DR. APARUP DAS M. Sc., Ph.D.

Scientist G

ICMR-National Institute of Research in Tribal Health

Profile

Dr. Aparup Das is a population geneticist and molecular evolutionary biologist by training.  He has brought his extensive training and experience on genomics and DNA sequence analyses in Drosophila and Malaria, and application of these modern biological techniques to understand malaria epidemiology in India and Africa. After obtaining graduate and post-graduate degrees in Zoology from Utkal University in Bhubaneswar and doctorate degree from the Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, Dr. Das proceeded for a four-year post-doctoral study at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Germany, to be trained in genomics and bioinformatics. After coming back to India in 2005, he joined as a scientist at the ICMR-National Institute of Malaria Research at New Delhi, where he served for 12 years to study molecular epidemiology of malaria.

In May 2016, he joined as the Director of the ICMR-Centre for Research in Medical Entomology in Madurai, Tamil Nadu and thereafter shifted to the ICMR-National Institute for Research in Tribal health as its Director. Over past 14 years of his research on molecular epidemiology of malaria in India and Cameroon (Africa), Dr. Das and his research group had unravelled several interesting genetic features of the malaria parasites, drug resistance, mixed species infections, population dynamics of mosquito vectors, host susceptibility of malaria and pharmacogenomics related to malaria.

Research Interests

  • Genomic epidemiology of malaria and other Vector Borne Diseases
  • Transcriptomics and metabolonomic studies on malaria parasite
  • Translating the traditional tribal herbal knowledge to biomedical therapeutics for various ailments
  • Computer-Aided Drug Design of novel therapeutics for malaria and other Vector Borne Diseases

    • Scientific Staff

  • Dr. Hiasindh Ashmi, ICMR centenary post-doctoral fellow
  • Ms. Upasana Singh, Research Assistant
  • Ms. Shristi Garg, Research Assistant

    • Past Research students

    NA

    Ongoing research projects

  • Indo-Canadian (IC-IMPACTS) funded research project on point-of-care assay for malaria diagnosis and drug-resistance genotyping
  • NIH funded project on Centre for Study on the Complex malaria in India (CSCMi)
  • ICMR funded research project on Plasmodium vivax genomics under the Medical Innovation Fund scheme.
  • DST funded research project on P. falciparum proteomics.

    • Current research collaborators

  • Prof. Jane Carlton, New York University, USA
  • Dr. Stephanie Yanow, University of Alberta, Canada
  • Dr. Catherine Walton, University of Manchester, UK
  • Dr. Pragyan Acharya, AIIMS, New Delhi

    • Past research collaborators

    NA

    Research in news

  • http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/isw/mixed_malaria_infections_story.html
  • http://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/severe-and-mixed-malaria-infections-posing-new-challenges-60221
  • https://www.biovoicenews.com/increase-in-deadly-malaria-infections-posing-new-challenges/
  • https://biotechtimes.org/2018/04/17/severe-mixed-malaria-infections-posing-new-challenges/
  • https://www.researchstash.com/2018/04/17/severe-and-mixed-malaria-infections-posing-new-challenges/
  • https://www.firstpost.com/tech/news-analysis/study-confirms-drastic-shift-in-malaria-occurrence-in-india-as-number-of-severe-cases-rise-4435677.html

    • Award/Recognition/Honours

  • Young scientists award from DST, Government of India
  • Overseas Associateship from DBT, Government of India
  • Postdoctoral Associateship from German Research Foundation

    • Workshop/Conference Organized

  • Global Exchange Lecture Course (15 days) funded by EMBO, Germany in 2010
  • Training course of genomics and bioinformatics of malaria (15 days) funded by DBT: 2012
  • Global Exchange Lecture Course (15 days), funded by EMBO, Germany in 2017

    • Academic contributions

  • Supervisor of Ph. D. thesis: 12
  • Masters dissertation: 62
  • Papers published: 100 plus

    • Research Grants

  • Indo-French Centre for Promotion of Advanced Scientific Research (IFCPAR)
  • DST, Government of India
  • DBT, Government of India
  • CSIR, Government of India
  • ICMR, Government of India
  • EMBO, Germany
  • NIH, USA
  • German Science Foundation, Germany

    • Publications

    Ten best Publications on malaria:

