Dr. Waheeta Hopper

Professor

Email id: waheetah@srmist.edu.in
Area: Microbial Biotechnology, Bioinformatics
Affiliation:Department of Biotechnology, School of Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering & Technology, Kattankulathur Campus, SRM Institute of Science & Technology

Education

Other Details:

Courses

• Cell Biology
• Microbial Biotechnology
• Drug and pharmaceutical Biotechnology

Research Interests

• Drug development
• Antibiotic resistance
• Metabolic engineering

Selected publications

• Julius A., Hopper W. 2019. A non-invasive, multi-target approach to treat diabetic retinopathy, Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, 109: 708-715,  IF: 4.545.
• Dineshkumar K., Aparna V., Hopper W. 2017. Ligand based-pharmacophore modeling and extended bioactivity prediction for salinosporamide A, B and C from marine actinomycetes Salinispora tropica. Combinatorial Chemistry & High Throughput Screening 20(1):3-19, (IF: 1.04).
• Bhakkiyalakshmi E., Kesavan D., Suresh K., Dornadulla S., Hopper W., Paulmurugan R., Ramkumar K.M. 2016. Pterostilbene-mediated Nrf2 activation: Mechanistic Insights on Keap1:Nrf2 Interface. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry 24(16):3378-3386, (IF: 2.923).
• Nirmal C.R., Rao R., Hopper W. 2015. Inhibition of 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate 7-phosphate synthase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis: in silico screening and in vitro validation. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 105:182-193. (IF: 4.519).
• Aparna V., Dineshkumar K., Mohanalakshmi N., Velmurugan D., Hopper W. 2014. Identification of Natural Compound Inhibitors for Multidrug efflux pumps of Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa using in silico High-Throughput Virtual Screening and in vitro validation. PLoS ONE 9(7):e101840, (IF: 3.73).
• Dineshkumar K., Aparna V., Madhuri K.Z., Hopper W. 2014. Biological activity of Sporolide A and B from Salinispora tropica: in silico target prediction using ligand based Pharmacophore mapping and in vitro activity validation on HIV-1 reverse transcriptase. Chemical Biology & Drug Design 83(3):350-361, (IF: 2.802).
• Tamilvanan T., Hopper W. 2014. Biologically active ligands for Yersinia outer protein H: Feature based pharmacophore screening, docking and molecular dynamics studies. Combinatorial Chemistry & High Throughput Screening 17(7):579-595, (IF: 2.0).
• Prabakaran P., Hopper W., Rao R. 2013. Comprehensive database of chorismate synthase enzyme from shikimate pathway in pathogenic bacteria. BMC Pharmacology & Toxicology 14: 29-35, (IF: 2.03)
• Ahameethunisa A.R., Hopper W. 2012. In vitro antimicrobial activity on clinical microbial strains and antioxidant properties of Artemisia parviflora. Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials 11:30, (IF: 2.19).
• Ahameethunisa A., Hopper W. 2010. Antibacterial activity of Artemisia nilagirica leaf extracts against clinical and phytopathogenic bacteria. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 10:6, (Highly accessed article). (IF: 2.241).
• Kannan P., Petchiammal C., Mohankumar R., Hopper W. 2010. In vitro antifungal activity of Indirubin isolated from a South Indian ethnomedicinal plant Wrightia tinctoria R.Br. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 132:349-352, (IF: 3.055).
• Kannan P., Shanmugavadivu B., Petchiammal C., Hopper W. 2006. In vitro antibacterial activity of Wrightia tinctoria leaf extracts against skin microorganisms. Acta Botanica Hungarica 48 (3-4): 323-329, (IF: 0.589).
• Hopper W., Mahadevan A. 1997. Degradation of catechin by Bradyrhizobium japonicum. Biodegradation 8 (3): 159-165, (IF: 2.49).
• Hopper W., Mahadevan A. 1991. Utilization of catechin and its metabolites by Bradyrhizobium japonicum. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 35: 411-415, (IF: 3.81).

Patents

• Hopper W., SP. Palaniappan and J. Thomas A method of preparation of a rhizobial inoculant for achieving enhanced nodulation activity and grain yield in legumes and a composition and medium therefor. Patent No. 181856, 1995.

Selected Papers in Proceedings

• Vadivu G., W. Hopper, H. Srimathi 2014. Jena with SPARQL to find Indian natural plants used as medicine for diseases. Proceedings of International Conference on Internet Computing and Information Communications, Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing. Sathiakumar S., Awasthi L.K., Masillamani R., Sridhar S.S. (eds.), Vol. 216, pp. 225-237, Springer, India
• Vadivu G., W. Hopper, G. BharatRam 2011. Semantic Data Integration and Querying Using SWRL. In: Trends in Network Communications – Communications in Computer and Information Science. D.C. Wyld, M. Wozniak. N. Chaki, N. Meghanathan, D. Nagamalai (eds.), Vol. 197, Part 3, pp. 567-574, Springer Verlag, Berlin, Germany.
• Hopper W., F. Tilton, O.P. Rupela, J. Thomas 2001. Analysis of early events in non-nodulating chickpea lines. In: Nitrogen Fixation: Global Perspectives, Finan, T.M., M.R. O'Brian, D.B. Layzell, J.K. Vessey, W. Newton (eds.), CAB International, p. 459.
• Hopper W., F. Tilton, O.P. Rupela, J. Thomas 1998. Flavonoids in non-nodulating chickpea lines. In: Biological Nitrogen Fixation for the 21st Century, Elmerich, C., A. Kondorosi, W.E. Newton (eds.), Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, p. 101.
• Thomas J., W. Hopper, T.R. Ramasubramaniam 1997. Scope of using molecular biology tools to enhance biological nitrogen fixation. In: Extending Nitrogen Fixation Research to Farmer’s Fields, Rupela, O.P., C. Johansen, D.F. Herridge (eds.), ICRISAT, India, pp. 39-56.
• Thomas J., SP. Palaniappan, W. Hopper, C.B. Nirmala 1995. Development of Rhizobium and Azospirillum inoculants with enhanced potential for field application. In: Nitrogen Fixation: Fundamentals and Applications, Tikhonovich, I.A., N.A. Provorov, V.I. Romanov, W.E. Newton (eds.), Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp. 659-664.
• Hopper W., R. Swaminathan, SP. Palaniappan, J. Thomas 1995. Preincubation of Rhizobium inoculants with flavonoids enhances nodulation in chickpea and peanut. In: Nitrogen Fixation: Fundamentals and Applications, Tikhonovich, I.A., N.A. Provorov, V.I. Romanov, W.E. Newton (eds.), Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, p. 325.

