Professor Sanjib Bhakta
-
Overview
Overview
Biography
Sanjib Bhakta was born in Hooghly and brought up in Naihati, West Bengal, INDIA. He attended Ramakrishna Vivekananda Mission and Hooghly Branch (Government) School. Following his undergraduate degree from the University of Calcutta, he moved away from his hometown to Santiniketan for his postgraduate degree at Visva-Bharati University (founded by Rabindranath Tagore). He developed his research interest in molecular genetics and cell biology while pursuing an MSc project in a Cytogenetics and Tissue culture Laboratory. Returning to Calcutta, he started his BEd Teachers Training course at the University of Calcutta. He achieved a national scholarship to pursue a career in research on Penicillin and its therapeutic target Penicillin-binding proteins in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (cause of tuberculosis/TB) and Mycobacterium leprae (cause of Leprosy) at the Department of Chemistry of Bose Institute in Kolkata. In the final year of his PhD studies, he achieved an Oxford University Innovation Scholarship, followed by an International Travelling Fellowship from the Wellcome Trust. He graduated from The Queen’s College, University of Oxford completing a second doctoral degree (DPhil in Pharmacology) and received a “Sir William Paton Prize” from the Oxford University Division of Medicine. He attained his first academic appointment (2006) at the Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology (a Joint Research Institute between Birkbeck, University of London and UCL) as a University Lecturer and promoted to a Senior Lecturer, Reader and then a full Professor in 2018. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK since 2008 after achieving a PGCHE from the University of London. He was awarded with a Cipla Distinguished Fellowship in Pharmaceutical Sciences (2014) and an ASEM-DUO Professorial Fellowship (2019). His original research on tackling AMR in TB was published in Nature Scientific Report (top 100 most read article in 2018) and in Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy were featured in BBC Health News and VetTimes respectively. Professor Bhakta is a core member of the UCL-TB, Validate, NTM Network UK. He is a Chief Editor of Frontiers in Antibiotics. He has acted as a Mentor for early career research students and staff at a career acceleration programme organised by Oxford University Career Services. As a UKRI STEM ambassador Professor Bhakta has volunteered for the Wellcome Trust-funded programme “Researchers in Residence”, a winner of “I’m a Scientist, Get me out of Here” 2017, participated in the British Science Museum “News & Views” programme (2018), and the winner of a Microbiology Society Outreach Prize (2020).
Highlights
Qualifications
- BSc (Hons), University of Calcutta, INDIA, 1995
- MSc, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, INDIA, 1997
- PhD (Molecular Biology and Biochemistry), Bose Institute/Jadavpur University, Kolkata, INDIA, 2001
- DPhil (Pharmacology), University of Oxford, UK , 2005
- PGCHE, University of London, UK, 2007
- Fellow, Higher Education Academy, UK, 2008
Web profiles
Visiting posts
- Visiting Professor , Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), 10-2017 to 09-2019
- Visiting Professor , National University of Malaysia (UKM), 10-2021 to 09-2023
- ASEM-DUO Visiting Professor , Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), INDIA, 07-2022 to 08-2022
Professional activities
Specialty Chief Editor (Frontiers in Antibiotics - Section: Antibiotic Development) April 2022 - March 2025
Academic Advisor (Commonwealth Scholarship Commission): (from December 2023) - role in the review and selection of graduate Commonwealth Scholars and Professional Fellows.
Guest Editor: Antibiotics [Special Issue "Beating the Bugs: Alternative Approaches to Reverse Antibiotic Resistance in Infectious Bacterial Pathogens"] 2020/21
Hosted/Chaired international capacity-building workshops to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and accelerate new antibiotic discovery, sponsored by the global challenges research fund (GCRF). 2019/20/21
Keynote Speech: invited to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR, INDIA)’s research institute, CSIR-IMTECH, to offer a keynote lecture at the “International Conference on Microbial Pathogenesis and New Frontiers” (23rd – 25th March 2019).
Expert Grant Reviewer for international research grant applications: the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) 2019
Professional memberships
The Biochemical Society, UK
The Microbiology Society, UK
British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, UK
The Acid Fast Club, UK (Elected in 2006)
The Union (International Union against TB and Lung Diseases)
London International Development Centre, UK
Royal Society of Biology, UK (Elected Fellow)
Honours and awards
- ASEM-DUO INDIA Professorial Exchange Fellowship, ASEM-DUO Secretariat, March 2022
- Dissertation Supervisor of the Year, Birkbeck Student Union, June 2024
- Microbiology Society Outreach Prize, Microbiology Society, UK, March 2020
- Birkbeck Public Engagement Award, Birkbeck, University of London, March 2019
- CIPLA Distinguished Fellowship, CIPLA/ICT-Mumbai, March 2014
- Sir William Paton Prize , University of Oxford, March 2004
ORCID
0000-0002-1165-9295 -
Research
Research
Research interests
- Tackling Antimicrobial Drug Resistance and new Drug Discovery
- Therapeutic target identification in bacteria & validation for new drug design
- Therapeutic antimicrobial hit/lead optimisation
- Repurposing/ repositioning immune-modulatory drugs to treat TB
Research overview
Professor Sanjib Bhakta's Mycobacteria Research Laboratory at the Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology investigates the physiology of the different metabolic states of Mycobacterium spp.,(1) tackling antimicrobial drug resistance through validating novel therapeutic targets (2,3), from identifying hits to optimising novel leads and repurposing(4) existing immune-modulatory drugs to cure TB and other mycobacterial infections. The Mycobacteria Research Laboratory is specialised in microbiology, molecular biology and biochemistry techniques to manipulate DNA, RNA, proteins and lipids to characterise therapeutic targets and elucidate their structure, function, regulation and inhibition. The lab has successfully integrated(5) high-throughput enzymatic and whole-cell phenotypic assays(6) for screening biological properties of natural (7) or synthetic chemical inhibitors (8) of mycobacterial morphology, growth and viability in vitro as well as in infected macrophage models (9) mimicking the intracellular host-environment. The lab’s expertise in microbiology enables them to generate genetically-modified and/or chemically-derived mutants and perform phenotypic and genotypic evaluation on these infectious pathogens of global interest.
