Division of Bioinformatics and Computational Genomics
Infectious diseases caused by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites are major health concerns not
only in The major thrust areas for Bioinformatics and Comparative Genomics are analysis of infectious diseases
including parasitic, viral or bacterial diseases. With the ever-increasing availability of whole genome
sequences, the doors to knowledge and discovery are always open. Our endeavors are focused on contribution to
the global knowledge pool and providing skilled manpower. With the emergence of new diseases, the bioinformatics
facilities would serve as watch dogs and provide improved and novel strategies for disease control and
prevention. A few other important areas of research in the division are evolutionary bioinformatics,
environmental bioinformatics, and clinical bioinformatics.
Dr. RAMA ADIGA
- DesignationAssistant Professor
- Email rama_adiga@nitte.edu.in
- Contact No..
- Joining date 01-08-2013
With more than 15 years of experience in research and teaching, she has attended several
conferences and been resource person at National and International level. Her latest visit to the
U.S.A where she was invited as speaker to present a research paper on Zika virus at the First
International Conference on Zika Virus 2017 held at Washington D.C, 2017. Her major research areas
include Parasitology with special interest in Malaria in the city of Mangaluru where drug
resistance is beginning to appear. She is presently working in the division of Bioinformatics and
Computational genomics with increased surveillance and research on various viruses spreading
across the globe.
Doctor of Philosophy (Bioscience), Mangalore University, 2012
Master of Science (Biochemistry), Nagpur University, 1988
Diploma Post Graduate Diploma in Advanced Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics Institute of India, Noida, 2005
IBM Advanced Career Education: Web Programming, 2002
IBM Advanced Certificate Course: Oracle 8i, 2002
Assistant Professor, Nitte University Center for Science Education and Research, Mangaluru (2013- till date)
Project Assistant, College of Fisheries, Mangaluru (2006-2013)
Molecular characterization of malarial plasmodium
Malaria and Antimicrobial Resistance
Molecular Biology
Bioinformatics
Sequencing and bioinformatics
Appreciation award from NitteDU for participation in National Integration Camp, 2020
Invited speaker at First International Conference on Zika virus, Washington D.C, U.S.A,
2017
Best Poster Award, Eighth symposium on Diseases in Asian Aquaculture, Mangalore, 2011
Associate Editor, International Journal of Biosensors and Bioelectronics , 2016
Elsevier Outstanding Reviewer Award , 2018
Member, Board of Studies in Biological Sciences (UG and PG), Nitte DU
Member, Lab Vigilance Committee, NUCSER
Program Officer-NSS, NUCSER
Life member, Society for Biological Chemists
Undergraduate-
Clinical Biochemistry, General Biochemistry, Introductory Bioinformatics
Postgraduate-
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Medical Biochemistry, Food Chemistry
• PhD student :01 (ongoing)
• PG student: 03 (completed), 02 ongoing
• UG students: 02 (completed), 02 ongoing
Journal publications
- Adiga R (2021). Benchmarking Datasets from Malaria Cytotoxic T-cell Epitopes Using Machine Learning Approach. Avicenna Journal of Medical Biotechnology 13:87-91.
- Rama Adiga, Jyothi Bhatkal (2021). In Silico study of gene expression changes in prostate cancer due to endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Research Journal of Chemistry and Environment.25:1-4
- Adiga, R. (2019). Molecular Docking of Hyrtimomine A-K from marine sponge Hyrtios spp. as anti-cancer target of Phosphoinositide-dependent kinase 1. Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical and Clinical Research 12:130-135.
- Adiga, R. (2019). Emergence of Nipah Virus: A Review. Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Research 8:48-54
- Adiga, R. (2016). Phylogenetic analysis of the NS5 gene of Zika virus. Journal of Medical Virology 88:1821-1826.
- Adiga, R., Karunasagar, I. (2015) In silico approaches to drug discovery. International Journal of Advanced Research 3:1522-1528.
- Adiga, R., Adiga R. (2015). Bioinformatics based analysis of microarrays in human bipolar disorder. International Journal of Innovative Research in Computer and Communication Engineering 3: 261-266.
