Mycobacterial Diseases
Open Access

Amit Kaushik MD

Biography

I am Amit Kaushik, PhD, working as a senior post-doctoral fellow in “Center for Tuberculosis Research” Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. Currently I am working with Prof. Eric L. Nuermberger, MD. I have more than twelve years of experience in above area of research. I am keen to expand my expertise not only to research but also to peer review system. I will try my best to uphold the integrity of your journal by ensuring the rigorous standards of scientific processes. This will help me to fulfill a sense of obligation to research community and expand my knowledge base. Currently, I am working with a team of medicinal chemists, structural biologists, biochemists and clinicians to develop and evaluate the novel antibiotics (oxazolidinones, riminophenazines, nitroimidazole, diarylquinolines, glycyl/fluorocyclines, indolecarboxamide, fluoroquinolones and carbapenems including their long acting formulations). Being a microbiologist, I screen/evaluate above newly developed compounds (in vitro and in vivo) against wide range of pathogens including drug resistant isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis), M. abscessus, M. avium, M. chelonae, Gram negative (i.e. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter cloacae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumoniae) and Gram positive (i.e. Staphylococcus aureus including MRSA, and Enterococcus faecalis) pathogens. Our lab has a collaboration with Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance). During my doctoral/post-doctoral training, I have published sixteen research articles mainly on development and evaluation of new antibacterials in reputed journal such as Nature Chemical Biology, Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy and journal of medicinal chemistry etc. I am one of the inventor of new antibiotics (carbapenems) that have been filed for a provisional US patent ("Novel Inhibitors of Bacterial Growth", JHU REF: C13624, IP FILING NUMBERS: US 62/288,532, STATUS: US Provisional). I am a first author (equal contribution) in this research work that been published in ‘Nature Chemical Biology’ and has been highlighted in reputed journals, news and media. I have developed and tested oxazolidinone derivatives and the Johns Hopkins University has recently filed patents to protect these intellectual properties (Kaushik A et al, Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2016 Aug 1;26(15):3572-6). I also worked with novel β-lactamase inhibitors (such as vaborbactam, relebactam, zidebactam, nacubactam and avibactam) including the older β-lactamase inhibitors (clavulanate, tazobactam and sulbactam etc.) Our preclinical experiments indicate that biapenem (a carbapenem) has potential for use as an anti-TB drug, including for use against rifampicin-resistant TB. Our published result also shows that biapenem is significantly effective than meropenem, imipenem, tebipenem in mouse model of TB. Based on our studies, our university’s clinical trials team recently won a FDA grant to undertake clinical trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03174184) to determine efficacy of carbapenems for treatment of drug-resistant TB. Patients enrolment has begun in South Africa (Kaushik A et al, Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2015 Oct;59(10):6561-7). During my doctoral training, I worked on “identification & evaluation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens as biomarkers in clinical samples from tuberculosis patients”. It was related to identification of novel biomarkers in the urine samples of pulmonary tuberculosis patients using proteomics tools and evaluation of antigens for serodiagnosis of tuberculosis in serum samples. During my doctoral/post-doctoral training, I have tried my best to establish and demonstrate my expertise in above discussed area. I am willing to expand my expertise as a reviewer for peer review system. I will try my best to uphold the integrity of your journal by ensuring the rigorous standards of scientific processes. I would like to be a reviewer for your journal, in my area of expertise.

Research Interest

Tuberculosis (TB) and nontuberculous mycobacteria, drug development/evaluation, experimental chemotherapy for infectious diseases, preclinical animal models and Mycobacteriology.