Role
Dr Mali is a Bioscience lecturer in Nottingham Trent University Science and Technology department.
Additional responsibilities include Biochemistry Lecturer at De Montfort University International College and Honorary Research Fellow at Biomolecular Technology Research Group. Her research is in Microbial Molecular Biology field.
Career overview
Before working in higher education, Dr Mali was a Plant Molecular Biologist, and began her career as a Research Assistant in De Montfort University where she worked on DNA Authentication of Herbal Medicines. Later she completed a PhD entitled ‘The comparative genomics of eugenol O-methyltransferase in the Ocimum genus.’ At the same time she was working part time in University of Leicester, Cardiovascular Department. Along with working on her PhD project, she followed the teaching fellowship route to get HEA recognition and successfully achieved an ‘Associate Fellowship’.
Research areas
She studied two enzymes EOMT (Eugenol O-methyltransferase) and CVOMT (Chavicol O-methyltransferase) in Ocimum plant species as a part of her PhD project. Her research included a bacterial transformation study by using OMT sequences from different Ocimum species including O. tenuiflorum, O. gratissimum, O. basilicum (EOMT) and O. basilicum (CVOMT). She also has an experience of working with microorganisms, tissue culture, HPLC and bioinformatics software systems. Her PhD project was covering cell culture, gene cloning, DNA and amino acid sequences of different Ocimum plant species and chemotypes. She has successfully submitted sequences on NCBI Genebank database (MK442468-MK442493) from her research.
She also published work on St. John's Wort (widely prescribed for depression) and Aristolochia contamination with a Biomolecular Technology Research group at De Montfort University, Leicester. During her career she has trained postgraduate and PhD students as an active research group member.
External activity
Dr Mali acts as a 'Science Ambassador' for range of STEM activities including networking event, judging research competitions, etc. She is acting as a manuscript reviewer for the Journal of the Biochemical Society.
Publications
Mali, P., Howard, C., Slater, A., Sgamma, T., 2019. Sequence analysis of EOMT gene
within different Ocimum species. Bioscience (In process). 26 sequences submitted to
GenBank NCBI database MK442468-MK442493.
Sgamma T., Masiero E., Mali P., Mahat M., Slater A., 2018. Sequence-Specific
Detection of Aristolochia DNA – A Simple Test for Contamination of Herbal
Products, Frontiers in Plant Science,Volume 9, DOI:10.3389/fpls.2018.01828.
Howard, C.; Hill, E.; Kreuzer, M.; Mali, P.; Masiero, E.; Slater, A.; Sgamma, T. DNA
Authentication of St John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum L.) Commercial Products
Targeting the ITS Region. Genes 2019, 10, 286.
Qualitative and Qualitative Phytochemical Screening of Medicinal Herbal Ocimum
Tulsi Leaves. May 2017. Department of Pharmacy; Chemistry For Health, De
Montfort University.