THE NALLUR B. RAMACHANDRA LABORATORY

Summary of Academic, Scientific & Administrative Accomplishments

(1982 – 2023)

A) Academic and Scientific Accomplishments

1) In 2023, Prof. Ramachandra was elected as the Fellow of the Indian Academy of Biomedical Sciences for his rich contributions to biomedical Sciences.

2) From 2019 he is the course coordinator of two Massive open online courses (MOOCs), SWAYAM of UGC- MHRD, New Delhi. The courses are 1) Human Genetics and 2) The Principles of Genetics for the under graduates of any Life Science degree. There is an overwhelming response from 1000 of National and International registrants including the undergraduate, postgraduate students, faculty and public from different medical schools, Institutions and Universities.

3) From 2019 he is serving as a NAAC review expert member to evaluate the academic standard of the educational Institutions in the country. From 2019-21, he served as the member of Animal science – Sectional Committee for the selection of Fellows of Indian Academy of Sciences, Bengaluru.

4) From 2022 he has been working as the member of Research and innovation Council for two years at Sri Sathya Sai University of Human excellence, Kalaburagi. During 2019, he is instrumental to develop the curriculum and start M.Sc in Life Sciences as the Chairman of the BOS in Life Sciences and after his retirement in 2020 he is serving as Honorary Professor of this University.

5) From 2015-2020, Prof. Ramachandra served as the Founder Chairman of the new department of Studies in Genetics and Genomics at the University of Mysore. He was successful to institute a new building from various funding. He was instrumental to start M.Sc in Genetics program during 2005 and served as a Coordinator for M.Sc., in Genetics program from 2007 to 2015 and run the program successfully in the Department of Studies in Zoology, University of Mysore. In 2018, Prof. Ramachandra started DBT funded a new skill development Program of one year, Post graduate diploma in Personalized Genomic Medicine. All the passed-out candidates were provided with the stipends of Rs. 10,000/month and secured jobs in prestigious Industries and Institutions.

6) In 2017, he was elected as the Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences (FASc.), Indian Academy of Sciences, Bengaluru-80. Since then, he has involved in many activities of Indian science academies as the convener of 8 lecture workshops conducted for two days at various colleges of South India and also involved in the screening of Summer Fellowship applications of the academies.

7) In 2016, he was the Local Secretary for 103rd Indian Science Congress held from 3rd to 7th January 2016 in University of Mysore. He was successfully handled 14,000 delegates including 9 Nobel laureates, 600 senior scientists all over the globe and 1000s of Faculties, Research Scholars and Students.

8)From 2000 to till date, he is an academic council and advisory member for many educational institutions for formulation and upgradation of academic curriculum and activities. He served as Chairman and member for various Review Committee, Board of Studies, Board of Examinations and Board of Appointment, for various Universities and Institutes in India. He was also involved in many of the administrative reformations of University like infrastructure upgradation, Malpractice legal evaluation, CBCS in Masters Degree Curriculum, flexible CBCS-CAGP for Masters Degree Curriculum and Ph.D Regulations refinements and placement of the Post-graduates and also MOUs formulation for National & International academic & research collaborations.

9) From 2015-19, he has been ranked as one of the top academicians in Academic Administrative Audit Committee (AAA) report in the assessment of University of Mysore faculties. Dr. Ramachandra is a passionate teacher. He taught various modern biology courses in the Department of Zoology, as well as Genetics and Genomics. Since 1995, he also taught the courses in the other Departments like Biotechnology, Microbiology, Biochemistry and Botany in University of Mysore and other Universities (Gulbarga, Kuvempu, Mangalore, Karnatak and Bengalore) in Karnataka.

10) He had foreign research assignments like, Post-doctoral Research Fellowship (1990-92), at McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada; Senior Research Associateship-II (1999-2000) at Cell, Molecular and Developmental Biology, at University of California, Los Angeles, USA and also worked as Visiting Professor (2001) to teach a course on “Genetics and Development” at the Department of Zoology, University of Innsbruck, Austria.

 B) Scientific Accomplishments

1) Prof. Ramachandra has guided 30 Ph.D., candidates and 02 candidates are currently working under his supervision. In the last 10 years, as a dedicated researcher, he has actively involved in research and guided 20 Ph.D. students.

2) He has over 2200+ scientific citations with h-Index 25 and i10-Index 65 for his research contributions as of 10th December 2022.

3) In the last 10 years, he is instrumental to get Research funding from different funding agencies such as Department of Science and Technology (DST), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and University Grants Commission (UGC) to the tune of more than 2.5 crore. He has also established several National and International collaborations including Hospitals and Institutions.