Conference publications- 8
• PhD student :01 (ongoing)
• PG student: 03 (completed), 02 ongoing
• UG students: 02 (completed), 02 ongoing
• PG student: 03 (completed), 02 ongoing
• UG students: 02 (completed), 02 ongoing
Dr. KRISHNA KUMAR BALLAMOOLE
- DesignationAssociate Professor G-I
- Email krishnakumarb@nitte.edu.in
- Contact No..
- Joining date 16-08-2014
Dr. Krishna Kumar Ballamoole is a molecular microbiologist, obtained Ph.D. (Microbiology) from Manipal University. His research focuses on understanding and characterizing the genomic patterns that drives the evolution and infection capabilities of microbial pathogens of humans and animals. His work combines classical microbiological methods, molecular biology tool and next-generation sequencing strategies as fundamental tools to shed light on evolution, virulence capabilities and antibiotic resistance mechanisms in clinically relevant human and animal pathogens. In addition to pursuing the main research interest, the he is also involved in developing monoclonal antibody and nucleic acid based rapid diagnostics for the detection of pathogens.
- Doctor of Philosophy (Microbiology), Manipal University, Manipal, 2014
- Master of Science (Microbiology), Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University, 2009
- Assistant Professor - Grade-II, Nitte University Center for Science Education and Research, Mangaluru (2018-till date)
- Assistant Professor, Nitte University Center for Science Education and Research, Mangaluru (2014- 2018)
- Research Fellow, KVAFSU (2012-2014)
- Bacterial pathogenesis
- Antimicrobial Resistance
- Molecular diagnostics
- KSET - Karnataka State Eligibility Test, 2020-21
- Best Research Paper Award, NitteDU, 2019
- Indo-Japanese Young Research Fellow, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Japan, 2019
- Early Career Research Award, DST-SERB, Govt. of India, 2017.
- EMBO short term Bfellowship, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, 2017
- Japan-Asia Youth Exchange program in Science (SAKURA exchange) awardee, 2015
- Invited talk at International Conference of Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, 2015
- Member Secretary, Intuitional Ethics Committee
- Member, Student Welfare Committee
- Coordinator, NueLearn 2020-21, NUCSER
- Member, International Society of Infectious Diseases, USA
- Life Member, Society of Biological Chemists, India
- Life Member, Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI), India
- Member, Professional Fisheries Graduates' Forum (PFGF), India
- Member, College of Fisheries Alumni Association, Mangalore, India
Undergraduate:
Postgraduate:
- Fundamentals of Immunology; Food and Nutrition
Postgraduate:
- Immunology; Fish Immunology and Health Management; Molecular
- Diagnostics; Food Chemistry; Food Toxicology
PhD students: 01 (submitted); 04 (ongoing)
PG Students: 05 (completed)
UG Students: 03 (completed)
Selected Journal publications:
Google scholar ID: https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=KpRyzTYAAAAJ&hl=en
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ballamoole-Kumar
Web of Science: https://publons.com/researcher/4048767/ballamoole-krishna-kumar/
Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7821-7419
Patent filed: 02
- Prithvisagar, K. S., Krishna Kumar, B., Kodama, T., Rai, P., Iida, T., Karunasagar, I., & Karunasagar, I. (2021). Whole genome analysis unveils genetic diversity and potential virulence determinants in Vibrio parahaemolyticus associated with disease outbreak among cultured Litopenaeus vannamei (Pacific white shrimp) in India. Virulence, 12(1), 1936-1949
- Rai, P., Kille, S., Kotian, A., Kumar, B. K., Deekshit, V. K., Ramakrishna, M. S., ... & Karunasagar, I. (2021). Molecular investigation of the dengue outbreak in Karnataka, South India, reveals co-circulation of all four dengue virus serotypes. Infection, Genetics and Evolution, 92, 104880
- D'Souza, C., Prithvisagar, K. S., Deekshit, V. K., Karunasagar, I., Karunasagar, I., & Kumar, B. K. (2020). Exploring the Pathogenic Potential of Vibrio vulnificus Isolated from Seafood Harvested along the Mangaluru Coast, India. Microorganisms, 8(7), 999
