Dr. Syed Faisal did his B.Sc. (Biochem) in 1998, M.Sc. (Biotech) in 2000 and PhD (Biotech) in 2006 from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. He worked as a Post-Doctoral Fellow (Oct. 2005 to Sep 2008) and as a Research Associate (Oct. 2008 to Aug 2013) at College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, USA. He then worked as a Research Scientist (Aug 2013 to March 2014) at Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, USA, before joining NIAB in March 2014.
Selected awards, honours and fellowships:
Dr. Faisal research experience spans Immunology of zoonotic infections and development of vaccine adjuvants. His major research contribution has been in the identification and characterization of candidate antigens for development of subunit vaccine for leptospirosis and live attenuated vaccines for the prevention of paratuberculosis. He has also developed some novel adjuvants capable of inducing both humoral and cell mediated immunity. His current research interests include understanding Leptospira host interaction for developing effective vaccines and diagnostic tools and also in development of cost effective vaccine adjuvants.
Area of Specialization: Bacterial pathogenesis, Host pathogen interaction, Vaccine Immunology, Adjuvant Engineering/Design and testing
Laboratory of Vaccine Immunology
Research in my laboratory is both basic and applied and is broadly focussed in two areas-
1. Understanding Leptospira-host interaction for developing novel vaccines and diagnostics
We are trying to understand Leptospira pathogenesis and how host respond to infection. We are exploiting innovative technologies different from conventional methods for developing vaccine. One approach is to screen surface proteins that are involved in evasion from host innate response particulary those involved in escaping recognition through TLRs, complement mediated killing and phagocytes (Neutrophils). One of the collaborative project focusses on understanding the role LPS molecule in evasion from host immune response to develop LPS based conjugate vaccine. Our lab is also focussed on developing live attenuated vaccine by knocking out gene involved in virulence using CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Our group is trying to understand Leptospira host interaction in order to identify the critical factors of both pathogen and host that can be exploited for developing novel theraputics, diagnostics and vaccines.
Fig. Understanding host pathogen interaction for for developing vaccine and diagnostics for Leptospirosis
2. Vaccine Adjuvant development
The currently used vaccines against many infectious/zoonotic diseases induces short term immunity and are of low protective efficacy. Adjuvants are crucial to success of vaccines. Research effort in our lab is focused on enhancing the potency of existing adjuvant or develop new adjuvant formulations. We are trying identify novel chemical/herbal/peptide immunomodulators or TLR agonists that can be incorporated in suitable delivery vehicle to develop adjuvant systems (combination adjuvants). Using computational approaches, we aim to design or engineer effective vaccine adjuvants and understand their mechanism of action both in vitro and in relevant animal model (Systems Vaccinology). Using large animal model (goats, cattle) we envisage to study long term immune response (including memory) induced by various vaccines. The ultimate aim is to develop cost effective adjuvant that is easy to manufacture, provide long-term immunity, non-toxic and can be given orally.
Fig. Developing cost-effective adjuvants for veterinary vaccines.
Selected Publications:
1. Ajay Kumar, Vivek P. Varma, Kavela Sridhar, Mohd Abdullah, Pallavi Vyas, Muhammed Ashiq Thalappil, Yung-Fu Chang and Syed M. Faisal. Deciphering the Role of Leptospira Surface Protein LigA in Modulating the Host Innate Immune Response. Frontiers in Immunology. 2021 (IF:7.5)
2. Rajpoot, S., Solanki, K., Syed M. Faisal. et al. In-Silico Design of a Novel Tridecapeptide Targeting Spike Protein of SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern. Int J Pept Res Ther 28, 28 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10989-021-10339-0
3. Ajay Kumar, Vivek P. Varma and Syed M. Faisal Screening of surface-exposed lipoproteins of Leptospira involved in modulation of host innate immune response. Frontiers in Microbiology, 2022, (In press).
4. Baig MS, Anjali Roy, Rajpoot S, Dongfang Liu, Faisal SM et. al,. Tumor-derived exosomes in the regulation of macrophage polarization. Journal of Inflammation Research 2020 (In press)
5. Mirza S. Baig, Anjali Roy, Kannan Muthu, Syed M. Faisal, Mansi Srivastava, Dongfang Liu. Repurposing Thioridazine (TDZ) as an anti-inflammatory agent Scientific Reports 2018(Aug 20): 8, 12471.
6. Ramakrishna Bulugonda, Kotha Anil Kumar, Gangappa D, Muralidhara Rao* Syed M. Faisal* Mangiferin from Pueraria tuberosa reduces inflammation via inactivation of NLRP3 inflammasome. Scientific Reports 2017, Feb 20;7: 42683. (*corresponding author).
