Staff Profile

Dr Uma Devi K.R

Designation: Scientist F

Division/Unit: Immunology

Email: umadevi[dot]kr[at]icmr[dot]gov[dot]in

Educational Qualification

M.Sc., Biomedical genetics, Ph.D., in Biomedical Sciences.

Personal Statement

I have over 30 yrs of experience in tuberculosis immunology, genomics, and vaccine research. I lead the Department of Immunology at NIRT and the Next Generation Sequencing Facility, contributing to national initiatives like the Indian TB mutation catalogue. My work includes translational research in TB diagnostics and vaccine development, and I’ve led and collaborated in international multicentric projects. I aim to improve TB control through advanced molecular tools, vaccine innovation, and biomarker discovery.

Research Focus

• Tuberculosis genomics and drug resistance mutation profiling
• Immunology of tuberculosis and biomarker discovery
• Vaccine development and evaluation
• POC molecular diagnostic assay development and validation
• NGS-based diagnostics and molecular epidemiology of TB

Ongoing projects as Principal investigator

• CRISPR Mediated platform for diagnosis and rapid detection of drug resistance pattern in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

• Decoding Bedaquiline Resistance: Mutational Profiling in Tuberculosis

• Establishing TB Vaccine Immunology Laboratory (TBVIL) with International Standards and Accreditation

Significant Publications

• Tamilzhalagan S, Justin ES, Selvaraj A, Venkateswaran K, Sivakumar AK, Chittibabu S, McLaughlin HP, Moonan PK, Smith JP, Suba S, Sathya Narayanan MK, Ho CS, Kumar N, Tripathy SP, Shanmugam SK, Hall-Eidson PJ and Ranganathan UD (2025) Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of Mycobacterium tuberculosis pyrazinamide resistance—India, 2018–2020. Front. Microbiol. 15:1515627. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1515627.

• Ranganathan UD, Smith-Jeffcoat SE, Balaji S, Devika K, Nair D, Devaleenal Daniel B, Srinivasan R, Baskaran M, RaviKumar D, Sangamithirai D, Radhika G, Mangalambal G, Lavanya J, Maheswaran K, Kumar S, Sridhar R, Tripathy S, Swaminathan S, Eisenach KD, Cegielski JP. High-dose isoniazid for TB with low-to-moderate isoniazid resistance after 1 week of treatment. JAC Antimicrob Resist. 2025 May 22;7(3):dlaf072. doi: 10.1093/jacamr/dlaf072. PMID: 40406736; PMCID: PMC12096161.

• Surie D, Sathyanarayanan MK, Lavanya J, Smith JP, Shanmugam SK, Tamilzhalagan S, Selvaraj A, Ramesh G, Tripathy S, Khaparde SD, Ho CS, Hall-Eidson PJ, Ranganathan UDK, Selvaraju S, Moonan PK. Long-term follow-up of persons diagnosed with multidrug-resistant TB in Chennai, India, 2013-2020. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2024 Jan 1;28(1):54-56. doi: 10.5588/ijtld.23.0272. PMID: 38178300; PMCID: PMC10859871.

• Mave V, Chen L, Ranganathan UD, Kadam D, Vishwanathan V, Lokhande R, S SK, Kagal A, Pradhan NN, Shivakumar SVBY, Paradkar MS, Deshmukh S, Tornheim JA, Kornfeld H, Farhat M, Gupta A, Padmapriyadarsini C, Gupte N, Golub JE, Mathema B, Kreiswirth BN. Whole Genome Sequencing Assessing Impact of Diabetes Mellitus on Tuberculosis Mutations and Type of Recurrence in India. Clin Infect Dis. 2022 Sep 14;75(5):768-776. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciab1067. PMID: 34984435; PMCID: PMC9477453.

• Sampath P, Rajamanickam A, Thiruvengadam K, Natarajan AP, Hissar S, Dhanapal M, Thangavelu B, Jayabal L, Ramesh PM, Ranganathan UD, Babu S, Bethunaickan R. Cytokine upsurge among drug-resistant tuberculosis endorse the signatures of hyper inflammation and disease severity. Sci Rep. 2023 Jan 16;13(1):785. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-27895-8. PMID: 36646786; PMCID: PMC9842614.

• Tamilzhalagan S, Shanmugam S, Selvaraj A, Suba S, Suganthi C, Moonan PK, Surie D, Sathyanarayanan MK, Gomathi NS, Jayabal L, Sachdeva KS, Selvaraju S, Swaminathan S, Tripathy SP, Hall PJ, Ranganathan UD. Whole-Genome Sequencing to Identify Missed Rifampicin and Isoniazid Resistance Among Tuberculosis Isolates-Chennai, India, 2013-2016. Front Microbiol. 2021 Nov 22;12:720436. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.720436. PMID: 34880835; PMCID: PMC8645853.

• Munir A, Kumar N, Ramalingam SB, Tamilzhalagan S, Shanmugam SK, Palaniappan AN, Nair D, Priyadarshini P, Natarajan M, Tripathy S, Ranganathan UD, Peacock SJ, Parkhill J, Blundell TL, Malhotra S. Identification and Characterization of Genetic Determinants of Isoniazid and Rifampicin Resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Southern India. Sci Rep. 2019 Jul 16;9(1):10283. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-46756-x. PMID: 31311987; PMCID: PMC6635374.

• Miotto P, Tessema B, Tagliani E, Chindelevitch L, Starks AM, Emerson C, Hanna D, Kim PS, Liwski R, Zignol M, Gilpin C, Niemann S, Denkinger CM, Fleming J, Warren RM, Crook D, Posey J, Gagneux S, Hoffner S, Rodrigues C, Comas I, Engelthaler DM, Murray M, Alland D, Rigouts L, Lange C, Dheda K, Hasan R, Ranganathan UDK, McNerney R, Ezewudo M, Cirillo DM, Schito M, Köser CU, Rodwell TC. A standardised method for interpreting the association between mutations and phenotypic drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Eur Respir J. 2017 Dec 28;50(6):1701354. doi: 10.1183/13993003.01354-2017. PMID: 29284687; PMCID: PMC5898944.

• Jensen K, Ranganathan UD, Van Rompay KK, Canfield DR, Khan I, Ravindran R, Luciw PA, Jacobs WR Jr, Fennelly G, Larsen MH, Abel K. A recombinant attenuated Mycobacterium tuberculosis vaccine strain is safe in immunosuppressed simian immunodeficiency virus-infected infant macaques. Clin Vaccine Immunol. 2012 Aug;19(8):1170-81. doi: 10.1128/CVI.00184-12. Epub 2012 Jun 13. PMID: 22695156; PMCID: PMC3416096.

• Ranganathan UD, Larsen MH, Kim J, Porcelli SA, Jacobs WR Jr, Fennelly GJ. Recombinant pro-apoptotic Mycobacterium tuberculosis generates CD8+ T cell responses against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Env and M. tuberculosis in neonatal mice. Vaccine. 2009 Dec 10;28(1):152-61. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2009.09.087. Epub 2009 Oct 4. PMID: 19808028; PMCID: PMC2804991.