Translational Health Science and Technology Institute

Dr Pallavi Kshetrapal is a molecular geneticist who obtained her PhD degree from Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad and post-doctoral research training from Harvard Medical School Boston, USA. The focus of her lab is to study molecular pathways that are clinically relevant in adverse pregnancy. Using a range of different “omics’ approaches, studies that are described below, the lab is focused towards identification of biomarkers from human circulating blood and from human placenta that can be utilised for development of translational modalities against adverse pregnancies.

Biomarker discovery for prediction of pregnancy complications and adverse pregnancy outcomes

Dr. Pallavi Kshetrapal’s lab is currently involved in identification and validation of biomarkers circulating in maternal bodily fluids associated to adverse pregnancy outcomes. The methodology involved utilises agnostic multi-pronged “omics” approach. Identified molecular signatures would then be validated and developed as potential biomarker/s for determination of risk assessment in a pregnant mothers. A classification algorithm based on various clinical and molecular determinant/s from mutltivariate data generated in a longitudinal cohort study may lead to generation of better models of risk stratification for assisting clinical interventions.

Understand the cellular and biochemical pathways functioning in the human placenta for maintaining a healthy pregnancy

Placenta is a feto-maternal organ and is known to govern the outcome of pregnancy. In another ongoing study her lab intends to emphasize the use of circulating placenta-specific extracellular vesicles for diagnosing the adverse pregnancy outcome. These vesicles are being studied to identify the enveloped cargo capable of transducing signals from and to the fetus for healthy growth and development. Dr. Pallavi Kshetrapal’s lab is interested in identification and validation of placenta-specific markers in maternal circulation in normal and complicated pregnancies. They plan to use in vitroapproaches to highlight the putative utility of such tissue-specific extracellular vesicles (e.g. exosomes) in the prediction of adverse pregnancy outcomes and for treatment monitoring by studying the change in the placental function as the pregnancy progresses.

2024

A quest for universal anti-SARS-CoV-2 T cell assay: systematic review, meta-analysis, and experimental validation; Akshay Binayke ,Aymaan Zaheer, Siddhesh Vishwakarma, Savita Singh, Priyanka Sharma, Rucha Chandwaskar, Mudita Gosain , Sreevatsan Raghavan, Deepika Rathna Murugesan, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Ramachandran Thiruvengadam, Shinjini Bhatnagar, Anil Kumar Pandey, Pramod Kumar Garg, Amit Awasthi; NPJ Vaccines, 2024 Jan 2;9(1):3. doi: 10.1038/s41541-023-00794-9.

2023

Association of exosomal miR-96-5p and miR-146a-5p with the disease severity in dengue virus infection. Pradhan A, Aneja A, Ghosh S, Devvanshi H, C D, Sahu R, Ross C, Pallavi Kshetrapal,, Maitra A, Das S. J Med Virol. 2023 Mar;95(3):e28614. doi: 10.1002/jmv.28614.
Ancestral SARS-CoV-2-Driven Antibody Repertoire Diversity in an Unvaccinated Individual Correlates with Expanded Neutralization Breadth. Deshpande S, Ansari MY, Sutar J, Das P, Hingankar N, Mukherjee S, Jayal P, Singh S, Anantharaj A, Singh J, Chattopadhyay S, Raghavan S, Gosain M, Chauhan S, Shrivas S, Prasad C, Chauhan S, Sharma N, Jana P, Thiruvengadam R, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Wadhwa N, Das B, Batra G, Medigeshi G, Sok D, Bhatnagar S, Garg PK, Bhattacharya J. Microbiol Spectr. 2023 Mar 22;11(2):e0433222. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.04332-22
Genetic variants associated with spontaneous preterm birth in women from India: a prospective cohort study. Bhattacharjee E, Thiruvengadam R, Ayushi, Das C; GARBH-Ini Team; Wadhwa N, Natchu UCM, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Bhatnagar S, Majumder PP, Maitra A. Lancet Reg Health Southeast Asia. 2023 Apr 18;14:100190. doi: 10.1016/j.lansea.2023.100190.
Genome-wide temporal landscaping of DNA methylation in pregnant women delivering at term: a GARBH-InI study. Das J, Wadhwa N, Natchu UC, Thiruvengadam R, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Bhatnagar S, Majumder PP, Maitra A. Epigenomics. 2023 May;15(9):543-556. doi: 10.2217/epi-2023-0145. Epub 2023 Jun 21.
Hydrogen sulfide promotes migration of trophoblast cells by a Rho GTPase mediated actin cytoskeleton reorganization. Gupta SK, Mochan S, Arora P, Rani N, Luthra K, Dwivedi S, Bhatla N, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Dhingra R. Placenta. 2023 Oct;142:135-146. doi: 10.1016/j.placenta.2023.09.004. Epub 2023 Sep 15.

