Personal Information

Dr. Nidhi Pareek

Assistant Professor

M.Sc., Ph.D. (IIT Roorkee); Post-doctoral fellow, Umea University Sweden; CSIR-UGC NET-JRF, GATE, National Doctoral Fellow- AICTE

nidhipareek@curaj.ac.in

7726939129

  • Applied biocatalysis
  • Bioprocess engineering
  • Proteomics

Education

  • Ph.D.: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, Roorkee
  • Post-doctoral Research: Umea University, Umea, Sweden

Awards

  • Awarded for Chancellor’s Award for Best Faculty at Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer, India (2019)
  • Awarded for Young Scientist Award (Industrial Microbiology) by Association of Microbiologists of India (2017)
  • Selected for INSPIRE Faculty Award by Department of Science & Technology (DST- Govt. of India), New Delhi (2015)
  • Selected for Biotechnology Career Advancement and Re-orientation Programme (Bio-CARe) by Department of Biotechnology (DBT- Govt. of India), New Delhi (2015)
  • Awarded Post-doctoral Fellowship by Kempe Foundations, Sweden at Umeå University, Sweden (2011)
  • Awarded National Doctoral Fellowship by All India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi (AICTE-Govt. of India), at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, India (2009)
  • Selected by CSIR-UGC for highly prestigious Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (SPM) Fellowship test (2006)
  • Qualified joint CSIR-UGC test for Junior/Senior Research Fellowship for pursuing PhD and eligibility for Lectureship (2006)
  • Qualified Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering, GATE-2006 (2006)
  •  Ist  position holder in M. Sc. - Microbiology at University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India (2005)

As a researcher, I have keen interest in development of deep insights about Anthropocene – microbiota - environment nexus in marine and terrestrial ecosystems. I am interested in understanding the resiliency of microbial enzymes in translation of coastal residual resources into bioactive compounds. From a broad perspective, my research focuses on exploration of versatility of microbial enzymes into amelioration of coastal waste in ecological and economic manner with an additional goal of understanding the contribution of developed products in medicine and agriculture. Furthermore, I am also exploring the possibilities of industrial and domestic effluent clean-up by photosynthetic microorganisms. The process not only provides a cost-effective remediation solution for effluents but also reduces the secondary pollution by utilization of produced biomass as renewable energy resource. Notably, both of my research interests are strongly linked to underpinning the microbial species and catalysts as recyclable resources for environmental clean-up with value-addition. In practice, I take an integrative approach that includes using comparative biochemical techniques, kinetic studies, modeling and variety of molecular laboratory assays to develop the microbial enzymes with desired properties for a catalysis driven applied biology.

Additionally, the research is also aimed towards develoment of biosensors for health and sports applications. 

The research ideas of upcycling the marine waste has been well acknowledged by funding agencies in India. The research pertaining to fill the gaps in the valorization of marine waste and coastal clean-up has been financially supported by Department of Biotechnology (Bio-CARe), Department of Science and Technology (INSPIRE) and Science and Engineering Research Board (ECR & POWER) (1.5 crores). My current research interests to develop eco-friendly microbial solutions for production of biopolymers and bioremediation, coupled with my previous work-characterizing the biocatalysts, leave me poised to strongly contribute to my research.

Highlights:
Translation of coastal residual resources into bioactive compounds

Microalgae based self-reliant remediation solutions for clean water production

S. No. Authors Title of Article Journal/Conference Details Journal/Conference Publication Year
1 1
  • 2022-2025 - POWER grant - Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Govt. of India - 4.2 million INR
  • 2022-2025 - Indo-Russian Joint Research Call 2021 - Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India - 19 million INR
  • 2019-2022 - ECR grant - Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Govt. of India - 4.2 million INR
  • 2015-2022 - INSPIRE Faculty Award - Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India - 3.5 million INR
  • 2015-2018 - Bio-CARe grant - Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt. of India - 1.6 million IN