User:Vaishnavi Ananth

Contact Info



 * Vaishnavi Ananth, Research Intern
 * Microsoft Research India
 * Bangalore, India
 * Email me through OpenWetWare

I am an intern at Micrsoft Research India, Bangalore and my current project is developing a high-level programming language for expressing and automating biology protocols. If this sounds interesting to you and/or if you would like to collaborate or help with validation of the language, do write to me. Below is the abstract of the project that was selected for an oral presentation at the International Workshop on BioDesign Automation 2009, that was held at San Francisco on the 27th of July.

[[Media:IWBDA abstract.pdf]]

[[Media:IWBDA presentation.pdf]]

''' BioCoder is now available for download here. '''

Education

 * 2009, MS (Biological Sciences), Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (Goa Campus)
 * 2009, BE (Computer Science), Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (Goa Campus)

Research interests

 * 1) Automation of Biology Protocols
 * 2) Neurobiology
 * 3) Cancer Biology
 * 4) Cell and molecular biology

Research Experience

 * A two-month internship at Cancer Institute, Chennai where I learnt the techniques involved in the detection and diagnosis of cancer.(May - July 2006)
 * Received the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research Summer Research Fellowship 2007 to work at the Indian Institute of Science for a period of 2 months (May-July 2007)
 * This was pursued under Dr.Utpal Nath at the department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, IISc. Project title - "Identifying the amino acids of TCP4 protein responsible for DNA binding".
 * This project earned me the title of Rajiv Gandhi National Talent Science Research Fellow 2007.
 * Following this, I was invited to work at IISc for a second term as a part of JNCASR Summer Felowship 2008.
 * A six-month long project at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore under Dr.Veronica Rodrigues. Project title - “Role of Activity in the Maintenance of Larval Olfactory Receptor Neurons in Drosophila”. (July - December 2008).
 * Internship at Microsoft Research India under Dr. Bill Thies. Project title - "Towards a High-Level Programming Language for the Description and Automation of Biology Protocols". (Jan 2009 - present)

Major Projects Undertaken

 * Towards a High-level Programming Language for the Description and Automation of Biology Protocols - Current project(Microsoft Research India).
 * Role of activity in the maintenance of larval Olfactory Receptor Neurons (ORNs) in Drosophila(NCBS).
 * Techniques involved in the diagnosis and detection of cancer (Cancer Institute).
 * Identifying the amino acids of TCP4 protein responsible for DNA binding (IISc).
 * Metabolomics – a tool for metabolic engineering of alkaloid biosynthetic pathway(BITS, Goa).
 * The entrapment of proteins and bacteria in silica gel (BITS, Goa).
 * Genetic control of cell cycle and the spindle assembly checkpoint in budding yeast (BITS, Goa).
 * Isolation and purification of antibiotics from Antarctic microorganisms (BITS, Goa).
 * Post-translational splicing in Mycobacterium, Yeast and Pyrococcus (as a part of the course Microbiology).
 * Stem Cell Therapy for the treatment of Sickle Cell Disease (as a part of the course Biochemistry).

Publications

 * 1) [[Media:IWBDA abstract.pdf]]