Faculty

Former Faculty
PAST FACULTY MEMBERS

Dr. J. J. Shah was Professor and Former Head of the Department of Biosciences (1964-84). His major research area was Plant Anatomy. He had received grants for 8 Projects from various funding agencies. He successfully guided 30 students for their Doctoral work and published more than 160 research papers in Peer- Reviewed Journals. He had been a Visiting Professor at Cornell University Ithace, U. S. A. and delivered lectures at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York Wiscosin University, Harward University, California University, Duke University. He was elected Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi, 1979. He acted as a UGC Visiting Fellow at Karnatak University, Dharwad, 1983-84. He was elected as a UGC Emeritous Fellow in the year 1984. He had received Hari Ohm Ashram Prerit Bhaikaka Award for the best research Paper in Biological Science in the years 1969-70, 71-72, 79-80, 81-82, 82-83. He also received Professor V Puri Award of the Indian Botanical Society. He was selected as INSA Senior Scientist in the year 1985. Considering his participation in the 1942 Freedom Struggle, Government of India distinguished him as a Freedom Fighter in 1980.

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Late Dr. G. L. Shah was a Professor in the Department during 1964- 1984. His areas of specialization were plant Embryology, Taxonomy and Floristics, Phyto-sociology, Anatomy of fruits, vegetative organs and Palynology. He had received three Projects and guided 26 Post graduate students for their Ph. D. He had published 170 Research papers in the Journals of National and International repute. He has made worthy and rich contributions to the Botany of India in general and Gujarat in particular. He wrote a book on Plant classification in Gujarati viz. “Vanaspati Vargikaran” published by the University Granth Nirman Board. Prof. Shah’s monumental work “Flora of Gujarat State” was published in 1978. This was the first state level flora in India. For preparing this flora he had practically visited and combed each and every corner of the state.

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Dr. R. J. Patel joined the Department and rose to Professorship and headed the Department 1984- 85. His research areas included Phycology, Taxonomy, Cytology, Life history of Algae. He handled four research Projects during his tenure. He guided 20 students for Ph. D. and published 200 of research papers. He was awarded Shri Bhaikaka Prize for Best Research paper in 1967 -68

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Professor J. A. Inamdar joined the Department and later on became head of the Department 1985-92. He guided 34 students for Ph. D. and published more than 250 research Papers. His area of research was Plant morphogenesis. He received Hari Ohm Ashram Prerit Award for the best Research Paper in Botany.

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Dr. B. P. Deshpande joined the Department in the year 1977. Her area of Research was Plant Anatomy. She guided two students for their Ph.D. She operated three Research Projects and published more than 20 Research Papers in both National and International Journals.

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Dr. Y. S. Dave joined the Department and later on he headed the Department during 1992-97 and 1997-2002. His major areas of interest of research include plant morphogenesis, ultra- structure, histo-chemistry and comparative anatomy. He successfully operated seven Research Projects. He guided 13 students for their Doctoral degree and published 142 research papers in both National and International Journals and wrote two books.

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Dr. P. M. Mehta joined the Department and later on became a Professor and later headed the Department for a brief period in the year 1997. His research area was Plant physiology particularly Physiology of growth and development. He guided 10 students for Ph.D. and handled five research projects. He published 45 research papers in various Journals.

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Dr. I. L. Kothari joined the Department and later on he became Professor and headed the Department during 2002-2007. His areas of Specialization include Morphogenesis of Economically Imporq2tant plants, Plant and Fungal Biotechnology, Plant and Microbial Diversity. He handled 22 research Projects during his tenure. He guided 23 Post Graduate students for the doctoral degree and published 86 research papers in both National and International Journals.

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Dr. K. S. Rao did 25 years of teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level and35 years of research in the area of plant structure and function at M.S. University of Baroda and Sardar Patel University. His contribution is significant on seasonal activity of vascular cambium and xylogenesis in tropical trees. Using light and electron microscopes he has highlighted the histological and histochemical details of plant cells and tissues. Visited France, Germany, UK, South Korea and Brazil in connection with his research work and conducted several workshops on ‘Electron Microscopy’. He has guided 11 students for doctoral degree and published 125 research papers, many in reputed international journals like Protoplasma, Planta, Canadian Journal of Botany, Annals of Botany, New Phytologist etc. Also handled research grants sanctioned to him by UGC, CSIR, ICAR and DBT. Dr. Rao also served as administrative head of Department of Biosciences from 2008 to 2011 and associated with several academic bodies during his tenure as a professor.

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Dr H C Dube taught at Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar and at the University of Udaipur. He was Professor and Head of the Department of Life Sciences at Bhavnagar University for 17 years. He has authored three books published and edited four volumes published in India and USA latest being the Annual Review of Plant Pathology 2002. He was elected FNASc in 1989 and made President of the Mycological Society of India in 2001. He has been on the Editorial Board of Indian Journal of Microbiology, Indian Phytopathology and Journal of Mycology and Plant Pathology

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Dr. J. D. Patel joined the Department 1977 became Professor in Botany. His area of Specialization was Plant morphogenesis (vegetative and reproductive shoot apex and shell zone). He guided 13 students and published 100 research papers and authored five books. He received grants for 10 Research Projects. He received Hari Ohm Ashram Prerit award for the Best Paper in Biology for the year 1970-72 and Hari Ohm Ashram Prerit award for the Best Paper in Engineering and Technology for the year 1981.

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Late Dr. B. C. Rana joined the Department in 1985 and became Professor in Botany and guided 6 students for Ph.D. and completed 3 research projects. He published 25 research papers and authored 2 books. He visited Australia under Indo-Australian exchange Program. He attended International Training held at Honkong in 1983.