- Rajesh, M.K., Muralikrishna, K.S., Nair, S.S., Kumar, B.K., Subrahmanya, T.M., Sonu, K.P., Subaharan, K., Sweta, H., Prasad, T.K., Chandran, N., Karunasagar, I. (2020) Facile coconut inflorescence sap mediated synthesis of silver nanoparticles and its diverse antimicrobial and cytotoxic properties. Materials Science and Engineering: C 111: 110834
- D'Souza, C., Kumar, B.K., Rai, P., Deekshit, V.K., Karunasagar, I. (2019). Application of gyrB targeted SYBR green based qPCR assay for the specific and rapid detection of Vibrio vulnificus in seafood. Journal of Microbiological Methods 166:105747
- Rohit, A., Kumar, D.S., Dhinakaran, I., Joy, J., Kumar, D.V., Kumar, B.K., Karunasagar, I., Karola, P. and Dag, H. (2019) Whole-genome-based analysis reveals multiclone Serratia marcescens outbreaks in a non-Neonatal Intensive Care Unit setting in a tertiary care hospital in India. Journal of Medical Microbiology 68: 616-621
- D'Souza, C., Kumar, B.K., Kapinakadu, S., Shetty, R., Karunasagar, I., Karunasagar, I. (2018) PCR-based evidence showing the presence of Vibrio vulnificus in wound infection cases in Mangaluru, India. International Journal of Infectious Diseases 68:74-76
- Deekshit, V.K., Kumar, B.K., Rai, P., Karunasagar, I., Karunasagar, I. (2015) Differential expression of virulence genes and role of gyrA mutations in quinolone resistant and susceptible strains of Salmonella Weltevreden and Newport isolated from seafood. Journal of Applied Microbiology 119:970-980
- Kumar, B.K., Deekshit, V.K., Raj, J.R.M., Rai, P., Shivanagowda, B.M., Karunasagar, I., Karunasagar, I. (2014) Diversity of Vibrio parahaemolyticus associated with disease outbreak among cultured Litopenaeus vannamei (Pacific white shrimp) in India. Aquaculture 433:247-251
- Kumar, B.K., Deekshit, V.K., Rai, P., Shekar, M., Karunasagar, I., Karunasagar, I. (2014) Presence of T3SS2β genes in trh+ Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated from seafood harvested along Mangalore coast, India. Letters in Applied Microbiology 58:440-446
- Kumar, B.K., Raghunath, P., Devegowda, D., Deekshit, V.K., Venugopal, M.N., Karunasagar, I., & Karunasagar, I. (2011) Development of monoclonal antibody-based sandwich ELISA for the rapid detection of pathogenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus in seafood. International Journal of Food Microbiology 145:244-249
Google scholar ID: https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=KpRyzTYAAAAJ&hl=en
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ballamoole-Kumar
Web of Science: https://publons.com/researcher/4048767/ballamoole-krishna-kumar/
Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7821-7419
Patent filed: 02
Extramural Funding
- Development of immunofluorescent nanodiagnostic assay as a point-of-care detection of dengue virus, Co-principal Investigator, Funded by DST-BDTD, 2021-2023
- DST-Technology Enabling Centre (TEC), funded by DST, 2019-2024
- Exploring the distribution and characterization of pathogenicity islands and ecological fitness genes in seafood associated Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Principal Investigator, funded by DST-SERB, 2018-2021
- Tracing the molecular epidemiology of Leptospirosis and assessing its zoonotic transmission potential in Dakshina Kannada District, Karnataka, Principal Investigator, Funded by Nitte (DU), 2019-2021
- Development of monoclonal antibody against NS1 and E proteins of dengue virus, Co-principal Investigator, Funded by Nitte (DU), 2019-2021
- Antiviral properties of four medicinal plant extracts against dengue virus, Co-principal Investigator, Funded by Nitte (DU), 2018-2020
- Development of rapid point of care assay for the sensitive detection of Vibrio vulnificus; Principal Investigator, Funded by NitteDU, 2018-2020
- Effect of carbohydrate on quorum sensing mediated pathogenicity in Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Principal Investigator, Funded by NitteDU, 2018-2020
