Research

The Department of Microbiology

 Research in Progress

UG projects

  1. Study on Escalation and De-escalation of empirical antimicrobial therapy for culture proven Blood Stream Infections
  2. Patterns of hospital acquired infections and their antimicrobial resistance among various intensive care units of a tertiary care hospital in South India
  3. Educational intervention to increase hepatitis B vaccination among SMC workers of JIPMER.
  4. Needle stick injuries among health care workers in a tertiary care hospital of India
  5. Clinico-microbial profile of fungal keratitis and detection of Pythium insidiosum- a pilot study
  6. Prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections in selected areas of Puducherry.

PG projects

  1. Speciation of the coagulase negative staphylococci isolated from blood and other sterile body fluids and their antimicrobial resistance pattern
  2. Clinical and microbial profile of necrotising fascitis with focus on detection of virulence genes of beta hemolytic streptococci and Staphylococcus aureus
  3. Role of Immunocytochemistry in detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen by fine needle aspiration cytology
  4. Eicosanoids, CNS inflammation, and clinical outcome in tubercular meningitis
  5. Diagnostic accuracy of XPERT MTB/RIF for tuberculous lymphadenitis.
  6. Astroglial injury and impairment of consciousness in tubercular meningitis.
  7. Profile of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis cases and its notification under national program in a tertiary care center, Puducherry: An operational research.
  8. Knowledge on Practices of Health-care-associated Infection Control among the Health Care personnel in Intensive Care Units in Tertiary Hospital , Puducherry
  9. Effect of hand hygiene training on Hand hygiene complete adherence rate (HHCAR) among intensive care unit staffs in a tertiary health care centre in South India
  10. Project on Assessment of knowledge and practice of hand hygiene practices among mothers of 0-2 years age child in an urban area of Puducherry
  11. Enterovirus Genotypes in Patients with Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease attending JIPMER hospital.
  12. The association of human papillomavirus in oral cavity and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma in a tertiary hospital in south India.
  13. Comparison of Seroconversion Response to Hepatitis B Vaccination in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia during Induction and Maintenance Phase of Chemotherapy.
  14. Comparison of L1 based and E6/ E7 primers in detection of HPV for malignancies of Head and Neck region.
  15. Evaluation of HBc Ag for Occult Hepatitis B Infection with  Total Anti Hepatitis B Core Antigen  and Pooled Hepatitis B Virus De-oxy Ribonucleic acid (DNA) Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)  in blood donors.
  16. Evaluation of Hepatitis B seroprotection status in pediatric nephrotic syndrome: A cross sectional study.
  17. Multiplex polymerase chain reaction for identification of Candida species from blood stream infection
  18. Prevalence and risk factors of Clostridium difficile infection in hospitalized patients with diarrhea, a cross sectional analytical study.
  19. Characterization of mutations associated with virulence and antiviral resistance in Influenza A pdm06 isolated during 2016-17 epidemic.
  20. Evaluation of real time polymerase chain reaction targeting mpb64 gene for diagnosis of extrapulmonary tuberculosis.
  21. The impact of auditing of antimicrobial stewardship programme on regulating the policy adherence and antimicrobial usage in selected intensive care units.
  22. Proportion of herpes simplex virus, Treponema pallidum and Hemophilusducreyi infection in patients with genital ulcer disease using conventional PCR.
  23. Intestinal parasitic infestation in cancer patients on treatment with special reference to Strongyloides
  24. Speciation and antifungal susceptibility pattern of Candida parapsilosis complex by polymerase chain reaction.
  25. Effect of extract of Centellaasiatica on Vibrio cholerae toxin production, gene expression and its vibriocidal effect.
  26. Role of antigen –antibody combination ELISA in diagnosis of Hepatitis C virus disease.
  27. Diagnostic accuracy of loop mediated isothermal amplification polymerase chain reaction for detection of ipah gene of Shigella from stool samples in children.
  28. An in vitro study of the effect of fosfomycin in combination withamikacin, ciprofloxacin and imipenem on the biofilm formed by multidrug resistant urinary isolates of Escherichia coli.
  29. Detection of additional reactive cases of HIV by MINI VIDAS using HIV DUO kit among serodiscordant couples.
  30. Speciation and detection of virulence factors among candidemia isolates by phenotypic methods.
  31. Determination of metronidazole susceptibility pattern of Bacteroidesfragilis group isolates obtained from anaerobic infections in a tertiary care centre, south India.
  32. Genotype distribution of Hepatitis B virus in a tertiary health care hospital in south India.
  33. Comparison of caudal administration of levobupivacaine 0.25% and 0.125% with 1 μg/kg dexmedetomidine in children for postoperative pain relief.
  34. Comparison of ultrasound-guided interscalene, infraclavicular and supraclavicular brachial plexus blocks: a randomized, controlled, observer-blinded study.
  35. Bacteremia due to obligate anaerobes following Large Bowel Surgery- A descriptive study.
  36. Prevalence and molecular identification of non-tuberculous mycobacteria in patients with pulmonary and extrapulmonary infections
  37. Clinical and microbiological characteristics and outcome of peritoneal dialysis related peritonitis.
  38. A study of practice pattern and complications associated with use of temporary hemodialysis catheter
  39. Post-operative cranial infection profile and its associated factors in elected cranial surgeries- a prospective observational study in a tertiary care center.
  40. Antimicrobial usage in medical wards at a tertiary care center-a prospective audit
  41. The Effect of Probiotics on Ventilator Associated Pneumonia – A Randomized Controlled Trial
  42. Knowledge on Practices of Health-care-associated Infection Control among the Health Care personnel in Intensive Care Units in Tertiary Hospital , Puducherry
  43. Project on Assessment of knowledge and practice of hand hygiene practices among mothers of 0-2 years age child in an urban area of Puducherry.
  44. Comparison of the use of three different stool preservatives on the morphology of intestinal parasites.
  45. A study of ventilator associated pneumonia in medical intensive care unit with special reference to non-fermentative Gram negative bacilli.