Research Centres and Institutes
- Principle Investigator , Institute of Structural Molecular Biology (ISMB)
- Core Member/ PI, UCL-TB Centre
- Honorary Fellow, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
Research clusters and groups
- Academic Head, ISMB-Mycobacteria Research Laboratory
- Steering Group Member, UCL-TB
- Core Member, The NTM Network UK
- Member, ABX: The Antibiotic Discovery Accelerator Network
- Core Member, UCL Antimicrobial Resistance
- Core Member, Microbiology@UCL
- Network Investigator (TB), Validate, UK
Lab information
-
Supervision and teaching
Supervision and teaching
Supervision
I welcome enquiries from prospective MPhil/PhD candidates who are interested in undertaking doctoral research training in any areas of my research.
Between 2006 and 2022, I have supervised 17 PhD students (100% submitted within 4 years of registration) and currently supervising 3 PhD students at the Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Birkbeck, University of London and UCL; examined 12 PhD theses as an internal (University of London) examiner and 2 MRes theses, 1 MPhil thesis and 23 PhD theses as an external examiner (including international).
Current PhD students
· Chris Daniel (Primary Supervisor)
· Rita Ramalhete (Secondary Supervisor)
· Hessa Ali Alshehri (Secondary Supervisor)
MRes project students
· Anushandan NAVARATNARAJAH
· Karan KANWAR
· Precious OLORUNKALU
· Ting Ko HUI
· Tsungai MAHERE
MSc project student
· Emese Fabian
Associate ISMB-MRL Fellows (Honorary)
· Dr Sam Willcocks (LSHTM/ Brunel)
· Dr Yusun Jeon (KCL)
Past PhDs:
· Liam Tom Martin (The Wellcome Trust DTP Scholarship) 2018 - 2022
· Mousumi Shyam (Newton-Bhabha International PhD Placement) 2017 - 2022
· Sarmistha Biswal (Newton-Bhabha Placement and ASEM-DUO International Exchange Fellowship) 2017 - 2022
· Arundhati Maitra (The Wellcome Trust/ Birkbeck Anniversary Scholarship) 2015 - 2019
· Neha Agre (Commonwealth Split-Site Scholarship) 2015 - 2020
· Stephen Teo (Commonwealth Scholarship) 2015-2019
· Lindsay Elaine Ferguson (UWS Scholarship) 2015-2019
· Tengku Karmila Mohd Kamil (Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education Scholarship) 2014-2018
· Jody Phelan (BBSRC LIDo Scholarship) 2014-2017
· Francesca Scotti (Bloomsbury Interdisciplinary Scholarship) 2012- 2016
· Cynthia Amaning Danquah (Ghana Education Trust Fund) 2012-2016
· Eleanor Laming Kerr (EPSRC/GSK Case Award) 2011-2015
· Doris Quay Huai Xia (Commonwealth Scholarship) 2011-2015
· Juan David Guzman (Bloomsbury Interdisciplinary Scholarship, London) 2009-2013
· Khadijo Osman (Bloomsbury Interdisciplinary Scholarship, London) 2008-2012
· Dimitrios Evangelopoulos (Sybil Evans Scholarship, Birkbeck/ Oxford University) 2007-2011
· Chandrakala Basavannacharya (Oxford University/Birkbeck ORS) 2007-2010
Past MRes:
· Annie Rieden 2021-2022
· Rachel Meade 2020-2021 (Currently an MPhil/PhD Scholar in the UK)
· Karina Caetano 2019-2020 (Currently an MPhil/PhD Scholar in the UK)
· Tara Levano 2019-2020
· Parul Singh 2019-2020 (Currently a Research Associate in USA)
· Harshita Verma 2019-2020
· Parmiss Ikra Ahmed 2019-2020
· Sara Vasciaveo 2017 – 2018
· Darakhshan Ahmed 2016 – 2018 (Part-time)
· Alina Chrzastek 2016-2017 (Current a Post Doctoral Research Scientist in the UK)
· Monisha Shaik 2015-2016 (Currently Researcher in India)
· Arundhati Maitra 2013-2014 (Currently a Post Doctoral Research Scientist in the UK)
· Shyamasundarui Nukala 2011-2012 (Currently High School Teacher in the UK)
Past Summer Research Training Interns:
· Kshitij Sinha (2021/22); ISSF/Wellcome BAME Summer Internship
· Chiyun Lee (2020/21); BBSRC Summer Internship
· Ellie Chapman (2019/20); BSAC Summer Internship
· Julia Solnier (2017/18) Graz, Austria; EU Scholarship
· Victoria McHugh (2017/18) UK; BBSRC LIDO Scholarship
· Javier Arranz (2015/16) Barcelona, Spain; EU Scholarship
· Sadé Bates (2013/14) UK; Wellcome Trust Vacation Scholarship
· Arundhati Maitra (2012/13) UK; BSAC Scholarship
· Tomáš Reitschmied (2011/12) Erasmus Program Scholarship
· Javier Martínez Crespo (2010
Current doctoral researchers
-
CHRIS DANIEL
Doctoral alumni since 2013-14
-
ARUNDHATI MAITRA
-
TENGKU KARMILA TENGKU MOHD KAMIL
Teaching
Professor Sanjib Bhakta, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, practices innovative and research-led methods in learning and teaching. He has blended face-to-face classroom teaching with online teaching using various digital platforms such as MS-Teams, Blackboard-Collaborate etc. Course handbooks, syllabus, instructions, all relevant learning materials, formative and summative assessment feedbacks are available to the enrolled students via Moodle.
