Past Research students

• Postdoctoral work: 'Characterization of Novel antagonizers for chemokine G-protein coupled receptor' under ICMR Postdoctoral Fellowship. Dr. Amit Dubey (Dec 2017-May 2020).
• PhD awarded: Dr. Sushama Jadhav - "Study on Intracellular Expression of HIV-1 nef Virotoxin and its Role in Neuro-Inflammation" (Symbiosis International University- April 2022).
• PhD ongoing: "Exploration and validation of new drug targets for tackling antimicrobial resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis."
• PhD ongoing: "An exploratory study on modulation in human gut microbiota post Naturopathy regimen: A single arm open labeled exploratory study."
• PhD ongoing: "Establishment and Optimization of Plant Cell Culture Techniques for the Production of Bioactive Compounds from in-vitro Callus Culture of Citrus Maxima Peel" (Co-guide).
• Supported PhD study: "Bacterial DNA Fingerprinting from Selected Human Population" under the fellowship award of MP Council of Science and Technology, Bhopal for Dr. Toshi Jain. (2017-2021).
• Supported PhD Study: An international student from Cameroon under Research Training Fellowship for Developing Country Scientists (RTF-DCS) (July 2019-Dec 2019).
• Supported PhD study: A student from University of Hyderabad under an MoU for drug testing against resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis and toxicity studies of the same. (2022-2023).
• Supported PhD study: A student from NCCS, Pune under collaboration with Dr. Shekhar Mande for physiological characterization of M.tb and deciphering the role of thioredoxin proteins in Mycobacterium tuberculosis probed by proteome-wide target profiling (2022-2023).

Ongoing research projects

• Antimicrobial Potential of Drugs Being Used in Alternative System of Medicine in India
• Exploration and validation of new drug targets for tackling antimicrobial resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis
• CpsA of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Exploration of its potential as a novel drug target

Current research collaborators

Past research collaborators

• National Chemical Laboratory, Pune
• The Bioinformatics Centre (D.I.C) at the Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune
• Hyderabad Central University, Hyderabad
• National Institute of Naturopathy, Pune
• Sant Hirdaram Medical College of Naturopathy & Yogic Sciences for Women, Bhopal
• NCCS, Pune
• Kumamoto University, Japan
• University of Nebraska Medical Center
• Bafoussam Regional Hospital, Cameroon
• Symbiosis International University, Pune
• Dr. D. Y. Patil Medical College and Research Centre, Pune
• BJ Medical College, Pune

Research in news

• Diesse, J.M., Jadhav, S., Tamekou, S.L. et al. Disturbances in the gut microbiota potentially associated with metabolic syndrome among patients living with HIV-1 and on antiretroviral therapy at Bafoussam Regional Hospital, Cameroon. Diabetol Metab Syndr 17, 86 (2025). DOI Link

Award/Recognition/Honours

• Awarded OAR-Sponsored scholarship to attend the 9th IAS Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2017), on 23-26 July 2017 at the Palais des Congrès in Paris, France.
• Selected for a three months Training Program in Biomedical Informatics at Vanderbilt University, USA under a training grant from the Fogarty International Centre of NIH. (Worked with Dr. Jens Meiler from 19 May to 17 Aug 2012).
• Patent awarded: Kamboj, D.V, Nema, V., Singh L., Krishanamurthy S., Goel, A. K. Process for the purification of single polypeptide chain protein. Application No: 2575/DEL/2007; Patent no. 284404. Application filed on: 07/12/2007; Date of grant: 21/06/2017.
• Honorary Rosalind Member of London Journals Press. Membership ID, #XI29968

Workshop/Conference Organized

N/A

Academic contributions

• Delivered lecture on advanced techniques in Molecular Biology for AcSIR PhD coursework on 21 Jan 2025
• Delivered an invited lecture/hands-on training to the Ph.D. scholars (Batch 2023) for the Second contact programme of Pre-Ph.D. coursework, FoMHS, Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune on 13 Jan 2024
• Delivered an invited guest lecture in international webinar on “21st Century: Research Innovations in Life Sciences in Relation to Human Welfare” organized by Dept. of Botany and Zoology, Govt. Autonomous Girls P.G. College of Excellence, Sagar, M.P. on the topic “Microbiome: an organ to be studied by modern science and to be correlated with old ones” on 21st July 2020
• Delivered an invited guest lecture under DBT-STAR college scheme at Prof. RamKrishna More College, Pune on the topic “Updates in HIV research” on 16th March 2019
• Delivered an invited guest lecture in National Seminar on, "Biodiversity of Environmental allergens and its impact on human health," on Microbiome connection of allergic diseases, held at Taywade College, Mahadula-Koradi, Nagpur on 9th Feb 2019
• Delivered an invited lecture entitled “Microbial Forensics: An emerging science” in Regional Seminar on Microbiome In Health And Disease sponsored by Indian Academy of Biomedical Sciences at Symbiosis University, Pune on 28 Sept 2018
• Delivered an invited guest lecture at Dr. D.Y.Patil Medical College, Pimpri, Pune on “Microbiome: A world within a body” on 20th April 2018
• Delivered a session as guest speaker at NIN under an awareness program on HIV and Naturopathy. Spoke on "Relevance of Naturopathy in HIV" on 04/12/2017
• Institutional Ethics Committee, National Institute of Naturopathy, Pune (Serving 2nd term)
• Member of Board of Studies at Abeda Inamdar Senior College Pune (2020-21)
• Member of Doctoral Research Committee (DRC) for Shivaji University, Kolhapur (2020-21)

Research Grants

Received funding from: ICMR Extramural Grant DHR extramural grant AYUSH (NIN Pune)

