Dr. Debasis earned his Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 2008, following his postgraduate training (MVSc) at Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University in 2001, and his undergraduate degree (B.V.Sc & A.H.) from Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology in 1998.From 2009 to 2014, he served as a Visiting Research Fellow (Postdoctoral) at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), NIH, USA, under the mentorship of Dr. Dorian McGavern. During this time, he worked extensively on CNS immune responses during viral infections.Before joining IISER Bhopal, Dr. Nayak was an Associate Professor (2019–2021) and earlier an Assistant Professor (2014–2019) at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Indore.