4) In 2020, Dr. Ramachandra and his team sequenced 6 Drosophila species for the first time in India and deposited the sequence in University of Mysore Genome Centre (UMGC) database and NCBI databases. He was instrumental in the establishment of UMGC in 2012 at University of Mysore.

5) He has made original contributions in the area of Human Genetic Diseases and Genomics, Drosophila Genetics and Evolution, as well as Microbial Genetics. He has published chapters on scientific advancements in National and International books.

6) His significant contributions in Human Genetics include the identification of 'advanced maternal grandmother's age' as a potential risk factor for chromosomal anueploidy leading to Downs and other chromosomal syndromes; consanguineous marriages as risk factor for congenital heart disease (CHD); Identification of new recombination hotspot- pseudoautosomal region 3 (PAR3) between the X and Y chromosomes; neurotransmission and cell adhesion process defects in Dyslexia; five new genes involved in spinal plasticity; novel SNPs associated with CHD, Asthma and Dyslexia; role of ADAM33 interactive pathway in Asthma; copy number variation (CNV) studies in human identify the genomic variations which proposes new migratory routes with two settlements; influence of miRNA on gene regulation; Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus disease risk genes; establishment of CNVs as markers to identify the genomic variations in many diseases –Dyslexia, Asthma, CHD, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Parkinson’s, identification of differentially expressed genes in Parkinson’s disease; and DNA sequencing-based drug resistance detection for Tuberculosis.

7) Novel contributions in Drosophila Genetics consist of demonstrating 'recombinational speciation’, factors for rapid genomic changes and ‘adaptive genome evolution' through long-range interracial hybridization experiments; evolution of new introgressed genetic systems in the environs of laboratory called Cytoraces, both short-lived and long-lived, a sort of evolutionary experimentation; eight times higher rate of substitution in aly of cytoraces; and second chromosome specific indirect flight muscle mutants generated in D. melanogaster have an impact on myofibril assembly.

8) He has served as a Guest Editor and Editorial Member for several peer reviewed journals. He is a member of various professional organizations such as HUGO, ISCA, and ISCB, ISHG etc. of National and International repute.

9) He has delivered over 300 invited scientific and technical lectures in different Universities, Institutes in India. He has inaugurated, delivered keynote addresses and chaired several sessions in National and International Conferences, Workshops and Refresher courses.

10) In addition, he has contributed immensely to public health and society through outreach programmes.

• Dr. Ramachandra organized Flash Mob and street Play on the topic “Genetic Diseases are treatable” involving all the students, research scholars, teaching and nonteaching staff of the Department of Studies in Genetics and Genomics, University of Mysore on the occasion of World Health Day to create awareness among the masses in Mysore city on 7th April 2017.
• He was involved in creating awareness about science and its importance to the school children by delivering talks and demonstrations in various schools, colleges, and institutions.
• He was involved in the counseling sessions for parents of Down syndrome children on the occasion of 150 years of Down syndrome Discovery.
• He has delivered several TV talks on popular science education topics.

 Administrative Accomplishments

1)Dr. Ramachandra was the Local Secretary for the 103rd Indian Science Congress hosted by University of Mysore during 3rd-7th January 2016.

2) He was also instrumental to start M.Sc. Genetics Course during 2005, and then he was successful to run the course for ten years as a coordinator in the Department of Studies in Zoology.

3)He was the Deputy Coordinator for important Departmental major project such as UGC-CAS programme (2014-2016).

4)The founding Chairman of the Department of Studies in Genetics and Genomics (2015), he was successful to institute a new building for the Department in the Manasagangotri Campus, Mysuru.

5)He has been involved in many of the administrative reformations of the University like infrastructure upgradation, Malpractice legal evaluation, CBCS in Master’s Degree Curriculum, flexible CBCS-CAGP for Master’s Degree Curriculum and PhD Regulations refinements and placement of the Post-graduates.

6) He was a key player in the establishment of Human Ethics Committee in the University of Mysore, Mysore Medical College and Research Institute, Mysuru and other private Medical Institutes.

7)He was an academic council and advisory member for many educational institutions for formulation and upgradation of academic curriculum and activities.

8) He served as Chairman and member for various Review Committee, Board of Studies and Board of Examinations, Board of Appointment, for various Universities and Institutes in India. He has served as a Guest Editor and Editorial Member for several peer reviewed journals.

9) He was a member of various professional organizations such as HUGO, ISCA, and ISCB, ISHG etc of national and international repute.

10)He successfully initiated and organized various science activities like interdepartmental panel discussions, Three Annual Life Sciences Quiz Competition and Two Life Sciences Research Symposium for University of Mysore M.Sc Students (2016-19).