Candidate Statement – N. Latha

CAREER SUMMARY
– Undergraduate Education – Miranda House , University of Delhi ( 1985-1988)
Post graduate in Biochemistry – University of Delhi South Campus ( 1988-1990)
Ph.D in Bioinformatics from Department of Chemistry, IIT Delhi ( 2000-2005)
Teaching -Over thirty years’ undergraduate teaching experience (1990 -2022) at Sri
Venkateswara College, University of Delhi
Research – Around 20 years of research experience in Bioinformatics (2000-onwards)
Coordinator – DBT funded Bioinformatics Centre at Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi
– Currently working as Professor & Head, Department of Biotechnology at Bennett
University (Times of India Group) since Aug 2022
– Coordinator, Certificate Program in Bioinformatics in 2006-2012, 2020-21
– Coordinator , Certificate Program in Indian Music & Culture 2017-2018
Development of Curriculum: Contributed to the curriculum development for B.Sc ( Hons)
Biochemistry, PG Diploma in Biochemical Technology, University of Delhi & M.Sc
Bioinformatics, Banas thali University Knowledge of teaching pedagogical tools (Online courses, E-Pathsala & Computational Tools)
Guest Editor, Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry, Spl. Issue, Bentham Sciences
Reviewer of publications/thesis (as Reviewer/Examiner) and technologies, (Validated
Softwares)
– Convened several workshops/conferences at National (15) and International level (2) in the areas of Genomics, Proteomics, CADD, Computational Biology & Higher Education.

Corporate Responsibility –
> At Bennett University: As Head, Coordination with Faculty, Leadership & other schools, Collaborations, Networking, Outreach, Student Admissions & Activities At Sri Venkateswara College – Dept Head, Quality Assurance Cell, Star College, Admissions, Promotions under CAS, Time Table, Examinations, Evaluation, Timetable, Outreach Programmes, Science Association, International Collaborations & Cultural Events

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Research Interests – Molecular Modelling, MD simulations, Network Biology, PPIN, CADD
and Allergen informatics
Research projects (National and International Projects)
National Funding Agencies – DBT-BTISNET, DBT-CoE, DST , University of Delhi
International Projects – DST India-Belarus Cooperation Fund (2014) , DST India-Austria
Bilateral Cooperation (2019) and DST India Thailand Cooperation International Cooperation Joint Agreement in Bioinformatics with SVCollege & Martin- Luther Universität, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany (2019)

Research Publications – Around 30 in journals of high repute

Publication Awards – Awarded by DBT BTISNET for publications in Bioinformatics in the year 2013,2014 and 2015
Mentored Student Internship & Supervision of over 200 Undergraduate, Postgraduate and PhD students

AWARDS & HONOURS
INSA TEACHERS AWARD (2020)
INSA Teachers Award by Indian National Science Academy (2020)
for “motivating generations of students to take up biochemistry and Computational biology as career options; and has set up training facility for bioinformatics to benefit college students, schoolteachers and school students”

BEST TEACHER AWARD BY UNIVERSITY OF DELHI ( 2019)
Awarded Excellence Award for teachers in Service by University of Delhi (May 1, 2019) on the occasion of 97th Delhi University Foundation Day.

INDIA BIOSCIENCES POST: Talk with teachers: Developing academic depth beyond the curriculum – Featured by Indian Biosciences (posted on March 15,2021)
https://indiabioscience.org/columns/education/talk-with-teachers-developing-academic-depth-beyond-the-curriculum

Delhi Science & Technology Cluster (DSTC) Member of the Organizing Committee for organization of workshops under Delhi Science & Technology Cluster (DSTC; set up by the office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to Govt. of India; https://driiv.iitd.ac.in) , 12 April 2021

Dr. N. Latha featured on The Life of Science.com’s #365IndianWomeninSTEM series on Twitter at https://twitter.com/labhopping/status/1401814282094792705
TheLifeofScience.com (TLoS) is an award-winning science media platform founded in 2016 that focuses on the contributions of women in science and issues of inequities in Indian academia

Contributions to APBioNET:

Participated in INCoB 2006 meeting held at New Delhi and I was the Convenor of ASEAN India Bioinformatics Workshop held in Dec 14-16,2006, a INCoB preworkshop coordinated along with Prof.Tan Tin Wee, Department of Biochemistry, NUS. The focus of the ASEAN-India Bioinformatics HRD workshop, sponsored by Ministry of External Affairs, Govt of India and ASEAN Secretariat was to impart awareness of Bioinformatics among the participating delegates from 10 ASEAN member countries namely Brunei, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and India by means of introducing the basics as well as the current technologies in Bioinformatics. The goal of the workshop was to serve as a basis for developing a strong team of collaborating networks of Bioinformaticians in the ASEAN-India region

Proposed future contributions to APBioNET: 

As a member of APBioNET Executive Committee , (if elected) I will be committed to promotion of development of Bioinformatics resources such as Databases & Software, Bioinformatics Education, a Sustainable Training environment, & initiate cooperation in the Asia -Pacific to provide synergistic efforts in the region with long-term strategies and specific plans.
Some of the Strategies will include –
1. To Promote a Virtual Infrastructure and tools to support a large-scale, concerted effort to annotate genome and proteome data in the Asia Pacific region
2. To initiate High School Awareness Program in Bioinformatics Education
3. To help in the Development of Bioinformatics Online Courseware – APBioNET Certificate Courses
4. To Encourage Faculty Development Programs will focus to bring the latest developments, know-how by training and workshops to faculty.
5. Organize Public Talks will engage in empowering the community through bioinformatics learning, education, and training.
6. To initiate Student Internships that will provide valuable experience and empower skills to make market ready human workforce. Training in applications of computational biology and use of data of sciences in areas of education and research will boost career path for future generations.
7. To support in the Organization of Conferences (INCoB) /Symposia (INSyB).