Vishakha Raina

Associate Professor

Vishakha Raina completed her bachelor’s and master’s degree in zoology with a specialisation in cell and molecular biology at the University of Delhi. She also has a bachelors in education from University of Delhi. Later, she fulfilled her Ph.D. in molecular biology at the University of Delhi (1999 to 2004) during which she was a visiting fellow at EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland (2001). Later, she joined at EAWAG (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology), Duebendorf, Switzerland (2005 to 2007) as a postdoctoral fellow. In 2007 she joined as Assistant Professor in KIIT, Odisha, India and was one of co-founding members of school of biotechnology. Currently, she is an Associate Professor II (2016) at School of Biotechnology, KIIT, Odisha, India. Her research interests are 1) Biodegradation and bioremediation of Xenobiotic compounds especially organochlorines (Hexachlorocyclohexane, endosulfan) and organophosphates (chloropyrifos) from contaminated soil and wetlands to develop a decontamination technology; 2) Microbial ecology of natural ecosystems (aquatic and terrestrial) for microbial biodiversity and bioprospecting using genomics, exploration of industrially important enzymes, bioactive compounds and secondary metabolites and study of biogeochemical cycles for understanding global climate change; 3) Production of biofuels like biodiesel and bioethanol from waste cooked vegetable oil and cooked food waste by using green chemistry and microbial enzymes. 4) Interested in socially relevant issues relating to the environment (waste management) and food safety of baked foods.

She also is managing director and co-founder of Krea food and beverages Pvt. Ltd., a manufacturing start-up motivated to create a unique state of the art Bakery and confectionary products clubbed to creating innovation and sustainable technologies for developing safe foods by use of enzyme biotechnology. She has 13 years of teaching and mentoring experience in Microbiology, Animal physiology anatomy and Environmental Biotechnology. She has been involved in academic administration and is Associate Dean (Academics) at KSBT. She is responsible for developing teaching learning programmes for under-graduate, post graduate and Ph.D. students of Biotechnology and Microbiology. Her teaching and research is aimed at mentoring students for social and sustainable innovations, developing innovative solutions to environmental problems and to promote sustainable biotechnological processes in waste management. She dreams of having a clean and green sustainable environment. She is also ISME young ambassador from India for promoting microbial ecology.

Profile Links

Email :
[email protected]
Scopus Id :
23109597300
Google Scholar :
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=UkE6_gsAAAAJ&hl=en

Social Links

Educational Qualification
Ph. D. University of Delhi

Projects
  1. “Developing a novel enzyme based food processing aid to produce safe, nutritious and toxin free processed food”. Indian Oil Start up Scheme 2019. 2019-2022 (ongoing)
  2. “Engineering E. coli for the production of aromatic carotenoid antioxidants identified from novel Loktak lake microbe.” proposal no. BT/SB0076/02/19 BIRAC seed grant under synthetic biology call. !8 months. (ongoing)
  3. Bioprospecting microbial diversity in benthic and littoral regions of Loktak Lake for effective management and sustainable development IBSD, Imphal-DBT 29th March 2017-2019. (Completed)
  4. Investigating bacteria of Chilika lake as Biomedical Resource. UBS Promedica Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland, June 2016-2019. (Completed).
  5. “Novel baked Multigrain Food Products with indigenous raw material: A Nutrition Friendly Approach”.MSME (2015)(Completed)
  6. “A Sustainable Green Technology for Biodiesel & By Products from Waste Cooking Oil” MSME (2015)(Completed)
  7. Isolation and Characterization of Benthic as well as Littoral Microbial Flora of Chilika Lake sponsored by World bank for three years (July, 2013). World Bank 2013-2016. (Completed)
  8. Development and Optimization of Technology for Bioremediation of Chlorpyrifos in Constructed Wetlands sponsored by DBT for three years (August, 2013). DBT, GOI, 29th August 2013 (Three years). (Completed)
  9. “Environmental Risk and Bioremediation of Hexachlorocyclohexane Isomers”. Indo-Swiss Collaboration in Biotechnology (ISCB): Jointly sponsored by DBT, GOI and SDC, Switzerland. (2008-2011). (Completed)


Administrative Responsibility
  • Associate Dean (Academics) School of Biotechnology,
  • KIIT; Board of studies member for KIIT Law school and KIIT school of Biotechnology


Awards & Honours
  1. Best Promising Women Scientist Award, Academic Body: NC Autonomous college, Jajpur, Odisha, 29th Jan 2019
  2. OTV Citizen’s Award 2017 for Best Young Entrepreneur
  3. Start-up, DIPP, GOI Start-up Recognition (Stand-up India) and recognised as part of Start up Odisha programme
  4. Awarded the BEST STAFF OF THE YEAR-2016 from KIIT UNIVERSITY, Odisha on 26th January 2017


