biography

Academic Background & Professional Experience:

Awards and Achievements:

      Received 2^nd Prize for Best Oral Presentation in “Science Excellence-2010”, A State Level Science Competition jointly organized by Gujarat State of Biotechnology Mission (GSBTM) and Gujarat Council on Science and Technology (GUJCOST), held in Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, on 9^th January, 2010, for the paper “Gene silencing”

      Qualified University Grant Commission-National Eligibility Test(UGC- NET) with All India Rank #50 (December 2013)

      Recipient of Lady Tata Memorial Trust fellowship for conducting Doctoral Research Work on “Development of diarrheal vaccine using Lactococcus lactis” (August 2014)

      Received Best Oral Presentation in 2^nd International Conference on Biotechnology and Bioinformatics (ICBB-2015) held in Pune, India, on 6^th to 8^th February 2015.

      Recipient of New Investigator Award in the 7^th International Conference on Children’s Bone Health (ICCBH) held in Salzburg, Austria, on 27^th to 30^th June 2015.

      Nominated for Dr. G. P. Talwar Young Scientist Award in the 42^nd Annual Conference of Indian Immunology Society, Immunocon-2015, held in Patna, India, on 9^th to 11^th October 2015.

      Published article on “Publishing online: Consider a Graphical Abstract” in Bitesize Bio, A Global Science E-Magazine.

      Interviewed by Dr. Sophia Hafner, featured in Microbes and Infection as “Biobots”; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.micinf.2016.02.002.

      Awarded Senior Research Fellowship by Lady Tata Memorial Trust (August 2016).

      Received Travel Grants from central government funding agencies; Department of Science and Technology (DST), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Centre for International Co-operation in Science (CICS).

      Received 2016 ISV Congress Award by International Society for Vaccine (ISV) during 2016 ISV Congress, Boston, MA, USA.

Publications:

Indian Patents:

1.       “Vaccine candidates against enteric pathogens using food grade bacteria: LacVax^TM”

2.       “Epitope based vaccine against enteric pathogens”

Trademark:

1.       LacVax^TM

Research Papers:

1.      B Yagnik*, D Sharma*, H Padh, P Desai. Recombinant Lactococcus lactis expressing Outer membrane protein A (OmpA) of Shigella dysenteriae type-1 induced immunogenic response in mice. Journal of Applied Microbiology. November (2016) DOI: 10.1111/jam.13353 [Impact Factor: 2.34]

* Both the authors have contributed equally as a first author

2.      D Sharma*, B Yagnik*, H Padh, P Desai. Shigellosis murine model established by intraperitoneal and intranasal route of administration: A comparative comprehension overview. Microbes and Infection. October (2016) DOI: 10.1016/j.micinf.2016.09.002. [Impact Factor 2.89]

* Both the authors have contributed equally as a first author

3.      B Yagnik, H Padh, P Desai. Construction of a new shuttle vector for DNA delivery into mammalian cells using non-invasive Lactococcus lactis. Microbes and Infection. 18 (2016) 237-244. [Impact Factor 2.89]

4.      B Yagnik, S Patel, M Dave, D Sharma, H Padh, P Desai. Factors Affecting Inducible Expression of Outer Membrane Protein A (OmpA) of Shigella dysenteriae Type-1 in Lactococcus lactis Using Nisin Inducible Controlled Expression (NICE). Indian Journal of Microbiology, 2015, (Jan–Mar 2016) 56(1):80–87. [Impact Factor 1.134]

5.      P Patel, MZ Mughal, P Patel, B Yagnik, N Kajale, R Mandlik, V Khadilkar, SA Chiplonkar, S Phanse, V Patwardhan, A Patel, A Khadilkar. Dietary calcium intake influences the relationship between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25OHD) concentration and parathyroid hormone (PTH) concentration. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 2016 Apr;101(4):316-9. [Impact Factor 2.90]

6.      N Kajale, P P Patel, P A Patel, A Patel, B Yagnik, R Mandlik, V Khadilkar, SA Chiplonkar, S Phanse, V Patwardhan, A Patel, A Khadilkar. Association of dental and skeletal fluorosis with calcium intake and vitamin D concentrations in adolescents from a region endemic for fluorosis. BioScientifica, 2015, DOI:10.1530/boneabs.4.P62.