Prof. Bhakta is the Admissions Tutor/Programme Director of MRes Global Infectious Diseases and a Member of the Department’s Graduate Research Degrees Committee.
Prof. Bhakta teaches on the following undergraduate and postgraduate courses (part-time and/or full-time):
Undergraduate: BSc Bio-Medicine
· Microbes & Antimicrobials (BCBC015_S6: Course Unit Director)
· Biology Literature Projects (BCBC002_H6)
· Biology Experimental Projects (BCBC010_S6)
ISMB Summer Research Training Internship (April – September)
Biochemistry (BIOC 2023) UCL (Module: BIOC0021: Advanced Investigative Project in Molecular Biosciences)
Postgraduate: MSc Microbiology and MRes Global Infectious Diseases
· Antimicrobials (BCBC009_H7: Course Unit Director)
· Medical Bacteriology (BCBC005_H7: Course Unit Director)
· Research in Microbiology (BCBC002_S7)
· MSc and MRes Research Projects and Dissertation (BCBC011_S7 & SCBS017_Q7)
MSc Bio-Business
· Analytical Projects
· Future Health Technologies (SCBS032_H7BCBC009_H7)
MPhil/PhD Molecular Microbiology and Biochemistry Interdisciplinary research projects are offered for Bloomsbury Colleges Research Studentship/ Commonwealth Scholarship/ ISMB/ MRC/ BBSRC/ Wellcome Trust PhD Studentships on a regular basis. Find out more about studentships in the department.
A number of timely and important literature-based research projects and/or laboratory based experimental research projects on mycobacterial diseases (such as Tuberculosis and Leprosy) are offered to the above undergraduate, postgraduate and MPhil/PhD research students.
To discuss a research project in person, please contact Prof. Sanjib Bhakta: s.bhakta@bbk.ac.uk, sanjib.bhakta@ucl.ac.uk.
Teaching modules
- Specialist Laboratory Research Project (SCBS036D6)
- Infectious Bacteria and Antibiotics (SCBS080H6)
- Cellular Microbiology (SCBS091S7)
- Molecular Biology for Discovery Life Sciences (SCBS096S7)
-
-
Publications
Publications
Article
- Shyam, M. and Bhattacharje, G. and Daniel, C. and Kumar, A. and Yadav, P. and Mukherjee, P. and Singh, S. and Das, A.K. and Narender, T. and Singh, A. and Jayaprakash, V. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2023) Rationally designed novel Phenyloxazoline Synthase Inhibitors: chemical synthesis and biological evaluation to accelerate the discovery of new antimycobacterial antibiotics. Molecules 28 (24), pp. 8115. ISSN 1420-3049.
- Daniel, Chris and Bhakta, Sanjib (2022) Immunobiology of tubercle bacilli and prospects of immunomodulatory drugs to tackle tuberculosis (TB) and other non-tubercular mycobacterial infections. Immunobiology 227 (3), ISSN 0171-2985.
- Shyam, M. and Verma, H. and Bhattacharje, G. and Mukherjee, P. and Singh, S. and Kamilya, S. and Jalani, P. and Das, S. and Dasgupta, A. and Mondal, A. and Das, A.K. and Singh, A. and Brucoli, F. and Bagneris, Claire and Dickman, R. and Basavanakatti, V.N. and Naresh Babu, P. and Sankaran, V. and Dev, A. and Sinha, B.N. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Jayaprakash, V. (2022) Mycobactin analogues with excellent pharmacokinetic profile demonstrate potent antitubercular specific activity and exceptional efflux pump inhibition. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 65 (1), pp. 234-256. ISSN 0022-2623.
