Dr. Athulya Aravind Program Manager (Stem Cell Program) Research Development Office National Centre For Biological Sciences GKVK,Bellary Road, Bangalore, India - 560 065. Phone: +91 80 2366 6408 Mobile:+91 9663943047 Fax : +91 80 2363 6662 Email: athulyaa@ncbs.res.in URL : https://www.ncbs.res.in/facilities/rdo

Academic Chronicle:

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• Doctor of Life Sciences, Bio-Nano Science Fusion, Graduate School of Interdisciplinary New Science, Toyo University, Japan (2012).
• Master of Science in Biotechnology, PSG College of Arts and Science, Tamil Nadu, India (2008)
• Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology, CMS College of Science & Commerce, Tamil Nadu, India (2006)

Professional History:

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1. Jan 2013- Apr 2016: Scientific Administration & Research - Post-Doctoral Researcher & Project Coordinator, Joint Bio- Nano Research Program, Nanoscale Research Facility, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi – 110016
2. Dec 2008 – Sept 2009: Lecturer, Department of Biotechnology, CMS College of Science and Commerce, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.

Research Experience:

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1. 2013 – 2016 (3.4 years):Post- doctoral researcher with Prof.Joby Joseph, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India
   Projects: Several bio-nano science related collaboration projects
2. 2009 –2012 (3 years): Doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) with Prof. D. Sakthi Kumar, Bio- Nano Electronics Research Centre, Graduate School of Interdisciplinary New Science, Toyo University, Japan.
   Thesis Title:Targeted nanodrug delivery using aptamer conjugated nanoparticles for cancer therapy
3. 2007-2008 (6 months):MSc. Project student with Prof. B. Sasikumar, Indian Institute of Spices Research, Calicut, Kerala, India.
   Project Title:Intraclonal Variability Study in Alleppey Finger Turmeric Accession using Molecular Tools

Awards, Fellowships and Honors:

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1. Monbukagakusho (MEXT) Fellowship, Govt. of Japan (2010-2012)
2. One among the 25 recipients of the Nano Today 2011 Student Travel Award during the 2nd Nano Today Conference (December 11-15, 2011) in Hawaii.
3. First Rank in Masters and Bachelors studies at College level
4. Best Student Trainee, Summer Training in Bioinformatics at Indian Institute of Spices Research, Calicut (2007).
5. Top Grade in Japanese language and Culture 3-month Training program OISCA College for Global Co-operation, Japan(2008)
6. Qualified 4th level of Japanese Language Proficiency test (JLPT)

Initiatives:

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• Organized and conducted the Inaugural Workshop of BNERC, Toyo University – NRF, IITD Research Collaboration Program, August 8th, 2013, IIT Delhi
• Panelist for a discussion on 'Studying in Japan past and now' during theJapan Education Fair held on 6th September 2013 at The Lalit New Delhi.
• Alumni Panelist in the India- Japan Education Summit 2015 at Le-Meridian, New Delhi on February 2nd 2015 and at Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad on February 4th 2015.
• Works as a volunteer for a Japanese based NGO named "OISCA International"

Ph.D Thesis:

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Targeted nanodrug delivery using aptamer conjugated nanoparticles for cancer therapy

Overview:

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Cancer remains one of the world’s most devastating diseases, with more than 10 million new cases every year. Inadequacies in the ability to administer therapeutic moieties to the diseased site are a limiting factor of the conventional cancer treatments. Nonspecific delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs greatly affects the normal cells and limits the drug dosage to the tumor cells altogether compromising the therapeutic effect of the drug. However, Nanotechnology is no stranger to oncology, various nanoparticles has been exploited extensively to enhance the pharmacokinetic properties and therapeutic index of a myriad of drugs. Hence Nanotechnology, if properly integrated with established cancer research, provides extraordinary opportunities to meet the crosscutting problems in cancer. In my PhD study we explore nanotechnology-based approaches for solving the blockades in the conventional cancer therapy by synthesizing various kinds of nanocarriers to ferry therapeutics and imaging moieties selectively to the desired target site with marginal or any collateral damage. Thus the combination of targeted drug delivery and controlled-release technology may pave the road for more effective yet safer chemotherapeutic options for cancer therapy.

Publications

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Book Chapter

• Aravind, A*., Mathew, A.* & Kumar, D.S (* equally contributed) (2012) Nano - Based Aptamers Mediated Imaging and Drug Delivery in Cancer in "Biomedical Applications of Aptamers" by Nova Publishers. Editors: John Bruno (Operational Technologies Corp., San Antonio, TX).

Journals

1. Singh, S., Khare, N., Balasubramanian, S.,Girija, A. R., Aravind.A, Kumar, D. S.Strategically Driven Synthesis of Biocompatible Multifunctional Fluorescent/Magnetic CdS/CoFe2O4 Core/Shell Nanostructure for Magnetic Hyperthermia and Fluorescent Imaging of Cancer Cells.
   (Submitted)
   
2. Ponnappan, N., Mohamed, M. S., Aravind.A, Kumar, D. S. &Chugh, A.Cell Penetrating Peptide-functionalized Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for DNA Delivery in Plant Tissues.
   (Submitted)
   
3. Singh, S., Khare, N., Balasubramanian, S., Aravind.A & Kumar, D.S Multifunctional CdS/CoFe2O4 Fluorescent/Magnetic Core/Shell Nanocomposite Structure for Bio-applications.
   Materials Express, 3 (4) 045024 (2016) DOI: 10.1088/2053-1591/3/4/045024
   
