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  • ट्रांसलेशनल हेल्थ साइंस एंड टेक्नोलॉजी इंस्टीट्यूट
  • TRANSLATIONAL HEALTH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE
    AN INSTITUTE OF BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AND INNOVATION COUNCIL
    DEPT. OF BIOTECHNOLOGY, MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
    GOVT OF INDIA
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MS.NIRANJANA SRI S.

M.Tech; Ph.D

PROJECT RESEARCH SCIENTIST-I

  • Doctor of Philosophy, SASTRA Deemed University, (2017-2022)
  • M. Tech Medical Nanotechnology (Integrated), SASTRA Deemed University, (2011-2016)

2023-2026: MK Bhan Young Research Fellow, THSTI, Faridabad

2022 - 2023: Research Associate - I at THSTI, Faridabad

2016 - 2022: Doctor of Philosophy, SASTRA Deemed University, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu (under the guidance of Dr. N. Saisubramanian)

2011 - 2016 - Master of Technology (Medical Nanotechnology- Integrated), SASTRA Deemed University, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu

Area of Interest: Antimicrobial Resistance, Drug screening and discovery, Tuberculosis and Bacteriophages

India is one among the global lists of high burden countries for tuberculosis (TB), HIV associated TB and Multidrug resistant (MDR)/Rifampicin resistant (RR) – TB as reported by WHO in 2021 and possess the largest share in global cases of TB. MDR TB or extremely drug resistant (XDR) TB is very tedious to cure, as there are only limited therapeutic options to tackle them. Resistance to TB drugs can occur due to premature treatment interruption, incorrect use of drugs, transmission of resistant microorganisms or due to poor drug formulations. Therapy for TB prolongs for a longer duration (usually a period of 9 to 12 months), which would enhance the possibility of the bacteria acquiring resistance for the drugs and can revert with drug resistant traits. Longer treatment regimens also can cause loss in follow-ups. Drug resistant TB requires even longer duration of up to 24 months for cure, which also enhances the possibility of exerting adverse side effects on patients such as psychosis, gastrointestinal disturbance, hepatitis, ototoxicity and nephrotoxicity. Hence, in order to prevent the rise of drug resistant strains and adverse side effects, it is of current dire need to shorten the duration of therapy, with no compromise on efficacy. Combinational therapy towards TB was initially geared up with an aim to reduce resistance development and to shorten the duration of chemotherapy. Nevertheless, off late, emergence of strains resistant to both first-line and second-line drugs of TB has been reported, which has led to increase in treatment regimen and also enhance the risk of emergence of XDR strains upon relapse. Host environment also alters the pathogenicity of the bacteria, which may cause slower growth and increased virulence relative to those grown in nutrient rich media. Host based screening will validate and ensure that the identified adjunct compounds work potentially in host by assessing its ability to access M. tb targets inside the macrophages. Since these molecules modulate host antimicrobial pathways, the chances of the bacteria acquiring resistance in very minimal. My research will focus on identifying new compounds by performing a high throughput screening in both liquid culture and macrophage based assays. The resultant compound hit will be tested if they could enhance the efficacy of the drug at a minimal concentration than at which it is conventionally used. These compound hits will be then evaluated in combination with existing TB drugs in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo.The mechanism of action of the compounds will also be delineated. 

Publication

Post-PhD:

1. Nayak D.K , Mishra A, Sharaya R, Das M, Chugh S, Babele P, Yadav A.K, Singh R, Dhiman R*, Sundaramoorthy,  N.S*. Delineating the mechanism of action of repurposed drug, Benzatropine, against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. ACS Infect. Dis, 2026

2. Kore, M., Sundaramoorthy, N.S, Kidwai, S., Singh, R. & Sundriyal, S. Discovery of new diaminoquinazolines against Mycobacterium tuberculosis: chemical synthesis and in vitro evaluation. RSC Adv, 2026 16.

3. Unnikrishnan, V.K., Sundaramoorthy, N.S, Manivannan, R., Shanthi, M., Gnanadhas, D.P., Alexander, S., Ulaganathan, V., Subburethinam, R. & Nagarajan, S. Evaluation of the efflux inhibitory potential of aminopyrazole derivative to restore azole sensitivity in Candida albicans. Bioorg Med Chem Lett, 2026 133, 130529.

