UNIVERSITY OF DELHI

Centre for Innovation in Infectious Disease Research, Education and Training (CIIDRET)

Centre for Innovation in Infectious Disease Research, Education, and Training (CIIDRET) established under the ordinance XV-A of the University of Delhi since October 2015 has received due approvals of the Academic Council and the Executive Council. As per its mandate, it has initiated several activities, which include interaction with college students of science stream to inspire them to take up research and Innovation as their career. CIIDRET has planned to promote Industry-Academia Interaction through ‘Entrepreneurship Guest Public Lecture Series’, which includes lectures by Entrepreneurs and the facilitators of Innovation. CIIDRET has been providing state-of-the-art Proteomic and Genomic analytical facilities along with expert advice to scientists from both academia and Industry, and offers consultancy to the Biotech Industry. CIIDRET will soon start Hands-on training courses covering different aspects of Genomics and Proteomics in collaboration with Industry Experts under the scheme ‘Continuing Education and Skill Enhancement for Innovation in Biotechnology (CIIDRET-CESEIB).

Major Activities and Achievements during October, 2015-till date

CIIDRET has developed reagents for immunochemical detection of Chikungunya Virus (CHIKV) infection, and for developing rapid immunoassays for the detection and confirmation of M. tuberculosis and NTMs in growing culture and has initiated process for selecting Industrial partner(s) for co-development.

CIIDRET has developed an ultra-large phage-displayed human antibody (scFv) library comprising of 10 billion clones by using proprietary cloning strategies, which have led to 100% recombinant clones with more than 70% in-frame full-length scFv molecule with sequences nearly matching with germline sequences indicating the naïve-ness. This library has been successfully used for selecting binders to a clinically important human target protein, and the conversion of binders from scFv to Fab format retained the high binding specificity.

CIIDRET undertook an Industrial project for “producing single cell clones of hybridoma” from M/s SPAN Diagnostics Limited, Surat for a total sum of Rs.7.70 lacs. Major part of the fund was for procuring consumables. However, CIIDRET scientists earned consultancy / intellectual fee.

Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary, Director, CIIDRET is providing support as advisor/consultant to M/s Yashraj Biotechnology Ltd., Navi Mumbai, from April 1, 2016.

Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary was conferred upon the Outstanding Alumnus award of the College of Basic Sciences and Humanities by the G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology on November 2017.

Honours / Distinctions

Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary has been the Co-Chairman of the Task Force “DBT-Boost to University to University Interdisciplinary Life Science for Education and Research (DBT – BUILDER) up to 2016.

Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary, Director, CIIDRET is a member of:

• The Scientific Advisory Committee of Surat Raktadan Kendra and Research Centre, Surat.

• The Scientific Advisory Committee of M/s Yashraj Biotechnology Ltd., Navi Mumbai

• The ‘Expert Committee on TB diagnostics’ of the Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi.

• The Working Group on TB Diagnostics of India TB Research Consortium (ITRC), of the Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi.

• The Joint Scientific Advisory Committee NJIL&OMD, Agra and NIRT, Chennai

• DBT Task Force on “Infectious Disease Biology”

!

• Mentor, Nexus @ American Center, New Delhi. (https://startupnexus.net/mentors)

• Member, Academic Council, Jawahar Lal Nehru University w.e.f. 8th May 2017 for two years.

Government of India-funded Research Projects

• A Centre of excellence entitled “Antibody Technology: Research for therapeutic and diagnostic application” Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India for Rs. 6.08 crores. w.e.f. 30th Dec, 2017 for 3 years. (PI, Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary; Co-PI, Dr. Amita Gupta) (Clinical Collaborator Dr. Sarman Singh, AIIMS)

• “Genomic Facility at University of Delhi South Campus” by Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of

India Rs. 2.47 Crore. w.e.f. 23rd Feb, 2018 for 3 years. (PI, Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary; Co-PI, Dr. Amita Gupta)

• “Identification of mycobacterial proteins and novel antigenic epitopes having immunodiagnostic

potential and development of reagents for point of care test for tuberculosis” by Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India for Rs. 79 lacs, w.e.f. Jan 2018 for three years (PI, Dr. Amita Gupta; Co-PI, Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary), (Clinical Collaborator Dr. Rohit Sarin, NITRD, New Delhi).

• "Development of reagents for simple immunochemical tests for the detection of Chikungunya

infection" a collaborative project between University of Delhi South Campus, New Delhi, J.P. Institute of information Technology, NOIDA (JIIT) and ICMR Virus Unit, Kolkata (146 lacs from 2014-2017

Publication/ Patent (filed) 2017-18

Publications:

• Verma, V., Kaur, C., Grover, P., Gupta, A., Chaudhary, V.K. Biotin-tagged proteins: Reagents for efficient ELISA-based serodiagnosis and phage display-based affinity selection. (2018) PLoS ONE 13(1): e0191315.

• Gupta, A., Venkataraman, B., Vasudevan, M., & Gopinath Bankar, K. (2017). Co-expression network analysis of toxin-antitoxin loci in Mycobacterium tuberculosis reveals key modulators of cellular stress. Sci Rep, 7(1), 5868. ISSN - 2045-2322 (online)

Patents filed:

• An antibody fragment library, and uses thereof; Indian Patent application filed on 30th November 2017.

• A process for immobilizing polypeptides; Indian Patent application filed on 9th November 2017.

Posters:

1. ORF selected genome fragment libraries: tools to unravel microbial proteomes! Verma, V., Gupta, A., Chaudhary, V.K. Won best poster prize at INSCR International Conference on 27th September 2017 held at Conference Center, University of Delhi and organized by Department of Zoology, University of Delhi.