2022

Longitudinal profile of sHLA-G during pregnancy and its association with small for gestational age births in North Indian pregnant females: A nested case-control study. Sehgal S, Vyawhare S, Bhatnagar S, Pallavi Kshetrapal; GARBH-Ini study group. Am J Reprod Immunol. 2022 Jan;87(1):e13504. doi: 10.1111/aji.13504. Epub 2021 Nov 11.
Immunological Changes in Pregnancy and Prospects of Therapeutic Pla-Xosomes in Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes. Devvanshi H, Kachhwaha R, Manhswita A, Bhatnagar S, Pallavi Kshetrapal; Front Pharmacol. 2022 Apr 20;13:895254. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.895254. eCollection 2022.
A combination of potently neutralizing monoclonal antibodies isolated from an Indian convalescent donor protects against the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant. Hingankar N, Deshpande S, Das P, Rizvi ZA, Wibmer CK, Mashilo P, Ansari MY, Burns A, Barman S, Zhao F, Mukherjee S, Torres JL, Chattopadhyay S, Mehdi F, Sutar J, Rathore DK, Pargai K, Singh J, Sonar S, Jakhar K, Dandotiya J, Bhattacharyya S, Mani S, Samal S, Singh S, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Thiruvengadam R, Batra G, Medigeshi G, Ward AB, Bhatnagar S, Awasthi A, Sok D, Bhattacharya J. PLoS Pathog. 2022 Apr 28;18(4):e1010465. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1010465. eCollection 2022 Apr
Effectiveness of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 infection during the delta (B.1.617.2) variant surge in India: a test-negative, case-control study and a mechanistic study of post-vaccination immune responses. Thiruvengadam R, Awasthi A, Medigeshi G, Bhattacharya S, Mani S, Sivasubbu S, Shrivastava T, Samal S, Rathna Murugesan D, Koundinya Desiraju B, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Pandey R, Scaria V, Kumar Malik P, Taneja J, Binayke A, Vohra T, Zaheer A, Rathore D, Ahmad Khan N, Shaman H, Ahmed S, Kumar R, Deshpande S, Subramani C, Wadhwa N, Gupta N, Pandey AK, Bhattacharya J, Agrawal A, Vrati S, Bhatnagar S, Garg PK; Department of Biotechnology India Consortium for COVID-19 research. Lancet Infect Dis. 2022 Apr;22(4):473-482. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00680-0. Epub 2021 Nov 25
Sub-optimal neutralisation of omicron (B.1.1.529) variant by antibodies induced by vaccine alone or SARS-CoV-2 Infection plus vaccine (hybrid immunity) post 6-months. Medigeshi GR, Batra G, Murugesan DR, Thiruvengadam R, Chattopadhyay S, Das B, Gosain M, Ayushi, Singh J, Anbalagan A, Shaman H, Pargai K, Mehdi F, Das SJ, Kahlon N, Singh S, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Wadhwa N, Pandey AK, Bhatnagar S, Garg PK. EBioMedicine. 2022 Apr;78:103938. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.103938. Epub 2022 Mar 16.
Preterm birth update in Australasia: A report of the international symposium of Preterm Birth International Collaborative-Australasia branch. Qiao C, Menon R, Ahn KH, Suzuki S, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Georgiou HM, Mesiano S, Zhong N. Front Pediatr. 2022 Jul 25;10:903546. doi: 10.3389/fped.2022.903546. eCollection 2022.
Inactivated whole-virion vaccine BBV152/Covaxin elicits robust cellular immune memory to SARS-CoV-2 and variants of concern. Vikkurthi R, Ansari A, Pai AR, Jha SN, Sachan S, Pandit S, Nikam B, Kalia A, Jit BP, Parray HA, Singh S, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Wadhwa N, Shrivastava T, Coshic P, Kumar S, Sharma P, Sharma N, Taneja J, Pandey AK, Sharma A, Thiruvengadam R, Grifoni A, Weiskopf D, Sette A, Bhatnagar S, Gupta N. Nat Microbiol. 2022 Jul;7(7):974-985. doi: 10.1038/s41564-022-01161-5. Epub 2022 Jun 9.

