Post Doctoral Research Associate
Host-pathogen interaction involving actin cytoskeleton regulation
Interplay between Arf and Rho GTPases
Pathogen mediated Autophagy mechanisms
University of Cambridge
Tennis Court Road
Cambridge
CB2 1QP
Biography:
Vikash Singh graduated from Mumbai University with a B.Sc in Biotechnology. He further pursued M.Sc in Biotechnology at KIIT Bhubaneswar. He received the Visiting fellowship from ETH Zurich to perform his master's research project in the lab of Prof. Dr. Wolf. D Hardt in the Microbiology department. Before joining Dr. Vassilis Koronakis lab in Department of Pathology, he completed his PhD at Humboldt University, Berlin studying how Salmonella intercepts host autophagy machinery in order to obtain nutrients intracellularly. He passed his PhD exam with excellent grades.
He was also a part of ZIBI graduate School of Infection Biology in Berlin. Further he was a VSRP 2010 batch at TIFR, Mumbai. Recently, he also received the Newton-Bhaba fellowship to give a guest talk on Antimicrobial resistance at CSIR Chandigarh.
Research Interests
Pathogens take control over Host Actin Cytoskeleton
My current work involves deciphering signaling pathways with-in the host cells that are hijacked by Gram negative bacteria such as Salmonella, EPEC, and Shigella etc. to facilitate their own invasion and survival in host cells. To cause disease these pathogens must establish intracellular infections, which they achieve by delivering virulence proteins into target host-epithelial cells. These virulence proteins or “effectors” act in cohort by hijacking master regulators of Ras family small GTPases (e.g. Rho, Arf and Rab GTPases). By manipulating Rho and Arf GTPases that control the host cell’s actin cytoskeleton, these pathogens are able to remodel the host cell surface plasma membrane and trigger their own uptake into the cells.
Cellular Process involving Actin Cytoskeleton
The actin cytoskeleton provide the driving forces for establishing the morphological diversity and dynamics of mammalian cells. In addition to providing the driving force responsible for functions in protruding and contracting cell membranes for motility,cell division or differentiation, the cytoskeleton plays a key role in movement of intracellular membranes of organelles and vesicle. Therefore, am also interested in elucidating the actin dynamics and keys components of cytoskeleton that play an essential role in autophagosome formation, and pathogen related autophagy. Phospholipids that are generated at these phagosomal membranes have been shown to be key regulators in recruiting numerous actin components driving the process. Thus, we are establishing new techniques to analyze the underlying protein complexes and lipid-mediated signalling using in vitro reconstitution and biomimetic approaches.
Key Publications
Salmonella and Host interplay
1. Peter J Hume, Vikash Singh, Anthony Davidson, V Koronakis. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology;Jul, 2017.
2.
Actin Dynamics: Role of GTPases
1. Arf GTPase interplay with Rho GTPases in regulation of the actin cytoskeleton. V Singh, AC Davidson, P Hume, D Humphreys and V Koronakis. Small GTPases; May, 2017.
Organic Chemistry Application
1. Utilizing a series of fac- Re(CO) 3 core based quinonoid containing complexes for photophysical and cell imaging studies. Deepak Gupta, Vikash Singh, Stephan Hohloch, Malaichamy Sathiyendiran, Karsten Tedin, Biprajit Sarkar. Polyhedyron ;Jul 2015.
Educational/ teaching tips
Scientific Writing: Strategies and Tools for Students and Advisors. Vikash Singh and Philipp Mayer. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education; Sept, 2014