Highlighting Laboratory Trainees

Amsaveni Sivaprakasam (India) has a Bachelor’s Degree in Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry and a Master’s degree in Veterinary Microbiology. She has also received her additional training on zoonosis, advanced reproductive biotechnology in animal models and clinical research and data management. She is associated with RePORT India consortium as a Laboratory Manager since April 2018 at Department of Virology and Biotechnology, National Institute of Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT), Chennai, India. She works more closely with Central TB Biorepository, NIRT, Chennai and all Indian Clinical research sites to facilitate data and specimen collection, storage, shipment, and monitoring supply chain processes as per RePORT India Common Protocol (Phase I & II). Prior to this she has also worked at Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, JIPMER, Puducherry, India as Research Officer/Scientist B under DBT, Govt. of India / NIH funded Tuberculosis research projects for four years. Also, she has received senior/junior research fellowships from DBT, Govt. of India for conducting research on bovine mastitis/canine parvo virus from India. She is highly motivated in this training opportunity and excited to learn techniques and data analysis through this RICC international capacity building program.

Gustiani Salim (Indonesia), currently works as a laboratory technologist at the Indonesia research partnership on infectious disease (INARESPOND). She performs several laboratory assays such as DNA/RNA isolation, PCR, Sanger sequencing, and Next Generation Sequencing, ELISA, PRNT, cell line culture, and flowcytometry to support infectious disease research studies. One of the studies she is involved is the TRIPOD study -which the primary objective to estimate the proportion of MDR TB amongst naïve, new, and previously treated cases in Indonesia. Gustiani is enthusiastic to participate in the junior investigator training facilitated by CRDF Global and RePORT International Coordinating Centre where she can learn such new assays like nanostring, fluidigm, RNAseq, and Luminex. She hopes that new knowledge can be applied to address about immune mechanism, pathogen characteristics, biomarkers, host-pathogen interactions, and other research questions regarding TB in Indonesia.

John Carlo Malabad (Philippines) is a graduate of the MD-PhD in Molecular Medicine program of the University of the Philippines, Manila, where he did his dissertation on molecular epidemiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis among TB/HIV coinfected individuals. He is currently employed as an Assistant Scientist of the Department of Science and Technology and serving as a Junior Investigator/Coordinator of RePORT Philippines since 2020. He is also an Adjunct Research Faculty member of the UP Manila–National Institutes of Health. John Carlo really looks forward to learning a lot from the TB-RICC Junior Investigators Training Program because this is a great opportunity for him to develop skills in biomarker assays and bioinformatics, which are very much in line with his field of research. In addition, the R and R Studio training will enable his team to do data analysis on his own which would be very beneficial to RePORT Philippines as more research projects are being done.

Prakash Babu (India) has done extensive research in basic immunology in prestigious institutions such as the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the La Jolla Institute for Immunology. Presently, he is actively engaged as a co-investigator and core basic scientist in the DBT-NIH sponsored RePORT India consortium, focusing on understanding the transition from latent to active TB and comprehending the host-immune response to MTB. He looks forward to participating in the RICC Biomarkers-study training program, which promises to enhance his understanding of the multi-omics approach to tuberculosis pathogenesis. This program not only facilitates collaboration with other RICC international sites but will also augment his research capabilities for further excellence.

Ruby Anne N. King (Philippines) is an Assistant Scientist at the Department of Science and Technology, Philippines. Having a keen interest in molecular medicine and immunology, she has worked on research projects investigating host profiles and immune-related responses in different disease states and outcomes for diseases such as COVID-19 and TB. Through the Junior Investigator Training Program, she looks forward to gaining more exposure to TB biomarker research, enriching her skills in laboratory procedures and bioinformatics/data analysis, participating in the expanding network of TB researchers, and learning the best practices of the institutions/countries where pieces of training will be held. She hopes to contribute to the growing body of knowledge about TB, to learn by performing each procedure, and to use the learnings from the training program to aid in building the TB research capacity in the Philippines.