Dr. Kuljit Singh
Scientist
Infectious Diseases Division
CSIR – Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine,Canal Road, Jammu – 180001
Email: singh.kuljit[at]iiim[dot]res[dot]in
Bio Sketch
Our group is currently focused on research on Bacterial and Parasitic infections. Globally, the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in pathogens has become a serious threat to human health and well-being. Infections caused by drug-resistant microorganisms in hospitals are associated with increased morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumonia are gram-negative bacteria in the ESKAPE family and are widely associated with nosocomial infections. Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) or Kala-azar affects millions of poor people worldwide. If left untreated, VL has a high fatality rate and is ranked next to malaria as the deadliest protozoan disease.
Our prime focus is to explore novel strategies requisite to give an impetus to the drug discovery pipeline against these deadly infections. Our group aims to identify potent scaffolds and validate novel drug targets to bolster and diversify the chemical space available for drug discovery. We have developed various assays to decipher the mechanism of action of bioactive molecules using molecular biology and biochemical approaches. Understanding the phenomenon behind antimicrobial resistance and determining the mechanism of pathogen’s survival in stress and healthcare environment are major interests of our group.
Education
Degree | Subjects | University | Qualifying Year |
Ph.D. | Biotechnology | NIPER-Hajipur | 2018 |
M.S. (PHARM.) | Biotechnology | NIPER-S.A.S. Nagar | 2012 |
B. PHARMACY | Pharmacology, Pharmaceutics, Pharmacognosy | PTU-Jalandhar | 2010 |
Position Held
Position Held | Period | Organization |
Scientist | 2020 – Present | CSIR-IIIM, JAMMU |
Research Associate-I | 2019 – 2020 | CSIR-IMTECH, Chandigarh |
Research Officer | 2018 – 2019 | THSTI-Faridabad |
Area of Expertise
- Bioactive Screening, Antimicrobial Resistance and Drug Discovery
- Biology of Healthcare-associated ESKAPE pathogens (Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumonia)
- Therapeutic targets approach through Molecular Biology and Clinical Microbiology
- Protein biochemistry, structure, and functional elucidation
Projects
- MLP-21005: Assay establishment and screening of anti-infective compounds
- GAP-3114: Evaluation and mechanistic studies of N-glycosylated 3,3′-Diindolylmethane derivatives against Leishmania donovani
- MLP-110014: Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCov) testing in human clinical samples at CSIR-IIIM
Publications
Authors | Title | Journal |
Boobalan Gopu, Parampreet Kour, Ramajayan Pandian, Kuljit Singh | Insights into the drug screening approaches in leishmaniasis | International Immunopharmacology, 114, 109591 (2023) |
Diksha Kumari, Shavi Mahajan, Parampreet Kour and Kuljit Singh | Virulence factors of Leishmania parasite: Their paramount importance in unraveling novel vaccine candidates and therapeutic targets | Life Sciences
306, 120829 (2022) |
Diksha Kumari, and Kuljit Singh | Exploring the paradox of defense between host and Leishmania parasite | International Immunopharmacology, 102, 108400 (2022) |
Diksha Kumari, Summaya Perveen, Rashmi Sharma, Kuljit Singh | Advancement in leishmaniasis diagnosis and therapeutics: An update | European Journal of Pharmacology 910, 174436 (2021) |
Gaurav Garg, Vahab Ali, Kuljit Singh, Parool Gupta, Ashish Ganguly, Amogh Sahasrabuddhe, and Pradeep Das | Quantitative secretome analysis unravels new secreted proteins in Amphotericin B resistant Leishmania donovani | Journal of Proteomics, 207, 103464 (2019) |
Krishn Pratap Singh, Shadab Anwar, Amir Zaidi, Kuljit Singh and Vahab Ali | LdIscU is a [2Fe-2S] scaffold protein which interacts with LdIscS and its expression is modulated by Fe-S proteins in Leishmania donovani | International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 116, 1128-1145 (2018) |
Kuljit Singh, Vahab Ali, Krishn Pratap Singh, Parool Gupta, Shashi S. Suman, Ayan K. Ghosh, Sanjiva Bimal, Krishna Pandey and Pradeep Das | Deciphering the interplay between cysteine synthase and thiol cascade proteins in modulating Amphotericin B resistance and survival of Leishmania donovani under oxidative stress | Redox Biology, 12, 350-366 (2017) |
Kuljit Singh, Krishn Pratap Singh, Asif Equbal, Shashi S. Suman, Amir Zaidi, Gaurav Garg, Krishna Pandey, Pradeep Das and Vahab Ali | Interaction between cysteine synthase and serine O-acetyltransferase proteins and their stage specific expression in Leishmania donovani | Biochimie, 131, 29-44 (2016) |
Awards and Honours
-
- Gold Medalist in B. Pharmacy (Batch 2006-2010)
- Registered Pharmacist at Punjab State Pharmacy Council, India
- Qualified GPAT-2010 exam, conducted by M.S. University of Baroda (May, 2010).
- Award of a research fellowship from Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizers, Govt. of India for Ph.D. and M.S. (Pharm.) degree at NIPER
- Travel grant award for young investigators from India and South East Asia by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation at 17th International Congress on Infectious Diseases (ICID-2016)
- Scholarship and travel award from SciGenome Research Foundation (SGRF) at NextGen Genomics, Biology, Bioinformatics and Technologies conference (NGBT-2016)
- Awarded with third Best Poster Presentation Prize at 2nd National seminar on Current Trends in Life Science (CTLS-2017)
- Awarded with Start-up Research Grant (SRG), DST, Govt. of India (2022)
Students
Photo | Name | Area of Interest | Position |
Diksha Kumari | Preclinical development of potential molecules against Leishmaniasis | Ph.D. Scholar- (UGC-SRF)
M.Sc. Zoology (University of Jammu- J&K), qualified CSIR UGC-NET 2019 |
|
Vishwani Jamwal | Identification and characterization of novel scaffolds against ESKAPE pathogens | Ph.D. Scholar- (UGC-JRF)
M.Sc. Zoology (Chandigarh University- Punjab), qualified CSIR UGC-NET 2022 and GATE 2022 |
|
Parampreet Kour | Synthesis and biological evaluation of potent inhibitors against the Topoisomerases IB of L. donovani | JRF (DST-SERB)
M. Tech. Biotechnology (Thapar University-Patiala), qualified GATE 2019 |
Past Group Members:
Aman Kumar (Post-Graduate Trainee)
Milee (Graduate Trainee)
Sachin (Post-Graduate Trainee)
Wajhida Sayeed (Graduate Trainee)
Yawer Rehman (Post-Graduate Trainee)