Dr Sekar Raju
Senior Research Fellow (Marie Curie)
Address:
Department of Chemical and Process Engineering
University of Sheffield
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
Tel: +44 (0) 114 222 0062/7594
Fax: +44 (0) 114 222 7501
email : S.Raju@sheffield.ac.uk
Biography
I graduated from University of Madras, India in June 2000 with the PhD thesis entitled `Microfouling and its control in a freshwater cooling system with special reference to algae´. Subsequently, I was awarded the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) fellowship for two years (Oct. 2000-Sep. 2002) to carry out research in Germany. I initially worked in the Department of Aquatic Microbiology (Biofilm Centre) at the University of Duisburg-Essen on the project `Quantification of biofilm components using confocal laser scanning microscopy and image analysis´ (Oct. 2000–Dec. 2001). I then moved to the Department of Molecular Ecology, Max-Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany to work on the project `Development of improved fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) protocol for quantification of gram-positive Actinobacteria´ (Jan. - Sep. 2002). Later on, I was given the Max-Planck Postdoctoral Fellowship (Dec. 2002 - Nov. 2004) at the same institute to work on the research projects i) Flow sorting of bacterioplankton for molecular analysis, and ii) In situ identification and activity of bacterioplankton in high mountain lakes.
During the period Dec. 2004 to Jul. 2008, I worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Biological Sciences at the Florida International University (FIU), Miami, USA on the project `Molecular analysis of microbial communities associated with black band disease of corals´. I was also as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Biological Sciences at FIU teaching the General Microbiology (MCB 3020) course during Fall 2007, Spring and Summer 2008.
Since August 2008, I have been working as a Marie Curie Senior Research Fellow in an EU transfer of knowledge (TOK) project on `Microbiology of Urban Water Systems´ in the Departments of Chemicals and Process Engineering (Biological and Environmental Systems Group), Animal and Plant Sciences and Civil and Structural Engineering at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom.
Current Research Projects
Microbiology of Urban Water Systems:
- Dr Catherine Biggs, Dr Mark Osborn and Dr Joby Boxall (Project Investigators)
- Dr Sekar Raju and Dr Peter Deines (Marie Curie Transfer of Knowledge Fellows)
Detection and quantification of hygienic relevant bacteria in water distribution systems (MSc EEE & MSc BBE Projects):
- Supervisors; Dr Catherine Biggs, Dr Sekar Raju and Dr Peter Deines