This document contains the curriculum vitae of Naveen Kumar Mekala. It summarizes his education, including a PhD in Biotechnology from the National Institute of Technology in India, research experience studying topics like umbilical cord blood stem cell differentiation and the effects of heat shock proteins on neuronal cells, publications in peer-reviewed journals, awards and honors received, conference presentations, relevant lab techniques, and references.

1. Naveen Kumar Mekala
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI 48201
Mobile: 313-398-9838; Email: gd5170@wayne.edu
EDUCATION
National Institute of Technology, Warangal, India
• PhD., Biotechnology
Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, India
• M.Tech., Biotechnology
Bharatidasan University, Trichy, India
• M.Sc., Microbiology
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
National Institute of Technology, Warangal, India (Jan 2010-Jan 2014)
Project: Fabrication of Bioactive Polymer Scaffolds for Umbilical Cord Blood Derived Bone
Regeneration.
• Results: Able to differentiate umbilical cord blood stem cells into osteoblasts using
cheaper supplement (L-ascrobic acid) and test there biocompatibility over 3D PLGA
scaffolds.
Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, India (Feb 2014-Feb 2016)
Project: Effect of small heat shock protein (alpha B crystallin) on neuronal cell survival against oxidative
stress.
• Results: Able to minimize the neuronal progenitor cell death against oxidative stress
caused by paraquat treatment.
Wayne state University, Detroit, MI (March 2016- Present)
Project: Effect of small G proteins on beta cell dysfunction under gluco-, lipotoxicity.
PUBLICATIONS
1. IJ Micheal, AJ Vidhyasagar, BK Kumar, NK Mekala, A Asthana*, Ch.M Rao. Foil
assisted replica molding for fabrication of microfluidic devices and their application in
vitro. Lab Chip 2014; 14(19): 3695-3699.
2. NK Mekala, RR Baadhe, R Potumarthi. Mass transfer aspects of 3D cell cultures in
tissue engineering. Asia-Pacific J Chem Eng 2014; 9(3): 318-329.
3. NK Mekala, RR Baadhe, SR Parcha. Molecular Level characterization of L-Ascorbic
Acid Induced Osteoblasts from Umbilical Cord Blood Source. Tissue Eng Regen Med
2013; 10(4): 218-222.
4. NK Mekala, RR Baadhe, SR Parcha. Study on Osteoblast like Behavior of Umbilical
Cord Blood Cells on Various Combinations of PLGA Scaffolds Prepared by Salt Fusion.
Curr Stem Cell Res Ther 2013; 8(3): 253-259.

2. 5. NK Mekala, RR Baadhe, SR Parcha, PD Yalavarthi. Enhanced Proliferation and
Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells by L-Ascorbic
acid, in vitro. Curr Stem Cell Res Ther 2013; 8(2): 156-162.
6. NK Mekala, RR Baadhe, SR Parcha, PD Yalavarthi. Osteoblast differentiation of
umbilical cord blood derived mesenchymal stem cells and enhanced cell adhesion by
fibronectin, Tissue Eng Regen Med 2012; 9(5): 259-264.
7. RR Baadhe, R Potumarthi, NK Mekala. Influence of dilute acid and alkali pretreatment
on reducing sugar production from corncobs by crude enzymatic method: A comparative
study. Bioresource Technol 2014; 162:213-217.
8. RR Baadhe, NK Mekala, SR Parcha, PD Yalavarthi. Combination of E-arginine
repression and enzyme fusion technology for improved production of amarphadine in
yeast. J Anal Method Chem 2013; Article ID 140469, 8 pages.
9. RR Baadhe, NK Mekala, SR Palagiri, SR Parcha. Development of Petri Net-Based
Dynamic Model for Improved Production of Farnesyl Pyrophosphate by Integrating
Mevalonate and Methylerythritol Phosphate Pathways in Yeast, Appl Biochem
Biotechnol 2012; 167: 1172-1182.
10. NK Mekala, RR Singhania, RK Sukumaran, A Pandey. Cellulase Production Under
Solid-State Fermentation by Trichoderma reesei RUT C30: Statistical Optimization of
Process Parameters. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 2008; 151: 122-131.
AWARDS AND HONORS
1. Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) - Research Associate (Sept 2015 to
9th
March 2016).
2. Postdoctoral Fellowship (Project), CSIR-CCMB, Hyderabad, India.
3. International Travel Grant for Young Scientist Received DST travel grant for young
scientist for attending the “Tissue science 2012”conference at Chicago, USA.
4. Best paper presentation award In Medical Biotechnology at ICIB-2012, Punjabi
University, Patiala, India.
5. Key scientific publication in medical research for “Mekala et al., Curr Stem Cell Res
Ther (2013)” was recognized by Global Medical Discovery, Canada.
6. Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) - SRF during Ph.D.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
1. NK Mekala, RR Baadhe, SR Parcha, PD Yalavarthi. “Molecular Level Characterization
of L-Ascorbic Acid Induced Osteoblasts from Umbilical Cord Blood Source”
International conference on Industrial Biotechnology (ICIB 2012) at Panjabi University,
Patiala.
2. NK Mekala, RR Baadhe, SR Parcha. “In vitro degradation studies of synthetic polymer
scaffolds (PLGA) with simulated body fluids” Tissue science 2012 at Chicago, USA.

3. 3. NK Mekala, RR Baadhe, SR Parcha. “Polymers as Drug Delivery Vehicles In Cancer”
International Conference on Advancement in Polymeric Materials (APM 2012) at
CIPET, Ahmadabad.
4. NK Mekala, RR Baadhe, SR Parcha. “State of the art and future directions of polymers
in regenerative medicine” Polymer science and engineering: emerging dimensions (PSE-
2010) at Punjab University, Chandigarh.
RELEVANT LAB TECHNIQUES
1. Isolation, maintenance and characterization (FACS) of cell cultures.
2. MTT assay, alkaline phosphates assay.
3. Immunocytochemistry, ELISA, western blotting.
4. Imaging techniques including fluorescence and confocal microscopies.
5. Molecular biology techniques like isolation of nuclear and non-nuclear DNA from
prokaryotic system, DNA isolation of animal cell cultures, SiRNA studies.
6. Protein expression in prokaryotic cells and purification using chromatographic techniques
(gel filtration, ion exchange, desalting and endotoxin removal columns, etc).
7. Handling small experimental animals including mice and Rats.
REFERENCES:
1. Mr. Sekhar Ponuganthi
Assistant manager
Syngene International Limited
Email:sekharponuganthi@gmail.com
Phone: +91-9008573299
2. Dr. P Sreenivasa Rao
(PhD Supervisor)
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Biotechnology
National Institute of Technology,
Warangal,
Email: parcha@nitw.ac.in;
Phone: +91-984-975-0769
3. Dr. Kiran Kumar Bokara
(Postdoctoral Mentor)
Scientist, CSIR-Center for Cellular
and Molecular Biology
Hyderabad, India.
Email: bokarakiran@ccmb.res.in;
Phone: +91-9177874028
4. Prof. Anjan Kowluru
(Postdoctoral Mentor)
Eugene Applebaum College of
Pharmacy and Health Sciences,
Wayne State University,
Detroit, MI 48201
Email: akowluru@med.wayne.edu;
Phone: 313-577-5490