My Team

Team Members

Dr. Aravind Madhavan

Aravind Madhavan, PhD
Post-doctoral Fellow (ICMR-DHR)

Identification and delineation of function of proteins that interact with HDAC1 in macrophages infected with M.tuberculosis.
Recent studies reveal that intracellular pathogens target the host chromatin and epigenetic regulators to suppress host immune functions. My interest is to study the role of M. tuberculosis proteins that are involved in the modulation of HDAC1 expression and subsequent suppression of immune functions. Also I would like to understand how these proteins help HDAC1 to be recruited to the promoters of genes that are downregulated upon infection.

Dr. Arun K.B

Arun K.B, PhD
Post-doctoral Fellow (ICMR-DHR)

Functional and structural characterization of selected acetyltransferases of M. tuberculosis.
M. tuberculosis. has developed strategies to promote its survival in infected macrophages by epigenetic modifications that effectively modulate host gene expression. An MTB hypothetical protein possessing histone acetyltransferase has been identified in our lab recently. Bioinformatic analysis of the MTB genome predicted existence of more acetyltransferases in MTB. My goal is to characterize selected acetyltransferases and elucidate their role in intracellular survival and virulence of MTB.

Lekshmi K. Edison, PhD
Post-doctoral Fellow (DBT)

Characterisation of reactivation-associated putative protein Rv2817c, a CRISPR-associated endonuclease Cas1, of Mycobacterium tuberculosis
A previous study in our lab revealed that Rv2817c protein (Cas1) is uniquely present in the early phase of reactivation of MTB from dormancy. Many other key proteins involved in genetic recombination and DNA repair are also present either in high levels or are uniquely expressed during this phase. Taken together, these observations suggest that genome editing might play a significant role during reactivation of dormant MTB. My interest is to understand the physiological relevance of Cas1 in MTB.

Ranjit Ramachandran

Ranjit Ramachandran
PhD Student

Regulation of gene expression in macrophages during M. tuberculosis infection.

Akhil Raj P

Akhil Raj P
PhD Student

Gene Regulation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis during Dormancy and Reactivation.

Balaji

Balaji.M
PhD Student

Isolation and characterization of antimycobacterial molecules from Actinomycetes.

Jijimole G.R

Jijimole G.R
PhD Student

Characterization of transcriptional regulators expressed in M. tuberculosis during its reactivation from dormancy.

Laiza Paul

Laiza Paul
Senior Manager (Technical Services)

Laboratory management assistance.

Nijisha M

Nijisha M
Research Fellow

Dissecting the physiological role of Rv3423.1, a novel histone acetyltransferase in Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv, in the bacterium as well as in infected guinea pig.