Vitiligo is a depigmentation disorder in which white patches appear on skin due to selective damage of melanin producing cells of the skin called melanocytes. Destruction of melanocytes causes hypo-pigmentation of the hair, skin and other mucosal surfaces. Depending on the geographical location within India, the prevalence of vitiligo ranges from 0.09% to 8%, with an average age of onset of symptoms at about 20 years, its occurrence appears to be equal between both genders and its rate of occurrence doesn’t vary according to skin type or race.

Chimeric Antigen Receptor-T cell therapy (CAR-T cell therapy) has demonstrated remarkable success in long-term remission of relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). Very recently, FDA approved the anti-CD19-CAR-T cells developed by Novartis for the treatment of B-ALL. However, this technology has not yet been designed and developed in India. Considering socioeconomic conditions of patients in our country, recently developed CAR-T-cell therapy will be unaffordable to majority of our patients.

Cancer stem like cells are a heterogeneous population that have been identified in several cancers. They are considered to be the seeds through which cancer progresses and survives in the body. Since these cells are very different from the bulk population in the tumour, they also show differential behavior towards various treatment options.

High mortality in cancer is attributed to cancer metastasis–the multi-stage process which includes invasion of tumor cells through the basement membrane, entry into blood vasculature, entry into secondary organ and its colonisation. Understanding mechanisms of cancer invasion represents one of the major research directions of our group. For this we combine traditional cell and molecular biology with biophysics and computational biology. We are currently working on the following aspects:

In clinical practice, sutures, staples and clips are widely used as conventional wound closure devices. These devices have to be administered invasively, thus leading to discomfort to the patients also poses increase risk of microbial infestation at the wound site and take a long time to repair. To minimise and/ or eliminate the high chances of infection and transmission of blood-borne diseases associated with suturing, tissue adhesives have garnered importance in tissue repair as sealants.

Mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) are pluripotent stem cells capable of differentiating into many cell types based on the growth factors and physical cues provided by the micro- environment. These biophysical cues of the substrate are found to regulate cellular processes ranging from cell division to cell differentiation. Subtle changes in bio-chemical or physical parameters of the micro-environment are found to trigger lineage specific differentiation.

Microtubules are filaments formed by the polymerisation of tubulin proteins. Microtubules play a crucial role in many important cellular processes such as maintaining cell shape, intracellular transport, cell motility and cell division. During cell division, genetic material is divided into two daughter cells with the help of microtubules. Cancer begins as over proliferation/uncontrolled division of cells.

Cell is the basic unit of life and can be often compared to a city. Cities have power plants, cells have mitochondria. Cities have factories, cells have ribozymes and endoplasmic reticulum. Cities have depots and ware houses while cells have Golgi bodies. One of the most important aspects of the city without which it cannot sustain its operation is the transportation system i.e. roads, rails, trains and vehicles. Cells have a transportation system whereby microtubules and actin filaments form a network of roads.

The human body is bordered by several cellular barriers that define the frontier between the internal milieu and the external non-sterile environment. In addition to their physiological roles, these host barriers provide both physical and immune defense against microbial infection. Yet, many pathogens have evolved elaborate strategies to target these lines of defense, resulting in disruption of barrier integrity and dissemination into deeper tissues.

Molecular enzymology and fungal metabolic regulation form the core strengths of our research. An emerging approach to understand and exploit metabolic processes is metabolic / pathway engineering. This implies a targeted and purposeful manipulation of the capabilities of an organism. Our group is pursuing this broad research objective with the acidogenic metabolism of Aspergillus niger (A.

Micro-organisms have evolved an impressive array of gene regulatory mechanisms to adapt to the constantly changing environmental conditions. However, even the exquisite gene regulatory mechanisms cannot escape from the cul-de-sac of physical constraints, leading to stochastic or ‘noisy’ gene expression. Interestingly, instead of evolving mechanisms to subdue the noise and lead a detenninistic life style, micro-organisms seem to have evolved mechanisms to use this noise to their advantage.

Carbaryl is widely used as a pesticide in the agricultural field since 1958. Apart from the desired effects, the toxicity of carbaryl to beneficial organisms like bees, earthworm and marine fishes is a cause of concern. Its extensive usage has led to environmental pollution. Within a decade of carbaryl application in the agricultural field,many microorganisms with ability to degrade it were isolated. Pseudomonas sp. isolated from soil in our lab converts carbaryl into cell biomass via.

Aromatic compounds are most extensively used in various industries like plastic, paint, pesticide, petrochemical etc. These compounds are released into the environment due to various natural and anthropogenic activities leading to pollution. Biodegradation is a viable way to remove these pollutants to harmless metabolites. Multiple factors play an important role in efficient Multiple factors play an important role in efficient bioremediation of pollutants by microorganisms viz.

Acute critical care lung diseases like Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) and Acute Lung Injury have a high mortality rate worldwide and especially in developing countries like India. Several diseases can lead to critical lung conditions of ARDS like malaria, leptospirosis, and undiagnosed fever followed by pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and pancreatitis. Mechanical ventilation currently used for therapy in ARDS by itself harms the lungs. At present, one of third of ARDS patients succumb to the condition within the first couple of days of intensive care.

Anemia and micronutrient deficiencies are widely prevalent globally. This is particularly true in developing countries and amongst girls and women of child bearing age. While fortification is one approach, this is often limited by adverse effects on taste and low stability of the nutrients on storage and cooking. Gastrointestinal disturbances due to iron supplementation capsules also lead to low compliance. Further, since micronutrients deficiencies can often go undetected and require long periods of supplementation, this compliance for fortification or supplementation is limited.

Osteoarthritis is a progressive musculoskeletal degenerative disorder with clinical symptoms of joint pain characterised by the gradual loss of articular cartilage and inflammation of the joint. According to World Health Organisation statistics, about 9.6% of men and 18% of women aged over 60 years have symptomatic osteoarthritis and 80% of those with osteoarthritis will have mobility problems restricting them from performing major daily activities of life. In addition, injuries also lead to damage to the articular cartilage.

Over-active bladder is highly prevalent affecting around 15 million of the geriatric population in India. Despite its high rate of occurrence, it is predominantly under treated . Current treatment involves highly invasive and expensive submucosal intra-detrusor injection of Botulinum toxin through cystoscopy.Over 1.25 million patients in India have interstitial cystitis which causes intractable bladder pain and there are no treatments currently available for the same. The incidence of bladder cancer is also rising and shows high for Bladder Diseases recurrences.

Metastatic cancers and multi-drug resistant cancers are causes of high mortality globally. In developing countries like India, lung cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer and oral cancers have high prevalence rates. Present chemotherapy is non-specific and suffers from many systemic side effects like bone marrow suppression.

Our current focus of studies is towards investigating the cellular level biophysical mechanisms in the bladder that give rise to different facets of bladder function such as bladder contractility, sensory transduction and control of bladder function via known neural pathways. Any deviation from the physiology that underlies bladder function results in urinary incontinence.

Many organic and inorganic nanosystems are being actively researched for their efficiency in cancer diagnosis and treatment. Among them, plasmonic nanostructures for photothermal therapy (PTT) gain considerable importance owing to the advent of two on-going PTT based clinical trials making use of gold nanoshells for the treatment of brain and metastatic lung tumors. These plasmonic nanostructures also serve as efficient candidates for imaging, and thereby bringing out their multifunctional capabilities.