The second chapter of the Biology Seminar Series presented by the Department of Biological Sciences, SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh will have Prof Pankaj Poddar, Professor, Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR) & Senior Principal Scientist, Physical & Materials Chemistry Division, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, speak on “M3: Microscopy, microbes, and materials”. The interaction of cells with Materials Science yields surprising inferences due to their sensitivity to the surrounding environment. Whether it is the study of cytotoxicity of various materials against mammalian cells or microbial cells, cells respond often in an unpredictable fashion when in proximity to the inorganic/organic materials. On March 27, 2021, at 11 AM, Prof Poddar will present highlights of this fascinating journey in his laboratory where he used various tools to look at the cells closely and invented a method ‘biomilling’ which has the potential for bioremediation in industries.
Since he was young, Prof Poddar had a keen interest in understanding the secrets of nature. After completing his PhD in Physical Sciences from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi in 2000, he worked at the School of Chemistry, Tel Aviv University, and in the Department of Physics, University of South Florida. In April 2005, he returned to India and joined CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune as a scientist and started his research group. His early research focused on bio-inspired material sciences, microscopy of biological objects where his team investigated the interesting Physics of microbes and their interaction with the surroundings. Later, he worked on multimodel imaging, and drug-delivery systems for cancer cells using rare-earth phosphor nanomaterials, quantum-clusters, etc. Prof Poddar has been awarded with CSIR-Young Scientist Award in Physical Sciences, Scientist of the Year Award by CSIR-NCL, and MRSI- medal by Materials Research Society of India. He is also a fellow of the Electron Microscope Society of India, and the Maharashtra Academy of Sciences.
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