2021

Activation of epigenetic regulator KDM6B by Salmonella Typhimurium enables chronic infections. Rana S, Maurya S, Mohapatra G, Singh S, Babar R, Chandrasekhar H, Chamoli G, Rathore D, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Srikanth CV. Gut Microbes. 2021 Jan-Dec;13(1):1986665. doi: 10.1080/19490976.2021.1986665.
Development of a Fast SARS-CoV-2 IgG ELISA, Based on Receptor-Binding Domain, and Its Comparative Evaluation Using Temporally Segregated Samples From RT-PCR Positive Individuals. Mehdi F, Chattopadhyay S, Thiruvengadam R, Yadav S, Kumar M, Sinha SK, Goswami S, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Wadhwa N, Chandramouli Natchu U, Sopory S, Koundinya Desiraju B, Pandey AK, Das A, Verma N, Sharma N, Sharma P, Bhartia V, Gosain M, Lodha R, Lamminmäki U, Shrivastava T, Bhatnagar S, Batra G. Front Microbiol. 2021 Jan 20;11:618097. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.618097. eCollection 2020.
Dynamic Alteration in the Vaginal Secretory Proteome across the Early and Mid-Trimesters of Pregnancy. Kumar B, Dey AK, Saha S, Singh AK, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Wadhwa N, Thiruvengadam R, Desiraju BK, Bhatnagar S, Salunke DM, Rashid F, Malakar D, Maiti TK; GARBH-Ini Study Group. J Proteome Res. 2021 Feb 5;20(2):1190-1205. doi: 10.1021/acs.jproteome.0c00433. Epub 2021 Jan 26.
Comparison of first trimester dating methods for gestational age estimation and their implication on preterm birth classification in a North Indian cohort. Vijayram R, Damaraju N, Xavier A, Desiraju BK, Thiruvengadam R, Misra S, Chopra S, Khurana A, Wadhwa N; GARBH-Ini Study Group; Rengaswamy R, Sinha H, Bhatnagar S. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2021 Apr 30;21(1):343. doi: 10.1186/s12884-021-03807-4.
The Vaginal Microbial Signatures of Preterm Birth Delivery in Indian Women. Kumar S, Kumari N, Talukdar D, Kothidar A, Sarkar M, Mehta O, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Wadhwa N, Thiruvengadam R, Desiraju BK, Nair GB, Bhatnagar S, Mukherjee S, Das B; GARBH-Ini Study Group. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2021 May 13;11:622474. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2021.622474. eCollection 2021.
Longitudinal Serology of SARS-CoV-2-Infected Individuals in India: A Prospective Cohort Study. Thiruvengadam R, Chattopadhyay S, Mehdi F, Desiraju BK, Chaudhuri S, Singh S, Bhartia V, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Mouli Natchu UC, Wadhwa N, Sopory S, Wahi M, Pandey AK, Taneja J, Anand N, Sharma N, Sharma P, Saxena S, Sindhu D, Sindhu B, Sharma D, Shrivastava T, Dang A, Batra G, Kang G, Bhatnagar S; DBT India Consortium for COVID 19 Research. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2021 May 18;105(1):66-72. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.21-0164.
Non-neutralizing SARS CoV-2 directed polyclonal antibodies demonstrate cross-reactivity with the HA glycans of influenza virus. Murugavelu P, Perween R, Shrivastava T, Singh V, Ahmad Parray H, Singh S, Chiranjivi AK, Thiruvengadam R, Singh S, Yadav N, Jakhar K, Sonar S, Mani S, Bhattacharyya S, Sharma C, Vishwakarma P, Khatri R, Kumar Panchal A, Das S, Ahmed S, Samal S, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Bhatnagar S, Luthra K, Kumar R. Int Immunopharmacol. 2021 Oct;99:108020. doi: 10.1016/j.intimp.2021.108020. Epub 2021 Jul 29.
Effectiveness of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 infection during the delta (B.1.617.2) variant surge in India: a test-negative, case-control study and a mechanistic study of post-vaccination immune responses. Thiruvengadam R, Awasthi A, Medigeshi G, Bhattacharya S, Mani S, Sivasubbu S, Shrivastava T, Samal S, Rathna Murugesan D, Koundinya Desiraju B, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Pandey R, Scaria V, Kumar Malik P, Taneja J, Binayke A, Vohra T, Zaheer A, Rathore D, Ahmad Khan N, Shaman H, Ahmed S, Kumar R, Deshpande S, Subramani C, Wadhwa N, Gupta N, Pandey AK, Bhattacharya J, Agrawal A, Vrati S, Bhatnagar S, Garg PK; Department of Biotechnology India Consortium for COVID-19 research. Lancet Infect Dis. 2022 Apr;22(4):473-482. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00680-0. Epub 2021 Nov 25.
Longitudinal profile of sHLA-G during pregnancy and its association with small for gestational age births in North Indian pregnant females: A nested case-control study. Sehgal S, Vyawhare S, Bhatnagar S, Pallavi Kshetrapal; GARBH-Ini study group. Am J Reprod Immunol. 2022 Jan;87(1):e13504. doi: 10.1111/aji.13504. Epub 2021 Nov 11.

