Rate My Professor Pankaj Barah

Dr. Pankaj Barah is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at Tezpur University, where he leads the EvolOMICs group. He is a Computational Systems Biologist whose research investigates evolutionary mechanisms in biological systems from molecular to ecosystem levels, leveraging high-throughput data, next-generation sequencing, and advanced computational models. His expertise spans genomics, systems biology, bioinformatics, machine learning, and predictive modeling, developed through over a decade of experience in international and interdisciplinary environments.

Dr. Barah earned a Ph.D. in Computational Systems Biology from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in 2013, an M.Sc. in Bioinformatics from the University of Madras in 2006, and a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Biology from Gauhati University in 2003. Prior to joining Tezpur University in 2017, he served as a Bioinformatics Scientist in the Computational Oncology Group at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, Germany, and as a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He has held visiting positions at institutions including the University of Ghent in Belgium and the Technical University of Denmark. His honors include the Ramalingaswamy Re-entry Fellowship from the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, and selection as a member of the Indian National Young Academy of Sciences (INYAS) in 2021. He has authored or co-authored books such as Gene Expression Data Analysis: A Statistical and Machine Learning Perspective (2021) and contributed chapters on systems biology approaches to abiotic stress responses. Dr. Barah has led projects funded by the Department of Biotechnology and the Indian Council of Medical Research focused on topics including noncoding mutations in biological systems and gallbladder cancer biomarkers. He teaches courses including Evolutionary Genomics and Analytical Techniques.