Ayesha Ismail

Biography

"Dr. Ismail has a Master’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Hyderabad and Ph.D in Biochemistry from Osmania University, Hyderabad. Before joining NIN in 2008, she received post-doctoral training at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, TX, and at the University of Miami, FL, USA. She is a recipient of the Young Investigator Award at the ASBMR, USA. She was awarded the Ramanujan Fellowship and Young Scientist Grant from the Department of Science & Technology, India. The research work in her lab is funded by DBT, DST and ICMR. She is a Research Supervisor in the disciplines of Biochemistry and Nutrition at the Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. Her research deals with the Non-Classical functions of Vitamin D. Vitamin D is now known to play an important role in many tissues/organs not involved in calcium homeostasis. Newer functions of this vitamin are being unraveled each year. In recent years, vitamin D deficiency has been reported to be rampant across the world including India. Currently, her group is trying to understand the biochemical and molecular mechanism(s) that play a role during vitamin D deficiency in muscle, heart, adipose and eye function. Another area of her interest is the role of nutraceuticals as anticancer agents. Dietary ingredients contain phytochemicals or natural agents a.k.a ‘nutraceuticals’, which act through multiple molecular targets and help in the prevention or treatment of cancer. Currently, work is in progress to decipher the potential anticancer role of few dietary ingredients using in vitro and in vivo models for breast and prostate cancer."

Research Interest

Non-Classical functions of Vitamin D. role of nutraceuticals as anticancer agents.