- Maitra, Arundhati and Nukala, Syamasundari and Dickman, R. and Martin, Liam T. and Munshi, Tulika and Gupta, Antima and Shepherd, Adrian J. and Arnvig, K.B. and Tabor, A.B. and Keep, Nicholas H. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2021) Characterization of the MurT/GatD complex in Mycobacterium tuberculosis towards validating a novel anti-tubercular drug target. JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance 3 (1), ISSN 2632-1823.
- Shyam, M. and Shilkar, D. and Verma, H. and Dev, A. and Sinha, B. and Brucoli, F. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Jayaprakash, V. (2021) The Mycobactin biosynthesis pathway: a prospective therapeutic target in the battle against Tuberculosis. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 64 (1), pp. 71-100. ISSN 0022-2623.
- Maitra, A. and Evangelopoulos, D. and Chrzastek, A. and Martin, L.T. and Hanrath, A. and Chapman, E. and Hailes, H.C. and Lipman, M. and McHugh, T.D. and Waddell, S.J. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2020) Carprofen elicits pleiotropic mechanisms of bactericidal action with the potential to reverse antimicrobial drug resistance in tuberculosis.. The Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 75 (11), pp. 3194-3201. ISSN 1460-2091.
- Hellewell, L. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2020) Chalcones, stilbenes and ketones have anti-infective properties via inhibition of bacterial drug-efflux and consequential synergism with antimicrobial agents. Access Microbiology 2 (4), ISSN 2516-8290.
- Lu, L. and Arranz-Trullén, J. and Prats-Ejarque, G. and Pulido, D. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Boix, E. (2019) Human Antimicrobial RNases inhibit intracellular bacterial growth and induce Autophagy in Mycobacteria-Infected Macrophages. Frontiers In Immunology 10, ISSN 1664-3224.
- Maitra, Arundhati and Munshi, Tulika and Healy, J. and Martin, L.T. and Vollmer, W. and Keep, Nicholas H. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2019) Cell wall peptidoglycan in Mycobacterium Tuberculosis: an Achilles’ heel for the TB-causing pathogen. FEMS Microbiology Reviews 43 (5), pp. 548-575. ISSN 1574-6976.
- Abo-Ashoura, M.F. and Eldehnab, W.M. and George, R.F. and Abdel-Azizd, M.M. and Elaasser, M.M. and Abdel Gawad, N.M. and Gupta, Antima and Bhakta, Sanjib and Abou-Seric, S.M. (2018) Novel indole-thiazolidinone conjugates: Design, synthesis and whole-cell phenotypic evaluation as a novel class of antimicrobial agents. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 160, pp. 49-60. ISSN 0223-5234.
- Quay, D.H.X. and Qureshi, A. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Keep, Nicholas H. (2018) Mutation studies of the Gene Encoding YuiC, a Stationary Phase Survival Protein in Bacillus subtilis. Malaysian Journal of Microbiology 14 (2), ISSN 2231-7538.
- Danquah, C.A. and Kakagianni, E. and Khondkar, P. and Maitra, Arundhati and Rahman, M. and Evangelopoulos, D. and McHugh, T.D. and Stapleton, P. and Malkinson, J. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Gibbons, Simon (2018) Analogues of Disulfides from Allium stipitatum demonstrate potent anti-tubercular activities through drug efflux pump and Biofilm inhibition. Scientific Reports 8 (1), pp. 1150. ISSN 2045-2322.
- Arranz-Trullén, J. and Lu, L. and Pulido, D. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Boix, E. (2017) Host Antimicrobial Peptides: the promise of new treatment strategies against Tuberculosis. Frontiers In Immunology 8, ISSN 1664-3224.
- Bullo, S. and Maitra, Arundhati and Chrzastek, Alina and Naeemullah, B. and Fakurazi, S. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Hussein, M.Z. (2017) Nano-formulation of Ethambutol with multifunctional Graphene Oxide and magnetic nanoparticles retains Its anti-tubercular activity with prospects of improving chemotherapeutic efficacy. Molecules 22 (10), pp. 1697. ISSN 1420-3049.
- Saifullah, B. and Chrzastek, A. and Maitra, Arundhati and Naeemullah, B. and Fakurazi, S. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Hussein, M.Z. (2017) Novel anti-Tuberculosis nanodelivery formulation of Ethambutol with Graphene Oxide. Molecules 22 (10), ISSN 1420-3049.
- Ryan, A. and Polycarpou, E. and Lack, N.A. and Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Sieg, C. and Halman, A. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Eleftheriadou, O. and McHugh, T.D. and Keany, S. and Lowe, E.D. and Ballet, R. and Abuhammad, A. and Jacobs, W.R. and Ciulli, A. and Sim, E. (2017) Investigation of the mycobacterial enzyme HsaD as a potential novel target for anti-tubercular agents using a fragment-based drug design approach. British Journal of Pharmacology 174 (14), pp. 2209-2224. ISSN 0007-1188.
- Scalacci, N. and Brown, A.K. and Pavan, F.R. and Ribeiro, C.M. and Manetti, F. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Maitra, Arundhati and Smith, D.L. and Petricci, E. and Castagnolo, D. (2017) Synthesis and SAR evaluation of novel thioridazine derivatives active against drug-resistant tuberculosis.. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 127, pp. 147-158. ISSN 0223-5234.
