IIITDM Jabalpur

Profile

Assistant Professor in the field of Physics

Dr. Nihar Ranjan Jena received his PhD degree from Banaras Hindu University (BHU), India in 2006. Subsequently, he did his Postdoctoral from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel, and National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan. He has also worked as a Guest Scientist in the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany, and a research scientist in the Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. He is also a recipient of the Indo-Australia visiting fellowship (2013-2014) from the Indian National Science Academy, which was availed in the University of Queensland, Australia. Currently, he is working as an Assistant Professor in Physics at the PDPM-Indian Institute of Information Technology Design and Manufacturing Jabalpur, India.

Interest

Artificial DNA, Biosensors, Drug design, DNA-Protein interactions, Enzymatic catalysis.

Qualifications

PhD
Banaras Hindu University

Professional Experience

- Research Scientist
Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
- Visiting Academic
University of Queensland, Australia
- Research scientist
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
- Lecturer
Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Odisha
- Postdoc
National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
- Guest scientist
DKFZ (German Cancer Research Centre), Germany
- Postdoc
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Administrative Positions

- Member of the IWD Tender Committee
- Member of Central Purchase Committee
- Warden, Hall-III

Honors & Awards

Senior Research Fellowship Award from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
International Travel Award from DST
Late Shri Harbansh Singh Memorial Best Young Scientist Award by Laser & Spectroscopy Society of India
Young Scientist Award from Indian Science Congress
Visiting Academic at the University of Queensland, Australia
2013-2014

School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, University of Queensland, Australia

My courses

Current & Previous

Current

Course Code	Course name	Category	Department
Phys-601	Nanobiotechnology	PG/PhD	Natural Sciences
NS-531	Advanced Quantum Mechanics	PG/PhD	Natural Sciences
NS-205(g)	Modern Physics		Natural Sciences
NS-104	Electrodynamics and Optics	UG/	Natural Sciences
NS-102	Engineering Mechanics	UG/	Natural Sciences
OE3N38	Biophysics	UG/PhD	Natural Sciences

Course Code	Course name	Category	Institute

Research

Areas or Specialisation / Project Activities / Publications / Books

Areas / Specialization

Computational Biophysics

Project Activities

Understanding of DNA Damage and Repair by Enzyme Residues.
DST-sponsored project. Funds Approved: ~ Rs 14,00000 Tenure: 2009-2012
Computational Design of Functional Nucleotides for Artificial Life.
SERB-sponsored project. Funds approved: Rs 50,00160 Tenure: 2017-2020
Mechanisms of Activation of Type I Cytokine Receptors.
Indian National Science Academy (as a part of Indo-Australia S&T programme), Funds approved: ~Rs 20,00000
Mutational properties of DNA base Lesions.
IIITDM Jabalpur, Funds approved: ~10,00000
Discovery of Therapeutic Candidates for the Treatment of Zika Viral Infection by using Advanced Computational Techniques
CSIR-sponsored project. Funds approved: Rs 17,84000 Tenure: 2022-2025
Design and Development of Biosensors for the Early Diagnosis of Cancer and Other Diseases
DIC-sponsored project. Funds approved: Rs 13,00000 Project surrendered

Books/Book chapter

N.R. Jena, Neha Agnihotri, P.C. Mishra (2014) Formation of DNA Lesions, Its Prevention and Repair. Book Title: Computational Techniques in Pharmacy and Medicine, Springer, 59-94.

Publications

A Few Selected Journal Publications :

1. R.P. Yadav and N.R. Jena Aryl-benzyl Derivatives as Potent Antivirals Against the ZIKA Virus. In Silico Pharmacology 2025, 13, 107.
2. S. Pant and N.R. Jena Interactions of Artificial Nucleoside triphosphates with the RNA-dependent RNA Polymerase of the ZIKA Virus. Human Immunology 2025, 86, 111286.
3. R.P. Yadav and N.R. Jena Paritaprevir as a Pan-antiviral Against Different Flaviviruses, Front. Mol. Biosci. 2025, 12, 1524951.
4. S. Pant, N.R. Jena Mechanisms of NTP binding to the NS5 RdRp of the ZIKA Virus to Block the RNA Replication State, Current Medicinal Chemistry 2025, 32(12), 2460-2476.
5. S. Pant, N.R. Jena Repurposing of Anti-parasitic Drugs Against the NS2B-NS3 Polymerase of the ZIKA Virus. J. Biomol. Struct. Dyn. 2024, 42(19):10101-10113
6. N.R. Jena and P.K. Shukla Structure and Stability of Different Triplets Involving Artificial Nucleobases: Clues for the Formation of Semisynthetic Triple Helical DNA. Scientific Reports, 2023, 13, 19246.