Research Groups

Mammalian Biology: Malaria

Staff Research Scientist

Research Interests and Description
Group Members
Group Leader

Syed Shams Yazdani

International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology
Aruna Asaf Ali Marg
110 067 New Delhi, India

E-mail: shams@icgeb.res.in

Education

Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, PhD (Biotechnology), 2000
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, MSc (Biotechnology), 1994
Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India, BSc (Hons) Chemistry, 1992

Career History

2007-2008, Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University, Houston, USA
Since 2003, Staff Research Scientist, Malaria Group, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi, India
1999-2003, Research Scientist, Malaria Group, ICGEB, New Delhi, india.

Teaching Activity

Tutoring activities in the ICGEB PhD program.

Scientific Activity

Research interests include development of malaria vaccine and engineering bacteria to produce biofuels. Emphasis has been placed on the development of vaccines against both Plasmodium vivax and P. falciparum malaria. Leading candidates are a conserved, functional binding domain region II of P. vivax Duffy binding protein (PvRII), a conserved binding domain of P. falciparum Erythrocyte Binding Antigen-175 (PfF2) and a 19-kDa C-terminal conserved domain of P. falciparum Merozoite Surface Protein-1 (PfMSP-119). A process for the production of these three potential malaria vaccine candidates has been developed at the process development laboratory of ICGEB at a 10L fermentation scale. Assays have been developed to characterize the purity, homogeneity and functionality of these recombinant antigens. Standard Operating Procedures and Master Record Sheets for production and characterization of these antigens have been developed and transferred to our industrial partner, Bharat Biotech Ltd., Hyderabad, which has established the processes with our help and produced the materials under cGMP for pre-clinical toxicology study and Phase I human clinical trials. These vaccine candidates have also been evaluated for their ability to elicit functional immune response in laboratory animals after formulation with various human compatible adjuvants. Based on these studies, a combination vaccine based on PfMSP-119 and PfF2 formulated with Montanide ISA720 has been proposed for further pre-clinical and clinical studies.

Recently, we have initiated research activities pertaining to the development of a process for the production of biofuels from renewable resources. While working at the Rice University, Houston, USA, we have shown the utility of metabolic engineering to engineer bacteria that can efficiently convert glycerin, an industrial waste, into bioethanol. Now we propose to engineer bacteria to convert lignocellulosic biomass into bioethanol. Here, genes for a number cellulase enzymes from well known cellulase producers will be put together in a synthetic operon and will be expressed simultaneously in Escherichia coli. E. coli will further be engineered to produce ethanol as major metabolic product. This effort will allow E. coli to produce ethanol directly from pre-treated lignocllulosic biomass.

See related news item on research concerning Biofuels

Selected publications

Yazdani, S.S., Gonzalez, R. 2008. Engineering Escherichia coli for the efficient conversion of glycerol to ethanol and co-products. Metabolic Engineering. In press  doi:10.1016/j.ymben.2008.08.005

Moreno, A., Caro-Aguilar, I., Yazdani, S.S., Shakri, A.R., Lapp, S., Strobert, E., McClure, H., Chitnis, C.E., Galinski, M.R. 2008. Preclinical assessment of the receptor-binding domain of Plasmodium vivax Duffy-binding protein as a vaccine candidate in rhesus macaques. Vaccine 26, 4338-4344

Gonzalez, R., Murarka, A., Dharmadi, Y., Yazdani, S.S. 2008. A new model for the anaerobic fermentation of glycerol in enteric bacteria: trunk and auxiliary pathways in Escherichia coli. Metabolic Engineering 10, 234-245

Murarka, A., Dharmadi, Y., Yazdani, S.S., Gonzalez, R. 2008. Fermentative utilization of glycerol by Escherichia coli and its implications for the production of fuels and chemicals. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74, 1124-1135

Yazdani, S.S., Gonzalez, R. 2007. Anaerobic fermentation of glycerol: a path to economic viability for the biofuels industry. Curr Opin Biotechnol.18, 213-219
 
Devi, Y.S., Mukherjee, P., Yazdani, S.S., Shakri, A.R., Mazumdar, S., Pandey, S., Chitnis, C.E., Chauhan, V.S. 2007. Immunogenicity of Plasmodium vivax combination subunit vaccine formulated with human compatible adjuvants in mice. Vaccine 25, 5166-5174

Bir, N., Yazdani, S.S., Avril, M., Layez, C., Gysin, J., Chitnis, C.E. 2006. Immunogenicity of Duffy binding-like domains that bind chondroitin sulfate A and protection against pregnancy-associated malaria. Infect Immun 74, 5955-5963

Yazdani, S.S., Shakri, A.R., Pattnaik, P., Rizvi, M.M., Chitnis, C.E. 2006. Improvement in yield and purity of a recombinant malaria vaccine candidate based on the receptor-binding domain of Plasmodium vivax Duffy binding protein by codon optimization. Biotechnol. Lett. 28, 1109-1114

Yazdani, S.S., Mukherjee, P., Chauhan, V.S., Chitnis, C.E. 2006. Immune responses to asexual blood-stages of malaria parasites. Curr. Mol. Med. 6, 187-203

Yazdani, S.S., Shakri, A.R., Chitnis, C.E. 2004. A high cell density fermentation strategy to produce recombinant malarial antigen in E. coli. Biotechnol. Lett. 26, 1891-1895

Yazdani, S.S., Shakri, A.R., Mukherjee, P., Baniwal, S.K., Chitnis, C.E. 2004.  Evaluation of immune responses elicited in mice against a recombinant malaria vaccine based on Plasmodium vivax Duffy binding protein. Vaccine 22, 3727-3737