- Maitra, Arundhati and Kamil, T.K. and Shaik, M. and Danquah, C.A. and Chrzastek, A. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2017) Early diagnosis and effective treatment regimens are the keys to tackle antimicrobial resistance in tuberculosis (TB): a report from Euroscicon’s international TB Summit 2016. Virulence 8 (6), pp. 1005-1024. ISSN 2150-5594.
- Bhakta, Sanjib and Guzman, Juan David and Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Munshi, Tulika and Mcmahon, Eleanor (2016) DNA sequence-selective C8-linked pyrrolobenzodiazepine(PBD)-heterocyclic polyamide conjugates show anti-tubercular specific activities. The Journal of Antibiotics 69, pp. 843-849. ISSN 0021-8820.
- Kerai, L.V. and Hilton, S. and Maugueret Minerve, Tafie and Kazi, Bilkis Banu and Nicklin, Jane and Bhakta, Sanjib and Murdan, S. (2016) UV-curable gels as topical nail medicines: in vivo residence, anti-fungal efficacy and influence of gel components on their properties. International Journal of Pharmaceutics 514 (1), pp. 244-254. ISSN 0378-5173.
- Maitra, Arundhati and Bhakta, Sanjib and Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios (2016) Repurposing drugs for treatment of tuberculosis (TB): a role for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.. British Medical Bulletin 118 (1), pp. 138-148. ISSN 1471-8391.
- Maitra, Arundhati and Bates, S. and Shaik, M. and Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Abubakar, I. and McHugh, T.D. and Lipman, M. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2016) Repurposing drugs for treatment of tuberculosis: a role for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. British Medical Bulletin 118 (1), pp. 138-148. ISSN 1471-8391.
- Brucoli, F. and Guzman, Juan David and Basher, M.A. and Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Mcmahon, Eleanor and Munshi, Tulika and McHugh, T.D. and Fox, K.R. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2016) DNA sequence-selective C8-linked pyrrolobenzodiazepine–heterocyclic polyamide conjugates show anti-tubercular-specific activities. The Journal of Antibiotics 69, pp. 843-849. ISSN 0021-8820.
- Bhakta, Sanjib (2016) Design and synthesis of 1-((1,5-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-2-methyl-1H-pyrrol-3-yl)methyl)-4-methylpiperazine (BM212) and N-Adamantan-2-yl-N'-((E)-3,7-dimethyl-octa-2,6-dienyl)-ethane-1,2-diamine (SQ109) pyrrole hybrid derivatives: discovery of potent anti-tubercular agents effective against multi-drug resistant mycobacteria. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 59 (6), pp. 2780-2793. ISSN 0022-2623.
- Amaning Danquah, C. and Maitra, Arundhati and Gibbons, S. and Nicklin, Jane and Bhakta, Sanjib (2016) HT-SPOTi: a rapid Drug Susceptibility Test (DST) to evaluate antibiotic resistance profiles and novel chemicals for anti-infective drug discovery. Current Protocols in Microbiology 40, ISSN 1934-8533. ISBN 9780471729259.
- Chandrashekhar Lele, A. and Amarnath Mishra, D. and Karmila Kamil, T. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Sohel Degani, M. (2016) Repositioning of DHFR Inhibitors. Current Topics In Medicinal Chemistry 16 (19), pp. 2125-2143. ISSN 1568-0266.
- Rizi, K. and Murdan, S. and Danquah, Cynthia A. and Nicklin, Jane and Bhakta, Sanjib (2015) Development of a rapid, reliable and quantitative method – “SPOTi” for testing antifungal efficacy. Journal of Microbiological Methods 117, pp. 36-40. ISSN 0167-7012.
- Phelan, J. and Maitra, A. and McNerney, R. and Nair, M. and Gupta, Antima and Coll, F. and Pain, A. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Clark, T.G. (2015) The draft genome of Mycobacterium aurum, a potential model organism for investigating drugs against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium leprae. International Journal of Mycobacteriology 4 (3), pp. 207-216. ISSN 2212-5531.
- Quay, Doris H.X. and Cole, Ambrose R. and Cryar, A. and Thalassinos, Konstantinos and Williams, Mark A. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Keep, Nicholas H. (2015) Structure of the stationary phase survival protein YuiC from B.subtilis. BMC Structural Biology 15 (12), ISSN 1472-6807.
- Brucoli, F. and Guzman, Juan D. and Maitra, Arundhati and James, C.H. and Fox, K.R. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2015) Synthesis, anti-mycobacterial activity and DNA sequence-selectivity of a library of biaryl-motifs containing polyamides. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry 23 (13), pp. 3705-3711. ISSN 0968-0896.
- Guzman, Juan D. and Pesnot, T. and Barrera, D.A. and Davies, H.M. and McMahon, E. and Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Mortazavi, Parisa Nakhostin and Munshi, Tulika and Maitra, Arundhati and Lamming, E.D. and Angell, R. and Gershater, M.C. and Redmond, J.M. and Needham, D. and Ward, J.M. and Cuca, L.E. and Hailes, H.C. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2015) Tetrahydroisoquinolines affect the whole-cell phenotype of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by inhibiting the ATP-dependent MurE ligase. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 70 (6), pp. 1691-1703. ISSN 0305-7453.
