PRASANTH MANOHAR an IIMAR MEMBER and student of IIMAR, Vellore COORDINATOR Professor Dr N. Ramesh from VIT, Vellore wins YOUNG SCIENTIST award for developing a NEW THERAPY against ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANT BACTERIA
Contributed by Dr. Ashok J. Tamhankar
PRASANTH MANOHAR, an IIMAR MEMBER and a research scholar at VIT University,
Vellore, has bagged a prestigious science award for his research on ‘Phage therapy’. His research focuses on
the preparation of freeze-dried preparation of cocktail phages to treat
infections caused by superbugs- the Multi-Drug
Resistant Bacteria.
Prasanth is currently
working in ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE
LABORATORY at VIT, University, Vellore, under the guidance of Professor Dr N. Ramesh, (on left in the photograph) of Antibiotic Resistance
laboratory and HTS, SBST. He explains that ‘Our research work includes the
identification of carbapenem, colistin
and tigecycline resistant bacteria from clinical samples. And we are creating and conducting antibiotic
resistance awareness programmes for the public through Indian Initiative for Management of Antibiotic Resistance-IIMAR.
Our future aim is to develop our lab into an antibiotic resistant and phage
therapy centre. We are currently pursuing our collaborative work in cooperation
with six countries such as Turkey, Australia, USA, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and
the UK.
The young scientist
competition was initiated in 2014 with the aim of giving young researchers from India and Europe a suitable podium to
promote their research projects and ideas for Indo-European cooperation. Through such a competition, young
scientists gain enormous exposure not only from their peers on social media
platforms but also from the scientific community.
In 2016, young scientists
from Europe and India submitted their ideas in the field of “bioeconomy, biotechnology
and biobased-energy” to the competition. 4 young scientists, who made it
past the scientific expert panel and Facebook video competition, presented
their research in the finals held at the EU-India STI Cooperation Days
2016. Prasanth Manohar emerged the winner of the competition,
bagging a fully paid trip to a conference of his choice in Europe.
Explaining about his
research Prasanth says, ‘My research topic is PHAGE THERAPY. I am currently working in identifying the prevalence
and dissemination of antibiotic-resistant bacteria among clinical
pathogens in India and isolating and characterizing novel ‘lytic
phages’ for therapeutic purpose against multi-drug resistant bacteria. I
want to continue my research on phage therapy and want to develop it into a
product that will save millions of people in the future.
