Dr. Ajay Nair

Assistant Professor

In pursuit of a career in science, Dr. Ajay Nair started with a BS in Microbiology from VIT University in India followed by a MS in Genetics from Bangalore University in India. In 2010, he was offered a scholarship to pursue a Ph.D in Evolutionary Developmental Biology from the University of Otago in New Zealand. His thesis research revisited Waddington’s classic Genetic Assimilation experiments, which were the first to claim inheritance of an acquired character (Waddington C.H., 1953). During his Ph.D he also had the opportunity to present his work at several international conferences. He bagged the best oral presenter award at the fourth meeting of the European Society for Evolution and Developmental biology (Euro Evo Devo), Lisbon, Portugal, 2012. Following the successful completion of Thesis, he was honored to join Dr. Patrick Gaffney’s group at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) as a postdoctoral fellow. Working with Dr. Gaffney, who is a pioneer in the field of complex genetic disorders, offered him the apt platform to grow as a scientist. At OMRF, he lead investigative studies on the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of autoimmune diseases in a grant funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH). The aim was to molecularly characterize the functional importance of SLE risk haplotypes, such as tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced protein 3 (TNFAIP3). He is presently working as an academician in the capacity of an Assistant Professor at the School of Basic & Applied sciences in Dayananda Sagar University.

View Citations