Dr. Jaya Sivaswami Tyagi , M.Sc.,Ph.D
Professor ,Biotechnology

Education / Professional Studies:  I.S.C., Loreto Convent, Lucknow, 1969 (First class); B.Sc. from University of Delhi, 1973; M.Sc. from University of Delhi, 1975; Ph.D. from University of Delhi, 1979.

Membership of Professional Bodies: Society of Biological Chemists (India), Guha Research Conference, National Academy of Sciences (Allahabad), Microbiological Society of India, Indian Society for Cell Biology, American Society of Microbiology.

Awards, fellowships and membership of professional bodies.

·      National Science Talent Fellow from 1970 to 1979 of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Scholarship during B.Sc, M.Sc. and fellowship during Ph.D.

·      First position in the University of Delhi in B.Sc. (1973).

·      Recipient of University Gold Medal for securing first position in M.Sc (1975).

·      First position in Biochemistry in the Agriculture Research Service (ARS) examination held in February 1978 by the ICAR.

·     Recipient of Dr. Kona Sampath Kumar Memorial Prize, University of Delhi, 1985.

·      Short-term Overseas Biotechnology Associateship by the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology during April-July 1991. 

·      Member, American Society for Microbiology, 1995 onwards

·      Elected Member of Guha Research Conference in 1996.

·      Elected Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India in 1999.

·      Recipient of P.S. Sarma Memorial Award of the Society of Biological Chemists (India), 1999.

·      Recipient of New Millennium Science Medal, Indian Science Congress 2000.

·      Recipient of National Women Bioscientist Award, 1999 awarded by the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, 2000.

·      Life member of Society of Biological Chemists (India), Indian Society of Cell Biology, Association of Microbiologists of India, Amercian Society for Microbiology, Guha Research Conference, National Academy of Sciences.

Key Activities.

Ø      Teaching : Teaching Masters in  Biotechnology  students and post MD/MS trainees. Supervision of M. Biotechnology, Ph.D. students, training of post-MD and WHO-sponsored candidates, summer training of students from other Biotechnology teaching programmes in India.

Ø      Research:

Broad area: Mycobacterium tuberculosis and tuberculosis.

Specific areas:

Ø             Molecular basis of virulence, gene regulation and expression.

Ø              Development, validation and commercialization of TB diagnostic  technologies.

Ø      Membership of Editorial boards of indexed international journals/Review Committees of National bodies and Institutions.

Ø          Member of i) DBT expert group for Tuberculosis ii) ICMR Project Review Committee for Tuberculosis and Leprosy iii) Screening Committee for DBT National and ICGEB Postdoctoral iv) CSIR Selection Committee for appointment of SRF and RA  v) Member, AIIMS Patent cell vi) Member, AIIMS Institutional Biosafety Committee for Recombinant DNA molecules

Current research efforts.

My research group focuses on tuberculosis in the following areas:

1. understanding the role of key dormancy regulating system, DevR-DevS/Rv2027c (Rv3133c-Rv3132c/Rv2027c), in pathogenesis with special reference to dormancy and adaptation within macrophages
2. developing efficient diagnostic tools for pulmonary and extra pulmonary tuberculosis. The USP multipurpose diagnostic technology has been developed which encompasses sample processing, highly sensitive smear microscopy, culture on solid/liquid medium and PCR. This technology is being licensed.
3. exploiting the DevR-DevS two-component system as a novel antitubercular target.
4. study the transcriptional control of DevR-DevS two-component system
5. decipher the environmental signals which DevS and Rv2027c sensor kinases respond to in vitro and macrophages.
6. evaluate the binding properties of DevR to DNA of its regulatory target genes.

7.   to test candidate compounds for antimycobacterial activity

8.   develop efficient and rapid diagnostic tools to diagnose extra pulmonary tuberculosis based on nucleic acid and /or antibody/antigen detection

Most of the work has been published in peer-reviewed journals or has been filed for patents or are in press/ preparation.

Future plans.