    1. Rituraj Niranjan, Nishant Saxena, Aparup Das. Dengue control, if not by vaccination and vector strategies, then possibly by therapeutics. The Lancet Infectious Diseases. CORCH 2024. DOI: 10.1016/S1473-3099(23)00782-X.
    2. Carlton J, Das A, Escalante AA (2018) The evolution, genomic diversity, and epidemiological landscape of the complex malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax. Nature Reviews Microbiology: Invited Review.
    3. Siwal N, Singh US, Dash M, Kar S, Rani S, Rawal C, Singh RK, Anvikar AR, Pande V, Das A (2018) Malaria diagnosis by PCR revealed differential distribution of mono and mixed species infections by Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax in India. PLoS ONE: 13: e0193046. View
    4. Singh US, Siwal N, Pande V, Das A (2017) Can mixed parasite infections thwart targeted malaria elimination program in India? BioMed Research International: 1-11. View
    5. Ngassa Mbenda HG, Das A (2016) Analysis of genetic diversity in the chloroquine-resistant gene Pfcrt in field Plasmodium falciparum isolates from five regions of the southern Cameroon. Infection Genetics and Evolution 44: 450-458. View
    6. Tyagi S, Das A (2015) Mitochondrial population genomic analyses reveal population structure and demography of Indian Plasmodium falciparum. Mitochondrion: 24: 9-21. View
    7. Das A (2015) The distinctive features of Indian malaria parasites. Trends in Parasitology: 31: 83-86. View
    8. Dixit J, Arunyawat U, Huong NT, Das A (2014) Multilocus nuclear DNA markers reveal population structure and demography of Anopheles minimus. Molecular Ecology: 23: 1599-1618. View
    9. Sharma M, Mohanty S, Tyagi S, Das A (2010) Comparative and evolutionary genomics of malaria parasites. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences (Ind): 79: 111-121. View
    10. Singh V, Mishra N, Awasthi G, Dash AP, Das A (2009) Why is it important to study malaria epidemiology in India? Trends in Parasitology: 25: 452-457. View
    11. Das A, Dash AP (2007) Evolutionary paradigm of drug-resistant malaria in India. Trends in Parasitology: 23: 132-135. View


    Ten best publications on Drosophila:

    1. Schug MD, Baines JF, Killon-Atwood A, Mohanty S, Das A, Grath S, Smith SG, Zargham S, McEvey SF, Stephan W (2008) Evolution of mating isolation between populations of Drosophila ananassae. Molecular Ecology: 17: 2706-2721. View
    2. Das A, Mohanty S, Stephan W (2004) Inferring Population structure and demography of Drosophila ananassae from multilocus data. Genetics: 168: 1975-1985. View
    3. Baines JF, Das A, Mousset S, Stephan W (2004) The role of natural selection in genetic differentiation of worldwide populations of Drosophila ananassae. Genetics: 168: 1987-1998. View
    4. Vogl C, Das A, Beaumont M, Mohanty S, Stephan W (2003) Population subdivision and molecular sequence variation: Theory and analysis of Drosophila ananassae data. Genetics: 165: 1385-1395. View
    5. Baines JF, Chen Y, Das A, Stephan W (2002) DNA sequence variation at a gene of relatively recent origin: Excess of replacement polymorphism and extensive haplotype structure in the Drosophila melanogaster bicoid gene. Molecular Biology and Evolution: 19: 989-998. View
    6. Das A, Mohanty S, Capy P, David JR (1995) Mating propensity of Indian Drosophila melanogaster populations with Drosophila simulans: A non-adaptive latitudinal cline. Heredity: 74: 562-566. View
    7. Das A, Mohanty S, Parida BB (1994) Inversion polymorphism and extra bristles in Indian natural populations of Drosophila ananassae: joint variation. Heredity: 73: 405-409. View
    8. Singh BN, Das A (1992) Further evidence for latitudinal inversion clines in Indian natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster. Journal of Heredity: 83: 227-230. View
    9. Das A, Singh BN (1991) Genetic differentiation and inversion clines in Indian natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster. Genome: 34: 618-625. View
    10. Singh BN, Das A (1990) Inversion polymorphism in Indian natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster. Genome: 33: 311-316. View