DR.RANAJOY MULLICK
Phd (Molecular Virology)
SENIOR RESEARCH SCIENTIST
- MSc (Zoology)
- BSc (Zoology, Hons)
Dr. Ranajoy is currently working as a Senior Research Scientist at the Antibody Translational Research Lab under Translational Research Program. He did his Ph.D. in the year 2011 from National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED, ICMR, Govt. of India) where he worked on HIV-1 molecular biology. Following that he moved to US for postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago, Illinois, working on HSV infection biology. Shortly after that he returned to India to pursue his next postdoctoral training at the Dept. of Microbiology, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. After completing his research at IISc, he joined IAVI at New Delhi, India where he managed the Vaccine R & D program (2017) of the organization before finally moving to the ATRP laboratory at THSTI. Dr. Ranajoy has also served the Institute as an Adjunct Faculty from 2019 to 2022.
His research interest has been focused on HIV-1 surveillance and functional characterization of the circulating viruses. As we know, several broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) against HIV-1 has been discovered till date, which have been proven to be very potent against the global variants of the virus. However, limited information is available if these antibodies are effective against the currently circulating strains of the viruses circulating in India. Dr. Ranajoy working with Dr. Jayanta and his team at THSTI, are trying to characterize these contemporary HIV-1 strains circulating in India in terms of their genetic as well as phenotypic properties (sensitivity towards broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies using established TZMBL cell based neutralization assay). In this process, they have identified few viruses which are resistant against majority of the broadly neutralizing antibodies targeting different bnAb epitopes. Research is ongoing to identify suitable combinations of bnAbs that can combat these resistant viruses. These resistant strains can also be of paramount importance for informed candidate vaccine design.
Positions and Scientific Appointments
2004 - 2011: Junior and Senior Research Fellow(Phd fellow) at the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, ICMR, Calcutta, INDIA
2011- 2012 : Postdoctoral Scholar at Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, University of Chicago, Illinois.
2012 - 2017 : Senior Research Asssociate (Postdoc) at the Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
2013 : Visiting fellow at University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Feb-March2013.
2017 : Manager, Vaccine R & D at International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), New Delhi, India.
2018 - 2019 : Scientist at HIV Vaccine Translational Research Laboratory (HVTR) (IAVI India lab), Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad, India.
2019 – 2021 : Adjunct Faculty at HIV Vaccine Translational Research Laboratory (HVTR) (IAVI India lab), Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad, India.
2021- 2024 : Senior Scientist-I Vaccine R & D, IAVI at Antibody Translational Research Program (ATRP) (formerly HIV Vaccine Translational Research Laboratory), (IAVI India lab), Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad, India.
2025- till date : Senior Research Scientist at Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad, India.
Publication
1. Mullick R, Sengupta S, Sarkar K, Saha MK, Chakrabarti S.2006. “Phylogenetic Analysis of Env, Gag and Tat Genes of HIV Type 1 detected among Injecting Drug Users in West Bengal, India.” AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses., 22 (12): 1293-99. Impact Factor : 2.7
2. Mullick R, Sengupta S, Sarkar K, Chakrabarti S. 2010. “Molecular Characterisation of Tat Gene and Long Terminal Repeat Region of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type-1 Detected among Injecting Drug Users (IDUs) of Manipur, India: Identification of BC Recombinants.” Virus Res. 147, 195–201.Impact Factor : 2.58
3. Mullick R,Sengupta S, Sarkar R, Singh N N, Singh N B, Singh Y M, Sarkar K, ChakrabartiS 2012. “Genotypic Distribution of Different Variants of Oncogenic Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) among the Sexually Active HIV-1 Positive Female Population from Manipur, India.” World Journal of AIDS.Vol.2 No.2, 71-77. Impact Factor : 0.74
4. Mullick R,Sutar J, Hingankar N, Deshpande S, Thakar M, Sahay S, Ringe RP, Mukhopadhyay S, Patil A, Bichare S, Murugavel KG, Srikrishnan AK, Goyal R, Sok D, Bhattacharya J 2021. “Neutralization diversity of HIV-1 Indian subtype C envelopes obtained from cross sectional and followed up individuals against broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies having distinct gp120 specificities.” Retrovirology. 2021 May 14;18(1):12. Impact Factor : 4.18.
