Farha Naz | Drug Repurposing | Women Researcher Award

Published on 07/08/202507/08/2025 by Top Pharmaceutical

Dr. Farha Naz | Drug Repurposing | Women Researcher Award

Research Scientist at University of Virginia | United States

Dr. Farha Naz is a dynamic and accomplished structural biologist and immunologist, currently serving as a Research Scientist at the University of Virginia, USA. With a Ph.D. in Structural Biology from Jamia Millia Islamia, she has cultivated a distinguished research career focused on infectious diseases, host immunity, and vaccine development. Her postdoctoral work spans prestigious institutions including ICMR and UVA, and she has contributed to impactful translational research on Clostridioides difficile infection, tuberculosis, and host-pathogen interactions. Dr. Naz is also a frequent corresponding author and editorial contributor, demonstrating her leadership and scientific vision in global biomedical research.

Publication Profile

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Education

Dr. Farha Naz earned her Ph.D. in Structural Biology from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, graduating top of her batch in pre-PhD coursework. She completed her M.Sc. in Biotechnology in from Jamia Hamdard. Her B.Sc. from the University of Allahabad was marked by academic distinction, graduating. She completed her 12th and 10th at RDBIC, Allahabad. Her educational journey reflects academic excellence.

Experience

Dr. Naz began her academic career as a Guest Faculty at the Centre of Bioinformatics, University of Allahabad. She later served as a Temporary Assistant Professor at SHUATS, Allahabad. she held a prestigious ICMR-Centenary Postdoctoral Fellowship at the National Institute of Pathology-ICMR in New Delhi. She then joined the University of Virginia as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Division of Infectious Diseases and International Health. Since February she has been a Research Scientist in the same department, contributing to cutting-edge immunological and translational research in infectious diseases.

Awards and Honors

Dr. Farha Naz has received multiple academic honors throughout her career. She was awarded the Junior Scientist Award by the Council of Science & Technology, U.P. She graduated as the Faculty Topper of her B.Sc. batch. She has qualified prestigious national fellowships and exams including the CSIR-UGC Fellowship in December, GATE in February, and the CSIR-UGC NET in June. These achievements highlight her consistent academic performance and her early recognition as a promising scientific talent. Her excellence continues through her high-impact research outputs and leadership roles in translational science.

Research Focus

Dr. Naz’s research centers on host-pathogen interactions, mucosal immunology, and vaccine development, particularly against Clostridioides difficile and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. She investigates the mechanisms by which pathogens evade host immunity and how immune modulation can be leveraged for therapeutic interventions. Her work explores innate immune responses, cytokine signaling, GPCR modulation, and the role of sphingolipids in infection. She has contributed significantly to understanding vaccine adjuvants, humoral responses in recurrent infections, and therapeutic strategies involving immune and nervous system crosstalk. Her translational research aims to advance precision immunotherapy and infectious disease control globally.

Publication Top Notes

Investigation of molecular mechanism of recognition between citral and MARK4: A newer therapeutic approach to attenuate cancer cell progression

Microtubule affinity-regulating kinase 4: structure, function, and regulation

Elucidation of dietary polyphenolics as potential inhibitor of microtubule affinity regulating kinase 4: in silico and in vitro studies

Designing new kinase inhibitor derivatives as therapeutics against common complex diseases: structural basis of microtubule affinity-regulating kinase 4 (MARK4) inhibition

PKR-inhibitor binds efficiently with human microtubule affinity-regulating kinase 4

Battling COVID-19 pandemic: sphingosine-1-phosphate analogs as an adjunctive therapy?

Cloning, Expression, Purification and Refolding of Microtubule Affinity-Regulating Kinase 4 Expressed in Escherichia coli

Ubiquitin-associated domain of MARK4 provides stability at physiological pH

Atypical PKC phosphorylates microtubule affinity-regulating kinase 4 in vitro

Sphingosine-1-phosphate signaling in Leishmania donovani infection in macrophages

Evaluation of human microtubule affinity-regulating kinase 4 inhibitors: fluorescence binding studies, enzyme, and cell assays

Human microtubule affinity-regulating kinase 4 is stable at extremes of pH

Pranab Das | Bioinformatics in Pharmaceuticals | Best Scholar Award

Published on 24/02/202524/02/2025 by Top Pharmaceutical

Pranab Das | Bioinformatics in Pharmaceuticals | Best Scholar Award

Mr Pranab Das, NIT Nagaland, India

Pranab Das is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Kumar Bhaskar Varma Sanskrit and Ancient Studies University, Assam. He holds an M.Tech in Computer Science from NIT Meghalaya and has submitted his Ph.D. thesis at NIT Nagaland. His research focuses on computational biology, drug discovery, and machine learning 🧬🤖. With multiple SCIE and SCI-indexed publications in top journals, he has made significant contributions to predicting drug functions and adverse reactions. Additionally, he has presented at international conferences and authored book chapters 📚. He has qualified JRF, NET, and SLET, showcasing his academic excellence.

Publication Profile

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Education

Pranab Das is a dedicated researcher in Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), currently awaiting the completion of his Ph.D. (2021-2024) from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Nagaland, where he achieved an impressive 9.23 CGPA 🎓. He holds an M.Tech in CSE (2019-2021) from NIT Meghalaya with a 9.27 CGPA 🏆 and a BE in CSE (2015-2018) from Jorhat Engineering College, securing 73.89% 📚. His academic journey began with a Diploma (70%) from Assam Engineering Institute and 10th grade (66.17%) from Barnibari Milan High School. Additionally, he has cleared JRF, NET, and SLET 🔬✅.

Project Work

Pranab Das is an accomplished researcher specializing in computational biology and drug discovery 🔬💊. His latest work, “MLCNNF: A Multi-Label Convolutional Neural Network Framework for Predicting Adverse COVID Drug Reactions”, is published in IEEE Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (2025) 📄. He has also co-authored “BRMCF: Binary Relevance and MLSMOTE-Based Computational Framework” (2022) and “Advances in Predicting Drug Functions” (2023). His research extends to machine learning applications in pharmacology, including drug classification and side-effect prediction 🧠📊. With publications in high-impact journals (IF: 2.4-23.8) 📈, Pranab contributes significantly to AI-driven drug discovery 🚀.

Area of Intrest

Pranab Das is deeply passionate about cutting-edge technologies in Artificial Intelligence (AI) 🤖, Machine Learning (ML) 📊, and Deep Learning (DL) 🧠, with a strong focus on their applications in Bioinformatics 🔬. His research explores innovative AI-driven solutions for drug discovery, predictive modeling, and computational biology. By leveraging ML and DL techniques, he aims to enhance drug function prediction, side-effect analysis, and disease modeling. His interdisciplinary approach bridges technology and life sciences, driving impactful advancements in healthcare and pharmaceuticals 💊. Pranab continues to push the boundaries of AI in biomedical research, shaping the future of intelligent drug discovery 🚀.

Research Focus

Pranab Das is a researcher specializing in computational biology, bioinformatics, and artificial intelligence in drug discovery 🧬💻. His work primarily focuses on predicting drug functions, adverse drug reactions, and drug-disease associations using multi-label machine learning and deep neural networks 🤖🧪. He has contributed extensively to the field through innovative frameworks like MLCNNF, K1K2NN, and BRMCF, integrating chemical structures, gene ontology, and biological properties for enhanced drug prediction accuracy 🏥🔬. His research advances COVID-19 drug safety, pharmacology, and computational chemistry, making significant contributions to the intersection of AI and healthcare 🏥📊.