- Hochfellner, C. and Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Zloh, M. and Wube, A. and Guzman, J.D. and McHugh, T.D. and Kunert, O. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Bucar, F. (2015) Antagonistic effects of indoloquinazoline alkaloids on antimycobacterial activity of evocarpine. Journal of Applied Microbiology 118 (4), pp. 864-872. ISSN 1364-5072.
- Maitra, A. and Bates, S. and Kolvekar, T. and Devarajan, P.V. and Guzman, Juan D. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2015) Repurposing — a ray of hope in tackling extensively drug resistance in tuberculosis. International Journal of Infectious Diseases 32, pp. 50-55. ISSN 1201-9712.
- Maitra, Arundhati and Danquah, Cynthia A. and Scotti, Francesca and Howard, Tracey K. and Kamil, Tengku K. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2015) Tackling tuberculosis: insights from an international TB Summit in London. Virulence 6 (6), pp. 661-672. ISSN 2150-5594.
- Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Gupta, Antima and Lack, N. and Maitra, Arundhati and ten Bokum, A.M.C. and Kendall, Sharon L. and Sim, E. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2014) Characterisation of a putative AraC transcriptional regulator from Mycobacterium smegmatis. Tuberculosis 94 (6), pp. 664-671. ISSN 1472-9792.
- Zhao, J. and Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Bhakta, Sanjib and Gray, A.I. and Seidel, V. (2014) Antitubercular activity of Arctium lappa and Tussilago farfara extracts and constituents. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 155 (1), pp. 796-800. ISSN 0378-8741.
- McGuigan, C. and Derudas, M. and Gonczy, B. and Hinsinger, K. and Kandil, S. and Pertusati, F. and Serpi, M. and Snoeck, R. and Andrei, G. and Balzarini, J. and McHugh, T.D. and Maitra, A. and Akorli, E. and Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Bhakta, Sanjib (2014) ProTides of N–(3-(5-(2’-deoxyuridine))prop-2- ynyl)octanamide as potential anti-tubercular and anti-viral agents. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry 22 (9), pp. 2816-2824. ISSN 1464-3391.
- Maitra, A. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2014) TB Summit 2014. Virulence 5 (5), pp. 638-644. ISSN 2150-5594.
- Maitra, Arundhati and Bhakta, Sanjib (2014) TB Summit 2014: Prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of tuberculosis—a meeting report of a Euroscicon conference. Virulence 5 (5), pp. 638-644. ISSN 2150-5594.
- Shiu, W.K.P. and Malkinson, J.P. and Rahman, M.M. and Curry, J. and Stapleton, P. and Gunaratnam, M. and Neidle, S. and Mushtaq, S. and Warner, M. and Livermore, D.M. and Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Basavannacharya, Chandrakala and Bhakta, Sanjib and Schindler, B.D. and Seo, S.M. and Coleman, D. and Kaatz, G.W. and Gibbons, S. (2013) A new plant-derived antibacterial is an inhibitor of efflux pumps in Staphylococcus aureus. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents 42 (6), pp. 513-518. ISSN 0924-8579.
- Guzman, Juan D. and Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Gupta, Antima and Prieto, J.M. and Gibbons, S. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2013) Antimycobacterials from Lovage Root (Ligusticum officinale Koch). Phytotherapy Research 27 (7), pp. 993-998. ISSN 0951-418X.
- Guzman, Juan D. and Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Gupta, Antima and Birchall, K. and Mwaigwisya, S. and Saxty, B. and McHugh, T.D. and Gibbons, S. and Malkinson, J. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2013) Antitubercular specific activity of ibuprofen and the other 2-arylpropanoic acids using the HT-SPOTi whole-cell phenotypic assay. BMJ Open 3 (6), pp. e002672. ISSN 2044-6055.
- Maitra, A. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2013) Mycobacterium tuberculosis... can we beat it? Report from Euroscicon 2013. Virulence pp. 14-18. ISSN 2150-5594.
- Munshi, Tulika and Gupta, Antima and Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Guzman, Juan D. and Gibbons, S. and Keep, Nicholas H. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2013) Characterisation of ATP-Dependent Mur Ligases Involved in the Biogenesis of Cell Wall Peptidoglycan in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. PLoS One 8 (3), pp. e60143. ISSN 1932-6203.
- Gupta, Antima and Bhakta, Sanjib (2012) An integrated surrogate model for screening of drugs against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 67 (6), pp. 1380-1391. ISSN 0305-7453.
- Gupta, Antima and Kaul, Akshay and Tsolaki, A.G. and Kishore, U. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2012) Mycobacterium tuberculosis: immune evasion, latency and reactivation. Immunobiology 217 (3), pp. 363-374. ISSN 0171-2985.
- Guzman, Juan D. and Gupta, Antima and Bucar, F. and Gibbons, S. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2012) Antimycobacterials from natural sources: ancient times, antibiotic era and novel scaffolds. Frontiers in Bioscience 17 (1), pp. 1861-1881. ISSN 1093-9946.