5. Sarkar R, Sengupta S, Mullick R, Singh NB, Sarkar K, Chakrabarti S. 2009. “Implementation of a Multiregion Hybridization Assay to Characterise HIV-1 Strains Detected among Injecting Drug Users in Manipur, India.” Intervirology. 11; 52(4): 175-178. Impact Factor : 1.7
6. Sarkar M, Agrawal A, Dey R S, Chattopadhyay S, Mullick R, De P, Chakrabarti S, Sarkar M C.2011. “Molecular Characterisation and Comparative Analysis of Pandemic H1N1/2009 Strains 1 with Co-circulating Seasonal H1N1/2009 Strains from Eastern India.” Arch Virol. 156(2): 207-17. Impact Factor : 2.11
7. Sarkar R, Pal R, Bal B, Mullick R, Sengupta S, Sarkar K, Chakrabarti S. 2011. “Genetic Characterisation of HIV-1 Strains among the Injecting Drug Users in Nagaland, India.” Open Virol J.; 5:96-102. Impact Factor : NA.
8. Kumar A, Manna A K, Ray U, Mullick R, Basu G, Das Sand Roy S. 2014. “Specific Sequence of a Beta-turn in Human La Protein May Contribute to Species Specificity of Hepatitis C Virus.” J Virol. 88(8): 4319-27. Impact Factor : 4.6
9. Reddy B U, Mullick R, Kumar A, Sudha G, Srinivasan N and Das S 2014. “Small molecule inhibitors of HCV replication from Pomegranate.” Scientific Reports.4:5411.Impact Factor : 4.25
10. Yu W, Grubor-Bauk B, Mullick R, Das S, Gowans E. 2014. “Immunocompetent mouse models to evaluate intrahepatic T cellresponses to HCV vaccines. Hum Vaccin Immunother.” 10(12) :3576-8. Impact Factor : 3.6
11. Gummow J, Li Y, Yu W, Garrod T, Wijesundara D, Brennan A J, Mullick R, Voskoboinik I, Grubor-Bauk B, and Gowans E. 2015. “A multi-antigenic DNA vaccine that induces broad HCV-specific T-cell responses in mice.” J Virol.89(15):7991-8002. Impact Factor : 4.6
12. Shwetha S, Kumar A, Mullick R, Vasudevan D, Mukherjee N, Das S.2015. “HuR displaces PTB to facilitate La binding to the 3’UTR and enhances HCV replication.” J Virol.89(22):11356-71. Impact Factor : 4.6
13. Kumar A, Das S, Mullick R, Lahiri P, Tatineni R, Goswami D, Bhat P, Karande AA, Das S. 2015. “Immune responses against hepatitis C virus genotype 3a virus-like particles in mice: A novel VLP prime-adenovirus boost strategy.”Vaccine. 34(8):1115-25. Impact Factor : 3.6 Cited : 4
14. Pandita E, Rajan S, Rahman S, Mullick R, Das S, Sau AK. 2016. “Tetrameric Assembly Of hGBP1 Is Crucial For Both Stimulated GMP Formation and Antiviral Activity.”Biochem J. Jun 15;473(12):1745-57. Impact Factor : 4.39
15. Bose M, Mullick R, Das S, Das S, Karande AA. 2016. “Combination of neutralizing monoclonal antibodies against Hepatitis C virus E2 protein effectively blocks virus infection.”Virus Res. 15;224:46-57. Impact Factor : 2.58
16. Das S, Mullick R, Kumar A, Tandon H, Bose M, Gouthamchandra K, Chandra M, Ravishankar B, Khaja MN, Srinivasan N, Das S, Melkote Subbarao S, Karande AA. 2017. “Identification of a novel epitope in the C-terminus of HCV-E2 protein that induces potent and cross-reactive neutralizing antibodies.”J Gen Virol. 98(5):962-976. Impact Factor : 3.36 Cited : 1
17. Bose M, Kamra M, Mullick R, Bhattacharya S, Das S, Karande AA. 2017. “A plant-derived dehydrorotenoid: a new inhibitor of hepatitis C virus entry.”FEBS Lett. 591(9):1305-1317. Impact Factor : 3.51
18. Deschamps T, Dogrammatzis C, Mullick R, Kalamvoki M. 2017. “The Cbl E3 ligase mediates The removal of Nectin-1 from the surface of the herpes simplex virus type 1 infected cells.” J Virol.May 26;91(12):e00393-17. Impact Factor : 4.6
19. Bose M, Kamra M, Mullick R, Bhattacharya S, Das S, Karande AA. 2017. “Identification of a flavonoid isolated from plum (Prunus domestica) as a potent inhibitor of Hepatitis C virus entry.”Scientific Reports. Jun 21; 7(1): 3965. Impact Factor : 4.25
20. Reddy BU, Mullick R, Kumar A, Sharma G, Bag P, Roy CL, Sudha G, Tandon H, Dave P, Shukla A, Srinivasan P, Nandhitha M, Srinivasan N, Das S2018. “A natural small molecule inhibitor corilagin blocks HCV replication and modulates oxidative stress to reduce liver damage.” Antiviral Res. 2017 Dec 7. Feb;150:47-59, Impact factor : 4.9
21. Jayal P, Behera P, Mullick R, Ramachandra SG, Das S, Kumar A, Karande A 2021. “Responsive polymer-assisted 3D cryogel supports Huh7.5 as in vitro hepatitis C virus model and ectopic human hepatic tissue in athymic mice.” Biotechnol Bioeng. Mar;118(3) : 1286-1304.
