Two food microbiologists conferred PhD degrees by Sikkim University

SE Report
GANGTOK: Two food microbiologists from Sikkim, MeeraOngmu Bhutia and RanjitaRai have been conferred PhD degrees by Sikkim Central University for their research works in their respective topics.
MeeraOngmu did her research under the supervision of Prof. JyotiPrakashTamang, Department of Microbiology, Sikkim University and co-supervision of Dr.NamrataThapa, Head and Associate Professor, DBT-Biotech-hub, Department of Zoology, NBBD College, Tadong.
The title of herthesis is “assessment of microbiological safety of some traditionally processed meat and fish products of Sikkim.” The major objective of her thesis was to profile the bacterial community by high-throughput sequence analysis, metagenome gene functionality and to detect the toxin-producing virulent genes as food safety using PCR technique in traditionally processed fish and meat products of Sikkim like Sidra, Sukuti, SukakoMaccha, Kargyong, SatchuandKhyopeh, a press release informs.
Hailing from Sajong, Rumtek, East Sikkim, Meeradid her schooling from VCGLRabongla, South Sikkim, BSc MLT from Mizoram University, MSc in Medical Microbiology from HNBGarhwal Central University and MPhil in Microbiology from Sikkim University. She made an oral presentation of her research work at AIST-Biomedical Research Institute, Tsukuba, Japan in 2018. At present Meera is pursuing post-doctorate research at department of microbiology, Sikkim University under supervision of Prof. Tamang.
Similarly, RanjitaRaiof Central Martam, Bermiok Bazar, West Sikkim was awarded PhD degree by SikkimUniversity in Microbiology under supervision of Prof.JyotiPrakashTamang. The title of herPh.D thesis is“Diversity of Lactic acid bacteria and their probiotics properties in some naturally fermented milk products of Sikkim”.
The outcome of her thesis was to study a colossal diversity of bacterial community in naturally fermented milk products of Sikkim- Dahi(cow and yak-milk), Soft Chhurpi(cow and yak-milk), hard chhurpi(yak-milk), and philu(yakmilk) by 16S rRNA gene sequencing tool, high-throughput sequence analysis, bioinformatics of gene metabolic pathways, and detection of probiotic genes for health benefits of consumers.
Ranjita did her schooling from Hee-Yangthang SSS, West Sikkim School, BSc from Sikkim Government College, Tadong, MSc and MPhil in Microbiology from Sikkim University. She participated at 6thAIST International Imaging Workshop at AIST-Biomedical Research Institute, Tsukuba, Japan in January 2019. Currently she is working as microbiologist at Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (VRDL) Covid-19 Testing Laboratory, STNM Hospital, Gangtok, the release adds.