Academic Experts
Academic Experts
Prof. Sujata Mohanty
Professor
sujata.mohanty@jiit.ac.in
Biography

r Sujata Mohanty is presently working as a Professor in Dept. of Biotechnology at Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida, India. She has obtained her Graduation and Post-Graduation degree from Utkal University, Odisha and PhD degree from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. She has been awarded JRF and SRF from University Grant Commission (UGC), New Delhi during her PhD work. Soon after her PhD, Dr. Mohanty joined the Regional Institute of Education (NCERT), BBSR, as a Lecturer in Life Sciences. She conducted her post-doctoral studies as Research Assistant at the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany for about four years and another six months as a Research Associate at the Department of Evolutionary and Organismal Biology, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore. Dr. Mohanty has several publications to her credit. She has worked in collaboration with Prof. JR David, CNRS, France, Prof. Claus Vogl, University of Austria, Vienna and visited their Institute for scientific discussions in abroad. She has also worked in collaboration with Prof. M D. Schug, Biology Department, University of North Carolina, USA, Dr Amir Yassin, CNRS, France and with other reputed research teams of India and abroad. Dr. Mohanty was a participant of the WHO/TDR sponsored 1st Asian Biosafety Training Course (ABTC, June 2009), on various issues regarding GMOs and LMOs and also awarded DST Travel grant for attending a course on System Genetics at Jackson, Laboratory, Bar Harbor, USA

Research Highlights

The major research area of Dr. Mohanty is Comparative and Evolutionary Genomics, Eco-genomics, Toxico-genomics and genomics of Ageing using Drosophila model system. Comparative and Phylo-genomics study of Indian Drosophila species are being carried out (sponsored by DST) for inferring evolutionary inter-relationship among closely related species and to understand the effect of ecology on shaping the genome architecture using whole genome sequences of different Drosophila species generated through Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Technology on an Illumina platform. NGS Technology has resulted in submission of whole genome sequence of Indian Drosophila species and Zaprionus indianus (agriculturally important pest species) in the ‘Genome’ Bank for the first time from India. One of the current research projects of Dr Mohanty and her team focuses on the association of Wolbachia endosymbiont with its Drosophila host using molecular genomics approach. Apart from these, her other research interests focus on the pathways involved in insecticide-exposure and resistance and exploring the presence and potential application of indigenous plant natural products for the well-being of humans using in silico, in vitro and in vivo tools and techniques.

Areas Of Interest
  • Comparative and evolutionary genomics
  • Nutrigenomics
  • Ageing research
  • Host-Symbiont interaction
  • Plant Natural Products in Therapeutics
Projects
  1. Project Title: Studies on the Phylogenomic and Population Genomics of Indian Drosophila 
    Granting Agency: Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, New Delhi 
    Position as PI.: Principal Investigator (PI) And Co PI Details: None 
    Project Cost: 34.01 Lakhs 
    Status: Completed (2014-2017)
  2. Project Title: Inferring the Origin, Population Structure and Demographic History of Drosophila malerkotliana with Population Genomic Approach 
    Granting Agency: Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, New Delhi 
    Position as PI.: Principal Investigator (PI) And Co PI Details: None 
    Project Cost: 7.44 lakhs 
    Status: Completed