Quality Control Plant

SHIRISHA MEDA

Email: ********.****@*****.*** Tel: 662-***-****

An experienced, organized and goal-oriented individual with excellent communication skills. Actively seeking for a

challenging opportunity in the Bio-tech industry. A team player with an analytical bent to problem solving and

delivering under high stress environment with resource constraints. 4 years of industrial and a c a d e m i c research

experience in various b io c h e m ic a l, analytical and technical skills in the field of Biotechnology.

Laboratory Skills

• • Enzyme A ctiv ity Assay

DNA Isolation

• • Southern Blotting and Western Blot

DNA Sequencing (Sanger)

• • Protein quantitation using Bradford assay

Primer design

• Mass spectrometry – LC/MS, MALDI-TOF

• PCR Cloning, Sub-cloning, Restriction

MS, MALDI-TOF/TOF MS

digestion

• ELISA

• Random and Site-directed Mutagenesis

• Immuno-precipitation

• B acterial transformation

• Introduced to X-ray Crystallography

• PCR analysis

®, RT-PCR, Colony PCR • SNP Genotyping by using Chip technology

- Endpoint TaqMan

- Copy number variation • Bioinformatic tools - VectorNTI,

MODELLER, PROCHECK, SPDBV, PYMOL

• Gel Electrophoretic techniques

- SDS-PAGE, 2D – gel electrophoresis, CE • Worked with LIMS (Laboratory Information

Management System)

• Bacterial cell culture and Plant tissue culture

• Computational Skills

• Chromatographic techniques

- HPLC, LC(Affinity and Size exclusion), TLC - Microsoft Office tools, C programming

• UV/VIS Spectrophotometry

• Hands-on experience on various high-throughput automation lab equipment:

- Liquid Handling systems like TECAN, OASIS and been introduced to Thermo Scientific Orbitor RS and

Meridian.

- Instruments like Kingfisher Flex, 7900HT and ViiA7 Fast Real-Time PCR Systems, Thermo cycler unit,

Fluidigm-SNP genotyping, TECAN M1000 fluorescence plate reader and Fluorometer using SoftMaxPRo.

Career History

1. QC Specialist II Jan’12–Present

BAYER CROPSCIENCE, Lubbock, TX

• Perform quality control testing on cotton seed/leaf samples by using various molecular and biochemical

analytical techniques on a high-throughput manner within a defined timeline:

- DNA Extraction using Kingfisher Flex and TECAN Integrated system

- PCR analysis to test for the presence/absence and zygosity of a trait by using a liquid handling system –

TECAN, to transfer DNA and Master mix into the 96 and 384 well PCR plate and carry out Endpoint TaqMan

and Gel-based PCR.

- Conduct RT-PCR on 7900HT and ViiA7 Fast real-time systems for testing adventitious presence in bulk

seed and copy number variation, along with protein detection tests by doing Lateral Flow Strip analysis.

- Score the data using LIMS scoring template.

- Worked on Molecular breeding projects by performing SNP genotyping using Fluidigm Chip Technology.

• Perform method validations and proficiency tests according to applicable SOP’s and document the results

according to the data collection sheets/LIMS guidelines and in a lab notebook.

• Assist in identifying solutions to problems and did investigations on method performance including OOS and

OOT results generated in the lab.

• Act as responsible agent for laboratory equipment, including maintenance according to cGMP requirements

and follow safety measures to ensure safe work environment as well as a good team player.

• Train others on analytical methods according to the applicable SOP’s.

2. Intern June’10–Jan’12

BAYER CROPSCIENCE, Lubbock, TX

• Did Inventory all received seed and leaf samples

• Performed m o l e cu l a r a n d b i o ch e m i c a l t e ch n i q u e s t h a t i n cl u d e d :

- D N A e x t r a c t i o n b o t h manually and semi-automated (Kingfisher Flex).

- Did PCR/RT-PCR analysis to test for the presence/absence, zygosity, adventitious presence and number of copies of a

particular trait by performing Endpoint Taqman® and gel-based PCR on a high-throughput manner. Carried out

protein detection tests by Later Flow Strip Analysis.

- Expertise in performing SNP genotyping by using Fluidigm Chip technology.

3. Research Assistant Dec’08-May’09

Department of Plant Sciences, University of Hyderabad, INDIA

• Worked on phenotypic characterization of Cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp.PCC6803 mutant sll1252 by growth

analysis using UV/VIS spectrophotometer and on locating the site at which Sll1252 gene assists electron transfer.

• Maintained Cyanobacterial cultures on both solid and liquid media.

Projects

1. ‘Deep Saturation Mutagenesis toward Structure Function analysis of Glutaredoxin A’ Jan’10-May’10

Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX

• Worked on this project by doing one of the site directed mutagenesis by designing mutagenic primers to carry out the

mutation of aminoacid Cysteine to Methionine for Structure and Function analysis of Glutaredoxin A.

• Did gene amplication, cloning, Bacterial transformation, grown E.coli cultures, expressed the gene and carried out cell

lysis using French Press.

• Purified the native and mutant proteins by Size exclusion chromatography, HPLC and SDS-PAGE.

• Generated protein crystals and studied the effects of the mutation by doing enzyme activity assay and protein

structure using a visualization software tool PYMOL.

2. ‘Functional Expression, Purification, and Characterization of 3a-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase / Carbonyl

Reductase from Commomonas testosterone’. Aug’09–Dec’09

Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX

• Using site-directed mutagenesis changed one of the co-factor binding motif of CR gene in order to characterize the

mutant CR protein.

• Performed g e ne am plif i ca t io n, li g at io n, cl o nin g, s ubclo nin g, r e s t r i ct io n d i g e s t io n,

t r ans f o r m at io n, e x pr e s s i o n and pu rification of both native and mutant CR enzyme by doing various

molecular techniques like DNA sequencing, site-directed mutagenesis, chemical cell lysis using B-PER reagent, Ni-Affinity

chromatography, Protein quantification using Bradford Assay, SDS-PAGE to check protein purity, Western blot and

Enzyme Activity assay.

3. ‘Homology Modeling of Glutathione S-transferase’ April’08-June’08

Osmania University, Hyderabad, India

• Worked on Homology modeling of Glutathione using MODELLER, PROCHECK, SPDBV and other bioinformatics

tools.

4. ‘Genomewide Analysis of ATPase Ion Transporters in Rice (Oryza sativa)” May’07-June’07

Global Institute of Biotechnology, Hyderabad, India

• Grouped and analyzed ATPase ion transporter families in rice using Bioinformatics databases taking

Arabidopsis thaliana as reference.

Education

• Masters in Biotechnology August 2009 – May 2011

GPA: 3.95/4

Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX

• Bachelors in Biotechnology August 2005 – May 2009

GPA: 3.6/4

Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad, India

Conferences

• Presented a case study on “Drug for HIV- a philosophers’ dream or reality” at National Institute of Technology, I n dia in

Jan’08.

• Presented review article on “P53 gene” at Vaagdevi College of Engineering, India in Feb’07.

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