Dr. Neelam Taneja, MBBS, MD, FIMSA, Dip.Vaccinology
Professor Medical Microbiology PGIMER Chandigarh
Email: drneelampgi@yahoo.com | drneelampgi@gmail.com
PI, is the head of the Enteric Division at Department of Medical Microbiology at PGIMER, a 2200 bed tertiary care premier referral Institute in India catering to seven states north. She provides diagnostic(conventional as well as molecular), surveillance/referral services and conducts research in epidemiology and AMR of diarrheal, food borne and uropathogens. She holds a network of 13 labs across north India in PGIWHO network in Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand. NT studies reservoirs of enteric pathogens,evolution and transmission dynamics of these pathogens and AMR genes. Her lab plays an important role in investigating and managing cholera outbreaks, and food poisoning in this geographic area. Her current work includes the study of antimicrobial resistance in nontyphoidal Salmonella, Shigella, diarrhoeagenic E. coli, and Campylobacter, studying the human zoonotic interface in these organisms as well as developing newer antimicrobial agents through bioinformatics and phage cocktails. An important focus of Enteric Lab is elucidating the immunology of Shigella in human hosts using an in-vitro culture system, and Enteroids. In a large surveillance study funded by ICMR, the burden of Enterotoxigenic E. coli, colonization factor analysis, and molecular epidemiology was studied across north India. She has various international honors including many research awards from national and international agencies, fellowships from WHO, Pasteur Institute, International Development award for young woman scientist conferred by the International society of infectious diseases, and several international travel awards including nine from NIH, and >180 highly peer-reviewed articles. She also conducted the WHO-AGISAR, India grant on antimicrobial resistance of foodborne pathogens at the human-animal interface. Currently, she is looking at the gene flow of ARGs from the environment to humans and the impact of environmental AMR on human health through the DBT-UKRI grant. She was awarded a Wellcome Trust Grant on genetic biodiversity of Vibrio cholerae in its global source and ESBL E. coli tricycle India grant by WHO-SEARO. NT is India UK strategic partner for AMR, Expert Member of National Action Plan of India on AMR, expert to Centre for Science and Environment, Delhi, member Scientific Advisory Board of NICED Kolkata, External expert for ICMR, and WHO consultant for Nepal ESBL-EC tricycle grant.
Role in RESPharm
- Overall Indian lead and director of two field studies
- Co-chair project meetings
- Establish biobank of strains
- Faecal sampling trial at two sites
- Ethical approvals
- Collection of metadata at field sites
- Mapping and descriptive characterisation of sites
- Establishment of biobank resource
- Documenting human exposure risk
- Recruitment of individuals for faecal sampling
- Faecal resistome analysis
- E. coli isolate analysis
