Associate Professor

I am a pharmaceutical biologist with 13 years of research and academic experience in a multitude of transdisciplinary research related to pharmaceutical, natural and food-based products. In my role as an Associate Professor in the NMSRC at University of Nizwa, I lead a natural product and biopolymers-based research division to coordinate the academic and research activities. I hold dual expertise in Pharmaceutical and Food packaging science to explore potential of biopolymers based composite materials especially edible films, coating materials, bioadhesive, and sublingual films. I earned my Ph.D. Degree (2015) in Pharmaceutical Technology from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. My current research interest lies in the field of applied polymeric chemistry or material science more specifically based on development, characterization and biological assessment of biopolymer based composite films for food packaging (edible films/coating materials) and biomedical (bioadhesive/sublingual films) applications. In NMSRC, UON, I am heading to an Applied Polymer division with primary objective to develop thin composite biopolymers-based films to improve the quality and shelf life of the food. Also, we develop films of more pharmaceuticals relevance to improve material properties and drug release kinetics. We assess the thermal, biodegradability, in vitro digestion, crystalline, optical, chemical, mechanical, and surface properties of these films using XRD, SEM, TEM, Total perm, Goniometer, BOD, DSC, TGA, DTG, FTIR, TA, UV-Vis, BOD and WTW oxitop. Additionally, we also assess the release kinetics of the antimicrobial agents loaded in films. Antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of fabricated materials assessed in our lab. To date, my research has resulted in more than 108 peer-reviewed publications in various recognized pharmaceutical and food journals and authored 11 books, with citations exceeding 4200. Additionally, Academically, I taught several courses such as food packaging, polymer characterization, pharmaceutics, novel drug delivery, pharmacology, pharmacognosy, pharmaceutical biotechnology and microbiology and polymeric science. Drawing on my experience with various schools, I blended different modes of innovative teaching with traditional teaching modes to create a flexible, student-centred and engaging approach to pedagogy. Presently I am serving as Associate Editor in material Sciences, Frontiers, IF. 3.7, Nutrition and Food Science (IF. 6.7) and Drug delivery, Frontier. Additionally, I am serving as an editorial board member in Plos One Open Access Journal, and npj Science of Food, Nature.