Immunobiology of metazoan parasites

I am a Microbiologist trained in JIPMER Pondicherry and Delhi University and later in Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK and University of Connecticut Health Centre, USA. I worked as a scientist with Indian Council of Medical Research for more than two decades and currently heading the Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar, an autonomous research institution under Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt of India. My Scientific interests include Immunology of infectious diseases such as Malaria, Filariasis and Sepsis, regulation of inflammation and macrophage biology in infectious diseases, evolution of immune system in mammals. My laboratory uses experimental animals as well as pathogen exposed humans as model systems. I have been an active member of a large global consortium of investigators from Universities and Research institutions in UK, USA, Germany, France, Netherlands, Malaysia and Indonesia for nearly a decade working on Immuno-biology of Metazoan pathogens. I have been a visiting Professor/Visiting Scientist at University Edinburgh, University of Bonn, Pasteur Institute at Lille during the last 10 years. My group has published about 90 scientific papers in International journals. Over the last three decades 18 PhD and 16 MD students worked with me and successfully completed their degrees. Current the strength of my laboratory is 3 PhD students, 2 post doctoral fellow and one woman scientist. In recent years I have been spending much of time serving as a member of Board of Governors and in Scientific Advisory Committees of several Research institutions and functioning as a peer-reviewer for several scientific journals and funding agencies in India and abroad. Know More →

Immunobiology of metazoan parasites

Research Outline:
Very broadly my laboratory is interested to understand Immunobiology of infectious diseases such as Malaria, Filariasis and Sepsis. We use a variety animal models and human diseases to seek insights into pathogenesis of disease processes, analysis of parasite components that induce host responses (inflammation and adaptive immune response), immunoregulatory network that determine pathology and/or outcome of infection process. More specifically, we characterize host response in the context of co-infections in animal models and in human communities. The experimental model allows us to understand effect of two pathogens with opposing immune response in the host.

The other major project in the laboratory is directed towards inflammation mediated by pathogens and endogenous molecules broadly classified as DAMPs and the interplay and cross-talk between the two. We expect these studies to offer insights into how mammalian hosts ‘deal’ with pathogens and non-pathogenic commensal microbes. Our studies on regulation of inflammation and innate immunity have also led us into understanding macrophage biology and approaches to re-programme macrophage activity in inflammatory diseases.

Our investigations on co-infections in human communities have given us opportunities to address genetic basis of infectious diseases and relationship between some of the infectious diseases and autoimmunity

Immunobiology of metazoan parasites

Selected Publications

1. Ravindran B. (2001) Are Inflammation and Immunological hyperactivity needed for Filarial Parasite development? Trends in Parasitology, 17(2): 70-73.
2. Mohanty MC, Satapathy AK, Sahoo PK, and Ravindran B. (2001) Human Bancroftian Filariasis – A role for Antibodies to Parasite Carbohydrates. Clinical and Experimental Immunology, 124: 54-61.
3. B. Ravindran (2001) Filariasis Control: Ethics, Economics and Good Science. The Lancet,358: 246.
4. Mohanty MC and Ravindran B. ( 2002) Deficiency of antibody responses to T-independent antigens in Gerbils, Mariones unguculatus. Developmental and Comparative Immunology, 26: 385-391
5. Mukhophadya S., Mohanty MC, Mangla A., George A., Bal V., Rath S. and Ravindran B.(2002) Macrophage Effector functions controlled by Bruton’s Tyrosine Kinase are more crucial than the cytokine balance of T-cell responses for microfilarial clearance.  Journal of Immunology, 168: 2914-2921
6. Ravindran B. (2002). Mass drug administration to treat lymphatic filariasis. The Lancet359 (9321): 1948
7. B. Ravindran, Satapathy AK, Sahoo PK and Mohanty MC (2003) Protective immunity in human lymphatic filariasis: problems and prospects. Medical  Microbiology and Immunology, 192, 41-46.
8. B. Ravindran (2003) Aping Jane Goodall: Insights into human lymphatic filariasis. Trends in Parasitology, 19(3), 105-109.
9. Das BK, Misra S., Padhi PK, Manish R., Tripathy R, Sahoo PK and Ravindran B. (2003) Pentoxifyline adjunct improves prognosis of human cerebral malaria in adults. Tropical Medicine and International Health, 8; 680-684
10. Satapathy AK, Sartono E, Sahoo PK, Dentener MA, Michael E, Yazdanbakhsh M, Ravindran B. Human bancroftian filariasis: immunological markers of morbidity and infection. Microbes Infection. 2006 Aug;8(9-10):2414-23
11.  Sahu BR, Mohanty MC, Sahoo PK, Satapathy AK, Ravindran B. Protective immunity in human filariasis: a role for parasite-specific IgA responses. Journal of  Infectious Diseases. 2008 Aug 1;198(3):434-43
12. Panda AK, Sahoo PK, Kerketta AS, Kar SK, Ravindran B, Satapathy AK.  Human lymphatic filariasis: genetic polymorphism of endothelin-1 and tumor necrosis factor receptor II correlates with development of chronic disease. Journal of  Infectious Diseases. 2011 Jul 15;204(2):315-22
13. Mohapatra AD, Kumar S, Satapathy AK, Ravindran B. Caspase dependent programmed cell death in developing embryos: a potential target for therapeutic intervention against pathogenic nematodes.  PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2011 Sep;5(9):e1306. Epub 2011
14. Panda SK, Kumar S, Tupperwar NC, Vaidya T, George A, Rath S, Bal V, Ravindran B Chitohexaose activates macrophages by alternate pathway through TLR4   and blocks endotoxemia.. PLoS Pathogens. 2012 May;8(5):e1002717. Epub 2012
15. Mohapatra AD, Panda SK, Pradhan AK, Prushty BK, Satapathy AK and B.Ravindran Filarial antigens mediates Apoptosis of human monocytes thro TLR4 Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2014

Immunobiology of metazoan parasites

Group Members
Dr.Geetanjali Agnihotri – DST – Fast track Scientist
Dr. Diwakar Singh – DBT Post-Doctoral Fellow
Mr.Ratnadeep Mukerjee PhD student
Mr.Pijus Burman PhD Student
Dr.Birendra Prushty PhD Student

Collaborators

Dr. Satyajit Rath, NII, New Delhi
Dr. Anna George, NII, New Delhi
Dr. Vineeta Bal, NII, New Delhi
Dr. Shobona Sharma, TIFR, Mumbai
Dr. Sylviane Pied, Institute Pasteur, Lille, France
Prof. Achim Hoerauf, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
Dr. Bidyut Kumar Das, S.C.B. Medical College, Cuttack
Dr. Jatashankar Mohapatra, Neelachal Hospital, Bhubaneswar
Dr. P.K.Thatoi, S.C.B. Medical College, Cuttack

Immunobiology of metazoan parasites

FUNDING AGENCIES

EC: European Commission

IG: Indo German Joint Initiative

ICMR: Indian Council of Medical Research, Government of India

1. European Commission – Title: Developemnt of Morbidity markers in Filariasis.
2. Indo-German joint initiative: Immunological basis of Post-DEC reactions in human Bancroftian Filariasis.
3. Parasite immunity task force,ICMR: Innate immune recognition of filarial parasites by phagocytes.
4. Filariasis Task force,ICMR : Studies on Genetic polymorphism in filariasis.