Selected Papers Presented

• Sanjaykumar S., Menon V., Hopper W. Pharmacophore based identification of inhibitors against RNA polymerase of drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis.  Recent Advances in Computational Drug Design, IISC, Bangalore. Sep. 2013.
• Aparna V., Mohanalakshmi N., Hopper W. Structure-based pharmacophore and virtual screening for bacterial MexB efflux pump inhibitors. International Conf. Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics, Singapore. Feb. 2011.
• Mohanalakshmi N., Aparna V., Hopper W. Virtual screening of potential drug-like inhibitors against MexB efflux protein from Pseudomonas aeruginosa. International Conf. Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics, Singapore. Feb. 2011.
• Dinesh Kumar K., Hopper W. In silico anti-cancer activity prediction of secondary metabolites from Salinispora spp. International Conf. Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics, Singapore. Feb. 2011.
• Petchiammal C., Hopper W. Virtual screening and molecular docking studies of allontoic acid from Phaseolus vulgaris against nitric acid synthase. International Conf. Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics, Singapore. Feb. 2011.
• Hopper W. Identification of efflux protein inhibitors against Gram negative organisms using bioinformatics tools. The 3rd Japan-India Bilateral Symposium on Bioinformatics, Tokyo, Japan. Oct. 2009.

Funded Projects

• Development of drug lead molecules against microorganisms used as bioweapons, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), 2012-2015, P.I.
• Identification of efflux protein inhibitors to gram negative organisms using bioinformatics tools and in vitro analysis and Crystallographic studies of target membrane protein-inhibitor complexes, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), GoI, - INDO-JAPAN Bilateral Project, 2009-2014, P.I..
• Improvement of neem based skin and oral-care products, Contract Research, HENKEL India, 2003, P.I.
• Development of Rapid Molecular Methods for …of Microbial Inoculants - National network 'Integrated Nutrient Management", Department of Biotechnology, GoI, 2001-2002, P.I.
• Regulation of Nodulation in Chickpea, Department of Biotechnology, GoI, 1997-2000, P.I.

Academic Experiences

• Asst. Prof & Head, Dept. Biotechnology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology (formerly known as SRM University), November 2003 to 2004.
• Professor & Head, Dept. Bioinformatics, SRM Institute of Science and Technology (formerly known as SRM University), 2005 to 2007.
• Professor & Head, Dept. Bioinformatics, School of Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering & Technology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology (formerly known as SRM University), 2007 to 2016.
• Professor, Dept. Biotechnology, School of Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering & Technology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology (formerly known as SRM University), July 2016 to present.

Research Experience

• Post-Doctoral Fellow, 1988-1989, Madurai Kamaraj University
• Senior Research Associate, 1989-1990, Scientist, 1990-1994, Senior Scientist, 1994-1999, Group Leader, 1999-2003, Centre for Biotechnology, SPIC Science Foundation, Chennai, India.

Other Professional Experience

• Member, Board of Studies, Dept. Plant Biotechnology, Loyola College, Chennai; Dept. Biotechnology, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Thirunelveli; Dept. Biotechnology, Stella Mari's College, Chennai.
• Internal Auditor, Quality in Education, Loyola College, Chennai; Stella Maris College, Chennai.
• Member, Institutional Biosafety Committee, Centre for Biotechnology, SSF, 1991-2003.

Achievements and Awards

• National Technology Day Award, Contribution towards Development of plant based drugs against human fungal infections, SPIC Science Foundation, 2002.
• Technology Transfer Award for Protease, SPIC Science Foundation, 1998.
• Research Associate, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), May 89.
• Senior Research Fellowship, CSIR, 1986 - 1988.
• Junior Research Fellowship, Department of Environment, GOI, 1983 - 1985.
• Travel grant:
  • AIST, Japan, The 3rd Japan-India Bilateral Symposium on Bioinformatics, Tokyo, Japan, 2009
  • UNESCO, 11th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation, Paris, France, 1997.
  • SPIC Science Foundation, 13th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation, Hamilton, Canada, 2001; 10th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation, St. Petersburg, Russia, 1995.
  • CSIR, GOI, 8th International Conference on Global Impacts of Applied Microbiology, Hong Kong, 1988.
• Special Prize in Botany in M. Sc.
• Certificate of Merit in Botany in II year M. Sc.