Dr. Roshan Kumar S Pais

Assistant Professor

Dr. Roshan Kumar S Pais did his masters in Medical Biochemistry from Manipal (Deemed to be) University and PhD from Mangalore University. His PhD study was on "yeast cell wall beta glucans" as immunostimulants in shrimps used in aquaculture. His work demonstrated that Beta glucan can induce hemaglutinins in the hemolymph of shrimps. His postdoctoral work at Yale University New Haven CT USA was on understanding role of symbiotic bacteria on the tsetse fly fitness as a carrier (vector) of deadly trypanosomiasis infection. His work unraveled the multiple essential roles the obligate symbiotic bacteria Wigglesworthia plays in the host physiology. He was able to develop methodology for the generation of aposymbiotic (symbiont free) colony, which has proven crucial for later studies and therefore towards fight against insect borne diseases like the African sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis). His contributions also include development of yeast extract supplement capable of partially reversing the fecundity of aposymbiotic flies and therefore were pivotal in demonstrating the existence of Wolbachia mediated cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) in tsetse flies. Wolbachia mediated CI is an important phenomenon a potential avenue to control fly populations. His postdoctoral work at the University of Connecticut (UCONN) Health Center USA was on Ocular Immune Regulation called Anterior Chamber Associated Immune Deviation (ACAID). In ACAID, injection of soluble antigens into the anterior chamber of the eye results in systemic generation of antigen specific CD8 suppressor cells. His work showed that mild ocular inflammation, and infiltration of CCR2 positive blood monocytes are necessary for the ACAID to take place.His Postdoctoral work at the Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA , USA was on mucosal subunit vaccine development against Chlamydia trachomatis using Vibrio Cholerae ghost(VCG) based vaccine platform. His work has shown that mucosal delivery via intrarectal vaccination is able to generate robust CD4 Th1 protective immunity against genital challenge with the pathogen.His research interests include 1.studying and development of effective neutraceutical supplements in mitigation of inflammation-induced anemia. 2. Mechanistic studies on the anti-inflammatory effects of Omega-3 Fatty acids on severity of malaria and other infectious diseases. 3. Study the efficacy of potential mucosal adjuvants using Outer Membrane based vaccine platform.

He has a total of 5 years of teaching experience teaching BSc MSc, BMLT and MBBS students.

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