Have about 29 years of rich experience in field of Medical Microbiology.

16 years of varied experience in anti-infective drug discovery programs (antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral)/ novel targets related to varied in-vitro Microbiological aspects of pathogenic bacteria. Designing new concepts /developing new methodologies to support the same in microbiology. Key resource person to procure clinical bacterial strains from Indian hospitals/ Institutes used in different programs for positioning of NCEs. I am also maintaining a repository of some important bacterial strains.  Handled DBT funded collaborative project (ICGEB-Ranbaxy): Antiviral Agent from Medicinal Plants against Dengue Infection.

Areas of Special Interest: My interest involves understanding drivers/mechanisms of antimicrobial

resistance (AMR) with a strong focus on recent trends of AMR pattern/ susceptibility profiles of

GNB/MDROs producing carbapenemases/ other β lactamases with special reference to carbapenem resistance pattern in Enterobacteriaceae and nonfermentors that cause infections. Contributing in tackling AMR and new concepts to support the same.

Currently teaching M.Sc. Microbiology students “Introduction to One Health”

Courses taught

• Bioethics, IPR & Biosafety
• Research Methodology
• Life Science and Public Health

Industrial experience of 16 years in pre-clinical research towards various in vitro aspects of anti-infective drug discovery programs/ novel target, and was Group Leader (Microbiology) at Daiichi Sankyo/Ranbaxy Research Labs and Senior Scientist, Ranbaxy Research Laboratories, Gurgaon.

Academic Experience

Research Supervision/Teaching Experience

• Currently Professor in Dept. of Biotechnology & Microbiology (since Nov 2024)
• Member of external advisory committee of PhD program at Centre for Drug Design Discovery & Development (C4D), SRM University, Sonipat, Haryana: Serve as technical expert for PhD scholars.
• Supervised PhD students and trainees, Infectious Disease Department, Daiichi-Sankyo Life Research Centre.
• Served (remote) as an external faculty member in the Infectious Diseases Educational Academia of Zydus Cadila, I was facilitating their AMR initiatives.
• Guided dissertations of M.Sc. Biotechnology / MD Microbiology students at AIIMS and Lady Hardinge Medical College.

Awards received at Daiichi Sankyo

• Innovation Award (2015)
• First Runner up Team of the Year (2015)
• First Runner up Innovation Award (2013)

IAMM Delhi Chapter 2002: First Prize for Best Poster

January 1996 - April 1997: ICMR Senior Research Fellow

September 1995 Talwar Research Foundation Fellowship

Had been the center-stone for initiation and coordination of the Microbial In Vitro Susceptibility Testing EQAS Network (MIST) at Ranbaxy with 22 Microbiology Departments of medical and research institutions, pan India. This effort is being continued at SRM University (C4D).

Patent: Anti-Dengue Activity of Cissampelos Pareira Extracts: US 2012/0107424 A1 Publication Number: WO/2010/084477

• Tarani Kanta Barman, Manoj Kumar, Tridib Chaira, Smita Singhal, Tarun Mathur, Vandana Kalia, Ramkumar Gangadharan, Madhvi Rao, Manisha Pandya, Pragya Bhateja, Ruchi Sood, Dilip J. Upadhyay, Shibu Varughese, Ajay Yadav, Lalima Sharma, Naresh Kumar, Jitendra Sattigeri, Pradip K. Bhatnagar, and V. Samuel Raj.
  Novel Fluorobenzothiazole as a Dual Inhibitor of Gyrase B and Topoisomerase IV Against Gram-Positive Pathogens. Future Microbiology June 2023, 18(10). DOI: 10.2217/fmb-2022-0207
• Tarani Kanta Barman, Manoj Kumar, Tridib Chaira, Smita Singhal, Tarun Mathur, Vandana Kalia, Ramkumar Gangadharan, Madhvi Rao, Manisha Pandya, Pragya Bhateja, Ruchi Sood, Dilip J. Upadhyay, Shibu Varughese, Ajay Yadav, Lalima Sharma, Naresh Kumar, Jitendra Sattigeri, Pradip K. Bhatnagar, and V. Samuel Raj.
  A novel fluorobenzothiazole RBx 10080758 as a dual inhibitor against dual bacterial GyraseB (GyrB) and Topoisomerase IV (parE) of Gram-positive pathogens causing skin and respiratory infection. BioRxiv preprint. DOI: 10.1101/2022.09.08.507076
• Tarani Kanta Barman, Manoj Kumar, Tridib Chaira, Ramkumar Gangadharan, Smita Singhal, Madhvi Rao, Tarun Mathur, Pragya Bhateja, Manisha Pandya, Venkataramanan Ramadass, Anjan Chakrabarti, Biswajit Das, Dilip J. Upadhyay, V. Samuel Raj.
  Potential of the Fluoroketolide RBx 14255 Against Streptococcus Pneumoniae, Neisseria Meningitidis and Haemophilus Influenzae in an Experimental Murine Meningitis Model. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2019 Jul 1;74(7):1962-1970. DOI: 10.1093/jac/dkz119.
• Asher M. Siddiqui, Jitendra A. Sattigeri, Kalim Javed, Syed Shafi, M. Shamim, Smita Singhal, Zubbair M. Malik.
  Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of spiropyrimidinetriones oxazolidinone derivatives as antibacterial agents. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters 28 (2018) 1198–1206.
• R. Sood, R. Raut, P. Tyagi, P.K. Pareek, T.K. Barman, S. Singhal, R.K. Shirumalla, V. Kanojea, R. Subbarayana, R. Rajerethinama, N. Sharma, A. Kanaujia, G. Shukla, Y.K. Gupta, C.K. Katiyar, P.K. Bhatnagar, D.J. Upadhyaya, S. Swaminathan, N. Khanna.
  Cissampelos pareira Linn: Natural Source of Potent Antiviral Activity against All Four Dengue Virus Serotypes. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, December 2015.
• S. Singhal, K.P. Purnapatre, V. Kalia, S. Dube, D. Nair, M. Deb, P. Aggarwal, S. Gupta, D.J. Upadhyay, A. Rattan, V.S. Raj.
  Ciprofloxacin-resistant Neisseria Meningitidis, Delhi, India. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 13(10), pp. 1614-1616, October 2007.