Ravindra Naraine, PhD

Biography

My name is Ravindra Naraine. I am from Grenada, West Indies but was born in Guyana, South America. I am currently pursuing my PhD studies in Molecular and Cellular Biology, Genetics and Virology at the Faculty of Science, Charles University under the supervision of Dr. Radek Sindelka. My project deals with developmental evolution and aims to identify any evolutionary conservation of motifs important for the localization of maternal transcripts in the oocytes of Amphibians, Fish and Mammals. Before the start of my PhD studies, I completed my Master of Science in Microbiology at the St. George’s University in Grenada where I studied the activity of microaerophilic, neutrophilic iron oxidizing microorganisms from a warm iron spring. After my MSc. studies I worked for about five years as a member of the faculty at the St. George’s University where I assisted in the courses of Genetics, Microbiology and Genome Annotation. I found educating students very rewarding as I really enjoyed sharing my knowledge in Science to eager minds. During this period, I was also fortunate to be involved in a variety of projects including Vibrio and E. coli taxonomy, characterization of CRISPR CAS operons and spacer sequences in acidophiles and the ecological studies of large viruses (girus) and dengue virus. As the years progressed I became increasingly intrigued by the field of bioinformatics and the magnitude of knowledge that can be elucidated from simply studying the genome. Furthermore, it was interesting to observe how the information ascertained can help guide decisions for public health and the basic sciences. My PhD project relies heavily on bioinformatic approaches and as such I am currently learning more about this fascinating field. I still love the field of classical microbiology and would still like to maintain a nice balance of bioinformatics and laboratory skills.

Selected Publications

1. Farmer, A. James, R. Naraine, G. Dolphin, W. Sylvester, V. Amadi & S. Kotelnikova. “Urinary Tract Infection Escherichia coli Is Related to the Environmental Escherichia coli in Their DNA Barcoding and Antibiotic Resistance Patterns in Grenada.” Published in Advances in Microbiology, 6, 33-46 2016. doi: 10.4236/aim.2016.61004.
2. Naraine, A. Charles, T. Walcott, L. Findley, K. Daniel S. Alleyne, J. Williams J. Ramirez, D. Im, A. Joseph, O. Khvostova, A. McEwen, S. Yeates, S. Kotelnikova. “Characterization of CRISPR-Cas Operons and spacer elements in the acidophile, Ferroplasma acidarmanus fer1.” Presented at 20th International BioInformatics Workshop on Virus Evolution and Molecular Epidemiology (VEME), August 2015 Trinidad and Tobago.
3. Nithisoontorn, R. Naraine, A. Bukkuri, H. Mayo-Malasky, A. McEwen, S. Kotelnikova “Transposases and Insertion Sequences in Ferroplasma acidarmanus shared homology with 15 Bacteria and Archaea” Presented at 13th Symposium on Bacterial Genetics and Ecology, June 2015 Milan, Italy.
4. McKain, K. King, D. High, G. Lambert, R. Naraine, P. Fields, A. Baldwin. “The Prevalence of Dengue in Grenada: A Five Year Retrospective Study.” Presented at SGU Research Day 2014.
5. Kotelnikova, R. Naraine, T. Smith, S. Jägevall, L. Hallbeck, and K. Pedersen. “The Microbial Diversity Present in a Tropical Circumneutral Iron Spring in Grenada,” published in, The Caribbean Academy of Sciences – Science & Technology, October 2008 pg. 202-211