Department of Microbiology

• 2024 - Till date - Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology at Thiagarajar College (Autonomous), Madurai.
• 2022 - 2024 -Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Sacred Heart College (Autonomous), Tirupattur.
• 2017 - 2022 - Project Research Assistant in the DST-SERB Major Research Project, Department of Microbiology, Alagappa University, Karaikudi.
• 2017 - Senior Research Fellow in CRME (currently VCRC Unit, ICMR), Madurai.
• 2016 - Junior Research Fellow in the Department of Microbiology, Pondicherry University (A Central University), Puducherry - Main Campus.

Achievements

• ICAR-ASRB-NET 2017 (Agri. Microbiology)- General Rank (National Eligibility Test for Assistant Professorship, mutually recognised by UGC and CSIR).
• TNSET-2017 Life Sciences – General Rank (State Eligibility Test for Assistant Professorship, recognised by UGC).
• GATE 2016 & GATE 2018 (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (by MHRD) - above 92 percentile - General Rank).
• JNU-CEEB 2014 (All India Entrance Examination for Biotechnology – 146 All India Rank).
• Three Indian Science Academies’ summer research fellowship award (2012) from INSA-NASI-IASc.
• Best Student Award (2011-2014 batch) from Thiagarajar College (Autonomous), Madurai.
• Gold Medal in B.Sc. Industrial Microbiology (2011-2014 batch) from Thiagarajar College, Madurai. 
• Best paper presentation awards: 5
• Best Poster Presentation Award from the Department of Microbiology, Pondicherry University, for PhD research work.
• Recipient of the University Rank Holder Fellowship Award from UGC for PG studies.
• Recipient of the Research Excellence Award for paper publications from Sacred Heart College, Tirupattur.
• Recipient of the Grade I incentive for consistent API for AY 2022-2023 from Sacred Heart College, Tirupattur.
• Recipient of the Cash Award for paper publications from Thiagarajar College, Madurai. 

Books (National Press)

1. S. Tanuja, R. Elancharan, K. Vijay, P. Saranraj (2024). Amylase from Bacillus subtilis using Rice Gruel Substrate. Volume 1, pp 1-126, JPS Scientific Publications, India. ISBN: 978-81-972264-8-9. 

Book Chapters (International Press)

1. KirupaSree, K., Karuppiah, V., Thangavelu, S., & Thangavel, K. (2021). Insights into the Status of Heavy Metal Resistant Rhizobacterial Communities in the Heavy Metal Contaminated Sites. In Bioremediation and Green Technologies: Sustainable Approaches to Mitigate Environmental Impacts, 13. Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-64122-1_2 ; Print ISBN: 978-3-030-64121-4; eISBN: 978-3-030-64122-1.
2. Murugan, S., Karuppiah, V., Thangavel, K., & Panneerselvam, S. (2023). Applications of nanotechnology in food sector: Boons and banes. In Nanotechnology Applications for Food Safety and Quality Monitoring (pp. 473-492). Academic Press, Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-85791-8.00009-4 ; ISBN: 978-0-323-85791-8.

Paper published in Journals (International Press)

