Post-Graduate Education

Doctorate in Philosophy (PhD)

University of East Anglia, United Kingdom (2022-Current)

• Currently doing a PhD working on Bacterial involvement in aggressive prostate cancer as part of the Microbes, Microbiomes and Bioinformatics Doctoral Training Programme (MMB DTP) funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC)
  1. Working in the lab designing and conducting experiments of the following nature:
     • Library Preparation and 16S Sequencing using Illumina MiSeq of Frozen urine samples and also to eventually work with freshly collected prostate secretion samples and home-collected urine samples
     • Culturing bacteria and working with anaerobic cabinet conditions
  2. Working with bioinformatics to investigate large prostate cancer datasets like the Pan Prostate Cancer Group Dataset (PPCG) and to analyse the results of sequencing
     • Project involves working with shell scripting and R programming to analyse microbiome data
     • Created and running a successful Snakemake pipeline using the HUMAnN and Maaslin2 packages to analyse PPCG data and characterise the metabolic profiles of bacteria involved in prostate cancer

Doctorate in Medicine (MD in Translational and Clinical Research)

Newcastle University, United Kingdom (2018-2022)

• Did a three-year lab project ending with a thesis entitled “Characterising the Architecture of the Stem Cell Niche in Benign Prostatic Tissue”
• It was a lab-based project in which I acquired the following skills
  1. Designing and conducting practical experiments using immunohistochemistry-based techniques such as the standard DAB-IHC, multiplex immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence as well as immunohistochemistry using specialised kits (Opal kit)
  2. Methodically learnt to problem solve during the design and conduct of those experiments
  3. I also trained in other lab techniques such as polymerase chain reaction experiments (PCR), cell culture and Western Blotting
  4. Wrote a review paper entitled “Human Prostate Stem Cells and their Niche - A Comprehensive Review” (Subramanian, Geraghty et al., 2019) in the Journal of Stem Cell Research, Development and Therapy.
  5. Mentored three undergraduate students during this period and was a secondary author in their poster presentations
  6. Researched, analysed and wrote a 20,000 word thesis on the topic as well. Delivered a presentation on the project and was able to successfully answer questions from both fellow students and academics.

Undergraduate Education

Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS)

St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore, India

• Trained and registered as a clinically qualified doctor following a five and a half year Bachelor’s course in Medicine and Surgery. Relevant subjects and postings included General Medicine, General Surgery, Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Orthopaedics, Pathology and more.
• Passed with a First Class Overall
• Relevant Research Experience:
  1. Conducted a retrospective chart review study at a primary health centre to assess outcome of antenatal care in areas serviced by the hospital and evaluate the need to improve healthcare during pregnancy
  2. Conducted a project with the Department of Pathology at St. John’s Medical College to investigate the prevalence of Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase-1 receptors in lung cancer patints at a tertiary care hospital in South India.
  3. Learnt basic statistical analysis and application using SPSS software.

High School Education

All-India Secondary School Certificate Examination, 2012

• 91% aggregate in Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Mathematics and English (equivalent to A-levels)
• Relevant Research Experience:
  • Conducted a four-week study looking at the impact of nanogold on the accuracy and speed of Polymerase chain reactions (PCR) at SASTRA University and the Indian Institute of Technology (Madras) as part of the Research Science Initiative Chennai, 2011.