2020

Protein Profile Changes in Circulating Placental Extracellular Vesicles in Term and Preterm Births: A Longitudinal Study. Menon R, Debnath C, Lai A, Guanzon D, Bhatnagar S, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Sheller-Miller S, Salomon C. Endocrinology. 2020 Apr 1;161(4):bqaa009. doi: 10.1210/endocr/bqaa009.
Salivary proteome signatures in the early and middle stages of human pregnancy with term birth outcome. Dey AK, Kumar B, Singh AK, Ranjan P, Thiruvengadam R, Desiraju BK, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Wadhwa N, Bhatnagar S, Rashid F, Malakar D, Salunke DM, Maiti TK; GARBH-Ini Study Group*. Sci Rep. 2020 May 15;10(1):8022. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-64483-6.
Vaginal Microbiome of Pregnant Indian Women: Insights into the Genome of Dominant Lactobacillus Species. Mehta O, Ghosh TS, Kothidar A, Gowtham MR, Mitra R, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Wadhwa N, Thiruvengadam R; GARBH-Ini study group; Nair GB, Bhatnagar S, Das B. Microb Ecol. 2020 Aug;80(2):487-499. doi: 10.1007/s00248-020-01501-0. Epub 2020 Mar 23.
Comparative evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 IgG assays in India. Chaudhuri S, Thiruvengadam R, Chattopadhyay S, Mehdi F, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Shrivastava T, Desiraju BK, Batra G, Kang G, Bhatnagar S; DBT India Consortium for COVID-19 Research. J Clin Virol. 2020 Oct;131:104609. doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2020.104609. Epub 2020 Aug 24.
Development of a Fast SARS-CoV-2 IgG ELISA, Based on Receptor-Binding Domain, and Its Comparative Evaluation Using Temporally Segregated Samples From RT-PCR Positive Individuals. Mehdi F, Chattopadhyay S, Thiruvengadam R, Yadav S, Kumar M, Sinha SK, Goswami S, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Wadhwa N, Chandramouli Natchu U, Sopory S, Koundinya Desiraju B, Pandey AK, Das A, Verma N, Sharma N, Sharma P, Bhartia V, Gosain M, Lodha R, Lamminmäki U, Shrivastava T, Bhatnagar S, Batra G. Front Microbiol. 2021 Jan 20;11:618097. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.618097. eCollection 2020.