1. understand the role of DevR in pathogenesis in the Mitchison guinea pig model of virulence using wild-type and mutant strains of M. tuberculosis. Recoverable viable bacteria, histology and gene expression (of host and M. tuberculosis genes) will be assessed.

2.   to test candidate compounds for antimycobacterial activity.

Recent Publications (2002-2007).

1.             Haldar S, Chakravorty S, Bhalla M, De Majumdar S. & Tyagi JS (2007) Simplified detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum using smear microscopy and PCR with molecular beacons. J Med Microbiol. 56:1356-1362

2.             Pathak D, Chakravorty S, Hanif M & Tyagi JS (2007) Lysis of tubercle bacilli in fresh and stored sputum specimens: implications for diagnosing tuberculosis in stored and paucibacillary specimens by PCR. BMC Microbiology 2007, 7:83 doi:10.1186/1471-2180-7-83

3.             Taneja NK & Tyagi JS (2007) Resazurin reduction assays for screening of anti-tubercular compounds against dormant and actively growing Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium bovis BCG and Mycobacterium smegmatis. J Antimicrob Chemotherapy 60:288–293.

4.             Sharma D & Tyagi JS (2007) The value of comparative genomics in understanding mycobacterial virulence: Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra genome sequencing – a worthwhile endeavour. J. Biosci. 32:185-189.

5.             Sharma D, Bose A, Shakila H, Das TK, Tyagi JS & Ramanathan VD (2006) Expression of mycobacterial cell division protein, FtsZ, and dormancy proteins, DevR and Acr, within lung granulomas throughout guinea pig infection. FEMS Immunol Med Microbiol 48:329-336.

6.             Tyagi JS (2006) The timeless legacy of Robert Koch. Resonance 11:20-28

7.             Chakravorty S, Pathak D, Dudeja M, Haldar S & Tyagi JS (2006) PCR amplification of shorter fragments from the devR (Rv3133c) gene significantly increases the sensitivity of tuberculosis diagnosis. FEMS Micro. Lett. 257: 306-311.

8.             Bagchi G, Chauhan S, Sharma D & Tyagi JS (2005) Transcription and autoregulation of the Rv3134c-devR-devS operon of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Microbiology 151:4045-4053.

9.             Sen MK, Chakravorty S & Tyagi JS (2005) Polymerase chain reaction to identify Mycobacterium tuberculosis in patients with tuberculous lymphadenopathy. Natl. Medical J. India. 18:302-303.

10.           Chakravorty S, Sen MK & Tyagi JS (2005) Diagnosis of extrapulmonary tuberculosis by smear, culture and PCR using Universal Sample Processing technology. J. Clin. Microbiol. 43:4357-4362.

11.           Haldar S, De Majumdar S, Chakravorty S, Tyagi JS, Bhalla & Sen MK. (2005) Detection of acid-fast bacilli in postlysis debris of clinical specimens improves the reliability of PCR. J. Clin. Microbiol. 43: 3580-3581.

12.           Chakravorty S & Tyagi JS (2005) Novel Multipurpose Methodology for Detection of Mycobacteria in Pulmonary and Extrapulmonary Specimens by Smear Microscopy, Culture, and PCR. J. Clin. Microbiol. 43: 2697-2702.

13.           Chakravorty S, Dudeja M, Hanif M & Tyagi JS. (2005) Utility of Universal Sample Processing Methodology, Combining Smear Microscopy, Culture, and PCR, for Diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis. J. Clin. Microbiol. 43: 2703-2708

14.           Saini DK & Tyagi JS. (2005) High-throughput microplate phosphorylation assaysbased on DevR-DevS/Rv2027c 2-component signal transduction pathway to screen for novel antitubercular compounds. J. Biomol. Screening. 10:215-224.

15.           Tyagi JS. (2004) T.A. Venkitasubramanian. Current Science, 87:1303

16.           Prabhakar, S, Mishra A, Singhal A, Katoch VM, Thakral SS, Tyagi JS & Prasad HK (2004) Use of the hupB gene encoding a histone-like protein of Mycobacterium tuberculosis as a target for detection and differentation of M. tuberculosis and M. bovis. J. Clin. Microbiol. 42:2724-2732.