Memberships
  • Young Ambassador of International society for Microbial Ecology (ISME);
  • Life Member of “Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI)”;
  • Life Member of “ Indian Network for Soil Contamination and Research” (INSCR);
  • Annual Member of “American Society of Microbiologists (ASM)”
  • Life Member of Society of Biological Chemists; Life member for “Indian Society for Technical Education”
  • Life member for “Indian Science Congress


Outreach Activity
Academic Outreach
  1. Resource person for DST INSPIRE programe: Conducted in total atleast 30 stage shows for students during DST INSPIRE camps since 2015 to present.
  2. Academic mentoring of students for social innovations and developing own start-up enterprise.
  1. Mentored Mr. Rahul Chatterjee, M.Sc in Biotechnology from KSBT (2009 batch) to be an entrepreneur and become the Founder and Director, Operations of Krea Food and Beverages Pvt Ltd. He also runs a Biodiesel 100L pilot scale plant on and converts waste vegetable oil from all hostels and mess from KIIT into biodiesel. He received a grant from MSME (Medium and small medium enterprise) GOI on “Production of biodiesel from waste vegetable oil”. He also received a grant from BIG, BIRAC, GOI on “Development of novel enzyme based processing aid for the reduction of acrylamide in different thermally processed food products”
  2. Mentored a team of 4 M.Tech students, Mr. Anurag Kyal, Mr. Shubham, Mr. Snehasish Patra and Prateek Mahapatra who received the DST-Lockheed martin award for the best innovator for “Conversion of waste weed Phragmites sp. into paper”. Also received grants from MSME (Medium and small medium enterprise), GOI.
  3. Mentored Dr. Hardik Makkar, MDS from KIDS, KIIT to get an Innovation grant from BIG, BIRAC, GOI on “INTRACANAL BIODEGRADABLE MEDICATED SCAFFOLDS- A breakthrough in Regenerative Endodontic Procedures”.
Enterprises and Entrepreneurship
  1. Managing director of “Krea foods and Beverages Pvt. Ltd.” registered company in August 2015, which specializes in making baked foods from indigenous raw material without the use of toxic or harmful food additives established in KIIT University to provide healthy food to students of KISS and KIIT. Krea is a manufacturing start-up motivated to create a unique state of the art Bakery and confectionary products clubbed to creating innovation and sustainable technologies based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Plant Size: 8000 square feet equipped with world class infrastructure, imported semi automated mechanised plant and machinery.
    Krea is recognized and funded by National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Govt of Odisha and mentored and funded by KIIT Technology Business Incubator (KIIT-TBI) R&D Innovation funds.
    Received OTV Citizen’s Award 2017 for Best Young Entrepreneur & Start-up, DIPP, GOI Start-up Recognition (Stand-up India) and recognised as part of Start up Odisha programme.
  2. Launched and mentored a company “BIOLOGIC APPS” which produces health based Probiotic drink, plain and flavored yoghurt and other dairy products in Bhubaneswar. Incubatee in DST sponsored KIIT-Technology Business Incubator and received a grant of 25 lakhs from Technology development Board (TDP) for business enterprise setup.
  3. Set up a KIIT BIOENERGY UNIT and involved in setting up a pilot scale plant for “Production of biodiesel from waste vegetable oil” collected from various hostels in KIIT University.
  4. Associated with NGO CISD as a member at Chikitti Nuagaon, Berhampur, Odisha which works on development of sustainable ecosystem for rural entrepreneurship

