About Me
A snapshot of who I am — my background, skills, research, and what drives me beyond the code.
I'm Shobhit — a final-year BS-MS student at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, specialising in Computational Biology. My work lives at the intersection of rigorous science and pragmatic engineering.
Over four years at IISER, I've developed a research identity that spans structural bioinformatics, HPC pipeline optimization, and the development of full-stack scientific software tools. In parallel, I've had the privilege of applying these skills in industry — automating validation workflows at Velsera and evaluating large language models at Outlier.
I believe the best solutions emerge when deep domain knowledge meets thoughtful engineering — and I'm constantly working to deepen both. Whether I'm building a GPU-accelerated molecular mechanics engine or a zero-API-cost intelligence platform, the core philosophy is the same: understand the problem deeply, then engineer an honest solution.
Outside the lab and the terminal, I'm a musician (flute, guitar, keyboard), a digital artist, a chess enthusiast, and someone who genuinely enjoys mentoring and team building. I've led large-scale institutional events, coordinated science and art clubs, and been part of the entrepreneurship ecosystem at IISER — because good ideas deserve good execution at every level.
I believe that building great scientific tools starts with a deep respect for the underlying domain. Whether it's the physics of a noncovalent bond or the recursive logic of a temporal period, I start by understanding the Ground Truth before writing a single line of code.
Science should be accessible. I aim to automate the tedious parts of research so that scientists can focus on discovery. This means building zero-false-positive engines, GPU-accelerated calculators, and intuitive visual interfaces that make complex data human-readable.
The technical and strategic toolkit I bring to every problem
Academic research conducted at IISER Pune
Investigating the role of pnictogen (N, P, As) and tetrel (C, Si, Ge) bonding interactions in protein structure and function. The study derives geometric parameters from CSD crystal structures and validates them against PDB protein data, culminating in web-based analysis tools integrated into MolBridge.
Designed and built a utility application for the analysis and identification of chalcogen (S, Se, Te) interactions in protein structures using geometric criteria from the CSD. Generated the MolBridge chalcogen detection module.
Conformational analysis of torsion angles (φ, ψ) and Ramachandran plot visualization for peptide motifs. Leveraged concurrent programming for large-scale data analysis across thousands of PDB files.
Hands-on NMR analysis of proteins, protein purification, and product synthesis for NMR characterization at Dr. Jeetendra Chug's lab (JC Lab).
Professional and research roles across industry and academia
Managing scale, budgets, and interdisciplinary teams
Led IISER Pune's flagship national-level festival. Managed a multi-departmental team of 100+ volunteers, handled external stakeholder relations, and oversaw the entire operational lifecycle from planning to execution.
Selected for a competitive entrepreneurship fellowship. Developed skills in strategic planning, market analysis, and product-market fit within a technology-focused startup incubator environment.
Directed interdisciplinary initiatives, fostering collaboration between students and faculty. Managed institutional design heads and coordinated campus-wide creative projects.
Facilitated outreach programs for business strategy and tech innovation. Played a key role in building the institute's entrepreneurship ecosystem.
A testament to technical rigor and professional conduct
" "Shobhit consistently demonstrated independence, perseverance, and a willingness to engage deeply with feedback. His ability to troubleshoot issues, explain technical concepts clearly, and deliver a practical solution within a regulated scientific environment was particularly impressive."— Gargi NandaSenior Manager Knowledge-base, Velsera · March 2026
Letter of Recommendation for Shobhit Vats Sharma
To Whom It May Concern,
I am pleased to recommend Mr. Shobhit Vats Sharma, who worked with the Knowledge Base Verification & Validation (KB V&V) team at Velsera for approximately nine months, with his internship concluding on 27 February 2026. In my role as Senior Manager, Knowledge-base, I directly supervised his work and closely evaluated his technical contributions, problem-solving skills, and professional conduct.
During his internship, Shobhit contributed to a structured project with two major components: data clean-up of orthogonal curations and the development of an automated Comparator Analysis tool used in KB V&V workflows. After receiving high-level requirements, he independently built a strong understanding of the scientific and validation context and translated those requirements into a functional, executable solution.
Shobhit designed and implemented a stand-alone script capable of running locally on any system with the required executable environment. He demonstrated strong analytical skills by converting complex validation logic into an automated comparison framework that assessed gold-set entries against system outputs and generated clear pass/fail results. Throughout development, he actively incorporated feedback from multiple rounds of User Acceptance Testing and refined the tool to handle variations in file formats, reference libraries, and permissions.
In addition to development, Shobhit showed excellent scientific communication and documentation skills. He authored a comprehensive user manual and conducted live demonstrations for team members, ensuring that both technical and non-technical users could confidently operate the tool. The script he developed is now actively used by KB V&V team members, reflecting both its reliability and usability.
Shobhit consistently demonstrated independence, perseverance, and a willingness to engage deeply with feedback. His ability to troubleshoot issues, explain technical concepts clearly, and deliver a practical solution within a regulated scientific environment was particularly impressive. His contributions were recognized through extensions of his internship, underscoring the value he added to the team.
I strongly believe Shobhit possesses the intellectual curiosity, technical aptitude, and discipline required for advanced academic training. I recommend him without reservation for graduate studies or research-oriented roles, and I am confident he will excel in any rigorous academic environment.
Please feel free to contact me should you require any additional information.
Sincerely,
Gargi Nanda
Senior Manager, Knowledge-base · Velsera
Gargi.Nanda@velsera.com
Recognition, credentials, and milestones
Computational Biology focus. Research specialisation in structural bioinformatics and noncovalent interactions.