Rachana Rao Battaje

For her PhD, Rachana studied bacterial cell division protein as a target for anti-bacterial therapy and identified a narrow spectrum inhibitor for Streptococcus pneumoniae, one of the many bacteria that is rapidly developing resistance to antibiotics. In pursuit of studying pathogens and their antibiotic responses in a complex natural environment (i.e., a microbiome) she joined Dr. Michael Manhart’s lab as a postdoctoral fellow. She studies the influence of nutrient environments on the antibiotic susceptibility of pathogens with the broader aim of developing innovative strategies to improve antibiotic efficacy.

B.Sc. Microbiology, Chemistry and Zoology, St. Joseph’s College, India, 2015, M.Sc. Biotechnology (2017), Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India, 2017, Ph.D. Molecular Cell Biology, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India, 2023

· Sun Pharma Science Foundation Science Scholar Award 2022 – Pharmaceutical Sciences, for the work titled “Exploring the bacterial cell division protein, FtsZ from the respiratory pathogen, Streptococcus pneumoniae as a target for anti-pneumococcal therapy.” Citation: https://sunpharmasciencefoundation.net/latest_winners_of_science_schola….

· Best Poster Award for the poster titled “BT-benzo-29 binds to the catalytic site of FtsZ from Streptococcus pneumoniae to exhibit its anti-FtsZ and consequently, anti-pneumococcal action” at the 36th Annual Symposium of The Protein Society held in San Francisco, USA from July 7-10, 2022.

· The Protein Society’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Travel Award 2022

· Conference travel support from Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India

· Protein Science cover image (Volume 30, Issue 3) (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/1469896x/2021/30/3)

· ASBMB 2019 Graduate/Postdoctoral Travel Award

· Endocrine-Related Cancer cover image, May 2018 (Volume 25, Issue 5)

· “Highly-read author” – Battaje, R. R., & Panda, D. (2017). Lessons from bacterial homolog of tubulin, FtsZ for microtubule dynamics. Endocrine-Related Cancer, 24(9), T1-T21. https://doi.org/10.1530/ERC-17-0118.

"Models versus pathogens: how conserved is the FtsZ in bacteria?", Vitamin K3 inhibits FtsZ assembly, disrupts the Z-ring in Streptococcus pneumoniae and displays anti-pneumococcal activity., Evidence of conformational switch in Streptococcus pneumoniae FtsZ during polymerization., Identification of ethyl-6-bromo-2((phenylthio)methyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-3-carboxylate as a narrow spectrum inhibitor of Streptococcus pneumoniae and its FtsZ., Nutrient colimitation is a quantitative, dynamic property of microbial populations.