JoshiTxDx Lab formerly Joshi Lab
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Research Portfolio

Three fronts against antimicrobial resistance.

The lab pairs new ways to treat resistant infection with new ways to detect it — grounded in the basic science of how resistance evolves. Each programme is shown as it actually works, with the methods, funding, and published results behind it.

Tx · Phage therapy Dx · Gold nanoconjugates BS · Genome stability Approach & methods Questions
Tx · Therapeutics

Phage therapy against MDR ESKAPE

Biological alternatives to antibiotics that target multidrug-resistant ESKAPE pathogens — the bacteria behind the hardest hospital infections. The lab isolates and characterises lytic bacteriophages, builds them into cocktails tested against clinical isolates, and engineers phages with enhanced killing.

Lytic bacteriophagesESKAPE pathogensPhage cocktailsPhage engineering
Approach · isolation & host-range profiling → cocktail formulation → lytic-activity engineering
Clinical isolates · via a Delhi tertiary-care hospital partner
Funding · ICMR
Mechanism
Lytic bacteriophage vs. MDR pathogen
Phagehost-specific, self-amplifying
MDR hostlysed on contact
Dx · Diagnostics

Gold-nanoconjugate diagnostics

Functionalised gold-nanoparticle platforms for ultra-sensitive detection. Fluorescent conjugates monitor events inside living cells, and a RecA-protein conjugate flags DNA double-strand breaks directly — without introducing reporter genes such as GFP or RFP.

Functionalised gold NPsRecA biosensorLive-cell readoutLabel-free
Status · patent-pending (2023 filing)
Flagship · Quadir et al., ACS Nano 17(16):15529, 2023 — doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.3c01973
Bridges · the same platform links detection (Dx) and therapy (Tx)
Mechanism
Fluorescent signal on target binding
Conjugategold + RecA probe
Readoutfluoresces on binding
BS · Basic Science

Genome stability & DNA repair

The mechanics that let pathogens evolve resistance in the first place — the role of chromosomal cohesion in site-specific DNA double-strand-break repair in E. coli, and how the nucleoid is organised under environmental stress. This is the foundational science that feeds both the Tx and Dx programmes.

Chromosome cohesionDSB repairNucleoid dynamicsMulti-colour FISH
Flagships · Cell 2019 — 10.1016/j.cell.2018.12.008 · PNAS 2011 — 10.1073/pnas.1019593108 · PLoS Genetics 2013 — 10.1371/journal.pgen.1003673
Funding · DBT–Wellcome India Alliance · SERB
Mechanism
Double-strand break & repair
dsDNAchromosome
Adjacent theme

Human gut microbiome & ulcerative colitis. A related line of published work on microbial dysbiosis and lactic-acid-producing bacteria in ulcerative-colitis patients in North India (Adv. Gut & Microbiome Res. 2023, 10.1155/2023/7333511; fecal-microbiota-therapy work, Intest. Res. 2018). Real and peer-reviewed, and slightly aside from the core AMR spine — surfaced here as a secondary interest rather than a fourth pillar.

Approach & methods

How the three fronts connect.

The pillars aren't three separate labs — they're one question asked three ways: understand how resistance arises, then build tools to detect and to treat it.

From basic science…

Understand the machinery

Study how bacterial chromosomes stay stable and repair damage — the processes that also drive how resistance evolves and spreads.

…to diagnostics

Detect it sensitively

Turn that molecular understanding into gold-nanoconjugate readouts that flag damage and pathogens with high sensitivity, label-free.

…to therapeutics

Treat it biologically

Answer resistant infection with lytic phages — precise, self-amplifying, and a genuine alternative where antibiotics fail.

Questions, answered plainly

Research FAQ

Short, direct answers for peers, students, journalists — and the search and AI tools that index this page.

What is phage therapy, and how does the lab use it against antimicrobial resistance?
Phage therapy uses lytic bacteriophages — viruses that infect and kill bacteria — as biological alternatives to antibiotics. JoshiTxDx Lab develops phage cocktails against multidrug-resistant ESKAPE pathogens, tested on clinical isolates supplied by a Delhi tertiary-care hospital partner, and engineers phages with enhanced lytic activity. The programme is ICMR-funded.
How do the lab's gold-nanoconjugate diagnostics detect DNA damage without genetic manipulation?
The lab builds functionalised gold nanoparticles conjugated to the RecA protein. When RecA binds a DNA double-strand break, the conjugate produces a fluorescent readout — allowing DNA damage to be detected directly, without introducing reporter genes such as GFP or RFP. The approach was published in ACS Nano (2023) and is patent-pending.
How does JoshiTxDx Lab connect therapeutics (Tx) and diagnostics (Dx)?
Both rest on the same basic science: how bacterial genomes stay stable and how resistance evolves. The lab's work on chromosome cohesion and DNA double-strand-break repair underpins both a therapeutic front (phage therapy) and a diagnostic front (gold nanoconjugates), and the nanoparticle platform itself bridges detection and therapy.
Follow the evidence

Go deeper.

Publications & IP

The full record

~20 papers with DOIs, and four patent filings.

 People

Who does the work

Dr. Joshi, the current scholars, and 24+ alumni.

 Recognition & Activity

Funding & footprint

Grants, fellowships, talks and partnerships.
Collaborate with the lab

Working on resistance, diagnostics, or genome stability?

The lab is open to research and clinical collaboration, and to students who want to work at the intersection of molecular genetics and nanotechnology.

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