Infectious Diseases and Immunology

Mission & Objectives

At the Infectious Diseases and Immunology Division of CSIR-IICB, the faculties and fellows are involved in various research works including basic science, application science related to the prevention and control of cholera, leishmaniasis, malaria, gastric ulcer and viral diseases like dengue, chikungunya, herpes and hepatitis B. Work is also being carried out on endometriosis. The other interest lies on wound healing pharmacophores (nucleoside analogues and drug loaded nanoparticles) to be used as potential pharmaceuticals for diagnosis and therapy.

Work on cholera involves (i) studies on the effect of host interaction on virulence, biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance in Vibrio cholerae, (ii) elucidation of stringent response regulatory circuits in V. cholerae and its role in modulation of various virulence traits like motility, cholera toxin production, HA protease production and biofilm formation. Other gastrointestinal pathogen, Helicobacter pylori has also been studied with special emphasis on host pathogen interaction and assessment of the role of matrix metalloproteases in determining clinical outcome of H. pylori infection.

Malaria and gastropathy work is focused on (i) characterization of Plasmodium falciparum vaculor protein sorting, (ii) development of anti-malarial small molecule therapeutics, (iii) a novel gastroprotective mechanism independent of gastric acid suppression, but dependent on matrix metalloproteases activity, (iv) demonstration of the effects of curcumin and melatonin on protease: antiprotease stochiometry, (v) preparation and use of tamaraxitin derivatives in gastropathy.

Work on leishmaniasis is comprisesd of (i) development of a simple, non-invasive and effective diagnostic approach, (ii) comprehensive assessment of liposome-encapsulated drugs as therapeutic agent as well as designing antileishmanial treatment strategies by altering lipid composition of host cell membrane, (iii) studies on the immunobiology of leishmaniasis towards identifying potential vaccine candidates and (iv) functional analysis of antigen presentation and antigen processing in Leishmania infected antigen presenting cells. (v) Very recently this Division has got a new impetus in leishmania research following the discovery of a “triple-pathogen” phenomenon in Kala-azar cases. The research showed the involvement of three microbes viz. Leishmania donovani, Leptomonas seymouri and Lepsey NLV1 virus in Visceral leishmaniasis / kala-azar. Thus, current research in leishmaniasis involves revisiting the pathogenesis and management in the light of the role played by a protozoan RNA virus in human patients and exploring avenues towards devising new anti-leishmanial strategies.

Work in virology includes (i) studies on epidemiology of dengue, herpes and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections, (ii) understanding virus assembly process and exploring novel bio-molecular platforms for designing virus like particles as vaccine candidates, (iii) elucidation of hepatitis B virus S protein (wild type and mutants) in intracellular morphogenesis and trafficking in hepatocytes and its role in occult HBV infections, (iv) molecular characterization of locally circulating herpes virus clinical isolates including their sensitivity to antivirals, (v) dengue virus diagnostics and (vi) elucidating the “Dengue Covid-19 conundrum” based on CSIR-IICB’s discovery that dengue antibodies can cross react with SARS-CoV2.

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS OF THE DIVISION

Faculties

Snehasikta Swarnakar

Senior Principal Scientist & HOD

sikta@iicb.res.in

Hemanta K. Majumder

Senior Scientist NASI

hkmajumder@iicb.res.in
Nahid Ali

Rajaramanna Fellow

nali@iicb.res.in
Pijush Kanti Das

Senior Scientist NASI

pijushdas@iicb.res.in
Subhajit Biswas

Principal Scientist

subhajit.biswas@iicb.res.in
Sudipta Das

Ramalingaswami Fellow

sudipta.das@iicb.res.in
Sujoy K Das

Senior Scientist

sujoydas@iicb.res.in
Uday Bandyopadhyay

Senior Principal Scientist

udayb@iicb.res.in
Upasana Ray

Senior Scientist & Deputy Head

upasana.ray@iicb.res.in