Principal Investigator

Dr. Sagar Bachhav

Dr. Bachhav has worked for ~5-months (Sept 2010 to Jan 2011), as an Intern Trainee under mentorship of Dr. Jyoti Kode in immunology department at the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC). After completing his Master’s degree (M. Pharmacy in Pharmacology), he joined ACTREC to learned in-vitro drug development methods to complement the in-vivo pharmacology research of his Master’s degree studies. The project he worked on was related to the evaluation of anti-cancer activity of phytoconstituents in bone and lung cancer cell lines. During conduct of this project, Dr. Bachhav learned different in-vitro studies related techniques and analysis like handing and maintaining the cell culture, flow cytometry, cell proliferation assay, DNA ploidy analysis and clonogenic assay. He also developed an animal model of anti-cancer activity by implantation of tumor cells in immunodeficient mice.

Dr. Bachhav is currently working as Senior Clinical Pharmacologist at AbbVie, Inc. North Chicago, USA. Before joining AbbVie, he has worked as UF-GSK Post-Doctoral program at the University of Florida, Gainesville, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Collegeville for ~2.5 years (2018-2020). At the University of Florida, he was involved in multiple US-FDA clinical projects related to PK and in-vivo performance prediction of inhalation and nasal corticosteroid products. While at GSK, he worked on pharmacokinetic modelling and simulation of anti-infective drugs. D. Bachhav received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics, in year 2018, from the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), in Mumbai, India. He has also worked as Senior Research Fellow at the office of National Chair-Clinical Pharmacology, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), in Mumbai for almost 2.5 years (2011-2013).

Over 10 years of his research journey, Dr. Bachhav has worked on diverse areas of research ranging from preclinical, formulation to clinical pharmacology projects related to CVS, infectious diseases, pulmonary, cancer, CNS, etc. He has published 15 research manuscripts in peer-reviewed scientific journals including the European Journal of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, Molecular Pharmaceutics, International J of Pharmaceutics, Pharmaceutical Research, etc. He is also contributing as reviewer for scientific research journals and has reviewed more than 30 manuscripts. He serves as a Member of the Executive Committee of South Asian College-an Affiliate of ACCP (SAC-ACCP) for the past 7 years. He is also a member of the Steering Committee of Pharmacometrics & Pharmacokinetic community (ASCPT) and a life member of the Indian Society for Clinical Research (ISCR).

Ms. Mahitha Harish

Ms. Mahitha Harish is a former Dissertation Trainee at Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research & Education in Cancer, Tata Memorial Centre, Navi Mumbai from Nov 2019 to May 2020. She has been working under the supervision of Dr. Jyoti Kode, Scientific officer F. The Dissertation involved two drugs, previously studied for their anticancer activity, tested to show how these drugs can be further screened to validate its biological activity by applying different in vitro techniques. She is a post graduate student in Biotechnology from Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS), Kochi.

Shraddha Shetye Kapdi

Shraddha Shetye worked as a Dissertation Trainee in under guidance of Dr Jyoti Kode in 2010 (June 2010 to November 2010) and successfully completed and presented her dissertation research on “Evaluation of effect of Ashwagandha on cancer Cells – MG63 and Namalwa”. In 6months time she was confident to maintain cell cultures, carry cytotoxic assays and hands on FACS Calibur and Cell Quest software of flowcytometer. After her Masters in Biotechnology, she did fellowship program in Reproductive biology and started practising as a clinical Embryologist. She has authored and co-authored few chapters in ART (Assisted Reproductive Technology) textbooks. Currently working as a Chief Embryologist at Sunshine fertility & IVF Centre, Mumbai also attached with 4 centres as a freelance Embryologist. https://sunshinefertility.com/ourteam/

Dr. Shruti Kandekar

Shruti has recently completed her PhD from Kode Lab. She had worked on thesis titled "CD26 and adenosine signaling pathway molecules as regulators of immune reconstitution in human hematopoietic stem cell transplantation" for her PhD. She has published her research findings in several peer-reviewed journals including International Immunopharmacology, Cancer Biomarkers, and Lacent Group of Journals. She has also received Best Poster Award at 14th Indo-Australian Biotechnology Conference (IABC-2018), and 49th Annual conference of Indian Immunology Society (Immunocon-2022). She is also a recipient of "Student Scholarship" from HAEMATOCON Conference Organizers.

Ms. Mrunali Padgaonkar

Mrunali worked as a trainee in Kode Lab, where she was assigned the duty of processing HL samples. Later she was appointed as Project Assistant on Project "Evaluation of efficacy of indigenously prepared topical formulation containing Mesenchymal Stem cells derived conditioned media for prevention of radiation induced toxicity". Currently she has joined National Institute of Immunology as a PhD fellow. there she is working on topic "Exploring the potential of two Plasmodium vivax proteins as suitable vaccine candidates".

Ms. Kritika Singh

Kritika carried out her B.Tech dissertation at ACTREC. Her topic was "To study pro-inflammatory cytokines transcriptome analysis using real time PCR". Currently she is pursuing master's in biotechnology (MSc.) from Hochschule Offenburg, and completing master's Thesis at the University of Freiburg, Germany.

Ms. Keerthana

Keerthana worked in Kode Lab as a trainee. Currently she is Pursuing Master's degree, MSc. in Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology from Leiden University, Netherlands.

Dr Shayanti Mukherjee

Dr Shayanti Mukherjee is a Research Scientist at Hudson Institute of Medical Research and Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Monash University. She is the recipient of the prestigious J&J WiSTEM2D Scholar and is an Emerging Leader in the Women’s health theme at The Ritchie Centre within Hudson Institute. She completed her PhD at the National University of Singapore where her work contributed to the growing body of nanostructured biomaterials design for repair and regeneration of soft tissues. Dr Mukherjee has also designed novel tissue engineered adult stem cell based pelvic floor reconstructive surgical constructs using nanotechnology and 3D Bioprinting for improving the treatment of Pelvic organ Prolapse and maternal birth injuries. More recently, her research also delves into understanding alterations in pelvic tissues that lead to chronic maternal pelvic floor disorders.

Dr. Nicholas Rajan