About
Us
The
Membrane Biology Laboratory (MBL)
was started in the year 1976 as a part of
The School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal
Nehru University, New Delhi, India by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the
then Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and now a Senior Professor of
Biochemistry and ex-Dean of the School of Life Sciences, JNU.
Over
the years MBL has grown into a self-sustaining research facility with
all the infrastructure required for carrying out high quality research
in the area of multi-drug resistance in pathogenic fungi. In addition to
international collaborations, MBL also has link-research activities with
other institutes of repute within the country such as Special Center for
Molecular Medicine, JNU, New Delhi; Institute of Genomics and
Integrative Biology, New Delhi; Institute of Microbial Technology,
Chandigarh; Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, etc.
The laboratory is adequately funded by National
and
International
agencies .
The
MBL stands today as unique in the country studying the detail mechanisms
of Multidrug
Resistance
in the pathogenic fungi Candida
albicans, one of the most prevalent source of
infection in human, especially immuno-compromised patients. During long
term chemotherapy, C. albicans (and other fungal isolates as well)
develop resistance to commonly used azole antifungal drugs. The main
thrust of MBL is to decipher the biochemical mechanism of action of the
drug efflux pump CDR1, a major contributor to drug resistance. The MBL,
in collaboration with the Special Center for Molecular Medicine, JNU,
has also created a repository of clinical isolates of C. albicans
collected from hospitals all over the country.
Research
achievements:
We identified about ten years ago and later characterized, both
genetically (Current Genetics 27: 320 (1995) and functionally
(Biochemistry, 46(36) 10822-32. (2003); Eukaryotic Cell, 2(6), 1361-1375
(2003), the first plasma membrane bound pump in Candida albicans of the
ABC-type, Cdr1p, which is responsible for drug export from cells (Yeast, 19: 303-318, (2002), FEMS
Microbiol. Lett., 158, 69-74 (1998) Yeast 14, 535-550 (1998)). The whole
gamut of antifungal research has since changed to include these new
observations wherein reduced permeability of azoles across cell membrane
of Candida cells, is being implicated as one of the major determinant of
antifungal susceptibilities (Fungal Pathogenesis – Principles
& Clinical Applications, Eds. Cihlar, R. L. and Calderone, R. A.,
Marcel Dekker,Chapter 26, pp 601-631, (2001).For the first time our work
has shown that the CDR1 promoter is highly regulated which led to the
identification of first transcription factor which regulate CDR1 basal
expression (FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 180: 213-219 (1999). FEMS Yeast
Research, Vol.4, 389-399 (2004). The demonstration that ABC transporters
of Candida could maintain membrane lipid asymmetry by acting as flippase
or floppase and that the physical state of membrane affect Cdrps
functioning, has generated further
interest in the field. Yeast, 19: 303-318, (2002) Antimicrobial Agents
Chemotherapy (46, 3695-3705, (2002). Our group is an internationally
recognized in the field of Candida albicans lipid metabolism and
molecular genetics especially of the clinically relevant phenomenon of
Candida drug resistance (CDR). Our paper in Current Genetics 27: 320
(1995 is one of the most cited paper in the field. We are regular
invitee of American Society of Microbiology and EURESCO conferences of
Candida and Candidiasis and are
leading researcher in the filed of clinical application (Journal of
Clinical Microbiology 42,
1260-1262, (2004) of the
regulation of CDR1 promoter activity (Yeast , 21 (2004) 219-239,
especially related to search for its modulators.
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