22. Raninga N, Nayeem SM, Gupta S, Mullick R, Pandita E, Das S, Deep S, Sau AK 2021. “Stimulation of GMP formation in hGBP1 is mediated by W79 and its effect on the antiviral activity.” FEBS J. May;288(9):2970-2988.
23. Sutar J, Deshpande S, Mullick R, Hingankar N, Patel V, Bhattacharya J. 2021 “Geospatial HIV-1 subtype C gp120 sequence diversity and its predicted impact on broadly neutralizing antibody sensitivity.”PLoS One. May 24;16(5):e0251969. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251969. eCollection2021.
24. Laher F, Richardson SI, Smith P, Sullivan PS, Abrahams AG, Asowata OE, Bitangumutwenzi P, Dabee S, Dollah A, Fernandez N, Langat RK, Bose DL, Likhitwonnawut U, Mullick R, Resop RS, Sutar J, Thompson-Hall AN, Traeger MW, Tuyishime M, Wambui J, Bekker LG, Kaleebu P, McCormack S, O'Connor DH, Warren M, Torri T, Thyagarajan B 2021.HIV Prevention in a Time of COVID-19: A Report from the HIVR4P // Virtual Conference.AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. Nov 25. doi: 10.1089/AID.2021.0138. Online ahead of print.
25. Jyoti Sutar, Priyanka Jayal, Ranajoy Mullick, et al 2025. Distinct region-specific neutralization profiles of contemporary HIV-1 clade C against best- in-class broadly neutralizing antibodies” Ms accepted for publication in JVI.
1. Molecular Biology of HIV in India. NARI Bulletin from National AIDS Research Institute (ICMR), India. Ranajoy Mullick, Roni Sarkar & Sekhar Chakrabarti. July 2010, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2-3.
1. Patent obtained for: HEPATITIS C EPITOPES AND MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIE Indian Patent Application No. 201741002367 Date of filing: 20-01-2017. Applicant: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE, Bangalore Inventors: Anjali Karande, et al.Our Ref.: IIS01170002.
1. Science and Engineering Research Board, SERB under Department of Science and Technology (DST) (under Core Research Grant call for proposal). “Identification, characterization and optimization of monoclonal antibodies that broadly neutralize entry of HIV-1 subtype C predominantly circulating in India”. Status: Completed Role: Co-Principal Investigator; Period: 2019-2022.
2. Science and Engineering Research Board, SERB under Department of Science and Technology (DST) (under Core Research Grant call for proposal). “Characterization of evolving HIV-1 diversity associated with resistance to antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) and broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs)”. Status: Sanctioned recently Role: Co-Principal Investigator; Period: 2024-2027.
3. IAVI-ICMR funded project under Investigator Initiated Research (IIR) call entitled “Assessment of suitability of biomedical prevention products against the contemporary strains of HIV-1 in India and Uganda” Role: Co-Principal Investigator; Period: 2023-2025.
2003 :Awarded Junior Research Fellowship & Lectureship, under CSIR Fellowship Scheme by qualifying for the National Eligibility Test (NET) jointly conducted by the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), Govt. of India and University Grants Commission (UGC).
2010 :Awarded Conference Scholarshipfor Poster Presentation at AIDS Vaccine Conference 2010 held at Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
2016 : Won the best poster presentation award at the 17th Indo-US Cytometry workshop on “Application of laser Flow Cytometry in Biomedical Research” jointly conducted by Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore.
2019 : Won the IAVI MVP award for contribution in Grant writing process for Wellcome Trust India Alliance Team Science Grant which was awarded to the PI.
2024 : Won full Conference Scholarship for Poster Presentation at HIV R4P Conference 2024 held at Lima, Peru, South America organized by International AIDS Society.
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- RMULLICK[AT]THSTI[DOT]RES[DOT]IN