4. Singh, N., Chattopadhyay, G., Sundaramoorthy, N.S, et al.  Understanding the physiological role and cross-interaction network of VapBC35 toxin-antitoxin system from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Commun Biol, 2025 8, 327 

5. Bhanwala, N., Sundaramoorthy, N.S., Gollapudi, S. et al. Design, synthesis, anti-tubercular activity, and computational studies of novel 3-(quinolin-3-yl)-1-phenylprop-2-en-1-one derivatives. Med Chem Res, 2024 33, 1926–1937  

6. Gupta V, Sundaramoorthy N.S, Bhanwala N. et al. Design, Synthesis, Evaluation, and Molecular Docking Study of Novel Quinoline Hydrazone Analogues as Anti-Tubercular Agents. J. Comput. Biophys. Chem, 2024 23, 1197-1208 

During PhD:

7. Unnikrishnan, V.K., Sundaramoorthy, N.S., Nair, V.G. et al. Genome analysis of triple phages that curtails MDR E. coli with ML based host receptor prediction and its evaluation. Sci Rep 2023 13, 23040 

8. Sundaramoorthy N.S, Mohan H.M, Subramanian S, et al. Ursolic acid inhibits efflux and curtails colistin resistant Enterobacteriaceae. AMB Expr, 2019; 9:27 

9. Sundaramoorthy N.S, Suresh P, Ganesan S.S et al. Restoring colistin sensitivity in colistin-resistant E. coli: Combinatorial use of MarR inhibitor with efflux pump inhibitor. Sci Rep, 2019; 9:19845 

10. Sundaramoorthy N.S, Sivasubramanian A, Nagarajan S. Simultaneous inhibition of MarR by salicylate and efflux pumps by curcumin sensitizes colistin resistant clinical isolates of Enterobacteriaceae. Microb Pathog, 2020; 148: 104445

11. Bharathan S, Sundaramoorthy N.S, Chandrasekaran H, Rangappa G, ArunKumar G.P, Subramaniyan S.B, Veerappan A, Nagarajan S. Sub lethal levels of platinum nanoparticle cures plasmid in combination with carbapenem, curtails carbapenem resistant Escherichia coli. Sci Rep, 2019; 9:5305 

12. Sundaramoorthy N.S, Thothathri S, Bhaskaran M, GaneshPrasad A, Nagarajan S. Phages from Ganges River curtail in vitro biofilms and planktonic growth of drug resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in a zebrafish infection model. AMB Expr, 2021; 11(1): 27

13. Sundaramoorthy N.S, Mitra K, Ganesh J.S, Makala H, Lotha R, Bhanuvalli S.R, Ulaganathan V, Tiru V, Sivasubramanian A, Nagarajan S. Ferulic acid derivative inhibits NorA efflux and in combination with ciprofloxacin curtails growth of MRSA in vitroand in vivo. Microb Pathog, 2018; 124: 54-62 

14. Lotha R, Sundaramoorthy N.S, Shamprasad B.R , Nagarajan S, Sivasubramanian A. Plant nutraceuticals (Quercetrin and Afzelin) capped silver nanoparticles exert potent antibiofilm effect against food borne pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi and curtail planktonic growth in zebrafish infection model. Microb Pathog, 2018; 120: 109-118

15. Sundaramoorthy N.S, Shankaran P, Gopalan V, Nagarajan S. New tools to mitigate drug resistance in Enterobacteriaceae – Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Crit. Rev. Microbiol., 2022.

Other co-author publications:

16. Muthukumar P, Yuvapriya D, Selvakumar D, Sundaramoorthy N S. et al. Plasmonic nanoparticles doped metal oxide hybrid materials for efficient photocatalytic dye degradation and strong anti-biofilm activity. Mater. Sci. Eng. B, 2023, 116688

17. Lowrence R.C, Ramakrishnan A, Sundaramoorthy N. S, Shyam A, Mohan, V, Subbarao H.M.V, Ulaganathan V, Raman T, Solomon A, Nagarajan S. Norfloxacin salts of carboxylic acids curtail planktonic and biofilm mode of growth in ESKAPE pathogens. J Appl Microbiol, 2018; 124: 408-422 

18. Lotha R, Shamprasad B.R, Sundaramoorthy N.S, Nagarajan S, Sivasubramanian A. Biogenic phytochemicals (cassinopin and isoquercetin) capped copper nanoparticles (ISQ/CAS@CuNPs) inhibits MRSA biofilms. Microb Pathog, 2019; 132:178-187. 

