Research Interests

The extraordinary success of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb), the etiologic agent of human tuberculosis (TB), has been attributed to its ability to modulate host immune responses, facilitating its long term persistence. We believe that understanding the basic biology of the pathogen and its interactions with the host, is the best way forward towards the development of improved diagnostic reagents, vaccines and novel anti-TB drugs. Research in our laboratory is focussed towards the identification of bacillary virulence factors, characterising the events at the host-pathogen interface, and the discovery of novel antibiotic resistance mechanisms.

Selected Publications

Savanagouder, M.*, Mukku R.P.*, Yeruva, C.V., Nagarajan, N., Peddapuvala U.K., Sharma, Y. and Raghunand, T. R. (2024) Dissecting the Ca2+ dependence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis DesA1 function. Manuscript Accepted FEBS Letters BioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.03.31.535087

Ramachandran, G., Yeruva, C.V., Swarup, G. and Raghunand, T. R.(2024) A cytoprotective role for optineurin during mycobacterial infection of macrophages. Biochemistry and Biophysics Rep. 38: 101672. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrep.2024.101672

Mukku R.P., Poornima, K., Yadav, S. and Raghunand, T. R.(2023) Delineating the functional role of the PPE50 (Rv3135) – PPE51 (Rv3136) gene cluster in the pathophysiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Microbes and Infection. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micinf.2023.105248

Kishore, V, Gaiwala, S.G., and Raghunand, T. R. (2023) Septum site placement in Mycobacteria – Identification and Characterization of Mycobacterial homologues of Escherichia coli MinD. Microbiology 169:001359 DOI 10.1099/mic.0.001359

Dutta, A., Mukku, R.P., Kumar, G. A., Md. Jafurulla, Raghunand, T. R* and Chattopadhyay, A.* (2022) Integrity of the Actin Cytoskeleton of Host Macrophages is Necessary for Mycobacterial Entry. J Membrane Biol 255:623-632 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00232-022-00217-1. This article featured on the cover page of the journal