Ph.D.
Assistant Teaching Professor & Academic Advisor
Biochemistry - CAFNR
Research at a glance
Area(s) of Expertise
Ritcha Mehra‑Chaudhary is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Missouri. She has brought over 20 years of research experience across plant physiology, biomedical science, protein biochemistry, and structural biology to her teaching.
Dr. Chaudhary earned her M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Plant Physiology from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, India. Following her doctoral training, she completed postdoctoral research at the University of Tennessee, Memphis, where she investigated transcriptional regulation and proteomic changes associated with murine muscle cell differentiation, gaining expertise in molecular biology and biomedical research. She subsequently trained in protein structural biology, including X-ray crystallography, and served for eight years as a Senior Research Specialist in the Structural Biology Core Facility at the University of Missouri, Columbia. Her research expertise includes recombinant protein expression and purification, structural biology, and biochemical characterization.
Currently, Dr. Chaudhary teaches introductory and laboratory biochemistry courses as well as a writing‑intensive senior capstone laboratory. She has led multiple course redesigns that incorporate open educational resources, research experiences, and inquiry‑based learning to strengthen students’ technical skills, scientific reasoning, and communication. Her scholarship in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) examines evidence‑based practices—active learning, structured reflective writing, and scientific writing—to improve engagement, conceptual understanding, critical thinking, and equity in laboratory courses. She also advises dozens of biochemistry majors each semester, serves as an academic advisor to student organization(s) and partners with campus colleagues to advance inclusive, high‑impact teaching.
Outside of academia, she enjoys yoga, cooking, reading, birding, photography, and travel.
Educational background
- Ph.D., Indian Agricultural Research Institute
- M.Sc., Indian Agricultural Research Institute
- B.Sc., Hans Raj College, University of Delhi, India
Courses taught
- BIOCHM 1090: Introduction to Biochemistry
- BIOCHM 1094: Introduction to Biochemistry Laboratory
- BIOCHM 4974 W/7273: Senior Capstone Biochemistry Laboratory Writing Intensive
- BIOCHM 9001: “Topics in Biochemistry: Teaching Biochemistry”