Profile
Dr. Bappaditya Dey received his bachelor’s degree in Veterinary Sciences & Animal Husbandry (BVSc. & AH), followed by a Master’s in Animal Genetics and Breeding (MVSc.), and a PhD in Biochemistry from Delhi University. Dr. Dey further honed his expertise through a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at prestigious institutions such as the Center for TB Research at the Johns Hopkins University, The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Baltimore, MD, USA, and as a Senior Research Scientist at the National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratories (NEIDL) at Boston University, MA, USA. A recipient of the SERB-Ramanujan Fellowship, Dr. Dey boasts nearly two decades of research experience in Tuberculosis (TB). His research endeavors focus on molecular pathogenesis, host-pathogen signaling, and vaccine development for TB. Leading a dynamic research group at NIAB, Dr. Dey continues to make significant contributions to understanding TB to advance disease control and prevention strategies.
Current Focus Areas
Dr. Dey’s group works on Tuberculosis (TB), Paratuberculosis, and other Mycobacterial diseases in the broad area of molecular pathogenesis, host-pathogen signaling, molecular diagnosis, engineered vaccines and therapies. Dey-lab is exploring new strategies to combat the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by identifying alternative drug targets, and using engineered probiotics.
1. Identification of biomarkers of susceptibility and/or resistance to TB in native and crossbred cattle. The project intends to study host responses in bovine-TB, and identify the TB-resistome transcriptional signature in selected native cattle compared to crossbred cattle in India.
2. Development of a bovine pulmosphere model for TB pathobiology, and drug screening. One major limitation in TB studies is the lack of a high-throughput in vitro model that mimics TB granuloma's cellular composition and structure. This project aims to establish a scalable, cost-effective in vitro bovine 3D pulmosphere model.
3. Deciphering the molecular basis of Mycobacterium orygis virulence and drug resistance. The rise in TB cases caused by M. orygis in India, with its large cattle population, is alarming. This project studies the molecular basis of its virulence, pathogenicity and drug resistance compared to M. tuberculosis and M. bovis.
4. Development of vaccines against TB and paratuberculosis in cows and other livestock. The project aims to develop multimodal vaccines against JD and TB, including: (i) a recombinant probiotic-based vaccine against MAP for JD prevention, and (ii) a live attenuated recombinant BCG vaccine expressing chimeric multi-epitope antigen against TB.
Selected Publications
1. Kumar R, Gandham S, Rana A, Maity HK, Sarkar U and Dey B. 2023. Divergent proinflammatory immune responses associated with the differential susceptibility of cattle breeds to tuberculosis. Front. Immunol. 14:1199092. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1199092
2. Dey RJ, Dey B, Harriff M, Canfield ET, Lewinsohn DM, Bishai WR. 2022. Augmentation of the Riboflavin-Biosynthetic Pathway Enhances Mucosa-Associated Invariant T (MAIT) Cell Activation and Diminishes Mycobacterium tuberculosis Virulence. mBio. 15:e0386521. doi:10.1128/mbio.03865-21. PMID: 35164552.
3. Dey RJ*, Dey B*, Singh AK, Praharaj M, Bishai W. 2020. Bacillus Calmette-Guérin Overexpressing an Endogenous Stimulator of Interferon Genes Agonist Provides Enhanced Protection Against Pulmonary Tuberculosis. J Infect Dis. 221(7):1048-1056. doi:10.1093/infdis/jiz116. .*Joint first author.
4. Dey RJ*, Dey B*, Zheng Y*, Cheung L, Zhou J , Sayre D, Kumar P, Guo H, Lamichhane G, Sintim HO, Bishai WR. 2017. Inhibition of innate immune cytosolic surveillance by a M. tuberculosis phosphodiesterase. Nature Chemical Biology. 13: 210-217.*Joint first author.
5. Dey B, Dey RJ., Cheung SL, Pokkali S, Guo H, Lee JH and Bishai WR. 2015. A bacterial cyclic dinucleotide activates the cytosolic surveillance pathway and mediates innate resistance to tuberculosis. Nature Medicine. 21(4):401-6.