Personal Information
Dr. Dhaneswar Prusty
Assistant Professor (UGC)
M.Sc. (Biotechnology), Ph.D. (Molecular Medicine)
7749874182
- Resistance-Resilient Antimalarial Drug Discovery Through Targeting Plasmodium falciparum Kinases
- Innovative Therapeutic Approaches for Combating Malaria and Concurrent Bacterial Infections.
- Peptide–Ligand Conjugates: Emerging Immunotherapeutic Approach for Infectious Diseases
- Phytotherapeutic Approaches for Infectious Disease Management
M.Sc.- Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Tezpur University, Assam
Ph.D.- Special Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Postdoctoral research- Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
DBT scholarship for M.Sc. Biotechnology
CSIR NET- JRF; DBT- JRF; GATE
Resistance-Resilient Antimalarial Drug Discovery Through Targeting Plasmodium falciparum Kinases
Malaria continues to pose a major global health burden, accounting for millions of infections and hundreds of thousands of deaths annually. The rapid emergence and spread of antimalarial drug resistance, including partial resistance to artemisinin-based therapies, underscores the urgent need for innovative and durable therapeutic interventions. Supported by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), our laboratory focuses on the discovery and validation of next-generation, multitargeted antimalarial agents that simultaneously disrupt multiple essential biological pathways in Plasmodium falciparum. A central emphasis of this research is the selective targeting of P. falciparum protein kinases, which serve as critical regulatory hubs governing parasite proliferation, host-cell invasion, egress, differentiation, and survival. By concurrently modulating multiple parasite kinases alongside other high-priority molecular targets, this polypharmacological strategy seeks to enhance therapeutic durability, suppress the emergence of resistance, and improve antimalarial efficacy. To accelerate lead discovery and optimisation, the laboratory integrates AI-driven drug discovery platforms with phenotypic screening, biochemical and biophysical validation approaches. This multidisciplinary pipeline aims to identify potent, selective, and resistance-resistant antimalarial lead candidates with strong translational potential for future therapeutic development.
Innovative Therapeutic Approaches for Combating Malaria and Concurrent Bacterial Infections.
Our laboratory is dedicated to the discovery and development of dual anti-infective therapy for the treatment of malaria and severe malaria-associated bacterial co-infections. The accelerating emergence of artemisinin-resistant Plasmodium falciparum strains has created an urgent need for longer-acting partner drugs that can eliminate residual parasitemia, improve therapeutic durability, and reduce treatment failure and recrudescence. A major focus of our research is the selective targeting of the apicoplast DNA replication machinery of P. falciparum. The apicoplast is an essential prokaryotic-like organelle that is absent in humans, making its replication and maintenance pathways highly attractive and selective antimalarial drug targets. Inhibition of apicoplast DNA metabolism is anticipated to induce the characteristic “delayed-death” phenotype, thereby providing a strong mechanistic basis for the development of next-generation partner drugs for artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs). Importantly, the prokaryotic nature of apicoplast DNA replication pathways shares significant evolutionary and functional similarities with bacterial DNA metabolic machinery. Consequently, compounds designed to disrupt these pathways may also exhibit potent antibacterial activity, offering a dual therapeutic advantage against both malaria parasites and bacterial co-infections frequently associated with severe malaria.
Peptide–Ligand Conjugates: Emerging Immunotherapeutic Approach for Infectious Diseases
Our laboratory has developed an innovative Peptide–Ligand Conjugate (PLC) platform as a next-generation host-directed immunotherapeutic strategy and a potential synthetic alternative to conventional monoclonal antibody (mAb)-based therapies for infectious diseases. Although monoclonal antibodies have transformed infectious disease therapeutics, their widespread application remains constrained by high production costs, pathogen specificity, limited scalability, cold-chain dependence, and vulnerability to antigenic variation and immune evasion. To address these limitations, our PLC technology has been rationally engineered as a modular, synthetic, and cost-effective immune-redirection platform that harnesses pre-existing adaptive immunity against disease-specific targets. Each PLC molecule comprises three functional components: (i) a pathogen- or disease-targeting ligand, (ii) an immune-recognition peptide capable of engaging host antibodies or immune effectors, and (iii) a chemically stable linker that integrates these functional domains into a single bioactive construct. Acting as molecular adaptors, PLCs bridge infected cells or pathogenic molecules with the host immune system, thereby redirecting naturally circulating immune components toward targeted immune elimination. Through this mechanism, PLCs can activate multiple host immune effector pathways, including complement-mediated cytotoxicity, antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), opsonophagocytic clearance, and immune-mediated neutralisation of pathogenic molecules. Originally conceptualised and validated for targeting dengue virus NS1 and pathogenic determinants associated with cerebral malaria, this immune-redirection technology is now being expanded toward other emerging infectious diseases.