Publications

• Jogi, M. K., Shikha, S., Singh, P., Shreyansh, Paul, A., Nema, V., … Kumar, P. (2025). Short-read next-generation sequencing of 16s rRNA gene amplicons for characterizing amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) and determination of gene copy numbers using Ion Torrent platform. Nucleosides, Nucleotides & Nucleic Acids, 1–14. DOI (IF: 1.1)
• Diesse, J.M., Jadhav, S., Tamekou, S.L., et al. (2025). Disturbances in the gut microbiota potentially associated with metabolic syndrome among patients living with HIV-1 and on antiretroviral therapy at Bafoussam Regional Hospital, Cameroon. Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome, 17, 86. DOI (IF: 3.4)
• Gaikwad, S.Y., More, A., Seniya, C., Verma, K., Chandane-Tak, M., Nema, V., et al. (2025). Synergistic inhibition of HIV-1 by Nelfinavir and Epigallocatechin Gallate: A novel nanoemulsion-based therapeutic approach. Virology, 603, 110391. DOI (IF: 2.8)
• Chatla, C., Mishra, N., Malathi, J., Nema, V., et al. (2024). Evaluation of urinary LAM assay versus conventional sputum microscopy for TB detection in HIV and non-HIV patients. Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health, 30, 101827. DOI (IF: 2.3)
• Jadhav, S., Nair, A., Mahajan, P., Nema, V. (2024). The Crosstalk Between HIV-TB Co-Infection and Associated Resistance in the Indian Population. Venereology, 3(4), 183–198. DOI
• Gupta, A., Pal, S.K., Nema, V. (2024). High frequency of silent mutations in gyrA gene of M. tuberculosis in Indian isolates. Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis, 65(8), 289–293. DOI (IF: 2.3)
• Joshi, R., Aithal, S., More, A., Nema, V., Mukherjee, A. (2024). Therapeutic potential of silver nanocomposition of Catharanthus roseus for antimicrobial/antiviral use. Int. J. Plant-Based Pharmaceuticals, 4(2), 101–109. DOI
• Vadankula, G.R., Nilkanth, V.V., Rizvi, A., … Nema, V., et al. (2024). Quinoline-isonicotinic acid hydrazide hybrid compound as anti-TB agent. ACS Infectious Diseases, 10(6), 2288–2302. DOI (IF: 5.3)
• Nema, V., Jadhav, S. (2024). Significance of Upcoming Technologies in Microbial Diversity Research. In Microbial Diversity in the Genomic Era, 2nd Ed., ISBN: 9780443133206.
• Kumar, S., Taumar, D., Gaikwad, S., … Nema, V. (2023 Dec 31). Atazanavir-rosemary oil nanoformulation for HIV-1. Drug Delivery and Translational Research. DOI (IF: 5.4)
• Dhotre, K., Banerjee, A., Dass, D., Nema, V., Mukherjee, A. (2023). In-silico design of siRNA against Monkeypox. Current Pharmaceutical Design. DOI (IF: 3.1)
• Kamble, S., Nema, V., et al. (2023). TB infection control in HIV settings in India (2022). Int. J. Tuberc Lung Dis. Supp., 27(11). (IF: 4)
• Kamble, S., Bhandari, P., Nigam, S., Nema, V., et al. (2023). TB transmission control in HIV settings (2021–22). Int. J. Tuberc Lung Dis. Supp., 27(11). (IF: 4)
• Dhotre, K., Dass, D., Banerjee, A., Nema, V., et al. (2024). Designing siRNA for SARS-CoV-2 variants. Current Computer-Aided Drug Design, 20(6), 876–887. DOI (IF: 1.7)
• Sahoo, R., Jadhav, S., Nema, V. (2023). Technological advances in AMR detection. J Formos Med Assoc. DOI (IF: 3.2)
• Mahajan, P.S., et al., Nema, V. (2023). Drug resistance in M. tuberculosis and role of cell envelope proteins. Indian J Tuberc, 70(3), 286–296. DOI (IF: 2.6)
• Sugandhi, S., Jadhav, S., Nema, V., et al. (2023). Role of thioredoxin proteins in M. tuberculosis. Biochem Biophys Rep, 35, 101512. DOI (IF: 2.7)
• Jadhav, S., Nema, V. (2023). Viral/host genetics and neurocognitive disorders in HIV. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses, Dec, 688–698. DOI (IF: 1.5)
• Shinde, M.D., Patil, S.A., Mukherjee, A., Nema, V. (2023). Homeopathic Rhus Tox for herpes and inflammation. J Ayurveda Integr Med, 14(4), 100739. DOI (IF: 2.4)
• Khan, A.A., Nema, V., Ashraf, M.T. (2023). Microbiota-oncogenesis crosstalk. Microb Pathog, 178, 106063. DOI (IF: 3.84)
• Jadhav, S., Makar, P., Nema, V. (2022). Neuroinflammatory potential of HIV-1 Nef variants. Cells, 11(20), 3256. DOI (IF: 6)
• Jadaun, P., Seniya, C., Kumar, P., Nema, V., et al. (2022). Anti-HIV potential of C-Phycocyanin. Antioxidants, 11(10), 1942. DOI (IF: 7)
• Mane, A., Jain, S., Nema, V., et al. (2022). Diagnostic accuracy of self-collected oral swabs for COVID-19. APMIS, 130, 671–677. DOI (IF: 2.8)
• Jadhav, S., Nema, V. (2021). HIV-associated neurotoxicity and protein interplay. Mediators Inflamm., 2021, Article ID 1267041. DOI (IF: 4.4)
• Waghmode, R., Jadhav, S., Nema, V. (2021). Burden of respiratory viruses in India (1970–2020). Front Microbiol, 12:723850. DOI (IF: 4)