Research Projects

Antimicrobial resistance is a global concern, and researchers worldwide are working to find new approaches to combat it. India is particularly interested in studying the bacterial innate immune system to understand its molecular functions against various phages. Co-evolving phages have devised strategies to overcome resistance, and in-depth research into relevant pathways is needed to discover innovative strategies. Recent research has identified numerous bacterial anti-phage defence systems, such as restriction modification, CRISPR, CBASS, DISARM, BREX, Pycsar, prokaryotic viperin, and toxin-antitoxin systems. These systems detect, recognize, and eliminate foreign genetic material, and their ability to defend against phages has been demonstrated experimentally. The goal of this project is to secure funds to launch a new line of investigation in my lab, focusing on protein-protein interactions. This will help investigate bacterial innate immunity pathways and lay the groundwork for tackling more difficult challenges in the future. Structure-based drug discovery should focus on identifying and exploiting these interactions to improve treatment outcomes. Recent advances in cryo-electron microscopy have opened a new window of opportunity for investigating these interactions in greater detail.