FACULTY

Dr. Divya Lakshmanan M.

Assistant Professor
  • divyalmangalath@gmail.com

Profile

 

I have obtained my MSc. in Biotechnology from Bharathiyar University, Coimbatore in 2003. I started my career as a Trainee Scientist at Jubiliant Biosys, Bangalore and later moved to Chinmaya Arts and Science College, affliated to Kannur University as Assistant professor of Biotechnology. Shorly thereafter I joined for PhD at Kannur University where I worked on analyzing the effects of Environmental Pollutants classified as “endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs)” on nuclear hormone receptors and enzymes and microbe mediated bioremediation of phenolic pollutants/ endocrine disruptors from the environment. On successful completion of my PhD in 2013, I moved to Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore for my Post-Doctoral Research. My PDF was mostly focused on double stranded DNA repair pathway, NHEJ (Non-homologous End joining pathway) and inhibitors of Ligase-4, a key protein involved in NHEJ machinery. I joined Yenepoya Research Centre in 2016, with the Start-up grant for Young scientist awarded by DST, Govt. of India.

PostDoc/Experience

  • Assistant Professor (Feb 2016–till date) – Yenepoya Research Centre, Yenepoya University, Mangaluru, Karnataka, India
  • Scientist (DST/ YSS) (Feb 2016–till 29-10-2019) – Yenepoya Research Centre, Yenepoya University, Mangaluru, Karnataka, India
  • Postdoctoral Researcher (Mar 2014-Feb 2016) – Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India
  • Assistant Professor (Jun 2005-Nov 2008) – Department of Biotechnology, Chinmaya Arts and Science College for Women affiliated to Kannur University, Kerala, India
  • Trainee Scientist (Dec 2004 to Jun 2005)- Jubilant BioSys Ltd., Bangalore, India

Awards/Honors

  • Recipient of Start-up grant for young scientist, by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology, Govt of India, January 2016
  • Recipient of Dr. D.S. Kothari Post-Doctoral Fellowship, by University Grants Commision, Govt of India

 

Research

 

Research Area

Endocrine disruptors and its effects, Immuno-endocrinology, DNA repair, Cancer therapeutics, Gene regulation, Microbe mediated detoxification of environmental pollutants

Research

  • Evaluate the Role of Xenoestrogens in Antibody Receptor Diversity

Currently, we are trying to analyze if xenoestrogens, a group of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), could interfere with antibody receptor diversity by altering the expression of some key enzymes which are downstream targets of estrogen, involved in class switch recombination (CSR). This work is funded by SERB, Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India.

  • Sensitizing Breast Cancer cells to Chemo/Radiotherapy

We are trying to sensitize the cancer cells to chemo/radiotherapy by downregulating some key proteins, involved in double standed DNA repair pathway, NHEJ (Non-homologous End joiningpathway) by selectively modulating the expression of nuclear hormone receptors via natural compounds. This work is supported by YU/Seed grant, Yenepoya University.

Publications                                                                                                                                               Full list:

  1. Divya Lakshmanan. M*, GK Prasanth, KG Arun, C Sadasivan (2018) Bisphenol-A carbonate dimer is a more preferred substrate for laccase mediated degradation than the Biphenol-A in its monomeric and dimeric forms. International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation 135, 19-23.
  2. Gini C Kuriakose*, Divya Lakshmanan*, BP Arathi, Hari Kumar RS, Anantha Krishna TH, Kavya Ananthaswamy, C Jayabhaskaran (2018) Extract of Penicillium sclerotiorum an endophytic fungus isolated from Cassia fistula induces cell cycle arrest leading to apoptosis through mitochondrial membrane depolarization in human cervical cancer cells. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy. 105: 1062-1071.
  3. Divya L. M*, & Sadasivan C. (2016). Trichoderma viride Laccase Plays a Crucial Role in Defense Mechanism against Antagonistic Organisms. Frontiers Microbiol.
  4. Divya L. M, Prasanth GK & Sadasivan C. (2015). Assessing the tolerance of immobilized laccase from a salt-tolerant strain of Trichoderma viride Pers NFCCI-2745 to heavy metal ions, detergents and copper chelating agents. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 12(10): 3225-3234.
  5. Divya Lakshmanan, Mrinal Srivastava, Supriya Vartak and Sathees C. Raghavan, 2015. ‘A Novel Inhibitor of Nonhomologous DNA Endjoining, SCR7 Brings Down the Effective Dose of Radiation during Cancer Therapy’(conference proceedings), J Carcinogenesis. (13):27
  6. Divya L. M, Prasanth GK & Sadasivan C (2014) Potential of salt tolerant laccase producing strain of Trichoderma viride Pers NFCCI-2745 from estuary in bioremediation of phenol polluted environments. J Basic Microbiol. 54(6):542-547.
  7. Divya L. M, Prasanth GK & Sadasivan C. (2013) Isolation of a Salt Tolerant Laccase Secreting Strain of Trichoderma Sp NFCCI-2745 and Optimization of Culture Conditions and Assessing its` Effectiveness in Treating Saline Phenolic Effluents. J. Environ. Sci. 25(12) 2410–2416.
  8. Divya L. M, Prasanth GK & Sadasivan C (2013). Elimination of Estrogenic Activity of Thermal Paper Using Laccase from Trichoderma sp NFCCI-2745. Appl Biochem Biotechnol. 169:1126-1133.
  9. Prasanth G. K, Divya L. M, Sadasivan C, (2012) Bisphenol-A can inhibit the Enzymatic Activity of Human Superoxide Dismutase. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment.
  10. Prasanth G. K, Divya L. M, Sadasivan C, (2010) Bisphenol-A can bind to human glucocorticoid receptor as an agonist: an in-silico study. J Appl Toxicol. (8):769-74.
  11. Prasanth G. K, Divya L. M, Sadasivan C, (2009) Effects of mono and di(n-butyl) phthalate on superoxide dismutase. Toxicology. 262(1):38-42.

Book Publication

  1. Divya Lakshmanan. M, Prasanth GK & Sadasivan C (2013) Laccase from a salt tolerant fungus & its Potential applications- A practical account”, Scholars’ Press Publishing, ISBN 978-3-639-51985-3.

Book Chapter

  1. Divya Lakshmanan M. and Chittalakkottu Sadasivan (2015) Chapter 13: Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators (SERMs) from Plants, Bioactive Natural Products: Chemistry and Biology, First Edition. Edited by Goutam Brahmachari. Published 2015 by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. ISBN 978-3-527-33794-1

 

Projects

 

 

Extramural

  • Principal investigator of ICMR -Adhoc Grant (N0.61/5/2020-IMM/BMS/dated 15-01-2021), under  ICMR (2021-2024)
  • Principal investigator of the Start-up grant (DST/SERB/YSS/2015) for young scientist under the Young Scientist Scheme, by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India (2016-2019)

Intramural

  • Principal investigator of the Seed Grant (YU/Seed grant/065-2018) allotted by Yenepoya University (2018 to 2020)