17.           Saini, DK, Malhotra V & Tyagi JS. (2004) Cross talk between DevS sensor kinase homologue, Rv2027c, and DevR response regulator of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. FEBS Lett., 565:75-80.

18.           Saini DK, Malhotra V,  Dey D, Pant N, Das TK & Tyagi JS. (2004) DevR-DevS is a bonafide two-component system of Mycobacterium tuberculosis that is hypoxia-responsive in the absence of the DNA-binding domain of DevR. Microbiology, 150:865-875.

19.           Malhotra V,  Sharma D, Ramanathan VD, Shakila H, Saini DK, Chakravorty S, Das TK, Li Q,  Silver RF, Narayanan PR & Tyagi JS. (2004) Disruption of response regulator gene, devR, leads to attenuation in virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. FEMS Microbiol. Lett., 231:237-245.

20.           Bajpai M, Pratap A, Somitesh C, Tyagi J. (FEB 2004) Angiotensin converting enzyme gene polymorphism in Asian Indian children with congenital uropathies. J Urol. 171:838-40.

21.           Tyagi JS & Sharma D. (2004) Signal transduction systems of mycobacteria with special reference to M. tuberculosis. Current Science, 86:93-102.

22.           Tyagi JS & Saini DK (2004) Did the loss of two-component systems initiate pseudogene accumulation in M. leprae? Microbiology, 150: 4-7.

23.           Tyagi JS, Chakravorty S & Dudeja M (2003) Diagnosis of Tuberculosis: Conventional and new approaches. Trends Clin Biochem Lab Medicine, pp 325-329.

24.        Bagchi G, Mayuri & Tyagi JS (2003) Hypoxia-responsive expression of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Rv3134c and devR promoters in Mycobacterium smegmatis. Microbiology 149: 2303-5.

25.          Tyagi JS & Sharma D. (2002) Genomic study of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and its clinical applications. Ind. J. Pediatr. 69:S29-S38.

26.          Saini, D.K., Pant, N., Das, T.K. & Tyagi, J.S. Cloning, overexpression, purification and matrix – assisted refolding of DevS (Rv 3132c) Histidine Protein Kinase of Mycobacterium  tuberculosis. Protein Exp. Purification (2002) 25:203-208.

27.          Mayuri, Bagchi, G. Das, T.K. & Tyagi, J.S. Molecular analysis of the dormancy response in Mycobacterium smegmatis: Expression analysis of genes encoding DevR-DevS two-component system, Rv3134c and chaperone a-crystallin homologues. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. (2002) 211:231-237.

28.          Tyagi, J.S. & Sharma, D. M. smegmatis and tuberculosis. Trends Microbiol. (2002) 10:68-69.

Patents.

Indian: 5          International: 3

Indian:

1. A rapid, efficient, single - tube extraction procedure for the isolation of PCR – amplifiable M.tuberculosis DNA from clinical specimens, Appl. No. 497/ DEL/ 2000.
2. A process for identifying and producing DevR protein of Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been granted, 1999.
3. A process for identifying a novel target for the development of therapeutic modalities and drugs effective against tuberculosis, Appl. No. 1286/ DEL/ 2001.
4. A simple and fast process for evaluating promoter activity of persistent M. tuberculosis in hypoxic conditions using M. smegmatis as a surrogate host. Appl. No. 981/DEL/2003.
5. A method for diagnosis of tuberculosis by smear microscopy, culture and polymerase chain reaction using processed clinical samples and kit thereof has been granted, 2003.

International:

1. A process for identifying a novel target for the development of therapeutic modalities and drugs effective against tuberculosis, Appl. No. PCT/IN02/00022, in national phase in several countries.
2. A screening method for developing drugs against pathogenic microbes having two-component system. US patent Appl. No. 60/418,837 and PCT Appl. No. PCT/IB03/04555.
3. A method for diagnosis of tuberculosis by smear microscopy, culture and polymerase chain reaction using processed clinical samples and kit thereof. PCT Appl. No. PCT/IB 03/03211.