CV-Nirmala Xavier

Nirmala Xavier

Date of Birth: 7 Apr 1970

Education:

1990 B.Sc. (Graduation), University of Madras, India.

1991 M.Sc. (Post Graduation), Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, India.

1993-1998 Ph.D. Bharathidasan Universtiy, Tiruchirappalli, India.

Research experience:

1993-1998 Ph.D. at the Department of Biotechnology, Bharathidasan Universtiy, Tiruchirappalli, India.
Research Topic: Control of silk gene expression by dietary protein in the fifth instar larvae of Bombyx mori

1998-till date Post doctoral Fellow, Institute of Entomology, Czech. Academy of Sciences. Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic.
Research Area :
1. Identification, Cloning and Characterization of genes encoding small molecular weight silk proteins in Lepidopteran insects like Bombyx mori and Galleria mellonella
2. Determination of the phylogenetic relationship among hematophagous dipteran flies based on the gene sequence of 18S nuclear and 16S mitochondrial rRNA.

2000-2001 Four month post doctoral fellowship at the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
Research Area: Expression of recombinant SPI 2 (Silk Proteinase Inhibitor 2 of Galleria) in the yeast, Pichia pastoris.

Paper publications

Vanisree V, Nirmala X and Krishnan M (1996) Response of five different races of silkworm, Bombyx mori to hydrolysed form of soyprotein (P-Soyatose) supplementation, Sericologia 36(4) 691-698.

Nirmala X., Vanishree V. and Krishnan, M (1996) Soyprotein supplementation on larval growth and gut protease activity of Bombxy mori. Proceeding of the conference on Plant proteins from European crops (Food-and non-food applications), held at Nantes (France), November-1996. pp: 194-199.

Nirmala X, Vanishree V and Krishnan M. Effect of UV irradiation on the embryonic development of silkworm Bombyx mori. Indian Journal of Experimental Biology, 37, 560-566.

Vanisree V, Nirmala X and Krishnan M. Differential synthesis of storage proteins by various fat body tissues during the development of silkworm, Bombyx mori. SAAS Bulletin: Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 12, 69-89.

Participation in Conferences/Symposia

1. Oral presentation of a paper entitled “Effect of UV irradiation on the embryonic protein profile of the silkworm, Bombyx mori” in the XV Annual Conference of the Indian Society for Comparative Animal Physiology Held at Gulbarga University, Gulbarga, India, from 16th to 18th December, 1993.

2. Oral presentation of a paper entitled “Dietary control on the levels of silk proteins in the silk glands of silkworm, Bombyx mori L.” in the XVII Annual Conference of the Indian Society for Comparative Animal Physiology held at Goa University, Goa, India, from 23rd to 25th August, 1995. Winner of the Best paper presentation award.

3. Oral presentation of a paper entitled “Influence of dietary protein on the levels of silk proteins in the silk glands of silkworm, Bombyx mori” in the National Conference on Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology held at Trivandrum, India, from 10th to 12th October, 1995.

4.Oral presentation of a paper entitled “Sensitivity of fibroin in silk glands of Bombyx mori to dietary protein levels” in the IV International Conference on Molecular Biology and Genetics of Lepidoptera held at Orthodox Academy of Crete, Greece, from 24th to 30th August, 1997.

5. Poster presentation of a paper entitled “Control of dietary protein on the silk gene expression of silkworm, Bombyx mori” in the VI the European Congress of Entomology, held at the Institute of Entomology, Czech Republic, from 23rd to 29th August, 1998.

Participation in Workshops

1. Participated in the XI National Training Programme in Electron Microscopy for Scientific Investigators, Department of Anatomy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India, between 19th February and 12th March, 1996.

2. Participated in the short term Training Course for Mid-Career scientists on “Cytokine profile in Human health and disease” held at the Centre for Biotechnology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, from 25th March to 12th April, 1996.
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1993-1998	Ph.D. at the Department of Biotechnology, Bharathidasan Universtiy, Tiruchirappalli, India. Research Topic: Control of silk gene expression by dietary protein in the fifth instar larvae of Bombyx mori
1998-till date	Post doctoral Fellow, Institute of Entomology, Czech. Academy of Sciences. Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. Research Area : 1. Identification, Cloning and Characterization of genes encoding small molecular weight silk proteins in Lepidopteran insects like Bombyx mori and Galleria mellonella 2. Determination of the phylogenetic relationship among hematophagous dipteran flies based on the gene sequence of 18S nuclear and 16S mitochondrial rRNA.
2000-2001	Four month post doctoral fellowship at the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland. Research Area: Expression of recombinant SPI 2 (Silk Proteinase Inhibitor 2 of Galleria) in the yeast, Pichia pastoris.