Download Qualifications: Professional experience: Current research

UMENDER K. SHARMA, Ph.D.
Email- [email protected]; [email protected]
Contact Nos:
Mob: 9980120383
Res: 080 23345847
Qualifications:
M.Sc. (Microbiology) - Central Research Institute, Kasauli (H.P.), India.
Ph.D. - Molecular Biophysics Unit (MBU), Indian Institute of Science (IISc),
Bangalore. India.
Professional experience:
2012 onwards - Head of Research at GangaGen Biotechnologies, Bangalore.
2003-2012 - Team Leader at AstraZeneca R & D, Bangalore
1998-2003 – Research Scientist at AstraZeneca R & D, Bangalore
1996-1998 - Associate Scientist at Astra Research Centre India, Bangalore
1992-1996 – Senior Research Associate at Astra Research Centre India, Bangalore
1988-1992 – Research Associate at Astra Research Centre India, Bangalore
1986-1988 – Research Assistant at Thapar Corporate R & D centre, Patiala, India
Current research interests:
Various aspects of target based anti-infective drug discovery (identification and
validation of novel targets, assay design, biochemical screening, mechanism of action
(MOA), animal efficacy etc.), molecular mechanism of pathogenesis of bacteria
especially M. tuberculosis; Identification of strategies for developing therapies against
drug resistant bacteria particularly Gram negative species; prevalence, molecular
mechanism and evolution of drug resistance in bacteria, regulation of bacterial
transcription. Discovery of Bacteriophage and phage protein (Enzybiotics) based
therapies against drug resistant Gram positive and Gram negative pathogens including
mycobacteria. The work involves designing of protein molecules showing murein
hydrlosae activity which will show bactericidal properties in complex body fluids
such as blood or plasma. The challenge in case of Gram negative bacteria or
mycobacteria is overcoming the outer membrane or mycolic acid permeability barrier
respectively.
Core areas of expertise:
Molecular microbiology, bacterial physiology, bacterial genetics, gene knock out
(KO) / gene knockdown (KD), protein-protein interaction, yeast two hybrid,
recombinant protein expression and purification, medical and general microbiology,
various aspects of discovery of anti-bacterials, handling of pathogenic bacteria in biosafety III labs.
Research background:
I did Masters degree in Microbiology from Central research institute (CRI), Kasauli,
(H.P), where I got comprehensive training in various aspects of microbiology
including, bacteriology, virology, parasitology and vaccine design. At CRI, I worked
on pathogenesis, epidemiological aspects and drug resistance of Salmonella strains.
After that I joined Thapar R & D centre, Patiala (Punjab), where I worked on
microbial production of industrial enzymes for one and half years. Subsequently I
moved to AstraZeneca R & D Bangalore (Previously Astra Research Centre India,
ARCI) and continued working till early 2012. In AZ initially I was involved in
studying molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis of diarrhoea causing E. coli. Later I
focussed on genetic validation of enzymes of peptidoglycan biosynthesis of bacteria
as a drug targets. Subsequently, I was involved in the study of a small protein
inhibitor (T4 phage encoded anti-sigma factor, AsiA) of E. coli transcription as a
model inhibitor. While working at AZ, I did Ph.D. from molecular biophysics unit
(MBU) of Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore under the guidance of Prof.
Dipankar Chatterji. For the last 9-10 years my teams has been involved in studying
molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis of M .tuberculosis. We have been particularly
interested in mycobacterial proteins which are crucial for survival in vitro and in
animal models. Towards this goal we have used modern tools of mycobacterial
genetics and identified proteins which can make high value targets for tuberculosis
drug development. Recently at GangaGen, we have been involved in discovering
Bacteriophage or phage protein based therapeutics against drug resistant pathogenic
bacteria
Recent publications:
1. Ambady A, Awasthy D, Yadav R, Basuthkar S, Seshadri K, Sharma U.
Evaluation of CoA biosynthesis proteins of Mycobacterium tuberculosis as
potential drug targets. Tuberculosis (Edinb). 2012 Nov;92(6):521-8.
2. Balganesh M, Dinesh N, Sharma S, Kuruppath S, Nair AV, Sharma U. Efflux
pumps of Mycobacterium tuberculosis play a significant role in
antituberculosis activity of potential drug candidates. Antimicrob Agents
Chemother. 2012 May;56(5):2643-51.
3. Awasthy D, Bharath S, Subbulakshmi V, Sharma U. Alanine racemase
mutants of Mycobacterium tuberculosis require D-alanine for growth and are
defective for survival in macrophages and mice. Microbiology. 2012
Feb;158(Pt 2):319-27.
4. Sharma, U. Current possibilities and unresolved issues of drug target
validation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis Expert Opinion on Drug
Discovery Nov 2011, Vol. 6, No. 11: 1171–1186
5. Balganesh M, Kuruppath S, Marcel N, Sharma S, Nair A, Sharma U. 2010.
Rv1218c, an ABC transporter of Mycobacterium tuberculosis with
implications in drug discovery. Antimicrob Agents Chemother.
54(12):5167-72.
6. Sharma, U. and Chatterji, D. 2010. Transcriptional switching in E. coli during
stress and starvation by modulation of sigma70 activity. FEMS Microbiol
Rev. 34(5):646-57.
7. Awasthy D, Gaonkar S, Shandil RK, Yadav R, Marcel N, Bharath S,
Subbulakshmi V, Sharma U. (2009) Inactivation of ilvB1 gene in
Mycobacterium tuberculosis leads to branched chain amino acids auxotrophy
and attenuation of virulence in mice. Microbiology.155:2978-87.