7. Syed M. Faisal*, Vivek Verma, Subathra M, Anil K Sunkara, Sarwar Azam, Mohd Akif, Mirza S Baig, Chang YF, (2016). Leptospira surface protein Lsa21 induce proiflammatory cytokines by Toll like receptor 2 and 4 mediated signaling pathways. Scientific Reports 2016, Dec 20;6: 39530. (*corresponding author).
8. Syed M. Faisal, Chen JW, McDonough SP and Yung-Fu Chang. Immunostimulatory and antigen delivery properties of liposomes made up of total polar lipids from non-pathogenic bacteria leads to efficient induction of both innate and adaptive immune response. Vaccine 2011;(29): 2381-2391.
9. Syed M. Faisal, WeiWei Yan, Sean P. McDonough, and Yung-Fu Chang. Immune response and prophylactic efficacy of smegmosomes in hamster model of leptospirosis. Vaccine. 2009 Oct 19;27(44):6129-36.
10. Syed M. Faisal, WeiWei Yan, Sean P. McDonough, and Yung-Fu Chang. Leptosome entrapped protective antigens conferred significantly higher level of protection than those delivered in conventional liposomes against hamster leptospirosis. Vaccine. 2009 Nov 5;27(47):6537-45.
11. Syed M. Faisal, WeiWei Yan, Sean P. McDonough, and Yung-Fu Chang. Leptospira immunoglobulin-like protein A variable region (LigAvar) incorporated in Liposomes and PLGA-Microspheres produces a robust immune response correlating to protective immunity. Vaccine. 2009, Jan 14;27(3):378-87.
12. Syed M. Faisal, WeiWei Yan, Chia-Sui Chen, Raghavan UM Palaniappan, Sean P. McDonough, and Yung-Fu Chang. Evaluation of protective immunity of Leptospira immunoglobulin like protein A (LigA) DNA vaccine against challenge in hamsters. Vaccine. 2008 Jan 10;26(2):277-87.
Pubmed link-
Postdoctoral Associates
Himadri Medhi – Research Associate (DBT-RA)
M.Tech. (Nano Science and Technology)2014, UoH
Ph.D. (Nano Science and Technology) 2019, UoH
Research interest- Development of nanoparticle based vaccine adjuvant system (nano-vaccines) and understanding their mechanism of action
PhD Students
Vivek Varma – Senior Research Fellow (PhD student)
M.Sc.(Animal Biochemistry), 2012,NDRI, Karnal
Research interest- Leptospira host interaction for developing subunit, live attenuated and conjugate vaccines. Mechanism of action of vaccine adjuvants
Ajay Kumar – Senior Research Fellow (PhD student)
M.Sc. (Biotechnology), 2015, CUR, Ajmer
Research interest- Exploring the role of surface exposed Lipoproteins of Leptospira in modulation of host innate immune response. Development of live attenuated vaccine for Leptospirosis
Mohd Kadivella – Junior Research Fellow (PhD student)
M.Sc. (Systems Biology), UoH, Hyderabad
Research interest- Designing vaccine adjuvants using computational approaches
Pallavi Vyas– Junior Research Fellow (PhD student)
M.Sc. (Biotechnology),2018, H.S.G. University, Sagar, MP
Research interest- Understanding Leptospira pathogenesis using Omics (Transcriptomic and Proteomics) with an aim to develop vaccine and diagnostics
Jusial C.P. – Junior Research Fellow
M.Sc. (Integrated), 2019, CUTN, Thiruvarur
Research interest- Understanding host immune response against Leptospirosis with an aim to develop improved therapeutic and vaccine
Project Staff
Sridhar Kavela– Senior Research Fellow
M.Tech (Biotechnology), 2011, JNTU, Hyderabad
Research interest- Host-Pathogen interaction studies for developing vaccine and diagnostics for Leptospirosis
Ramudu Bankala– Senior Research Fellow
M. Pharm, 2011, JNTU, Hyderabad
Research interest- Understanding role of Leptospira LPS in immune modulation with the aim to develop a conjugate vaccine
Past Lab members
Subathra Murugan, PhD – Postdoc/RA
Anil Sunkara – Project Fellow
Amit K. Nagwani – Project JRF
Rakesh Rudrabiona – Project JRF
Mohd Ashiq T – Summer project trainee
Shali Thasneem – Summer project trainee
Azeema Fatima – Summer project trainee
Kanishka Bhaskar – Summer project trainee
Room No – 205, B Wing, 2nd Floor
Laboratory of Vaccine Immunology
National Institute of Animal Biotechnology
Survey No. 37, Opp. Journalist Colony
Extended Q City Road, Near Gowlidoddy
Gachibowli, Hyderabad
Telangana – 500032
Email: faisal[at]niab[dot]org[dot]in
Tel: +91-(0)40-2312-0145
Faisal lab is looking for motivated students and post-doctoral researchers interested in working on infectious diseases or vaccine immunology. Interested candidates can send their CV with a letter of interest to faisal[at]niab[dot]org[dot]in
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