Phytotherapeutic Approaches for Infectious Disease Management
We are pursuing a multi-compound, multi-target therapeutic strategy that harnesses the principles of phytotherapy to address the escalating challenge of antimicrobial and antiparasitic drug resistance in infectious diseases. Our research focuses on the systematic investigation of indigenous medicinal plants with documented ethnopharmacological significance, including those described in traditional Indian medical systems such as Ayurveda. By integrating traditional knowledge with modern pharmacological and biochemical approaches, we aim to identify bioactive phytochemical combinations that simultaneously modulate multiple pathogen and host targets, thereby reducing the likelihood of resistance development. To date, a diverse collection of medicinal plants has been screened for broad-spectrum activity against clinically relevant bacterial, fungal, and parasitic pathogens, including the causative agents of Malaria and Leishmaniasis. Our long-term objective is the translational development of scientifically validated, sustainable, and GMP-compliant phytopharmaceutical formulations that provide safe, affordable, and globally accessible therapeutic solutions to mitigate the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance and emerging infectious diseases.
| S. No. | Authors | Title of Article | Journal/Conference Details | Journal/Conference | Publication Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Srivastava, V., ., & Prusty, D* | Peptide-Ligand Conjugate-Based Immunotherapeutic Strategy Targeting Nipah Virus Glycoprotein G: A Novel Approach for Treating Virus Infection by Employing Host Innate Immune Response | Peptide Science. 2026 Jan;118(1):e70021. | Journal | 2026 |
| 2 | Naik, B., Bhalerao, P., Shekhar, S., Varghese, S.A., Makwana, S., Mandal, C.C., Bhatt, T.K., Dhar, S.K. and Prusty, D* | Targeting Plasmodium falciparum Single‐Stranded DNA‐Binding Protein: Discovery of New Scaffold Compounds Effective against Drug‐Sensitive and Artemisinin‐Resistant Strains | ChemMedChem, 20(19), p.e202500282. | Journal | 2025 |
| 3 | Panda, M., Srivastava, V., Singh, S., & Prusty, D* | Unveiling Prospective Therapeutic Potential of Conserved Hypothetical Plasmodium falciparum Proteins by Using Integrated Proteo Genomic Annotation and In-Silico Therapeutic Discovery Approach | The Protein Journal, 1-27. | Journal | 2025 |
| 4 | Naik, B., & Prusty, D* | Molecular docking, MD simulation, and MMGBSA-binding free energy estimation study identify antibiotic analogs as potential antimalarials targeting housekeeping proteins of Plasmodium falciparum apicoplast | Molecular Simulation, 1-25 | Journal | 2024 |
| 5 | Srivastava, V., Godara, P., Jena, S. P., Naik, B., Singh, S., Prajapati, V. K., & Prusty, D* | Peptide-ligand conjugate based immunotherapeutic approach for targeted dismissal of non-structural protein 1 of dengue virus: A novel therapeutic solution for mild and severe dengue infections | International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 129562. | Journal | 2024 |
| 6 | Godara, P., Reddy, K., Sahu, W., Naik, B., Srivastava, V., Das, R., Mahor, A., Kumar, P., Giri, R., Anirudh, J. and Tak, H., Prusty D*. | Structure-based virtual screening against multiple Plasmodium falciparum kinases reveals antimalarial compounds. | Molecular Diversity, pp.1-21. | Journal | 2023 |
| 7 | Naik, B., Godara, P., Prusty, D* | Structure-based virtual screening approach reveals natural multi-target compounds for the development of antimalarial drugs to combat drug resistance | Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics,1-25. | Journal | 2023 |
| 8 | Singh S, Srivastava V, Godara P, Banavath H, Tak H, Nayak A, Kumari D, Naik B, Prusty D* | An in-silico- based study identified peptide inhibitors that can block the egression of the monkeypox virus by inhibiting the p37 protein target | Peptide Science 115.5, e24325 | Journal | 2023 |
| 9 | Srivastava, V., Naik, B., Godara, P., & Prusty, D* | Identification of FDA-approved drugs with triple targeting mode of action for the treatment of Monkeypox: a high throughput virtual screening study. Molecular Diversity | Molecular Diversity,1-15. | Journal | 2023 |
| 10 | Godara P, Naik B, Meghwal R, Ojha R, Srivastava V, Prajapati VK, Prusty D * | Rational designing of peptide- ligand conjugates-based immunotherapy for the treatment of complicated malaria | Life Sciences,15;311:121121. | Conference | 2022 |
| 11 | Singh S, Banavath HN, Godara P, Naik B, Srivastava V, Prusty D* | Identification of antiviral peptide inhibitors for receptor binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 omicron and its sub-variants: an in-silico approach | 3 Biotech;12(9):198. | Journal | 2022 |
| 12 | Naik B, Mattaparthi VS, Gupta N, Ojha R, Das P, Singh S, Prajapati VK, Prusty D* | Chemical system biology approach to identify multi-targeting FDA inhibitors for treating COVID-19 and associated health complications. . | Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics 40.19, 9543-9567. | Journal | 2022 |
Funded research projects
- PI: UGC FRP-start-up-grant (No. F4-5/2018).
- PI: ICMR project on “A novel multi-targeting approach to develop resistance immune antimalarials” (Project ID: IIRPIG-2023-0000879) with total budget of Rs. 2,28,75, 000. 00 (Duration: 2024-2028)
- Co-PI: ICMR project on “Inhibiting glycosomal membrane biogenesis as a potential leishmaniasis treatment” (ICMR Project ID IIRPIG-2023-0001623) with total budget of Rs. 2,47, 24, 960.00 (Duration: 2024-2028),
Start up
PI: Innovative dual strategy for antimalarial therapy (2025) iTBI Ignition Grant is being offered by CURAJ Incubation Foundation.
Attended
•Young Investigator Meeting, 2020, organized by India Biosciences
•Young Investigator Meeting, 2020, organized by India Biosciences
•8th Annual Future of Malaria Research Symposium, Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, 2022
•Frontiers in Biomedical Research 2022 (FBR-2022), University of Delhi
•International Conference on Emerging Trends in Biosciences and Chemical Technology-2022, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Jammu
Organized
Organizing Secretary:
•Integrated Strategies to Combat the Pandemic COVID-19, 2020 (International)
•Universal Access to Vaccine and Medicine as a Fight Against COVID-19, 2021
•Emerging Trends in Systems Biology, 2021
