Muthumeenakshi Bhaskaran

Ph.D. With specialization in Immunogenetics and Infectious Diseases, complemented by hands-on experience as a Clinical Research Scientist. Demonstrated expertise in clinical trials, Good Clinical Practice (GCP), scientific writing, research presentations, and mentoring. Proficient in molecular biology, genetics, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genomic surveillance, next-generation sequencing (NGS), and data analysis, with a diverse research background spanning oncology and gynecology. Recognized for strong leadership, effective communication, and analytical problem-solving, with a proven track record of success in professional training, academic courses, and scientific conferences.

• Completed a three-year consecutive summer internship (May 2010 – July 2012) under the Project Oriented Biological Education (POBE) program at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru, India.
• Explored diverse scientific laboratories within the institution, completing foundational coursework in the first year.
• Initiated scientific research in the HIV-AIDS Laboratory during the second and third years, contributing to the project "Site-Directed Mutagenesis & Cloning of HIV-1 Subtype C Tat Variants into a Bacterial Expression Vector."
• Gained hands-on experience in molecular biology and microbiology techniques, including animal model handling as part of the research curriculum.
• Developed a strong interest in experimental design, meticulously maintained lab records, and engaged in collaborative discussions with the research team.
• Translated research findings into scientific writing, conducted data analysis, and projected key experimental outcomes.
• Assisted senior scholars in vendor selection for indent placements, ensuring effective budget management throughout the project.

Clinical Research, Molecular Biology, Genomics, and Data Analysis  

• Experience in managing clinical trials, ensuring compliance with GCP guidelines, and maintaining data accuracy. Coordinate all trial aspects, from site selection, initiation to reporting, while collaborating with SMEs to resolve challenges and ensure smooth study progression.
• Sample Collection, Processing, and Validation – human samples, and bacterial isolates.
• Molecular Assays – Genomic DNA extraction, PCR, Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP), Agarose Gel Electrophoresis, Agilent Tape Station. Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) and Killer Cell Immunoglobulin-like Receptor (KIR) Genotyping. Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) – Whole Genome and Targeted Amplicon in Illumina MiSeq and Oxford Nanopore platforms.
• Bioinformatics Analysis for NGS, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), SNP detection, and Phylogenetic tree construction.
• Statistical Data Analysis for Genome-Wide Associated Studies (GWAS) in MS Excel and R programming.
• Gene and Protein expression studies – Cloning and Western Blot.
• Microbiology basic techniques, and Scientific Communications.

• A trainer for the Advanced Bioinformatics Workshop developed for the GPS and JUNO projects held at the Central Research Laboratory (CRL), KIMS, Bengaluru in February 2023.
• Staff Member on SARS -CoV-2 Bioinformatics for Beginners Course organized by COVID-19 GENOMICS GLOBAL Training, UK & Wellcome Connecting Science from November - December 2022.
• Recipient of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Professional Development Award for Oral presentation organized by the International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID) held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in November 2022.
• Course Instructor for “Training on Next Generation Sequencing for Clinicians”, organized by CRL, KIMS, Bengaluru in September 2022.
• Global Educator for COG-UK course on "Making sense of genomic data: COVID-19 web-based bioinformatics", and "A Practical Guide for SARS CoV-2 Whole Genome Sequencing" at the Future Learn platform during July & September 2022.
• Council of Scientific & Industrial Research– Senior Research Fellowship, New Delhi, July 2016 to August 2021.

• Good Clinical Practice (GCP) - NIDA Clinical Trials Network issued February 2024.
• Global Training Course on "Antimicrobial Resistance in Bacterial Pathogens (Asia)", organized by the Wellcome Connecting Science at the Mahidol University, Thailand in February 2023.
• “Contemporary topics and techniques in Computational Drug Discovery & Design”, a Cloud-Based Hands-On workshop organized by SASTRA University and Schrödinger in September 2021.
• E-poster presentation: “Identification of HLA class I (A and B) and class II (DRB and DRB) allelic polymorphism in South Indian (Tamil Nadu) women and their association with persistent HPV-16 infection”, in the 1st Cancer Conference on Real World Evidence, Chennai in August 2019.
• “STATS DECODED” Workshop organized by the Oncoclub and Fenivi Research Solutions Pvt. Ltd., at the National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai in February 2019.
• Certificate Course on “Next Generation Sequencing Analysis” conducted by SASTRA Deemed University, Thanjavur from January to April 2019.
• "Karyotyping and FISH Techniques" Workshop organized by TriGen Molecular and Genetic Labs, Tiruchirapalli in June 2018.
• International Conference on “Genome Biology and Informatics in Health Sciences”, organized by the Department of Bioinformatics, SASTRA Deemed University, Thanjavur in April 2018.

• Bhaskaran M and ArunKumar G. A meta-analysis of association of Human Leukocyte Antigens A, B, C, DR and DQ with Human Papillomavirus 16 infection. Infect Genet Evol 2019; 68:194–202.
• Bhaskaran M, Murali SV, Rajaraman B, Krishnasamy S, Devasena CS, Pathak A, Ravi V, Swaminathan K, Kuppuswamy AA, Vedantham S, Seshachalam A and ArunKumar G. Association of HLA-A, B, DRB and DQB alleles with persistent HPV-16 infection in women from Tamil Nadu, India. Viral Immunol 2019; 32: 430-441.
• Sundaramoorthy NS, Thothathri S Bhaskaran M, ArunKumar G and Saisubramanian N. Phages from Ganges River curtail in vitro biofilms and planktonic growth of drug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in a Zebrafish infection model. AMB Expr 2021; 11: 1-11.
• Marathe SD, Shamanna V, Nagaraj G, Nischita S, Bhaskaran M, and Ravikumar KL. Whole-Genome Sequencing of omicron identified multiple outbreaks and introduction events in India during November 2021 and January 2022. J Clin Mol Med 2023; 6: 1-5.