Bhaswati Pandit

Biography

Traditionally, infectious diseases were textbook examples of “non-genetic diseases.” But now beyond doubt it has been proven that genetic factors determine the susceptibility to various infectious diseases and their clinical courses upon infection. Many of the controlled classical infectious diseases are making a comeback, of which tuberculosis is a good example. About one third of world’s population is infected with M.Tb causing tuberculosis with India bout 1.8 million new cases annually. 5-10% of the infected individuals develop active disease at some point of his life, whereas 90% of infected individuals remain asymptomatic. Individual with latent form of disease serves as a reservoir for the disease and is a major obstacle for controlling the disease. Studies with twins and genome wide linkage analysis suggest that host genetics has strong role in determining susceptibility towards TB. There exist three groups of individuals (1) a susceptible group, (2) latently infected group, (3) resistant group with difference in immune response of these individuals. To address the issue of inter individual differences to disease susceptibility we are performing genomic studies to find host factors that independently or along with pathogen factors modulate course of infection, disease progression and response to treatment. High through put genotyping and sequencing platforms are used to identify variations in innate immune genes and other cytokines. Transcriptomic and proteomic studies will be undertaken to functionally validate the findings at the genome level.

Research Interest

Understanding the regulatory dynamics of tubercular granulomas through genomic and proteomic analyses: implications for latency and re-activation (DBT funded) Molecular Interaction between RAF1 and calcineurin-NFATc pathway: implication in development of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in Noonan Syndrome (DST funded) Understanding immunogenetics of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus among Indians