): When not being a full-time cell mom, I unwind by binge-watching sitcoms, TT or yoga.

Project JRF

Prishi Akanksha

Project Research Fellow | May 2025

About: Prishi holds a bachelor's and master's in biotechnology, and as a passionate science enthusiast, she explores the microbial world through the lens of metabolomics and proteomics.

Interest (outside the lab): She loves cooking and exploring abstract concepts.

Gauri Mahesh Desai

Project Research Fellow | October 2022

About: Gauri holds a Master's degree in Marine Biotechnology and has experience in microbial metabolomics. Her current work focuses on how microbes manage and shift their metabolism, particularly in ways that can be applied to developing more sustainable biotechnological processes.

Interest (outside the lab): Gauri enjoys reading, watching movies and series, and creating abstract art that blends linework and calligraphy.