Assistant Director

I have acquired a Ph.D. in Immunology/Microbiology and a total industrial experience of 20 years. My doctoral project was on the immunomodulatory mechanisms in lepromatous patients and subsequent development of a recombinant vaccine for leprosy. After completing my doctorate, I joined erstwhile Hoechst Marion Roussel where I was working in the area of inflammation with focus on discovering drugs for rheumatoid arthritis. My exposure and work experience was focussed on developing; anti-TNF screens with cell based systems, receptor-ligand interactions (TNF/TNFR, IL-1/IL-1R, CD40/CD40L), anti-asthamatic and anti-metastatic screens using transfected cell lines for IL-5, VEGF, NGF, etc. Further, with Piramal Enterprises Limited, I honed my skills in drug discovery in projects directed towards mitigating inflammatory cytokines in the inflammatory diseases and the fibrinogen receptor (GPIIb/IIIa-R) antagonist project for cardiovascular conditions. I was instrumental in setting up High Throughput Screening Facility at Piramal Enterprises Limited and am currently responsible for conducting high throughput screening as well as high content screening in the target areas of cancer, inflammation and metabolism. 20 years of drug discovery experience has prepared me to understand discovery biology and pharmacology in inflammation, metabolic disorders; the role of signalling cascades and their subsequent involvement in multiple therapeutic domains