Team Members- Department of Infection and Immunology – Kathmandu Research Institute for Biological Sciences (KRIBS)

Anurag Adhikari

Research Head/Group Leader, Department of Infection and Immunology

adhikari.a@kribs.org.np

Education

Ph.D. in Immunology (Pathology), University of New South Wales, Australia

Bachelor of Technology in Biotechnology, Purbanchal University, Nepal

Bio

Anurag Adhikari is currently working on the functional aspect of human adaptive immunity. He studies the polyclonal antibody effector functions to understand the role of humoral immunity in viral infection, so as to understand its role in the disease progression. He has developed an antibody assay to study these antibody effector functions in Hepatitis C virus and SARS CoV-2 infection. He is currently adapting these antibody effector functional assays like the antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP), antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), and antibody-dependent neutralization (ADN) to understand the role of anti-HIV antibodies in HIV pathogenesis.

He has also worked with neglected tropical diseases like Dengue and Scrub typhus, while he is currently working to understand the Lymphatic Filariasis burden in Nepal. In addition to functional immunology during infection, he also has a special interest in B cell ontogeny and how it is affected by germinal center modulation during infection and immunization. Apart from infection, he is also interested in non-communicable disease immune pathology including diabetes and autoimmune disorders.

Currently, he is leading the KRIBS anti-Viral Antibody discovery (KaVA)-program, to support the research and development of next-generation of therapeutic antibodies and effective vaccines.

More details are in KaVA-Program [see https://kribs.org.np/kava-program/]

Publications

Google Scholar Publication List

NCBI Publication Bibliography

Minu Singh

Research Associate

singh.m@kribs.org.np

Education

MSc. Biotechnology, Banaras Hindu University

Bachelor of Technology in Biotechnology, Purbanchal University, Nepal

Publications

Google Scholar Publication List

Adesh Baral

Research Assistant

Education

B.Tech in Biotechnology, Kathmandu University

Manjula Bhattarai

Research Assistant

Education

Bachelor in Nursing, Purbanchal University

Supervisory team

Binod Rayamajhee

Research Fellow

binod@kribs.org.np

Google Scholar, Twitter

Education

Ph.D., Optometry, University of New South Wales, Australia

Bio

Binod Rayamajhee is investigating the severity of a devastating eye infection, Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK), using cutting-edge molecular techniques, that can lead to blindness and even eye removal. Binod is examining the incidence and type of microbial endosymbionts in clinical and environmental isolates of Acanthamoeba using deep-sequencing techniques and determining whether these different endosymbionts affect the course of ocular infection and the ability to treat Acanthamoeba infection in an animal model. In addition, Binod also worked with infectious diseases such as Scrub Typhus, nosocomial infections, the impact of climate change on vector-borne diseases with further interests in investigating the burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) from One Health Perspective.

Publications

Google Scholar Publication List

Rajesh Chaudhary

Research Fellow

rajeshchaudhary.np@gmail.com

Education

PhD in Medicine, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and Adelaide
Health and Medical School, The University of Adelaide, Australia
M.Sc. Medical Biochemistry, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Thailand
B.Tech in Biotechnology, School of Science, Kathmandu University, Nepal

Bio

My research interest focuses on understanding the complex network of obesity-related pathological conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular, liver, and muscle diseases in relation to autophagy and mitochondrial health and their response under various nutritional intervention states. During my last eight years of research work in Nepal, Thailand, and Australia, I have tried to understand the range of pathological conditions that feed into the process and amplify obesity-associated pathological conditions from physiological to molecular levels. In my upcoming projects, I will be engaged in understanding the behavior of our immune system after myocardial infarction and their role in allograft vasculopathy, including understanding the dynamics of inflammatory milieu after allograft and their contribution in allograft rejection.

Publications

Google Scholar Publication List

Department of Infection and Immunology Current Research Students/Interns

Mr. Prawesh Mohan Bhattarai [Undergraduate Thesis student, January 2022-Present]

Research study: Characterization of adaptive immunity in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection