Team:VIT Vellore/Attributions
The majority of the work done by the VIT Vellore’s iGEM team was done by the members, that is, we conceptualized the problem statement, worked on it, ironed out the kinks, wrote and submitted the IBEC form, came up with experiments to validate the concept, optimized protocols, etc, but this is not to say that we weren’t helped by several people in the background. The project would not have been possible if not for the efforts of these people, who advised and guided us through several avenues and iterations of planning, optimizing and executing both wetlab and drylab experiments. A detailed list of their contributions is given below.
From Vellore Institute of Technology
Firstly, we would like to express our gratitude to the Chancellor, Dr. G. Viswanathan, the Vice Chancellor, Dr. Anand A. Samuel, the Vice President (Vellore campus), Dr. Sekar Viswanathan and the Executive Director Dr. Sandhya Pentareddy for giving us the opportunity to participate and work for iGEM and attend the Giant Jamboree in Boston.
iGEM Lab
Dr. K. M. Gothandam
Professor, School of Biosciences and Technology, VIT
Our Primary Investigator, Gothandam sir has been a constant source of support and motivation, sticking by us since the start of the team selection to the preparation for the Jamboree. He helped us troubleshoot our failed experiments and helped us order the enzymes used for he them.
Dr. Siva Ramamoorthy
Head of Department, Biotechnology
School of Biosciences and Technology, VIT
As our Secondary PI, Siva sir has been a constant presence on our side ever since we decided to participate in iGEM 2019. He, along with Gothandam sir guided us and set us on the right path when we went off.
Dr. Mrudula P.
Associate Professor, Center for nanobiotechnology, VIT
Mrudula ma’am helped us a lot in our mathematical modelling attempts, and she gave us very helpful suggestions to make our model sound.
Dr. Sivakumar A.
Associate Professor, School of Biosciences and Technology, VIT
He was invaluable in the planning and execution of our in-house symposium: Phaging Out Antibiotics. He also helped us obtain all of the chemicals used in our experiments.
Dr. George Priya Doss C.
Senior Associate Professor, School of Biosciences and Technology, VIT
He helped inviting the guests for the symposium, and was responsible for guiding them around the campus.
Dr. Krishnan V.
Professor, Center for Bio-Separation and Technology, VIT
He was crucial for troubleshooting our project, and was a part of the panel of faculty giving suggestions for our proposal.
Dr. Jitendra Satija
Associate Professor, Center for Nanotechnology, VIT
He was crucial for troubleshooting our project, and was a part of the panel of faculty giving suggestions for our proposal.
Dr. Debasish Mishra
Associate Professor, School of Bio-Sciences and Technology, VIT
He was crucial for troubleshooting our project, and was a part of the panel of faculty giving suggestions for our proposal.
Dr. Raunak Kumar Das
Assistant Professor, Centre for Bio-materials, Cellular and Molecular Theranostics, VIT
We used sir’s lab at the last stretch of our experiments, and he gave us the permissions required to use it late at night as well.
Mr. Gomathi Nayagam S
Research Associate, School of Biosciences and Technology, VIT
Mr. Nayagam helped us streamline our project & suggested us to use constitutive promoters for our ‘J protein hopping’ hypothesis. He also helped us with validation of the lysogenic to lytic shift of the bacteriophage in our hypothesis.
Mr. Jishnu Nair
Research Scholar, School of Biosciences and Technology, VIT
Sir was always there to open the lab when we wanted to work in the lab at night. He helped us troubleshoot our failed experiments, and he was paramount to our successful attempt.
Mr. G. Bharat
Research Scholar, School of Biosciences and Technology, VIT
He helped us a lot with our daily lab work, and helped with troubleshooting our failed experiments, and with optimizing the protocols.
Mr. Prakhar Srivastava
Research Scholar, School of Biosciences and Technology, VIT
He provided valuable insights to our project, and has been a constant support through our daily lab work.
Mr. Velu
Lab Technician, School of Biosciences and Technology, VIT
Helped us obtain all essential chemicals and reagents we needed for timely completion of experiments.
Integrated Human Practices
Dr. Abdul Ghafur
Consultant & Adjunct Associate Professor in Infectious Diseases & Clinical Microbiology, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, India & Coordinator- Chennai Declaration
Dr. Ghafur gave us an insight into the Antibiotic Stewardship programs that are implemented in India & Indian policies framed to tackle antibiotic resistance. He also gave us an insight into hospital-acquired antibiotic resistant infections as well as the precautions & safety measures executed in hospitals to prevent the spread of resistant infections. Dr. Ghafur’s insights into the Antibiotic Stewardship programs helped us with the designing of our Antibiotic Stewardship application.
Dr. Mayukh Das & Dr. Tushar Suvra Bhowmick
Centre for Phage Technology, Texas A&M University, Texas, USA
Dr. Das & Dr. Bhowmick gave us valuable insights on the practical aspects & real-time applications of Phage Therapy. They helped us confirm the safety parameters of our hypothetical part involving phages.
Dr. Urmi Bajpai
Associate Professor - Department of Biomedical Science, Acharya Narendra Dev College, Delhi University, New Delhi, India
Dr. Bajpai helped us clear some doubts we had with respect to the working of parts of our project. She gave us an insight into the mechanism of commercial Phage Therapy. She also helped us validate the hypothetical ‘J protein hopping’ part. Her insights helped us recognize a few flaws in our construct & rectify them.
Symposium Speakers
Mr. Pranav Johri & Mrs. Apurva Johri
Founders, Vitalis Phage Therapy
He shared with us how this became an inspiration for him & his wife to bring up Vitalis Phage Therapy, the official liaison of Eliava Phage Clinic in India to make things easier for people trying to go for phage therapy treatment for resistant infections. He gave us insights on some of the pros & cons of phage therapy & how Vitalis Phage Therapy make access to phage therapy easier in India. They also put us in touch with Dr. Mayukh Das, Dr. Tushar Suvra Bhowmick & Dr. Urmi Bajpai; prominent phage researchers from all over the world. Their insights led us to selecting our ‘Therapeutic’ track for our project.
Dr. Priscilla Rupali
Professor & Head of Department of Infectious Diseases, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India
Dr. Rupali gave us an overview of how we reached this unfortunate stage of AMR, as well as how to best tackle AMR in Indian context. She also took into account various different Indian cultural practices & notions, & how the use / misuse of antibiotics affect not only patients, but also those around them. She also shared with us some statistics related to AMR, thus, providing us with a thorough practical knowledge on the depth of the issue.
Dr. Abi Manesh
Assistant Physician - Department of Infectious Diseases, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India
Dr. Manish gave us insights about the different approaches being taken by the pharmaceutical industry to tackle AMR, such as bringing old antibiotics back on shelves, as well as how no new antibiotics are being invested & researched anymore, since it would be quite predictable that the bacteria would develop resistance over time to the new antibiotics as well, thereby, highlighting on the urgency of tackling AMR. He also provided us with insights into the drivers of AMR & how each of them contribute to the problem.
Dr. Sujith Chandy
Professor-Clinical Pharmacology, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India & Head- ReAct Asia Pacific (RAP)
Dr. Chandy gave us an insight on the use of antibiotics in society & its public health implications. He gave us an insight on the spread of various resistances like Carbapenem, Vancomycin, Methicillin & beta-Lactamase resistances in hospital environments. He also gave us an insight into the various acute & chronic diseases caused globally as a result of antibiotic resistance. He also walked us through the level, pattern & practice of antibiotic use in India & added on how antibiotic resistant infections spread through basic unhygienic habits practiced unknowingly by most people at a global level. He gave us amusing insights on how medicines are prescribed among doctors, as well as how ‘Red Line’ antibiotics are quite easily got from local pharmacies without a doctor’s prescription. He also explained some of his published findings about antibiotic encounters in different facilities. He further added by sharing some of his observances of negligent practices among common people that unknowingly lead to spread of resistant infections. He concluded by giving us an insight on the various public health policies implemented for controlling the AMR crisis.
Dr. Ponnari Gottipati
Program Facilitator, Superheroes Against Superbugs Initiative, India Alliance
Dr. Pomnari’s organization educates a lot of schoolchildren about basic biology, like what are viruses, what are bacteria, and how antibiotics only work against bacteria and not against viruses. Then they ask the students to go into their communities, and make comics based on their experiences related to this problem in their communities. When she showed us some of the comics, and we engaged on the stories she came across during the exercise. Her talk made us rethink our approach to educate the general public about antibiotic resistance, and biology in general.
Human Practices Support
Our heartfelt gratitude also extends to:
- All of the people in Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal for inviting us to their university and giving us a platform to present our ideas in the All India IGEM Meet 2019.
- The management and the teachers of the schools we went to for conducting workshops, it would have not been possible to reach so many children without their help.
- The universities we collaborated with. The information about the collaborations is present on our collaborations page.
Student helpers
Mr. Suryaa K. S.
He took our team and individual photographs which we uploaded to the wiki.
Mr. Aditya K. H.
He was the videographer who shot the mini documentary we made and submitted to the Jamboree display.
Ms. Ketaki M. Godse
She helped us plot the graphs for the math modelling in Simulink.
Miscellaneous
We thank the families of all the team members who kept up constant support both emotionally and physically. We love you all, and this endeavour would not have been possible without you.
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