- Kottakota, S.K. and Benton, M. and Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Guzman, Juan D. and Bhakta, Sanjib and McHugh, T.D. and Gray, M. and Groundwater, P.W. and Marrs, E.C.L. and Perry, J.D. and Harburn, J.J. (2012) Versatile routes to marine sponge metabolites through Benzylidene Rhodanines. Organic Letters 14 (24), pp. 6310-6313. ISSN 1523-7060.
- Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Cronin, Nora and Daviter, Tina and Sim, E. and Keep, Nicholas H. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2011) Characterization of an oxidoreductase from the arylamine N-acetyltransferase operon in Mycobacterium Smegmatis. FEBS Journal 278 (24), pp. 4824-4832. ISSN 1742-464X.
- Guzman, Juan D. and Wube, A. and Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Gupta, Antima and Hufner, A. and Basavannacharya, Chandrakala and Rahman, M.M. and Thomaschitz, C. and Bauer, R. and McHugh, T.D. and Nobeli, Irene and Prieto, J.M. and Gibbons, S. and Bucar, F. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2011) Interaction of N-methyl-2-alkenyl-4-quinolones with ATP-dependent MurE ligase of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: antibacterial activity, molecular docking and inhibition kinetics. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 66 (8), pp. 1766-1772. ISSN 0305-7453.
- Osman, Khadijo and Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Basavannacharya, Chandrakala and Gupta, Antima and McHugh, T.D. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Gibbons, S. (2011) An antibacterial from Hypericum acmosepalum inhibits ATP-dependent MurE ligase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents 39 (2), pp. 124-129. ISSN 0924-8579.
- Basavannacharya, Chandrakala and Moody, P.R. and Munshi, T. and Cronin, Nora and Keep, Nicholas H. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2010) Essential residues for the enzyme activity of ATP-dependent MurE ligase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Protein & Cell 1 (11), pp. 1011-1022. ISSN 1674-800X.
- Guzman, Juan D. and Gupta, Antima and Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Basavannacharya, Chandrakala and Pabon, L.C. and Plazas, E.A. and Munoz, D.R. and Delgado, W.A. and Cuca, L.E. and Ribon, W. and Gibbons, S. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2010) Anti-tubercular screening of natural products from Colombian plants: 3-methoxynordomesticine, an inhibitor of MurE ligase of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 65 (10), pp. 2101-2107. ISSN 0305-7453.
- Basavannacharya, Chandrakala and Robertson, Giles and Munshi, T. and Keep, Nicholas H. and Bhakta, Sanjib (2010) ATP-dependent MurE ligase in Mycobacterium tuberculosis: biochemical and structural characterisation. Tuberculosis 90 (1), pp. 16-24. ISSN 1472-9792.
- Westwood, I.M. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Russell, A.J. and Fullam, E. and Anderton, M.C. and Akane Kawamura, A. and Mulvaney, A.W. and Vickers, R.J. and Bhowruth, V. and Besra, G.S. and Lalvani, A. and Davies, S.G. and Sim, E. (2010) Identification of arylamine N-acetyltransferase inhibitors as an approach towards novel anti-tuberculars. Protein & Cell 1 (1), pp. 82-95. ISSN 1674-800X.
- Gupta, Antima and Bhakta, Sanjib and Kundu, S. and Gupta, M. and Srivastava, B.S. and Srivastava, R. (2009) Fast-growing, non-infectious and intracellularly surviving drug resistant Mycobacterium aurum: a model for high-throughput antituberculosis drug screening. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 64 (4), pp. 774-781. ISSN 0305-7453.
- O’Donnell, G. and Poeschl, R. and Zimhony, O. and Gunaratnam, M. and Moreira, J.B.C. and Neidle, S. and Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Bhakta, Sanjib and Malkinson, J. and Boshoff, H.I. and Lenaerts, A. and Gibbons, S. (2009) Bioactive Pyridine-N-oxide Disulfides from Allium stipitatum. Journal of Natural Products 72 (3), pp. 360-365. ISSN 0163-3864.
- Sim, E. and Sandy, J. and Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Fullam, E. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Westwood, I.M. and Krylova, A. and Lack, N. and Noble, M. (2008) Arylamine N-acetyltransferases in mycobacteria. Current Drug Metabolism 9 (6), pp. 510-519. ISSN 1389-2002.
- Smellie, I. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Sim, E. and Fairbanks, A. (2007) Synthesis of putative chain terminators of mycobacterial arabinan biosynthesis. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry 5 (14), pp. 2257-2266. ISSN 1477-0520.
- Anderton, M.C. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Besra, G.S. and Jeavons, P. and Eltis, L.D. and Sim, E. (2006) Characterization of the putative operon containing arylamine n-acetyltransferase (nat) in mycobacterium bovis BCG. Molecular Microbiology 59 (1), pp. 181-192. ISSN 0950-382X.
- Bhakta, Sanjib (2006) Tuberculosis: a big challenge whether East or the West. East-West Times 1 (1), pp. 28-31.
- Westwood, I.M. and Holton, S.J. and Rodrigues-Lima, F. and Dupret, J.M. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Noble, M.E. and Sim, E. (2005) Expression, purification, characterization and structure of pseudomonas aeruginosa arylamine N-acetyltransferase. Biochemical Journal 385 (2), pp. 605-612. ISSN 0264-6021.