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(Late) Dr. Jitendra D. Desai joined the Department as a lecturer in Microbiology in 1977-84 and moved on to South Gujarat University briefly and joined then the IPCL at Vadodara. Currently he is Vice President & Chief (Environment), Center of HSE Excellence, Group Manufacturing Services, Reliance Corporate Park, Reliance Industries Ltd., Navi Mumbai (India). During his tenure in academic institutions he guided six students for Ph. D. He has published 129 Technical papers & reviews in internationally recognized Journals; books and chapter in books; Ranked in top 1% citations in the field of Bio-surfactants and Bio-remediation. He was awarded UNESCO Award (1975) for post Doc. Research at CAS, Czechoslovakia, Young Scientist award (1980) from British Council, UK, Career Award (1981) from UGC. India, Fulbright Award (1982-83) From CIES, USA. He was nominated for INSA fellowship (1988-89). He was also awarded by ICRO-UNESCO (1978), FGI (1996, 2001), National Award (1991-92) for DG- Technology development, Govt. of India and Indo-German Green Tech Award (2000 and 2003).

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Dr. Anjana Desai was a faculty member in the Department during 1976-84. She then moved to the M. S. University of Baroda and worked as Reader and Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology. Currently she is a UGC-Emeritus Fellow in the same Department at M. S. University. Her areas of specialization include Microbial physiology, Microbial genetics and Environmental microbiology. She had completed 18 research projects and currently she has one research project on hand. She guided 17 students for Ph. D. and guiding one student. She published 74 research papers in both National and International Journals. She was a Visiting Scientist at University of California, San Deigo, USA in 1983 and awarded a DBT-Overseas Associate ship- 1997 and visited University of Georgia, Athens, U.S.A.

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Dr. V. C. Kotak was a Faculty member in the years 1977- 88. Currently he is associated with Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York as an Associate Research Professor. His major area of research is Neuroscience. He had completed four research projects. Under his guidance four students obtained doctoral degrees and one is currently working. He published approximately forty research papers in highly rated International Journals and wrote six book chapters and reviews in the field of Neuroscience. His work has been recognized and was awarded NIH and BUSCH Memorial Fellowships, UGC Grant for Behavioral and Neuroendocrinology and, as Joint PI he was awarded 2 NIH Grants in Neuroscience. Currently, he teaches both undergraduate and graduate level courses at Rutgers University (NJ), University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) and New York University.

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Dr. Harish Padh joined the Department as a lecturer during 1977-1978. He was in USA from the period 1979 – 1995 where he worked as an Assistant Director and Associate Professor in reputed Universities. He then moved to the M. S. University of Baroda and worked as Professor during 1996-2001. During the same time period, he was appointed as a Director of B V Patel PERD Center and Project Director of NIPER, Ahmedabad. Currently He served as the Vice Chancellor of our University for two terms from 2010-2016.

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Late Dr. S. C. Gajaria joined the Department in the year 1986. She guided three students for their Ph.D. and published more than 36 research papers, 6 review articles and authored one book. Her contributions to the field of Algology are immense.

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Dr Ramesh M Ray is presently working as Associate Professor at University of Tennessee Health Science Centre. He was associated with Sardar Patel University for 17 years (1976 to 1993). He worked as a faculty in Microbiology in the Department of Biosciences, as Lecturer and then as Reader till 1993 after which he migrated to USA. He is presently working on Apoptosis and Cell migration and the details of his current research activities are available at https:// academic.uthsc.edu/faculty/ facepage. php?netID=rray3&personnel_id=149 145. He is also the Vice-President of our SPUBS Alumni Association.

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Dr. Linz-Buoy George is presently working as Professor at School of Sciences, Gujarat University. He was associated with Sardar Patel University for 11 years (1994 to 2005). He worked as a faculty in Zoology in the Department of Biosciences, as lecturer. He published many research papers in reputed international and national journals. Currently he is working on anticarcinogenic effect of some selected plant extracts and plant extract as antimalarial agents.

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Dr. Baljit Pujirath joined the Department as a Lecturer in Biochemistry in 1989. She has guided one research student for his Ph. D. Degree. She has left the department in 2004.

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Dr. M. S. Jarullah has joined the Department as a Lecturer in Biochemistry in 1978 and continued in the Department till 1984. He taught Biochemistry subject to the M. Sc. and Ph. D. students of the Department.

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Dr. E. Ramnath has joined the Department as aLecturer in 1985. His areas of research interest include Cytogenetics, Biotechnology etc. He left the Department in1989 and moved to UK. There he switched to human molecular genetics a year after moving to London. Since then,worked in Cambridge, Oxford and back in London. He was alsoinvolved with the International Human Genome Mapping during the years1990-2001. he has also edited 3 books on Genomics Protocols. He was involved in teaching cell biology and genetics to the M. Sc. students of the department. He did his Ph. D. from Banaras Hindu University.

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Dr. Kishori M. Patel has served the department for a short period (1984-1986) as a Lecturer in Microbiology.

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Dr. Ajay Thaker also served the Department for a short period as a Lecturer in Microbiology.

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Dr. Geeta Thakkar has joined in December 1994 and left the department in April 1995.

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Prof. Kiran Kalia has joined 1985 in biochemistry and left in 2019 VRS

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Prof. T. V. Ramana Rao has joined in 1985 as technician, promoted to lecturer in 1988, retired in 2020 (Plant Physiology)

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Prof. R. B. Subramanian has joined 1986 and retired in 2022 (Plant Biotechnology and Molecular Biology)

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Prof. Amita Shah has joined 1993 and retired in 2022 (Environmental Microbiology)