7.      P Patel, MZ Mughal, P Patel, B Yagnik, N Kajale, R Mandlik, V Khadilkar, SA Chiplonkar, S Phanse, V Patwardhan, A Patel, A Khadilkar. Association of dental and skeletal fluorosis with calcium intake and vitamin D concentration in adolescents from a region endemic for fluorosis. Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism (IJEM) (2015).

8.      PP Patel, PA Patel, B. Yagnik, K Vora, A Verma, A Patel, SA Chiplonkar, A Khadilkar. Assessment of Nutritional Status of School Going Children In Gujarat. International Journal of Food and Nutritional Science. (2016). 3(5): 1- 3. DOI: 10.15436/2377-0619.16.1231.

Under communication:

9.      B Yagnik, D Sharma, H Padh, P Desai. Construction of dual recombinant Lactococcus lactis for enhanced delivery of DNA vaccine reporter plasmid pPERDBY. Journal of Medical Microbiology. [Impact Factor 2.23]

10.  P Desai, B Yagnik, D Sharma, A Khan, N Desai, H Padh. Transfecting CHO-K1 cells: Comparison of CaPO₄, electroporation and lipoplex method with in-house prepared polyplex. Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Science [Impact Factor: 0.762]

Conference proceedings:

1.      Oral Presentation: “Identification and validation of immunodominant antigens as protective prophylactic against Shigella”

Event: 2016 International Society for Vaccines Annual Congress in collaboration with Vaccine Renaissance and DNA Vaccine (2016 ISV Congress)

Date: 2^nd October to 4^th October 2016

Place: Boston, MA, USA

2.      Poster Presentation: “Exploring new era of vaccine development against Shigella”

Event: 6^th Indo-Japanese International Symposium on Overcoming Intractable Infectious Diseases Prevalent in Asian Countries

Date: 23^rd to 24^th September, 2016

Place: Goa

3.      Poster Presentation: “Development of protective prophylactic against shigellosis”

Event: 6^th Indo-Japanese International Symposium on Overcoming Intractable Infectious Diseases Prevalent in Asian Countries

Date: 23^rd to 24^th September, 2016

Place: Goa

4.      Poster presentation: “Novel approaches for targeted delivery of mucosal vaccines using recombinant Lactococcus lactis”

Event: Symposium cum Workshop on “Recent Development in Medical Biotechnology and Structure Based Drug Designing [RDMBSBDD 2015]”

Date: 6^th to 7^th December, 2015

Place: IIT Guwahati, Assam

5.      Oral presentation: “Exploring non-invasive and invasive Lactococcus lactis for delivery of DNA vaccine” (Nominated for Dr. G. P. Talwar Young Scientist award)
Event:  42^nd Annual Conference of Indian Immunology Society, Immunocon-2015

Date: 10^th October, 2015

Place: Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, Bihar

6.      Oral Presentation: “Induction of systemic and mucosal immunity against r-Lactococcus lactis expressing Outer membrane protein (OmpA) of Shigella dysenteriae type-1 (SD1): Oral Vs Nasal route”

Event:  42^nd Annual Conference of Indian Immunology Society, Immunocon-2015

Date: 11^th October, 2015

Place: Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, Bihar

7.      Poster Presentation: “Association of dental and skeletal fluorosis with calcium intake and vitamin D concentrations in adolescents from a region endemic for fluorosis”

Event:  7^th International Conference on Children’s Bone Health (ICCBH)

Date: 27^th June 2015

Place: Salzburg, Austria

8.      Poster Presentation: “Dietary calcium intake influences the relationship between serum 25 hydroxy