2019

Circulating Exosomal miRNA Profile During Term and Preterm Birth Pregnancies: A Longitudinal Study. Menon R, Debnath C, Lai A, Guanzon D, Bhatnagar S, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Sheller-Miller S, Salomon C; Garbhini Study Team. Endocrinology. 2019 Feb 1;160(2):249-275. doi: 10.1210/en.2018-00836.
Characterization of a Novel POU1F1 Mutation Identified on Screening 160 Growth Hormone Deficiency Patients. Birla S, Vijayakumar P, Sehgal S, Bhatnagar S, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Sharma A. Horm Metab Res. 2019 Apr;51(4):248-255. doi: 10.1055/a-0867-1026. Epub 2019 Apr 25.
Preterm birth rate and dilemma of preterm labor treatment in Asia. Hoh JK, Lappas M, Liu C, Qiao C, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Takeda J, Kim YJ. Placenta. 2019 Apr;79:68-71. doi: 10.1016/j.placenta.2019.01.005. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

2018

Comparative study of oral lipid nanoparticle formulations (LNFs) for chemical stabilization of antitubercular drugs: physicochemical and cellular evaluation; Subham Banerjee , Subhadeep Roy , Kaushik Nath Bhaumik, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Jonathan Pillai, Artif Cells Nanomed Biotechnol., 2018;46(sup1):540-558. doi: 10.1080/21691401.2018.1431648. Epub 2018 Jan 26.

2017

Provocative ideas on human placental biology: a prerequisite for prevention and treatment of neonatal health challenges". Sehgal. S., Bhatnagar. S, and Pallavi Kshetrapal.* (2017). Am J Reprod Immunol. May;77 (5). doi: 10.1111/aji.12656. (JIF: 3.0)

2015

The Notch-mediated hyperplasia circuitry in Drosophilareveals a Src-JNK signaling axis. Diana M. Ho Pallavi Kshetrapal, Spyros Artavanis Tsakonas. (2015). Elife. 2015 Jul 29;4:e05996. doi: 10.7554/eLife.05996. (JIF: 7.7)

2012

Notch and Mef2 synergize to promote proliferation and metastasis through JNK signal activation in Drosophila. Pallavi Kshetrapal, Diana M. Ho, Chindo Hicks, Lucio Miele, Spyros Artavanis Tsakonas. (2012) EMBO J. May 11. doi. 10.1038/emboj.2012.129. (JIF: 9.8)

2009

Notch and Wnt signals cooperatively control cell proliferation and tumorigenesis in the mouse intestine. Silvia Fre, Pallavi Kshetrapal, Mathilde Huyghe, Marick Lae, Sylvie Robine, Spyros Artavanis-Tsakonas and Daniel Louvard. (2009). Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 6309–6314. (JIF: 9.7), DOI:10.1073/pnas.0900427106

