Profile
Malaria causes enormous morbidity and mortality, and poses a serious threat to human health. The emerging parasite resistance against artemisinin and its partner drugs, and the mosquito resistance against insecticides together with the global warming are of great concern. Our research interest is on developing new therapeutic interventions for malaria by gaining insights on the fascinating biology of Plasmodium. The major research initiatives include understanding the molecular and metabolic re-programming events in the asexual, sexual and liver stages of parasite life cycle, and identifying the key parasite factors that are responsible for parasite virulence, disease pathogenesis and host-immune evasion. Delineating these molecular aspects and designing strategies to interfere with parasite pathways and homeostasis of host-parasite networks are being explored for new therapeutic approaches to combat malaria and antimalarial drug resistance. Our research objectives align with the global and national targets set for malaria elimination and eradication.
Current Focus Areas
Role of de novo heme in food vacuole integrity, hemozoin formation, parasite virulence, cerebral pathogenesis and malaria severity.
Host-immune evasion mechanisms and physiological relevance of malarial DAMPs and PAMPs.
Significance of parasite metabolic pathways and transporters in the life cycle of malaria parasite.
Host-parasite interactions and molecular mechanisms underlying the development of sexual stages in mosquitoes and exo-erythrocytic stages in liver.
Selected Publications
Ghosh, S. et al. (2023). Distinct evolution of type I glutamine synthetase in Plasmodium and its species-specific requirement. Nature Communications, 14 (1), 4216.
Anand, A. et al. (2023). Significance of Plasmodium berghei Amino Acid Transporter 1 in Food Vacuole Functionality and Its Association with Cerebral Pathogenesis. Microbiology Spectrum, 11 (2), e04943-22.
Chandana, M. et al. (2022). Malaria parasite heme biosynthesis promotes and griseofulvin protects against cerebral malaria in mice. Nature Communications, 13 (1), 4028.
Nagaraj, V.A. et al. (2015). Asparagine requirement in Plasmodium berghei as a target to prevent malaria transmission and liver infections. Nature Communications, 6 (1), 8775.
Nagaraj, V.A. et al. (2013). Malaria parasite-synthesized heme is essential in the mosquito and liver stages and complements host heme in the blood stages of infection. PLoS Pathogens, 9 (8), e1003522.