Staff Profile

Dr. Natarajan P.L

Designation: Scientist D

Division/Unit: Virology & Biotechnology

Email: natarajan[dot]p[at]icmr[dot]gov[dot]in

Educational Qualification

MBBS, Ph.D (Immunology)

Personal Statement

As clinician scientist his research interests include clinical trials and observational studies in tuberculosis (TB) and/or HIV infection. He has about 11 years of research experience (8 yrs postdoctoral). He has made important contributions in randomized clinical trials in TB namely: a) Comparison of daily vs intermittent antituberculosis therapy for pulmonary TB in patients with HIV; b) Safety and efficacy of high dose rifampicin in pulmonary TB; and c) Efficacy of VPM1002 TB vaccine in household TB contacts. He has work experience in immune biomarkers related to TB prognosis and HIV inflammaging.

Research Focus

• Creation of Gold Standard Datasets on TB (GSD-TB)
• AI tool development for screening/detection of pulmonary TB using Chest X-rays
• Studying the emergence of dolutegravir resistance in new HIV-infected individuals started on ART
• Role of persistent immune activation on accelerated Immunosenescence in cured TB patients
• Exploring the role of droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) as a screening tool to predict TB breakdown in high risk populations
• Development of microfluidic device for rapid detection of tuberculosis / lung cancer using RNA signatures

Ongoing projects as Principal investigator

“Evaluation of Immunogenicity of ChAdOx1 nCoV19 (Covishield) vaccine in Adults with Diabetes”

Significant Publications

Rambabu I, Palaniyandi T, Surendran H, Nedunchezhian S, Aseeri AA, Saeed M, Upadhyay TK, Manivannan S, Sivaji A, Sugumaran A, Palaniappan NA. A roadmap for rapid detection of tuberculosis through microfluidic lab-on-chip strategies. Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis. 2026 Jul;115(3):117386. doi: 10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2026.117386. Epub 2026 Mar 19. PMID: 41903295.

Singh M, Joshi S, Vohra V, Sarin R, Kamble SV, Velayutham B, Mohan A, Singh UB, Kumar R, Pati S, Pattnaik M, Mohapatra PR, Shankar U, Narasimhaiah S, Yadav G, Hissar S, Rodrigues R, Kadam AV, Paramasivam PK, Kambhampati S, Newtonraj A, Palaniappan NA, Reddy SD, Bhuniya S, Mishra BK, Shete A, Hanna LE, Mitra DK, Panda S, Guleria R, Tripathy S, Roy N, D'Souza G, Tripathy SK, Katoch K, Pandey RM, Sah S, Kashyap M, Telasey V, Bakshi M, Wadhwa N, Khan AM, Gangakhedkar RR, Rani R. Efficacy and safety of VPM1002 and Immuvac in preventing tuberculosis: phase 3 randomised clinical trial (PreVenTB trial). BMJ. 2026 Apr 9;393:e085716. doi: 10.1136/bmj-2025-085716 (IF – 55.1).

Baskar R, Saravanan S, Devendiran V, Palaniyandi T, Palaniappan NA, Abdul Wahab MR, Surendran H, Rab SO, Saeed M. Non-invasive biomarkers in lung cancer. Clin Chim Acta. 2026 Jan 1;578:120552. doi: 10.1016/j.cca.2025.120552. Epub 2025 Aug 13. PMID: 40816620 (IF – 4.1) .

Joseph NH, Natarajan AP, Natarajan S, Ponnuraja C, A M, I G, P H, S R, Jayabal L, Ayyamperumal M, P M R, Hanna LE. Previous COVID-19 infection significantly reduces elastase levels in newly diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis patients. Front Immunol. 2025 Jul 31;16:1586789. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1586789. PMID: 40821848; PMCID: PMC12350145 (IF – 7).

Babu H, Rachel G, Neogi U, Palaniappan AN, Narayanan A, Ponnuraja C, Sundaraj V, Viswanathan VK, Kumar CPG, Tripathy SP, Hanna LE. Accelerated cognitive aging in chronically infected HIV-1 positive individuals despite effective long-term antiretroviral therapy. Metab Brain Dis. 2024 Nov 21;40(1):32. doi: 10.1007/s11011-024-01458-w. PMID: 39570517.

Perumal Kannabiran B, Palaniappan NA, Manoharan T, Paramasivam PK, Saini JK, Ansari MS, Jayabal L, Aggarwal AN, Garg R, Subramanyam B, Thakur D, Pantula S, P M R, Gs V, Natarajan S, Ammayappan RK, Manpreet B, Ganesan M, Angamuthu D, Chinnaiyan P, Singh M, Chandrasekaran P, Swaminathan S. Safety and Efficacy of 25 mg/kg and 35 mg/kg vs 10 mg/kg Rifampicin in Pulmonary TB: A Phase IIb Randomized Controlled Trial. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2024 Feb 2;11(3):ofae034. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofae034. PMID: 38444824; PMCID: PMC10914527.

Babu H, Ambikan AT, Gabriel EE, Svensson Akusjärvi S, Palaniappan AN, Sundaraj V, Mupanni NR, Sperk M, Cheedarla N, Sridhar R, Tripathy SP, Nowak P, Hanna LE, Neogi U. Systemic Inflammation and the Increased Risk of Inflamm-Aging and Age-Associated Diseases in People Living With HIV on Long Term Suppressive Antiretroviral Therapy. Front Immunol. 2019 Aug 27;10:1965. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2019.01965. PMID: 31507593; PMCID: PMC6718454 (IF – 7).

Gopalan N, Santhanakrishnan RK, Palaniappan AN, Menon PA, Lakshman S, Chandrasekaran P, Sivaramakrishnan GN, Reddy D, Kannabiran BP, Agiboth HKK, Krishnamoorthy V, Rathinam S, Chockalingam C, Manoharan T, Ayyamperumal M, Jayanthi N, Satagopan K, Narayanan R, Krishnaraja R, Sathiyavelu S, Kesavamurthy B, Suresh C, Selvachitiram M, Arasan G, Susaimuthu S, Rathinam P, Angamuthu P, Jayabal L, Murali L, Ramachandran R, Tripathy SP, Swaminathan S. Daily vs Intermittent Antituberculosis Therapy for Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Patients With HIV: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2018 Apr 1;178(4):485-493. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.0141. PMID: 29507938; PMCID: PMC5885164 (IF – 26.3).

Agrawal S, Parkash O, Palaniappan AN, Bhatia AK, Kumar S, Chauhan DS, Madhan Kumar M. Efficacy of T Regulatory Cells, Th17 Cells and the Associated Markers in Monitoring Tuberculosis Treatment Response. Front Immunol. 2018 Feb 5;9:157.

doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.00157. PMID: 29472922; PMCID: PMC5810270 (IF – 7).