- Bhakta, Sanjib and Besra, G.S. and Upton, A.M. and Parish, T. and Sholto-Douglas-Vernon, C. and Gibson, K.J. and Knutton, S. and Gordon, S. and DaSilva, R.P. and Anderton, M.C. and Sim, E. (2004) Arylamine N-acetyltransferase is required for synthesis of mycolic acids and complex lipids in Mycobacterium bovis BCG and represents a novel drug target. The Journal of Experimental Medicine 199 (9), pp. 1191-1199. ISSN 0022-1007.
- Sim, E. and Pinter, K. and Mushtaq, A. and Upton, A. and Sandy, J. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Noble, M. (2003) Arylamine N-acetyltransferases: a pharmacogenomic approach to drug metabolism and endogenous function. Biochemical Society Transactions 31 (3), pp. 615-619. ISSN 0300-5127.
- Bhakta, Sanjib and Basu, J. (2002) Overexpression, purification and biochemical characterization of a class A high-molecular-mass penicillin-binding protein (PBP), PBP1* and its soluble derivative from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Biochemical Journal 361 (6), pp. 635-639. ISSN 0264-6021.
- Choudhuri, B.S. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Barik, R. and Basu, J. and Kundu, M. and Chakrabarti, P. (2002) Overexpression and functional characterization of an ABC (ATP-binding cassette) transporter encoded by the genes drrA and drrB of mycobacterium tuberculosis. Biochemical Journal 367 (1), pp. 279-285. ISSN 0264-6021.
- Datta, P. and Dasgupta, A. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Basu, J. (2002) Interaction between FtsZ and FtsW of mycobacterium tuberculosis. Journal of Biological Chemistry 277 (28), pp. 24983-24987. ISSN 0021-9258.
- Mahapatra, S. and Bhakta, Sanjib and Ahamed, J. and Basu, J. (2000) Characterization of derivatives of the high-molecular-mass penicillin-binding protein (PBP) 1 of Mycobacterium leprae. Biochemical Journal 350 (1), pp. 75-80. ISSN 0264-6021.
Book Section
- Navaratnarajah, Anushandan and Daniel, Chris and Bhakta, Sanjib (2024) Modified HT-SPOTi: an antimicrobial susceptibility testing to evaluate formulated therapeutic combinations against bacterial growth and viability. In: Gillespie, S.H. (ed.) Antibiotic Resistance Protocols. Methods in Molecular Biology. Springer Publications. pp. 35-42. ISSN 1064-3745. ISBN 9781071639801.
- Evangelopoulos, Dimitrios and Bhakta, Sanjib (2018) Arylamine N-Acetyltransferase in Mycobacteria. In: Laurieri, N. and Sim, E. (eds.) Arylamine N-acetyltransferases in Health and Disease: From Pharmacogenetics to Drug Discovery and Diagnostics. World Scientific. pp. 303-324. ISBN 9789813232006.
External Repositories
-
Business and community
Business and community
Media
I am happy to receive enquiries from the media on the following topics:
- Antimicrobial Drug Resistance
- Tuberculosis (TB)
- Bridging the Gap between Laboratory Research and Global Health Challenges
Outreach
TB or not TB? - Going Beyond the Obvious to Tackle Drug Resistance in TB! (Part 1)
My research area holds significance relevance for society on a global scale. The issue of antimicrobial drug resistance (AMR) continues to pose a critical threat to public health and well-being, as noted in the 2022 WHO Annual report. As such, my interdisciplinary research at the Mycobacteria Research Laboratory focuses on discovering novel therapeutics and investigating the modes and mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in TB-causing bacteria, which is timely and directly relevant to local and global communities including both academic, industry and beneficiaries outside academia with common public interest. In addition to my research, I am actively engaged in outreach activities aimed at local schools and communities, and I have received commendation for my efforts. Specifically, I have worked with local community-based charities including TB Alert which plays a vital role in global health care and have been awarded with the UK Microbiology Society Outreach Prize 2020 and won Birkbeck Public Engagement Awards.
TB or not TB? – Going Beyond the Obvious to Tackle Drug Resistance in TB! (Part 2)
I have acted as UK advisor on TB research for the “Indian Development Foundation” a leading non-governmental organisation with branches across India’s major cities. I have also published two informative blogs on “face coverings” and “hand washing technique with video demonstration” in collaboration with my international charity partner. My efforts have been recognised with a “Social Action Award” for excellence in health awareness and humanitarian services. I was selected as the recipient of the BITE-Professorial Fellowship in Medical Bioscience from Lord Errol for my research on TB, engaging and enriching local communities in London. I was a winner of the Wellcome Trust-funded competition I’m a Scientist: Get me out of here, for most the most popular outreach programme: “Drug Resistance Zone”. The prize money was used in 2018 towards a local school sixth form and a biotechnology science project on “drug resistance” and final report has been submitted to the Wellcome Trust. Most recently, our multidisciplinary laboratory research on Persian Shallots was featured for Channel 4’s popular programme “Food Unwrapped”.
Services
-
Consultancies and expert advice
Honorary Advisor on TB Research and International Public Awareness Programme at Indian Development Foundation