19. Lotha R, Shamprasad B.R, Sundaramoorthy N.S, Ganapathy R, Nagarajan S, Sivasubramanian A. Zero valent silver nanoparticles capped with capsaicinoids containing Capsicum annuum extract, exert potent anti-biofilm effect on food borne pathogen Staphylococcus aureus and curtail planktonic growth on a zebrafish infection model. Microb Pathog, 2018; 124:291-300 

 

20. Manigandan A, Handi V, Sundaramoorthy N.S, Dhandapani R, Radhakrishnan R, Sethuraman S, Subramanian A. Responsive Nanomicellar Theranostic Cages for Metastatic Breast Cancer, Bioconjugate Chem (2018) 

  1. Nair, V.G., Unnikrishnan, V.K., Sundaramoorthy, N.S., Muralikrishnan, P., Nagarajan, S. Fungi as a Tool to Screen for Microbial Protease Inhibitors. In: Uppuluri, K.B., Selvasembian, R. (eds) Bioprospecting of Multi-tasking Fungi for Therapeutic Applications. Springer Nature, 2025

  2. Sundaramoorthy N.S. and Nagarajan S.  Can Nanoparticles help in the battle against drug resistant infections in “Post – Antibiotic Era”? AMR – Underlying mechanisms and therapeutic approaches. Springer Nature, 2022; 175 - 213

  3. Sundaramoorthy N.S, Raman T and Nagarajan S. Zebrafish as an Indispensable Tool for Infectious Diseases and Immune Modulatory Studies. Zebrafish Model for Biomedical Research. Springer Nature, 2022; 181-195

  4. Sri N.S,Thiagarajan R, Manikandan R, Arumugam M. Curcumin based food supplements: Challenges and future prospects. Non vitamin and non-mineral Nutritional supplements. Academic Press. 2019:119-128

  5. Lalitha C, Rathore S.S, Raman T, Sundaramoorthy N.S, Ramakrishnan J. Do non-medical uses of antibiotics develop cross resistance in clinical pathogens? Bacterial Adaptation to Co-resistance OR Agricides to Antibiotics: Bacterial Tolerance. Springer Nature, 2019; 81-107

  6. Sri N.S,Thiagarajan R, Manikandan R, Arumugam M. Curcumin and molecular targets on eye diseases. Studies in Natural Products Chemistry. Elsevier. 2019; 63: 339-356

1. Identification of enhancers of known TB drugs by performing phenotypic or macrophage based screens. (MK Bhan Young Research Fellowship April 2023- March 2026)

2. Reversing colistin resistance in MDR E. coli by combinatorial approach: Use of MarR inhibitor in coniunction with efflux pump inhibitor (CSIR SRF fellowship 2021-2022)

  • MK Bhan Young Research Fellowship from Department of Biotechnology (DBT), India (2023)
  • Senior Research Fellow from Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), India (2021)
  • Best oral presentation in 3rd Annual National meet (2019) of Centre for Research on Infectious diseases (CRID), SASTRA deemed University, Thanjavur guested by Prof. Tapas K. Kundu, Director, CSIR-CDRI, Lucknow, India (Title of the talk: Role of sub lethal levels of Platinum nanoparticles as a plasmid curing agent to reverse drug resistance in MDR E. coli)
  • Best short talk in 2nd Annual national meet (2018) of Centre for Research on Infectious diseases (CRID), SASTRA deemed University, Thanjavur (Title of the talk: Comparison of Bacteriophage(s) from Ganges and Cauvery River to Curtail Gram Negative Pathogens In Planktonic & Biofilm Mode of Growth In-vitro & In-vivo)

Mentor: Dr. Ramandeep Singh, Senior Professor, THSTI

  • NIRANJANASRI[AT]THSTI[DOT]RES[DOT]IN