Current members

Debjani Paul (Group Leader)

Debjani has an Integrated PhD degree (2005) in Physics from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, where she worked in the group of V. Venkataraman. During her postdoctoral research she worked with Jean-Louis Viovy (Physical Chemistry Group, Curie Institute), Andrew Flewitt (Electronic Devices and Materials group, University of Cambridge), Piero Migliorato (Biosensor group, University of Cambridge) and Pietro Cicuta (Biological and Soft Systems group, University of Cambridge). She briefly worked in a pharmaceutical company before joining IIT Bombay in 2012. She can be contacted at debjani.paul@iitb.ac.in.

Santosh Jinnawar (Senior Administration Assistant)

Santosh has a Master’s degree in Commerce with specialisation in finance and accounts from University of Mumbai. He is the go-to guy for all purchases and administrative procedures in the Paul lab. He also steps in to help with managing lab stocks and inventory. He likes reading books on taxation, and playing football and cricket whenever he can get away from the lab. For all administrative enquiries related to the Paul lab, he can be reached at lab604.office@gmail.com.

Savita Kumari (Senior Project Research Scientist)

Savita has completed her B. Tech in Electronics & Instrumentation Engineering from Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology University, M. Tech in Medical Imaging & Informatics from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and PhD from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. During her PhD she developed a microfluidic platform to measure Young’s modulus of red blood cells. She is continuing on findings of her PhD project to explore changes in physical properties of red blood cells of stored, malaria-infected and sickle red blood cells. She likes to paint repurposed bottles, swimming and skating. She can be reached at 20003983@iitb.ac.in.

Sourav Acharya (PhD student, 2019 - present)

Sourav Acharya Ph.D (2019 - present) Sourav completed his Master’s in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Roorkee. He has worked as an Assistant Professor in KIIT, Bhubaneshwar and BIT Sindri before joining for PhD in IIT Bombay. He has developed a centrifugal microfluidic platform for micron sized particle separation. He is working on an inertial microfluidic platform for label free isolation of extracellular vesicles. He is a history enthusiast and a football fanatic. He can be contacted at sourav.acharya@iitb.ac.in.

Jenil Mange (M.Tech + Ph.D, 2022 - present)

Jenil completed his Bachelor’s in Biomedical Engineering from Mumbai University and is currently a dual degree (MTech + PhD) student in the lab. He worked as a project intern in a biotechnology company to develop a point-of-care lateral flow assay for the detection of prostate cancer. He is currently exploring digital microfluidics for the generation of hydrogel droplets for biological applications. He is the lab's official photographer. He loves nature and plays guitar. He can be contacted at jenil.mange@iitb.ac.in.

Apoorva S Raman (PhD student, 2022 - present)

Apoorva completed her Master’s in Microbiology from St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore. She worked in both academia (CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore) and industry (Syngene) before she joined her PhD at IIT Bombay. Her expertise lies in molecular biology and Protein biochemistry. She is working on developing a novel molecular detection technology for viral pathogens. She is a dancer, loves to play badminton, a cricket enthusiast and a foodie. She can be contacted at 214300008@iitb.ac.in.

Neha Biswas (PhD student, 2023 - present)

Neha did her Bachelor's of Science in Life sciences from Presidency University and then Master's of Science in Biological Sciences from Indian Association for Cultivation of Sciences (IACS), Kolkata. She is currently working in the field of single cell encapsulation using droplet microfluidics. She has interest in painting, doodling and badminton. She often likes to kill her spare time watching movies, anime, documentaries and web series. She can be contacted at 22d0086@iitb.ac.in.

Saumya Jaiswal (PhD Student, 2023 - present)

Saumya completed her Bachelor in Pharmacy from St. John Institute of Pharmacy and Research, University of Mumbai and M.S. (Pharm) in Medical Devices from National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research-Ahmedabad. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. under the supervision of Prof. Abhijit Majumder(Department of Chemical Engineering) and co-guidance of Prof. Debjani Paul. She is working on a Brain tumor-on-a-chip model for screening and testing of anti-cancer drugs. She loves to play badminton, watching movies and web series. She can be contacted at 23d0135@iitb.ac.in.

Tikaram (PhD student, 2024 - present)

Tikaram completed his bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Technocrats Institute of Technology and Science Bhopal and MTech in Biomedical Engineering from IIT (BHU) Varanasi. Currently, he is investigating cell deformability for disease diagnosis through microfluidics. Besides academics, he enjoys cricket and badminton. He can be contacted at 24D0069@iitb.ac.in.

Amitava Chowdhury (PhD student, 2025 - present)

Having obtained the Master of Science Degree in Biotechnology from St. Xavier's College, Kolkata, Amitava joined the lab as a Joint PhD student of IITB- Monash Research Academy. He aims to design a microfluidic platform to develop uniformly-sized microparticles with different surface chemistries that have applications in healthcare. He has experience in peptide-based vaccine design. He loves to try different styles of painting, play ukulele, watch movies and groove to music at his leisure. He is also interested in culinary arts and badminton. He can be contacted at 24D2022@iitb.ac.in.

Anuj Sunil Satpute (MTech, 2022 - present)

Anuj completed his under graduation in mechanical engineering from Bapurao deshmukh college of engineering sewagram. Currently he is doing mtech project in microfluidics and biological physics lab his mtech project is on mixing in centrifugal microfluidics. He like to play cricket. He can be contacted at anujsatpute1998@gmail.com

Sania Nadkarni (MTech, 2023 - present)

Sania completed her Bachelor’s in Biotechnology from Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore and is currently pursuing her Master’s in Biomedical Engineering. Her work focuses on studying bacterial motility in confinement, and tracking bacterial motion within microfluidic droplets to understand their behavior under different conditions. She also enjoys swimming and dancing. She can be contacted at 23m0149@iitb.ac.in.

Kanak Joshi (MTech, 2024 - present)

Kanak is a veterinarian and did her bachelor's from Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar. She is pursuing M.Tech in Biomedical Engineering and recently joined the lab for her M.tech project. She is an animal lover and loves to explore new places. Her hobbies include playing sports, painting and watching web-series. She can be contacted at 24m0148@iitb.ac.in.

Shekhar Panicker (Project Research Assistant)

Shekhar completed his Bachelor’s in biotechnology from Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal, in the year 2024, he completed his final year project work in the application of paper fluidics in the development of cost-effective biosensors for the detection of microplastics in sewage waters. Currently working in the field of centrifugal microfluidics and cell deformability measurements. He loves to play football and is actively involved in athletics. He can be contacted at 30006316@iitb.ac.in.

Shreya Karandikar (IRCC Intern, 2025 - Present)

Shreya is pursuing her Master’s in Bioanalytical Sciences from Ramnarain Ruia College, Mumbai. During her time at ICMR-NIRRCH (Summer 2024), she studied the effects of an odorant on sperm physiology. She has also worked on pharmacognosy and biomarker discovery. Currently, she is working on microfluidics-based isolation and characterization of extracellular vesicles for diagnostic applications. A true nature lover, she finds solace in art and music. She can be reached on LinkedIn.