4. Lale, S., Aswathy R.G., Aravind.A., Kumar, D.S & Kou, V. AS1411 aptamer and folic acid functionalized pH-responsive ATRP fabricated pPEGMA-PCL-pPEGMA polymeric nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery in cancer therapy.
   Nanoscale (2013) (Under review)
   
5. Aravind.A., Nair, R., Raveendran, S., Veeranarayan, S., Nagaoka, Y., Fukuda, T., Hasumura, T., Morimoto, H., Yoshida, Y., Maekawa, T. & Kumar, D.S. Aptamer conjugated paclitaxel and magnetic fluid loaded fluorescently tagged PLGA nanoparticles for targeted cancer therapy.
   Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (2013) 10.1016/j.jmmm.2013.05.036
   
6. Aravind.A., Veeranarayanan, S., Poulose, A.C., Nair, R., Nagaoka, Y., Yoshida, Y., Maekawa, T., & Kumar, D.S. Aptamer-Functionalized Silica Nanoparticles for Targeted Cancer Therapy.
   Bio Nano Science, 2, 1-8(2012).
   
7. Aravind.A., Varghese S. H., Veeranarayanan, S., Mathew, A., Nagaoka, Y., Iwai, S., Fukuda, T., Hasumura, T., Yoshida, Y., Maekawa, T. & Kumar, D.S. Aptamer-labeled PLGA nanoparticles for cancer therapy.
   Cancer Nanotechnology, (2012) DOI 10.1007/s12645-011-0024-6
   
8. Aravind.A., Jeyamohan, P., Nair, R., Veeranarayanan, S., Nagaoka, Y., Yoshida, Y., Maekawa, T. & Kumar, D.S. AS1411 Aptamer tagged PLGA-lecithin-PEG nanoparticles for tumor cell targeting and drug delivery.
   Biotechnology and Bioengineering (2012) DOI 10.1002/bit.24558.
   
9. Aravind.A., Maekawa, T., Yoshida, Y. & Kumar, D.S. Aptamer conjugated polymeric nanoparticles for targeted cancer therapy.
   Drug Delivery and Translational Research (2012) DOI 10.1007/s13346-012-0104-0
   
10. Mathew, A., Aravind.A., Dandayuthapani, B., Fukuda, T., Nagaoka, Y., Hasumura, T., Iwai, S., Morimoto, H., Yoshida, Y., Maekawa, T, Venugopal, K. & Kumar, D. S. Amyloid-binding aptamer conjugated curcumin-PLGA nanoparticle for potential use in Alzheimer's disease.
    Bio Nano Science (2012) DOI 10.1007/s12668-012-0040-y
    
11. Poulose, A.C., Veeranarayanan, S., Aravind.A., Nagaoka, Y., Yoshida, Y., Maekawa, T. & Kumar, D.S. Synthesis of CuAlS2 nano crystals and its application in bioimaging.
    Materials Express 2, 94-104 (2012)
    
12. Veeranarayanan, S., Poulose, A.C., Mohamed,S., Aravind.A., Nagaoka, Y., Yoshida,Y., Maekawa, T. & Kumar, D.S. FITC Labeled Silica Nanoparticles as Efficient Cell Tags: Uptake and Photostability Study in Endothelial Cells.
    Journal of Fluorescence, (2011) DOI 10.1007/s10895-011-0991-3
    
13. Mathew, A., Aravind.A., Maekawa, T., Yoshida, Y. &Kumar, D.S. Curcumin Nanoparticles a Gateway for Multifaceted Approach to Tackle Alzheimer’s disease.
    Proceedings of the IEEE NANO 2011 Conference (NANO 2011)
    
14. Aravind.A., Kizhakayil, D. & Sasikumar, B. Intraclonal variability in Alleppey turmeric as revealed by molecular markers.
    The Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences (Under review)

Oral Presentations:

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1. Fusion of bionanosciences for cancer therapy. Nanobio Interface 2016, International conference on interdisciplinary aspects of nanotechnology and biological sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi on March 18th -20th 2016 (Invited Talk)
2. Nanoparticle – aptamerbioconjugate based tumor targeted drug delivery (Oral and Poster presentation). Indian Scientist Association of Japan 2nd symposium 2011 on Global Challenges in Health and Environment, Tokyo. October 7th, 2011.
3. Cancer Nanotechnology – An overview. Providence Women`s College, Calicut, India. August 28th, 2010 (Invited Talk).

Poster Presentations:

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1. Encapsulation of anticancer drug and magnetic particles in aptamer labeled PLGA nanoparticles for targeted chemotherapy. 6th India-Japan Science and Technology Conference on Contemporary Advances of Science & Technologies, 7th -9th August 2015, Banaras Hindu University,Varanasi, India
2. Studies on biocompatibility and cell material interactions of dual targeted pH-responsive doxorubicin conjugated ATRP fabricated pPEGMA-PCL-pPEGMA polymeric nanoparticles. 7th APA International Conference on Polymers: Vision & Innovations, 19th- 21st February 2014, New Delhi, India.
3. Aptamer tagged PLGA-Lecithin-PEG nanoparticles for tumor cell targeting and drug delivery. Indian Scientist Association of Japan 3rd symposium 2012 on Global Challenges in Health and Environment, October 7, 2011, Indian Embassy Auditorium, Tokyo.
4. Aptamer - labeled PLGA nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery in cancer cells. 2nd Nanotoday conference, December 11-15, 2011, Mariott Beach Resort, Hawaii.
5. Silica nanoparticle – aptamer bio-conjugate mediated tumor targeted drug delivery. The 9th International Symposium on Bioscience and Nanotechnology, December 10th 2011, Kawagoe.