Qualifications:

• B.Tech. (Dairy Technology)
 
• M.Tech. (Dairy Microbiology)
 
• Ph.D. (Dairy Microbiology)

Major Research Achievements:

• Developed MLST (Multi Locus Sequence Typing) Scheme using eight housekeeping genes (pgm, ddl, gyrB, purK1, gdh, mutS, tkt4 and phe) for indigenous probiotic isolates of Lactobacillus plantarum, and established Eleven “Sequence Types”(ST) for Lactobacillus plantarum
 
• Screened probiotics  and prebiotics  for expression  of Glucagon  like peptide-l  (GLP-l),a satiety  inducing  hormone,  as prophylactics  against  Diabetes Mellitus  2
 
• Developed probiotic concentrates in an optimized whey based medium
 
• Compared the gut bacterial diversity of North and North-East Indian population with different food habits
 
• Studied cell wall components for their anti-inflammatory potential invitro in cell line model
 
• Studied probiotics and their surface proteins mediated colonization resistance against extended spectrum beta lactamase (ESBL) Escherichia coli.

Awards:

• Rashmi H. M. Young Investigator Award (First award of Rs. 10,000) and a citation for paper entitled “Exploring probiotics and postbiotics for their potential to stimulate GLP-1 secretion from enteroendocrine cells” at 2nd PAi Conference and International Symposium on “Probiotics and Microbiome : Gut & Beyond” held on 3rd Nov. to 4th Nov., 2014 at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
 
• Young Investigator Award (3rd Prize) as Co-Author (Aparna, S.V., Rashmi H. M., Gulati, S., Batish, V. K. and Grover S.) for presentation on “Metagenomic insights in to the gut microbiota of Autistic and normal siblings in India” during 4th Biennial Conference of Probiotic Association of India (PAi) and International Symposium on Probiotic Therapy: Translating to Health and Clinical Practice, held at All India Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS), New Delhi (16 th -17 th February, 2018)
 
• ICAR-SRF for the Doctoral degree (2010-13)
 
• ICAR-JRF for Tech. degree (2008-2010)
 
• Awarded Dr. (Smt.)Krishnavenamma and Smt. Kaveramma memorial Gold medal from KVAFSU for highest CGPA in Dairy Microbiology during B. Tech. (Dairy Technology) degree
 
• Karnataka State Merit Scholarship for B. Tech.(Dairy Technology) programme for year 2006, 2007,2008

Training:

• Participated in ICAR Sponsored Short Course on “Metagenomics: Role of Next Generation Sequencing and Bioinformatics” for 10 days (Oct 15-24th,2012) at Department of Animal Biotechnology, Anand Agricultural University, Anand
 
• Attended 21 days Winter School on Advanced Molecular Techniques in Gene Regulation and Functional Genomics at ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute-Karnal from December 3-23rd, 2012
 
• Participated in CAFT Training on Computational and Statistical Advances in Bioinformatics for ‘omics’ Data” for 21 days (Jan 21- Feb10, 2014) at IASRI New Delhi
 
• Attended Training programme on “Strengthening Statistical Computation for NARS” at ICAR-NDRI from Feb. 17-22 2014
 
• Participated in Training programme on “ Basics of R programme” at ICAR-NDRI from 25th to 27th of Oct.2018
 
• Participated in QMS Internal Auditor Training at ICAR-NDRI form 3rd to 5th Oct. 2018

Patents, Technology, Methodology, Genetic Stock, Variety, etc.:

• Technology developed for the preparation of probiotic (LbS1 and LbS2) concentrates in an optimized whey based medium with Sarvotham Care Limited, Secunderabad -500003 for commercialization of probiotic preparations
 
• Developed and commercialized Technology of Indigenous probiotic culture Lactobacillus plantarum Lp91 as Co-Inventor
 
• Developed and commercialized Technology of Indigenous probiotic culture Lactobacillus fermentum  Lf1  as Co-Inventor
 
• Whole genome sequence of Lactobacillus plantarum Strain Lp91, a Promising Indian Probiotic Isolate of Human Gut Origin DDBJ/EMBL/Gene Bank under the Accession number: AXDQ00000000 BioProject: PRJNA221362; BioSample: SAMN02470621 as Co-author
 
• Whole genome Sequence of Lactobacillus fermentum Lf1, an Indian Isolate of Human Gut Origin DDBJ/EMBL/Gene Bank Accession number: AWXS00000000. BioProject: PRJNA221362; BioSample: SAMN02470621 as Co-author
 
• Whole Genome Sequence of Lactobacillus casei Lbs2 DDBJ/EMBL/Gene Bank Accession number:JPKN00000000 as Co-author
 
• Sequences of 16S rRNA gene and other housekeeping genes have been submitted to NCBI
1. 16S rRNA gene sequence (1233bp) of Lactobacillus fermentum ACCESSION No. KC509914
 
2. DNA-directed RNA polymerase alpha chain (rpoA) gene sequence (743bp) of Lactobacillus fermentum ACCESSION No. KC509912
 
3. phosphoribosylaminoimidazole carboxylase, ATPase subunit (purK1) gene sequence (569 bp) of Lactobacillus plantarum Lp91 ACCESSION No. KC509920
 
4. phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase subunit alpha (pheS) gene sequence (417bp) of Lactobacillus plantarum Lp91 .ACCESSION No. KC509913
 