2006

Negative regulation of Egfr/Ras pathway by Ultrabithorax during haltere development in Drosophila. Pallavi Kshetrapal *, Kannan R, Shashidhara LS., (2006). Dev Biol. 296 (2):340-352. (JIF: 3.8), DOI:10.1016/j.ydbio.2006.05.035

2005

Signaling capabilities of peripodial cells of the Drosophila wing imaginal disc. Pallavi Kshetrapal. and Shashidhara, L.S. (2005). J Cell Sci. 118: 3363-3370. (JIF: 5.9)
A critical role for cyclin E in cell fate determination in the central nervous system of Drosophila melanogaster. Berger C., Pallavi Kshetrapal, Prasad M., Shashidhara L. S. and Technau G. M. (2005). Nature Cell Biology 7, 56-62. (JIF: 20.76), DOI: 10.1038/ncb1203
Cyclin E Acts under the Control of Hox-Genes as a Cell Fate Determinant in the Developing Central Nervous System. Berger C., Pallavi Kshetrapal, Prasad M., Shashidhara, L. S. and Technau, G. M. (2005). Cell Cycle. Mar 4; 4(3). (JIF: 5.2), DOI: 10.4161/cc.4.3.1524

2004

Genetic characterization of the Drosophila homologue of coronin. Bharathi V., Pallavi Kshetrapal, Bajpai R., Emerald B. S., and Shashidhara L.S. (2004). J Cell Sci. 117, 1911-1922. (JIF: 5.9), DOI: 10.1242/jcs.01034

2003

EGFR/Ras mediates interactions between peripodial and disc proper cells in Drosophila wing discs. Pallavi Kshetrapal, and Shashidhara L. S. (2003). Development 130, 4931-1441. (JIF: 6.2), DOI: 10.1242/dev.00719

Member of the Preterm Birth International Collaborative, PREBIC, a not for profit research and education organization, Australasian leadership team of PREBIC-AA-Global (https://www.prebicglobal.org/australasia.php).
Dr. M.K. Bhan Group Award for the most impactful collaboration – 2022; by Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Dept. of Biotechnology, Government of India. Received as a member of multidisciplinary team for the Global Immunology and Immune Sequencing for Epidemic Response (GIISER) South Asia.
Dr. M.K. Bhan Group Award for the most impactful collaboration – 2020; by Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Dept. of Biotechnology, Government of India. Received as a member of multidisciplinary team for the DBT Consortium for COVID-19 Research.
Awarded the Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award by the Department of Biotechnology for the year 2014.
Selected for the prestigious Ramanujan Fellowship of Department of Science and Technology (DST) for the year 2012-2013.
Selected for the prestigious Ramalingaswamy Re-entry Fellowship of Department of Biotechnology (DBT) for the year 2012-2013.
Selected as a Section Leader for the CB201 (http://cb201.med.harvard.edu/) at the Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. 2009. Course Director Malcolm Whitman, Course Instructor: Sandra Ryeom.
Awarded the Prof. LSS Kumar award by the Indian National Science Academy for the year 2005.
Awarded the INSA young Scientist Medal by the Indian National Science Academy for the year 2005.
Awarded the Development Traveling Fellowship to visit Dr Matthew Freeman’s lab at the Medical Research Council (MRC), Cambridge (March- April 2004).
Visited Dr. Stephane Noselli’s Lab at Faculty de Sciences, Nice, France on an INDO-FRENCH exchange program (Jan-Feb 2004).
Awarded Junior/Senior Research fellowship (2000) (National Eligibility Test) in the Life-Science category, conducted jointly by University Grants Commission and Council for Scientific and industrial Research (CSIR), INDIA.
Awarded Delhi University, South Campus Endowment Scholarship. (1997-98).
Awarded Shanti Prasad Puraskar from Delhi University for outstanding performance in B.Sc Botany (Hons.) (1994-97).
Awarded a Science Meritorious Scholarship for securing first position in the college. (1994-97).