2. Recombinant mono-biotinylated antigens: Reagents for improved Immunoassays. Verma, V., Kaur, C., Grover, P., Gupta, A., Chaudhary, V.K. Poster presented at BioZest 2017, Faculty of Life sciences and Biotechnology, South Asian University on 10th November 2017.

Others:

The nucleotide sequence of the vector pVMExp14367 was submitted to Genbank, NCBI (Accession ID: MG599491).

Conference/Workshop/Lectures Organized

v Organized 2nd National Workshop on Genome Informatics, on March 6-8, 2017 at University of Delhi South Campus, New Delhi. In this, Hand-on training was provided in collaboration with M/s Bionivid Technology Private Limited, Bangalore.

v Organized lecture by Mr. Nilesh Mehta, CEO & President, Premier Medical Corporation Ltd., Nani Daman, India entitled “Biotech Industry in India - Opportunities and Challenges” as a part of

Entrepreneurship Guest Public Lecture Series to promote Industry - Academia Interaction Initiative on 7th April 2017

v Organized lecture by Dr. Renu Swarup, Senior Adviser, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India entitled “Igniting Minds....Spurring Innovations” as a part of Entrepreneurship Guest Public Lecture Series to promote Industry - Academia Interaction Initiative on 3rd July 2017.

v Organized 1st National Workshop on Protein Purification and Characterization in association with GE Healthcare Lifesciences on 6-9th February, 2018 for Biologists interested in learning chromatographic techniques suitable for production-scale protein purification.

Conferences/Seminars attended, Lectures/Oration delivered

v Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary delivered Key note address entitled “Antibodies: Wonder Molecules” at Symposium on Translational Science, Lab2Life, organized by Sri Venkateswara College, New Delhi on 15 February, 2018.

v Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary delivered a lecture entitled “An indigenous phage-displayed naïve human antibody (scFv) library: A potential source of recombinant antibody-based therapeutics for human diseases including snake bite treatment ” at “Development of advanced biologics for the treatment of human diseases” organized jointly by SciGenom Labs Pvt. Ltd. Kochi, India, University of Toronto and Bio 360 Life Sciences Park, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) on on 2-3 February, 2018.

v Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary delivered a lecture entitled “Human Antibodies: their production and applications” at International Conference on Advances in Biosciences and Biotechnology organized by Jaypee Institute of Information Technology (JIIT), NOIDA, on 1st February 2018.

v Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary delivered a lecture entitled “An indigenous phage-displayed naïve human antibody (scFv) library: A source of recombinant anti-snake venom molecules!” at SNAKSYMP 2017-Conference on Recent Advances in Research on Snake Venom and Snakebite Therapy: National and International Perspectives organized by CSIR-CCMB on 1st December 2017.

v Dr. Amita Gupta delivered a lecture entitled “Insights into the Toxin-Antitoxin systems of Mycobacterium tuberculosis” at School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad on 14 July 2017.

v Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary delivered a lecture entitled “Recombinant Antigens and Antibodies for improved immunoassays” at Indo-Iran Workshop to Develop Cooperation in Biotechnology organized by International Centre for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology on 4th August 2017.

v Dr. Amita Gupta delivered a lecture entitled “Phage display technology and its Applications” at International Conference on Bacteriophages in River Ganga held at Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi on 22-23 August 2017.

v Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary delivered a lecture entitled “The Magic of Antibodies” under Faculty Development Program on “Recent Advances in Diagnostics and Therapeutics” at Department of Biotechnology, Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, NOIDA on July 18, 2016.

v Dr. Amita Gupta delivered a lecture entitled “Understanding microbial pathogens using genomic tools” at Advanced Lecture Series in Microbiology: An Interdisciplinary Approach held at Department of Microbiology of Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Sciences, University of Delhi on 8 March 2017.

v Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary delivered the plenary lecture entitled “The Magic of Antibodies” on the occasion of ‘National Science Day’ at Central University of Haryana, Mahendragarh on February 28, 2017.

v Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary delivered a lecture in a symposium on “Breakthrough and New Challenges in the Diagnosis and Management of Tuberculosis”, held at MGM Institute of Health Sciences, Navi Mumbai from 18-19 March 2016.

v Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary made a presentation in Global Biotechnology Summit – 2016 celebrating 30 years of Biotechnology on 5-6 February 2016 in section Swatch Bharat Swasth Bharat: Innovation for a healthy nation.

v Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary and Dr. Amita Gupta displayed a competitively selected poster describing “TB Confirm test” at exhibition on “Innovation in Medical Science and Biotechnology” held at the Lawn of Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi on 16th March 2016.

v Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary participated in round table discussion “Innovation in Medical Science and Technology” held at West Hall, Rashtrapati Bhawan Conference Centre, New Delhi on 16th March 2016.

v Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary delivered Foundation Day Lecture “The Magic of Antibodies” at National Institute for Research in Tribal Health, Jabalpur (ICMR – NIRTH), March 1 2016

v Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary attended as the Chief Guest and delivered Inaugural Lecture “Science: My Inspiration” under INSPIRE (Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research) Internship Program, an initiative of Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India at AMITY University Campus, Manesar, November 24, 2015.

Contact: Professor Vijay K. Chaudhary (Director, CIIDRET): vkchaudhary@south.du.ac.in, vijkumchau@gmail.com; 01124115883, +919811800434. Dr Amita Gupta (Core member CIIDRET): amitagupta@south.du.ac.in; +919811509609