
Dr. Nagaraju Nekkala
Scientist
Quality Management & Instrumentation Division
CSIR – Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine,Canal Road, Jammu – 180001
Email: nagarajunekkala[dot]iiim[at]csir[dot]res[dot]in
Bio Sketch
Dr. Nagaraju Nekkala started his research career as a Project Assistant at CSIR-NCL, Pune in 2011. He completed his Ph.D. from CSIR-IICT, Hyderabad in 2017, later he moved to Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT, Mumbai) as a Post-Doctoral research fellow.
His Industrial journey was started with Aurobindo Pharma Ltd as an Assistant Manager in Quality control between 2019 to 2020 and then he moved to Novartis Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad as a Scientist in the Analytical R&D from 2020 to 2022.
He joined to CSIR-IIIM as a scientist in Oct-2022.
Education
| Degree | Subjects | University | Qualifying Year |
| PhD | Chemistry | CSIR – Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) | 2017 |
| MSc | Organic Chemistry | Andhra University | 2009 |
| BSc | Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry | Andhra University |
2007 |
Position Held
| Position Held | Period | Organization |
| Scientist | October-2022 to Present | CSIR-IIIM, Jammu |
| Scientist | October-2020 to October-2022 | Novartis Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad |
| Assistant Manager | April-2019 to October-2020 | Aurobindo Pharma Ltd, Hyderabad |
| Post-Doctoral Fellow | December-2017 to March-2019 | Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai |
| Project Assistant | March-2011 to October-2011 | CSIR- National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune |
Area of Expertise
- Structural elucidation, Identification and characterization of various natural (plant/microbe) as well as synthetic based chemical compounds using sophisticated analytical instruments like HPLC, GC-MS, LCMS, HRMS, FTIR and CDS.
- Analytical method development, validations and quantification of bioactive constitutions of medicinal plants and pharmaceutical products like APIs and Drug products using HPLC, GC-MS, LCMS, and HRMS.
- Analytical method development, validations (through ICH guidelines) and quantification of genotoxic impurities such as nitrosamine impurities by using GC-MS/MS and LC-MS/MS.
- Preparation and review of specifications, standard test procedures, method validation protocols and reports as per required regulatory guidelines.
- Management of deviations, OOS and OOT in the quality control lab.
- Knowledge of current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP), Good Laboratory Practices, good documentation skills and Data Integrity principles.
Projects
- CSIR Seed Grant: Isolation and structure of α-glucosidase inhibitor produced by Streptomyces strain
- FTT020510: A new chemo-enzymatic process for the synthesis of pregabalin
- HCP-0007- CSIR Aroma Mission
Publications
| Authors | Title | Journal |
| Sonali Sharma, Ishfaq Nabi Najar, Anu Radha, Nagaraju Nekkala, Varsha Sharma, Vinod Kumar | An effective method for developing cellulose-based polymer from spent lemongrass for use as packaging material | Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery, 2025 |
| Vinod Kumar, Anu Radha, Varsha Sharma, Nagaraju Nekkala, Saurabh Saran | Utilization of xylose enriched extract from spent lemongrass hydrolysate for clavulanic acid production using Streptomyces clavuligerus (MTCC 1142) | Bioresource Technology
2023, 384, 129268 |
| Bhanuchander Ponnala, Putrakumar Balla, S. K. Hussain, Srinivasa Rao Ginjupalli, Kumaraswamy Koppadi, Nagaraju Nekkala, Vijayanand Perupogu, Ulla Lassi & Prem Kumar Seelam | Selective Hydrogenolysis of Biodiesel Waste Bioglycerol Over Titanium Phosphate (TiP) Catalysts: The Effect of Pt & WO3 Loadings | Waste and Biomass Valorization,
2022, 13, 4389. |
| Hussain SK, Putrakumar Balla, Bhanuchander Ponnala, Srinivasarao Ginjupalli, Nagaraju Nekkala, Kumara Swamy Koppadi & V R Chary Komandur | Efficient transformation of Furfuryl alcohol into Ethyl Levulinates via Alcoholysis reaction catalyzed by SnO2/H-Mordenite catalyst | Catalysis Surveys from Asia,
2022, 26, 104. |
| Nagaraju Nekkala, Putrakumar Balla, Srinivasa Rao Ginjupalli, Prem Kumar Seelam, Hussain S.K., Bhanuchander Ponnala, V.R. Chary Komandur | Lanthanum phosphate: an efficient catalyst for acrylic acid production through lactic acid dehydration | Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery,
2022, 12, 3535. |
| Nagaraju Nekkala, Putrakumar Balla, Srinivasarao Ginjupalli, Harisekher Mitta, SK. Hussain, Bhanuchander Ponnala, Chary KVR | Magnesium Hydrogen Phosphate: An Efficient Catalyst for Acrylic Acid Production from Biorenewable Lactic Acid | Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology,
2020, 20, 1. |
| Srinivasarao Ginjupalli, Putrakumar Balla, Hussain Shaik, Nagaraju Nekkala, Bhanuchander Ponnala and Harishekar Mitta | Comparative study of vapour phase glycerol dehydration over different tungstated metal phosphate acid catalysts | New Journal of Chemistry,
2019, 43, 16860. |
| Balaga Viswanadham, Nekkala Nagaraju, Chozhiyath N. Rohitha, Venkataraman Vishwanathan and Komandur V. R. Chary | Synthesis, Characterization and Catalytic Dehydration of Glycerol to Acrolein over Phosphotungstic Acid Supported Y-Zeolite Catalysts
|
Catalysis letters
2018, 148, 397. |
| Srinivasa Rao, A. Kumar, N. Nagaraju, P. Bhanuchander, K. V. R. Chary | Preparation and Characterization of SBA-15-Supported Vanadia Catalysts for Ammoxidation Reaction | Advanced Porous Materials
2017, 5, 76 |
| Nekkala Nagaraju, Vanama Pavan Kumar, Amirineni Srikanth, N. Pethan Rajan and Komandur V. R. Chary | Vapor-phase catalytic dehydration of lactic acid to acrylic acid over nano-crystalline cerium phosphate catalysts | Applied Petrochemical Research
2016, 6, 367 |
Awards and Honours
- UGC-DS Kotari Post-Doctoral Fellow (May/2019)
- CSIR-JRF All India rank 61 (Dec/2011)
- GATE Qualified (Feb/2012)
Students
| Name | Area of Interest | Position |
| Anu Moriya | Analytical chemistry | Project Associate |
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