Dr. Vikas Ranvir

About me

As a bioprocess and biomedical engineering scientist, I specialize in designing and optimizing biological production processes for a variety of industries, including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and renewable energy.

I have a strong background in chemical and biopharmaceutical engineering, with a focus on biochemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, and mammalian cell culture. I also have industrial work experience of upstream and downstream processes for biopharmaceutical production like pilot and process scale bioreactors, tangential flow filtration, and chromatography applications in GMP work environment. I use my knowledge of these disciplines to develop efficient and cost-effective production processes that use living cells or microorganisms to synthesize or modify drugs, or specialty chemicals.

In my work, I often collaborate with teams of scientists, technologists, and other engineers to troubleshoot problems and find solutions. I also stay up-to-date on the latest advances in bioprocess engineering, and continuously seek out opportunities to learn and grow in my field. Currently, I am in the pursuit of hunting for novel targets to treat cancer.

Whether I'm working on developing new drugs or improving the sustainability of biofuels, I am committed to using my skills and expertise to make a positive impact on the world. If you have any bioprocess engineering projects in the field of biopharma or biofuels that you would like to discuss, please don't hesitate to Contact Me.

My Strengths

Good at working in a scientific team with my positive leadership skills. I am a very enthusiastic & hardworking learner. If provided with proper guidance & motivation, I can work unsupervised & always come up with my own innovative ideas to improve team performance and outputs
Professionally trained in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and can efficiently handle corporate issues

Good at written & spoken English in technical environment.

Educational Qualifications

PhD in Cancer Biology from German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
Post Graduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Rights from Indira Gandhi National Open University
Master in Technology (M. Tech) in Bioprocess Technology from Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India
Bachelor in Pharmacy from Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India
Higher Secondary Education (HSC) (10+2th) from Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education
Secondary School (SSC) (10th) from Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education

Work Experience

Worked as Junior Research Fellow at Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) in DNA Repair & Molecular Oncology Lab under the guidance of Dr. Shilpee Dutt since November 2018.

Worked at USV Biologics, Mumbai, a biosimilar manufacturing company, in Biologics Research Laboratory. The work involved developing clones for the production of therapeutic proteins, their overexpression and purification.

Worked in Molecular Biology laboratory of DBT-ICT Centre for Energy Biosciences for 2 years (August 2015 to July 2017) for M. Tech dissertation project on Expansin and Expansin Appended Enzymes. This research work involved fusing an accessory enzyme Expansin with cellulase and laccase enzymes using OE-PCR to improve the binding strength of later enzymes with respective substrates, thereby increasing their catalysis. Also, worked in the same laboratory for 4 months for additional improvements in the same project. Simultaneously, carried out isolation and identification of thermophilic cellulolytic microbes from environmental samples using 16S rRNA sequencing.

Worked in Molecular Biology laboratory of DBT-ICT Centre for Energy Biosciences, Institute of Chemical Technology (India) for one year (August 2014 to July 2015) under the guidance of Dr. Sanjeev K. Chandrayan. This research involved heterologous expression and biochemical studies of thermostable glucose tolerant β-glucosidase (Mbgl) from Methylococcus capsulatus.

Laboratory Skills

Mouse Experiments: FELASA certified, design and execution of mice experiments, writing Animal Permits and addendums, tail vein and hydrodynamic tail vein injections (2.5 ml), etc.
Animal Cell Culture: Working in GMP and ISO classified area, Sub-culturing of adherent and suspension cells, cryopreserving cultured cells, thawing cryopreserved cells, counting cells using hemocytometer, generation of transient and stable cell lines, overexpression and siRNA/shRNA mediated knockdown of genes using Calcium Phosphate and Lipofectamine transfection method, viral particle mediated transduction, detection of mycoplasma contamination, nucleofection and spinoculation, etc.

Molecular Biology: Conventional and Gateway Cloning, PCR, RT-PCR, qPCR, overlap extension PCR for gene fusion and site directed mutagenesis, genomic DNA and plasmid isolation, restriction digestion, ligation, transformation, protein expression & purification, Ni-NTA chromatography, immunoprecipitation, identification of microbes using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, etc.

Microbiology: Working in biosafety cabinets, sterilization techniques, screening, enrichment, isolation, identification and taxonomic classification of microbes from environmental samples, phylogenetic analysis, etc.

Analysis: Agarose gel electrophoresis, SDS-PAGE, Western Blot, gel documentation systems, UV-Vis spectrophotometer, NanoDrop, Bradford assay, Folin–Ciocalteu assay, HPLC, GC-MS, fluorimeter, etc.

Protein Purification: ÄKTA Purifier ÄKTA Pilot, ÄKTA Process, tangential flow filtration, Ni-NTA chromatography, expanded bed chromatography, affinity chromatography, ion-exchange chromatography, etc.

Bioinformatics: cBioPortal (primary analysis), BLAST, ProtParam, Clustal Omega, MEGA (Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis), SWISS-PROT, UniProt, GenBank, PDB, etc.

Research Publications

Industrial Experience

Worked in API drug manufacturing and analysis unit of “Urmila Chemopharma (P) Ltd.” for summer internship during 01 June 2013 to 30 June 2013.
Worked as Bioprocess Engineer in “USV Biologics, Mumbai” (Biosimilar manufacturing company) in expression and purification of therapeutic proteins. (December 2017-June 2018)

Conferences & Workshops

Workshop arranged by Lung Cancer Consortium Asia & Institute of Pulmonary Medical Research and Development
Participated in National Research Scholars Meet in Life Sciences (NRSM) organized by Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC). Mumbai
Workshop cum Training on Laboratory Animal Handling Techniques
Workshop on Preparative processing and analysis of Biochemicals & Bio/Pharmaceuticals
Workshop cum training programme on Analytical Instrumentation
Workshop on “R” for statistical data analysis
National Level Workshop on “Computer Aided Drug Designing”

Academic Achievements & Awards

Gunvati J Kapoor Merit-Cum means Scholarship from ICT
Qualified Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE)
Qualified Graduate Pharmacy Aptitude Test (GPAT)

Extra Curricular Activities

Class Coordinator and Placement Coordinator of M. Tech Bioprocess Technology
Social Service in Gunvati J Kapoor Medical Relief Charitable Foundation
Social Service in SHARE non-government organization
A1 level German language course from Mumbai University
Worked as Laboratory Teaching Assistant for Dr. Sanjeev K Chandrayan in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology & Genetics laboratory of M. Tech Bioprocess Technology

Computer Knowledge

MS-Office, SnapGene, PyMol, SerialCloner, GraaphPad Prism 6, Data Analysis and Visualization Using R, QuantityOne & ImageLab for gel image data analysis

Language Skills

English (CEFR Level: C1), German (A1 level), Marathi (Native), Hindi & Sanskrit

Interests & Hobbies

Meditation, yoga, stargazing, long walks along the river, reading novels, studying I/O psychology, badminton, watching historical & scientific documentaries, cooking, astro- and wildlife- photography, etc.

Google Sites

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