5. D-alanine-D-alanine ligase (ddl) gene sequence (597bp) of Lactobacillus plantarum ACCESSION No. KC509915
 
6. glutamate dehydrogenase (gdh) gene sequence (630bp) of Lactobacillus plantarumACCESSION No. KC509916
 
7. gyrase, B subunit (gyr B) gene sequence (512bp) of Lactobacillus plantarum ACCESSION No. KC509917
 
8. DNA mismatch repair protein (mutS ) gene sequence (752bp) of Lactobacillus plantarum ACCESSION No. KC509918
 
9. phosphoglucomutase (pgm) gene sequence (636bp) of Lactobacillus plantarum Lp91ACCESSION No. KC509919
 
10. transketolase (tkt4) gene sequence (676bp) of Lactobacillus plantarum Lp91. ACCESSION No. KC509921

Research Publications:

• Rashmi, H. M. Singh, D. K., Rokana N., Pradhan, D., Batish, V. K., Grover, S. (2019). Screening and selection of probiotic Lactobacillus strains of Indian gut origin based on assessment of desired probiotic attributes combined with principal component and heatmap analysis, . LWT-Food Science and Technology. 105, 272-281
 
• Owusu-Darko, Rodney, Mushal Allam, Sílvia D. de Oliveira, Carlos AS Ferreira, Sunita Grover, Senzo Mtshali, Arshad Ismail, Rashmi H. Mallappa, Frederick Tabit, and Elna M. Buys. “Genome Sequences of Bacillus sporothermodurans Strains Isolated from Ultra-High-Temperature Milk.” Microbiology resource announcements 8, no. 22 (2019): e00145-19
 
• Pradhan, D., Singh, R., Tyagi, A., Rashmi, H. M., Batish, V. K., & Grover, S. (2019). Assessing safety of Lactobacillus plantarum MTCC 5690 and Lactobacillus fermentum MTCC 5689 using in vitro approaches and an in vivo murine model. Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, 101, 1-11
 
• Pradhan, D., Singh, R., Tyagi, A., Rashmi, H. M., Batish, V. K., & Grover, S. (2018). Assessing the Safety and Efficacy of Lactobacillus plantarum MTCC 5690 and Lactobacillus fermentum MTCC 5689 in Colitis Mouse Model. Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins, 1-11.
 
• Rokana, N., Rashmi, H. M., Batish, V.K. and Grover, S., 2016. Interaction between putative probiotic Lactobacillus strains of Indian gut origin and Salmonella: Impact on intestinal barrier function. LWT-Food Science and Technology.
 
• Rokana, N., Singh, R., Rashmi, H. M, Batish, V.K. and Grover, S., 2016. Modulation of intestinal barrier function to ameliorate Salmonella infection in mice by oral administration of fermented milks produced with Lactobacillus plantarum MTCC 5690–a probiotic strain of Indian gut origin. Journal of medical microbiology, 65(12), pp.1482-1493.
 
• Chaudhari, D. D., Singh, R., Rashmi, H. M., Rokana, N., Kaushik, J. K., Bajaj, R., … & Grover, S. (2017). Evaluation of casein & whey protein hydrolysates as well as milk fermentates from Lactobacillus helveticus for expression of gut hormones. The Indian journal of medical research, 146(3), 409.
 
• Chauhan R, Sudhakaran VA., Panwar H, Rashmi, H. M., Duary RK, Batish VK. and Grover S. 2014. Amelioration of Colitis in Mouse Model by Exploring Antioxidative Potentials of an Indigenous Probiotic Strain of Lactobacillus fermentum BioMed Research International. 2014(1-12).
 
• Grover, S., Sharma, V. K., Mallapa, R. H., & Batish, V. K. (2013). Draft genome sequence of Lactobacillus fermentum Lf1, an Indian isolate of human gut origin. Genome Announc., 1(6), e00883-13.
 
• Grover, S., Sharma, V. K., Mallapa, R. H., & Batish, V. K. (2013). Draft genome sequence of Lactobacillus plantarum strain Lp91, a promising Indian probiotic isolate of human gut origin. Genome Announc., 1(6), e00976-13.
 
• Anbukkarasi, K., UmaMaheswari, T., Hemalatha, T., Dhiraj Kumar, N., Prashant, S., Rashmi, H. M., & Rameshwar, S. (2013). Production of low browning Mozzarella cheese: Screening and characterization of wild galactose fermenting Streptococcus thermophilus International Journal of Advanced Research 1, 83-96

Review Articles:

• Rashmi, H. M., Rokana, N., Duary, R. K., Panwar, H., Batish, V. K., & Grover, S. (2012). Management of metabolic syndrome through probiotic and prebiotic interventions. Indian journal of endocrinology and metabolism, 16(1), 20.
 
• Panwar, H., Rashmi, H. M., Batish, V. K., & Grover, S. (2013). Probiotics as potential biotherapeutics in the management of type 2 diabetes–prospects and perspectives. Diabetes/metabolism research and reviews, 29(2), 103-112.
 
• Grover, S., Rashmi, H. M., Srivastava, A. K., & Batish, V. K. (2012). Probiotics for human health–new innovations and emerging trends. Gut pathogens 4 (1), 15
 
• Tyagi, A., Kumar, A., Aparna, S. V., Rashmi, H. M., Grover, S., & Batish, V. K. (2016). Synthetic biology: applications in the food sector. Critical reviews in food science and nutrition, 56(11), 1777-1789.