Journals/Conferences :
1. Nayak T, Panda AN, Kumari K, Adhya TK, Raina V. Comparative Genomics of a Paddy Field Bacterial Isolate Ochrobactrum sp. CPD-03: Analysis of Chlorpyrifos Degradation Potential. Indian J Microbiol. 2020 Sep;60 (3):325-333..
2. Jean-Sebastien Beaulne, Samir R.Mishra, Mrutyunjay Suar, Ananta Narayan Panda, Gurdeep Rastogi, Ajit Kumar Pattnaik, Vishakha Raina, Timothy M.Vogel. Spatial analysis of bacteria in brackish lake sediment. International Journal of Sediment Research Volume 35, Issue 3, June 2020, Pages 227-236.
3. Panda AN, Ray L, Mishra SR, Raina V. Rheinheimera pleomorphica sp. nov., a Novel Alkali-Tolerant Bacteria Isolated from Chilika Lake, India. Curr Microbiol. 2020 Jan;77(1):158-165.
4. Ray L, Panda AN, Mishra SR, Pattanaik AK, Adhya TK, Suar M, Raina V. Purification and characterization of an extracellular thermo-alkali stable, metal tolerant chitinase from Streptomyces chilikensis RC1830 isolated from a brackish water lake sediment. Biotechnol Rep (Amst). 2019 Mar; 21: e0031.
5. Ananta N. Panda, Samir Ranjan Mishra, Lopamudra Ray, Surajit Das, Gurdeep Rastogi, Ajit Kumar Pattanaik, Tapan Kumar Adhya, Mrutyunjay Suar, and Vishakha Raina* (2018) Taxonomic description and genome sequence of Halobacillus marinus sp. nov., a novel strain isolated from Chilika Lake, India. Journal of Microbiology (2018) Vol. 56, No. 4, pp. 223–230
6. Pratiksha Behera, Sofia Mahapatra, Madhusmita Mohapatra, Ji Yoon Kim, Tapan K Adhya, Vishakha Raina, Mrutyunjay Suar, Ajit K Pattnaik, Gurdeep Rastogi. Salinity and macrophyte drive the biogeography of the sedimentary bacterial communities in a brackish water tropical coastal lagoon. Science of the Total Environment 2017 Oct 1; 595:472-485.
7. Ray L, Mishra SR, Panda AN, Das S, Rastogi G, Pattanaik AK, Adhya TK, Suar M, Raina V. Streptomyces chitinivorans sp. nov., a chitinolytic strain isolated from estuarine Chilika Lake sediment in Odisha, India. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. (2016), Sep;66(8):3241-8
8. Ray L, Suar M, Pattnaik A.K, Raina V. Streptomyces chilikensis sp. nov., a novel halophilic streptomycete isolated from brackish water sediment of Lake Chilika in Odisha. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 2013, 63, 2757–2764.
9. Lal R, Pandey G, Sharma P, Kumari K, Malhotra S, Pandey R, Raina V, Kohler HP, Holliger C, Jackson C, Oakeshott JG. Biochemistry of microbial degradation of hexachlorocyclohexane and prospects for bioremediation. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev. 2010, 74(1): 58-80.
10. Raina, V, D. Rentsch, T. Geiger, S. Huber, P. Sharma, H.-R. Buser, C. Holliger, R. Lal, and H.-P.Kohler. New metabolites in the degradation of α- and γ-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH): Pentachlorocyclohexenes are hydroxylated to cyclohexenols and cyclohexenediols by the haloalkane dehalogenase LinB from Sphingobium indicum B90A. 2008. J. Agric. Food Chem., 13; 56 (15): 6594-603.
11. Raina V, Hauser A, Buser HR, Rentsch D, Sharma P, Lal R, Holliger C, Poiger JT, Müller MD, Kohler HP. Hydroxylated metabolites of beta- and delta-hexachlorocyclohexane: bacterial formation, stereochemical configuration, and occurrence in groundwater at a former production site. Environ Sci Technol. 2007 Jun 15; 41(12): 4292-8.

Books :
1. ""Vishakha Raina, Tanmaya Nayak, Lopamudra Ray, Khushbu Kumari, Mrutyunjay Suar. "" A Polyphasic Taxonomic Approach for Designation and Description of Novel Microbial Species. In: Microbial Diversity in the Genomic Era (2019), ELSEVIER. ISBN: 978-0-12-814849-5 .DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-814849-5.00009-5
2. ""Vishakha Raina, Ananta Narayan Panda, Samir Ranjan Mishra, Tanmaya Nayak, Mrutyunjay Suar."" Microbial Biodiversity Study of a Brackish Water Ecosystem in Eastern India: The Chilika Lake. In: Microbial Diversity in the Genomic Era (2019) ), ELSEVIER. ISBN: 978-0-12-814849-5 DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-814849-5.00004-6
3. ""AK Upadhyay, A Mojumdar, V Raina, L Ray."" Eco-Friendly and Economical Method for Detoxification of Pesticides by Microbes Soil Microenvironment for Bioremediation and Polymer Production. In: Soil Microenvironment for Bioremediation and Polymer Production, (2019), 95-113, Scrivener Publishing LLC. ISBN: 978-1-119-59205-1
4. ""AK Upadhyay, A Mojumdar, V Raina, L Ray."" Polyhydroxyalkanoates: Resources, Demands and Sustainability, Microenvironment for Bioremediation and Polymer Production, Soil Microenvironment for Bioremediation and Polymer Production. In: Soil Microenvironment for Bioremediation and Polymer Production, (2019), 253-270, Scrivener Publishing LLC. ISBN: 978-1-119-59205-1