Sanjib Bhakta
Professor Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, UCL and Birkbeck, University of London Tel: 020 3926 3505 Email: s.bhakta@bbk.ac.uk; sanjib.bhakta@ucl.ac.uk
VALIDATE Role: Network Investigator
Research keywords: Tuberculosis, Antibiotic Resistance, New Drug Discovery, Repurposing Drugs, Validate Therapeutic Targets, Mycobacterial Metabolism
Biography Sanjib Bhakta is a Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Biochemistry, Strategic Dean (Internationalisation and Partnership) and Programme Director of Global Infectious Diseases at the Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Birkbeck, University of London and UCL. His continued research interest in infectious bacterial diseases (funded by Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council, Global Challenges Research Fund, UK, and Europe) is focussed on developing novel therapeutics as well as repurposing existing drugs to tackle antibiotic resistance and persistence in tuberculosis (TB), a global health and economic emergency. To date, he has published more than 100 original research articles for a number of internationally acclaimed journals including J. Exp. Med., JBC, Tuberculosis, Biochem. J., J. Antimicrob. Chemotherapy, Journal of Antibiotics, FEBS J, British Journal of Pharmacology, Molecular Microbiology, British Medical Journal, PLOS, ACS Journal of Medicinal Chemistry and Nature Sci Report. Currently, he is a Chief Editor of Frontiers in Antibiotics. Following a BSc (Hons), an MSc and a PhD in Molecular Microbiology & Biochemistry from world class Universities & Research Institutions in India, Dr Bhakta joined the Oxford University Division of Medical Sciences as an Oxford University Innovation Senior Research Scholar and shortly after he was awarded with a very competitive Wellcome Trust International post-doctoral Fellowship. 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 (in 2006) at the University of London as a University Lecturer to lead his interdisciplinary research and research-informed innovative teaching both at the undergraduate and postgraduate level and promoted to a Senior Lecturer (equivalent to Associate Professor) in 2009, Reader in 2014 and a full Professor in 2018. He became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK after achieving a PGCHE from the University of London. To date, he has supervised sixteen PhD students, post-doctoral scientists, a UNESCO-L’Oreal “Women in Science” Fellow, an ERS-International Fellow, an ICMR-International Fellow in his Laboratory. Dr Bhakta is a core member of UCL-TB (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/tb) and MRC-funded TB Drug Discovery consortium, UK. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine in 2008, received an Academic Excellence Award in 2012, awarded with a Cipla Distinguished Fellowship in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2014, BITE Professorial Fellowship in 2016 and elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology in 2017. He is an “Antibiotic Action Champion” member of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. As a 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 and has participated in the British Science Museum “News & Views” programme. In 2018, his original research publication in Nature Scientific Report (Top 100 most read article in 2018) on anti-infective molecules from Persian Shallots revealed resistance-reversal properties of natural products and featured in BBC Health News (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42751095). On a regular basis, he has acted as a Mentor for PhD students and early career international research staffs at a career acceleration programme organised by Oxford and London University Career Services.
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