1. Karuppiah, V., Natarajan, S., Gangatharan, M., Aldayel, M. F., Alsowayeh, N., & Thangavel, K. (2022). Development of siderophore‐based rhizobacterial consortium for the mitigation of biotic and abiotic environmental stresses in tomatoes: An in vitro and in planta approach. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 133(6), 3276-3287. https://doi.org/10.1111/jam.15625 (Indexing: Scopus; WoS-SCI; 5Y Impact Factor: 3.80; Oxford Academic Press; NAAS score: 9.80; Green Open Access).
2. Karuppiah, V., PK, S. K., Kathiresan, N., Ravindran, B., Chang, S. W., Mani, R. R., ... & Thangavel, K. (2025). Affinity of rhizobacterial chitinases towards chitin polymers from shrimp exoskeleton and fungal cell wall: Optimization for effective biocontrol potentials. Carbohydrate Polymer Technologies and Applications, 100959. (Indexing: Scopus; WoS-SCI; 5Y Impact Factor: 7.1; Elsevier, USA; NAAS score: 13.10; Gold Open Access). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carpta.2025.100959 
3. Murugan, S., Karuppiah, V., Pandi, S., Govindasamy, M., & Thangavel, K. (2025). Bioactive Phytol from Thymus vulgaris, a promising source of alternative medicine to combat blaKPC and blaOXA-48 genotypes of Klebsiella pneumoniae: A retrospective in vitro and in silico approach. Microbial Pathogenesis, 107813. (Indexing: Scopus; WoS-SCI; 5Y Impact Factor: 3.60; Elsevier, USA; NAAS score: 9.80; Green Open Access). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micpath.2025.107813
4. Vijay, K., Hassan, S., Govarthanan, M., & Kavitha, T. (2022). Biosurfactant lipopeptides and polyketide biosynthetic gene in rhizobacterium Achromobacter kerstersii to induce systemic resistance in tomatoes. Rhizosphere, 23, 100558. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rhisph.2022.100558 (Indexing: Scopus; WoS-SCI; 5Y Impact Factor: 3.70; Elsevier, USA; NAAS score: 9.70; Green Open Access).
5. Kathiresan, N., Karuppiah, V., Gopal, L., Abraham, D. R., & Thangavel, K. (2024). Production and characterization of xylooligosaccharides from sugarcane bagasse using response surface methodology and its prebiotic properties. Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-024-06162-4 (Indexing: Scopus; WoS - SCI; 5Y Impact Factor: 4.10; Springer-Verlag, Germany; NAAS score: 10.10; Green open Access).
6. Vijay, K., Shibasini, M., Sivasakthivelan, P., & Kavitha, T. (2023). Microbial siderophores as molecular shuttles for metal cations: sources, sinks and application perspectives. Archives of Microbiology, 205(9), 322. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-023-03644-3  (Indexing: Scopus; WoS - SCI; 5Y Impact Factor: 2.80; Springer-Verlag, Germany; NAAS score: 8.55; Green open Access). (A review article).
7. Devi, T. S., Vijay, K., Vidhyavathi, R. M., Kumar, P., Govarthanan, M., & Kavitha, T. (2021). Antifungal activity and molecular docking of phenol, 2, 4-bis (1, 1-dimethylethyl) produced by plant growth-promoting actinobacterium Kutzneria sp. strain TSII from mangrove sediments. Archives of Microbiology, 203, 4051-4064. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-021-02397-1 (Indexing: Scopus; WoS - SCI; 5Y Impact Factor: 2.80; Springer-Verlag, Germany; NAAS score: 8.55; Green Open Access).
8. Vijay, K., Devi, T. S., Sree, K. K., Elgorban, A. M., Kumar, P., Govarthanan, M., & Kavitha, T. (2020). In vitro screening and in silico prediction of antifungal metabolites from rhizobacterium Achromobacter kerstersii JKP9. Archives of Microbiology, 202(10), 2855-2864. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-020-01982-0 (Indexing: Scopus; WoS - SCI; 5Y Impact Factor: 2.80; Springer-Verlag, Germany; NAAS score: 8.55; Green open Access).
9. Devi, T. S., Vijay, K., Mythili, R., Wadaan, M. A., Manivinoth, V., Kim, W., & Kavitha, T. (2025). Optimized Production and Characterization of Auxin by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (TSP11) for Plant Growth Promotion. Journal of Basic Microbiology, 65(5), e70010. https://doi.org/10.1002/jobm.70010 (Indexing: Scopus; WoS - SCI; 5Y Impact Factor: 3.50; Wiley; NAAS Score: 9.50, Green Open Access).
10. V. Soundarya, A. Nagasathya, M. Subashchandhiran, T. Kavitha, V. Karthikeyan, K. Vijay, R. Ranjith, M. Gokul, N. Karmegam. (2025). Biosynthesis and Characterization of Bimetallic Ag-Cu Nanoparticles from Tinospora cordifolia Aerial Roots and Their Biomedical Applications.ChemistrySelect https://doi.org/10.1002/slct.202502813 (Indexing: WoS - SCI; 5Y Impact Factor: 2.00; Wiley; NAAS Score: 8.00, Gold Open Access).
