My interests connect three questions. What are microorganisms genetically capable of producing? Which environmental conditions change what they actually make? And how might that chemistry help us understand, or counter, antimicrobial resistance?
MSc Applied Biotechnology · University of Westminster · 2023
The project began by screening more than 35 marine sediment isolates against Candida albicans and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. I then studied two isolates in depth, Bacillus altitudinis and Bacillus hwajinpoensis1, against C. albicans NCPF 3179. The question was whether adding chitin to the culture medium changes extracellular antifungal activity, and whether chitinolytic activity or predicted secondary-metabolite pathways could explain it.
MSc project · University of Westminster · 2023
From marine sediment to antifungal activity
8 steps · about 1½ minutes · narrated
Supernatants from chitin-supplemented cultures inhibited C. albicans. Comparable activity was not seen in the unsupplemented conditions tested.
Which molecule is responsible, how it inhibits growth, and which biosynthetic pathway, if any, produces it.
The work also found evidence consistent with chitinolytic activity, and predicted biosynthetic potential in both genomes. Preliminary viability results on VERO cells gave a first indication of the preparations' effect on mammalian cells. The open questions above are what make this a starting point for further research.
Microbial genomes carry biosynthetic gene clusters for many specialised metabolites, but genetic potential does not always become detectable activity in standard culture. I am interested in using biologically relevant signals, such as chitin, to change what microorganisms make.
Comparative cultivation, metabolomics, transcriptomics, genome mining and bioactivity-guided fractionation could connect a specific stimulus to a specific antimicrobial product.
Tools such as antiSMASH predict pathways for non-ribosomal peptides, polyketides and other metabolites. I am particularly interested in genomic context, meaning the neighbouring genes, how clusters are distributed across related organisms, and possible links to self-protection or resistance.
Interpretation A resistance-associated gene next to a cluster does not show that the cluster makes an antibiotic, or that the gene protects against its product. That link needs experimental evidence.
Rivers, sediments and wastewater-influenced ecosystems receive resistant organisms, antimicrobial residues and resistance genes from many sources. Environmental sampling, cultivation, metagenomics and resistance-gene profiling can show where resistance occurs and what sustains it.
Interpretation Finding similar resistance genes in two environments does not by itself show transmission between them. That needs sampling controls, source attribution and genomic context.
A new antibiotic is not the only route against resistance. Microbial metabolites may change antibiotic susceptibility, interfere with resistance mechanisms or act synergistically with established drugs, which matters most for resistant Gram-negative bacteria.
Interpretation This requires separating intrinsic activity, genuine potentiation, nonspecific toxicity and assay artefacts.
These are research interests and proposed directions, not completed experiments.
Cavendish Living Lab, University of Westminster · Biopolymer Scientist Intern, bioplastics strand
Producing bacterial cellulose from food-waste substrates with Komagataeibacter xylinus, as part of a student-led sustainability lab on the Westminster campus.
M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Wayanad, India · Research Intern
Field surveys of plants and birds across nine agroforestry sites, and statistical analysis in R linking biodiversity to pest control. Published in Biodiversity and Conservation.
Genome Engineering Laboratory, University of Westminster · Programme participant and outreach presenter
Research and training in CRISPR/Cas9 human genome engineering, followed by public engagement at a Genetics Society outreach event at the Royal Institution, London.
University of Calicut, India · Undergraduate research project
An undergraduate field survey of butterfly diversity in Malappuram District, Kerala.
I work as an Advanced Biomedical Support Worker in Clinical Blood Sciences, in a UKAS ISO 15189-accredited NHS laboratory. A diagnostic result has to be analytically reliable, traceable and reported in the right clinical context.
That shapes how I approach research. An interesting observation is a beginning. A conclusion needs controls, repeats and careful interpretation. My longer-term aim is translational microbiology that links environmental discovery to clinically relevant antimicrobial problems.
1 Since reclassified; LPSN now lists this species as Pseudalkalibacillus hwajinpoensis (Joshi et al. 2022). Back