My laboratory focuses at understanding the mechanisms used by Mycobacterium to display phenotypic drug resistance. Towards this, we try to understand the physiology in biofilm resident bacteria and during the non-replicating persistence. More specifically, we are interested in understanding the nature of extracellular polysaccharides of mycobacterial biofilms and the role of SenX-RegX3 two component system in regulation of virulence and mycobacterial replication. We are also developing tools for measurement of the metabolic and redox state of the mycobacteria during infection. Another interest of the laboratory is to understand the contribution of the lung microbiome in the tuberculosis pathogenesis.

• Nisha Singh, Asheema Vats, Aditi Sharma, Amit Arora, Ashwani Kumar. The development of lower respiratory tract microbiome in mice. Microbiome.2017, 5:61 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-017-0277-3.
• Nisha Singh, Pallavi Kansal, Zeeshan Ahmad, Navin Baid, Hariom Kushwaha, Neeraj Khatri, Ashwani Kumar. Antimycobacterial effect of IFNG (interferon gamma)-induced autophagy depends on HMOX1 (heme oxygenase 1)-mediated increase in intracellular calcium levels and modulation of PPP3/calcineurin-TFEB (transcription factor EB) axis. Autophagy. 2018. DOI: 10.1080/15548627.2018.1436936.
• Shabir Ahmad Bhat, Iram Khan Iqbal and Ashwani Kumar. Imaging the NADH:NAD+ homeostasis for understanding the metabolic response of Mycobacterium to physiologically relevant stresses. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology. 6:145 doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2016.00145.
• Abhishek Trivedi, Parminder Singh Mavi, Deepak Bhatt & Ashwani Kumar. Thiol reductive stress induces cellulose-anchored biofilm formation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Nature communications 2016 Apr 25;7:11392. doi: 10.1038/ncomms11392.
• Nisha Singh and Ashwani Kumar. Virulence factor SenX3 is the oxygen-controlled replication switch of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Antioxidants & redox signaling 2015, 22(7): 603-613.
• Ashwani Kumar, Jose C. Toledo, Rakesh P. Patel, Jack Lancaster Jr, and Adrie J. C. Steyn. Mechanism of redox and hypoxia sensing in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences. 2007. 108 (28) 11568-11573.
• Ashwani Kumar, Jessy Deshane, David Crossman, Subhashini Bolishetty, Bo-Shuin Yan, Igor Kramnik, Anupam Agarwal and Adrie J. C. Steyn. Heme oxygenase-1 derived carbon monoxide induce the Mycobacterium tuberculosis dormancy regulon. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2008. 283 (26) 18032–18039.

Lab Members