11. Vijay, K., Kiran, G. S., Divya, S., Thangavel, K., Thangavelu, S., Dhandapani, R., & Selvin, J. (2021). Fatty Acid Methyl Esters From the Coral-Associated Bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa Inhibit Virulence and Biofilm Phenotypes in Multidrug Resistant Staphylococcus aureus: An in vitro Approach. Frontiers in Microbiology, 12, 394. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.631853 (Indexing: Scopus; WoS - SCI; 5Y Impact Factor: 5.20; Frontiers, USA; NAAS Score: 11.2, Gold Open Access).
12. Vijay, K., Sree, K. K., Devi, T. S., Soundarapandian, S., Ramasamy, V., & Thangavel, K. (2020). Computational Biology Approaches Revealing Novel target in Vascular Wilt Pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici for the Ligands of Marine Actinobacterial Origin. Journal of Pure & Applied Microbiology, 14(1), 363-373. MN Khan publishers - International https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.14.1.37 (Indexing: Scopus; WoS: ESCI; 5Y Impact Factor: 0.7; NAAS Score: 4.7, Gold Open access).
13. Saranraj, P., Alrudainy, A. M., Manigandan, M., Sivasakthivelan, P., & Vijay, K. (2022) Effect of Pleurotus sajor-caju and earthworm co-inoculation in organic matter, carbon and NPK content in coir pith compost. International Journal of Entomology Research, 7(11):104-106. (Indexing: WoS - ZR; Green Open access). Entomology Journals Press - International. https://www.entomologyjournals.com/archives/2022/vol7/issue11 
14. Kangasalam Amala, Karuppiah Vijay, Murugesan Krishnaveni, Arulprakasam Ajucarmelprecilla and Krishna babu Siddarth babu (2023). Studies on bioelectricity production from microalgae Spirulina platensis cultivation; supplemented with tannery effluent in microbial fuel cell. Indian Journal of Applied and Pure Biology 38(2): 801-809. (Indexing: WoS-ZR; Gold Open access). Dr. SS Khan Publishers - International. https://biology-journal.org/journal/volume38/issue77/ijapb38-2-40.html 
15. Keerthivasan, R., Vijay, K.*, & Amala, K. (2024). Nanomaterials to Encapsulate Bacteria for Biological Applications. Asian Journal of Research in Biosciences, 131-142.  Global Press Hub. (Indexing: WoS-Publons and GOA). https://www.journalbioscience.com/index.php/AJORIB/article/view/5  (A review article).
16. Nisha, D., Fahmitha, F. H. F., Kaviya, G., Padmavathi, V., & Vijay, K.* (2024). Global Clinical Case Studies in Candida species: A Review. Asian Journal of Research in Biosciences, 143-156. Global Press Hub. (Indexing: WoS-Publons and GOA). https://journalbioscience.com/index.php/AJORIB/article/view/4  (A review article).
17. Lokesh, S., Dinesh, N., Selvi, R. T., Pavithra, S., Saranraj, P., & Vijay, K.* (2024). Exploration of Actinobacteria for Multifaceted Applications: Lessons to Learn from the Genome, Proteome and Metabolome of Pristine Microbial Majority. Asian Journal of Research in Biosciences, 172-184. Global Press Hub. (Indexing: WoS-Publons and GOA). https://journalbioscience.com/index.php/AJORIB/article/view/2  (A review article).
18. Vijay, K., & Kavitha, T. (2022). Inoculation of Medicinal Plant Resident Staphylococcus hominis subsp. novobiosepticus strain KE6 for Improved Plant Growth and Antagonism to Pithomyces atro-olivaceous in Groundnuts. Asian Journal of Research in Biosciences, 12-25. Global Press Hub.  https://www.journalbioscience.com/index.php/AJORIB/article/view/49 (Indexing: WoS-Publons and GOA).
19. S. Tanuja, Ceema Varghese, S. Sozhamadevi, N. Aravindha Babu, P. Saranraj, K. Vijay, Archana Behera, & Mukesh Kumar Dharmalingam Jothinathan (2025).  Biowaste-Based Optimization of Amylase Production from Bacillus subtilis: A Sustainable Approach. International Journal of Advanced Science and Engineering,12 (2): 5503-5512. Mahendra publications https://doi.org/10.29294/IJASE.12.2.2025.5503-5512 (Indexing: Scopus; WoS and GOA).

International and National Conferences (Presentation only):

International level conferences (paper/poster presented): 26 (One each at Asia Pacific University & University of Malaya)

National level Conferences (paper/poster presented): 6

• Journal Frontiers in Microbiology: Topic Editor and Coordinating Member— Section: Antimicrobials, Resistance and Chemotherapy; Press office: Frontiers Media SA, Lausanne, Switzerland.
• Life Member of Mycological Society of India, UNOM, Guindy, Chennai.
• Sessional Member of Indian Science Congress, Kolkata.