PhD projects

  1. Reduced susceptibility or resistance to vancomycin in Gram positive cocci: mechanisms and risk factors
  2. Genetic diversity and pathogenicity of
  3. Prevalence, genetic diversity and pathogenesis study of Blastocystis in humans.
  4. Molecular epidemiology, genetic diversity and drug resistance in symptomatic and asymptomatic carriers of Giardiaspp – community based study.
  5. Antimicrobial resistance and molecular characterization of clinical and asymptomatic carrier isolates of group A beta hemolytic streptococci
  6. Development and evaluation of Loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay for the diagnosis of meningitis and community acquired pneumonia due to Streptococcus pneumoniae
  7. Study of virulence pattern, antimicrobial resistance and genetic relatedness of Escherichia coli isolated from diarrhoeal stool samples
  8. Genetic analysis of virulence factors in Shigella
  9. Study of bacterial stress response (SOS) with respect to horizontal gene transfer in Vibrio cholerae
  10. Whole genome sequence analysis of haemolyticus with special reference to mobile genetic elements affecting virulence, antimicrobial resistance and clonality.
  11. Whole genome sequencing of clinical and environmental isolates of Burkholderia pseudomallei and seroprevalence of melioidosis in selected high risk population in and around Puducherry.
  12. Study of ventilator associated pneumonia with special reference to non fermentative Gram negative bacilli
  13. Detection of heteroresistant vancomycin intermediate Staphylococcus aureus (hVISA) by the population analysis profile- area under curve (PAP-AUC) analysis
  14. Development of loop mediated isothermal amplification assay for rapid diagnosis of meningitis and pneumonia due to Streptococcus pneumoniae
  15. Whole genome sequence analysis of Staphylococcus haemolyticus with special reference to mobile genetic elements affecting virulence and resistance and clonality
  16. Whole genome sequencing of clinical and environmental isolates of Burkholderia pseudomallei and seroprevalence of melioidosis in selected high risk population in and around Puducherry

Faculty projects

  1. Pyrexia of unknown origin - a prospective study in JIPMER
  2. Comparison of diagnostic accuracy of faecal swab, conventional dry sampling method and PCR for intestinal parasites – a pilot study (2016 – 18)
  3. Inflammatory biomarkers as a triage test for screening symptomatic TB (2017-18)
  4. A multicenter phase II/III double-blind, randomized, placebo controlled study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of VPM1002 in the prevention of tuberculosis (TB) recurrence in pulmonary TB patients after successful TB treatment in India (2017-18)
  5. Biomarkers for Risk of TB and for TB Treatment Failure and Relapse. It is an Indo- US Vaccine Action Program (VAP) Initiative on Tuberculosis Research: Regional Prospective Observational Research for Tuberculosis
  6. Predictors of Resistance Emergence Evaluation in Multidrug Resistant-Tuberculosis Patients on Treatment
  7. Comparison of SPAN Diagnostics and TUBERSOL purified-protein derivative (PPD) skin test (TST) antigen solutions in detecting latent tuberculosis infection in India (2016-18)
  8. A Multi-Centric Hospital Based Study on Epidemiology of Keratoconjunctivitis in India.
  9. Study of save our souls (SOS) bacterial stress response with reference to horizontal gene transfer in Vibrio cholera (2018-2021)
  10. Tuberculosis - Learning the impact of Nutrition (TB-LION) (2018-2022)

Grants obtained (Intramural and extramural)

  1. Sujatha S. received grants of
  • 2.77 crores from Indian Council of Medical Research for the project ‘Nodal coordinating centre for surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in Staphylococcus and Enterococcus species’.
  1. Jharna Mandal received grants of
  • 3 lakhs from JIPMER for the project ‘Determination of the mechanisms of quinolone resistance in Shigella species.’
  • Study of save our souls or SOS bacterial stress response with reference to horizontal gene transfer in Vibrio cholerae. – CSIR, an amount of 9,25,00 INR
  1. Rakesh Singh received grants of
  • Rs 2000/ per completed case from Fungal infection study Forum (FISF) for the project ‘Multicenter observational study on epidemiology, treatment and outcome of Mucormycosis in India’.
  1. Dr Rahul Dhodapkar received grants of
  • 16 crores from the Department of Health Research for the project ‘Establishment ofRegional Virology Network Laboratoryfor Establishment of a network of Laboratories for managing epidemics and Natural Calamities (VRDL)
  • A Multi-Centric Hospital Based Study on Epidemiology of Keratoconjunctivitis in India by DHR as Coordinating centre Amount - 1.3 cr
  • Regional Influenza laboratory - 11 lakhs
  • State Surveillance Hospital for Arboviral infections - Dengue & Chikungunya - 1 lakh
  1. Dr Noyal Mariya Joseph received grants of
  • 35,72,770/- from Public Health England for the project ‘Validation of host differentially expressed biomarkers of tuberculosis for patent exemplification and PoC diagnostic test development.’
  1. Nonika Rajkumari received grants of
  • Rs 1.63 lakhs from JIPMER, for the project ‘Comparison of diagnostic accuracy of faecal swab, conventional dry sampling method and PCR for intestinal parasites – a pilot study