Beenish is a microbiologist by training, with a background in mycobacteriology. She received her PhD at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi investigating epidemiology & transmission of extensively drug resistant (XDR) TB strains in India, followed by Senior Residency in Department of Microbiology at All India Institute of Medical Sciences Bhopal.

Later she pursued her postdoctoral research at McGill university Health Centre studying several facets like biology, genomic and proteomic characterization of Mycobacterium orygis.

Until recently, she joined as Ramanjan Fellow at CSIR IIIM after being awarded the fellowship by Department of Science and technology, Science and Engineering board (Govt. Of India).

Research statement:

 Current research is focused on two main areas:

(i) Comparative genomics (pangenome) to study accessory genes/coding sequences among hypervirulent strains/drug resistant strain of Mycobcaterium tuberculosis. Long term plans include elucidating the function characteristic of such genes/coding sequences, understanding mechanisms of drug resistance and further to do gene-knockouts to look for their role in host pathogen interactions.

ii) Understanding biology and characterization of outer membrane vesicles (OMV’s) released by members of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. I will be looking for role of these OMV’s for generation of cell-mediated responses in mice models and whether it will result in a significant Th1 imprint that can persist following high dose M. tuberculosis challenge in mice models. Long term plan includes understanding multiple pathways of OMV’s that promote bacteria survival in host.