Dr. E. Sreekumar has 20 years’ experience in Medical Virology and his research focuses on Dengue virus and Chikungunya virus biology. His studies elucidated the genetic profile of these viruses circulating in the region.; and during his tenure at RGCB his team has established an animal model for dengue, which is being used for evaluating drugs to treat dengue shock syndrome, dengue vaccine candidates and antiviral molecules. His team also focuses on developing the paradigm of host-directed antiviral therapy focusing on Interferon-stimulated gene modulation; and has established assays for identifying such modulators. At IAV, he has built a core research capacity in the field of monoclonal antibodies and. antiviral development against emerging viruses.
Institute of Advanced Virology (IAV)
Animal Husbandry Department, Kerala
Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (Kerala University)
Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly
Molecular Virology
2015 – 2016
Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship, US-India Educational Foundation
2004
ISVIB Young Scientist Award
1994 – 96
IVRI Gold Medal and Best Student Award
2024 – 2029
2020 – 2023
2022 – 2025
2024 – 2026
2017 – 2020
2017 – 2020
2015 – 2020
2020 – 2021
2019 – 2022
Aneesh B, Pillai SK, Chippy PS, Chandran M, Jose AV, Kailas L, Neziya M, Aswathyraj S, Sreekumar E. Human bocavirus infections in paediatric patients in a tertiary care hospital in Kerala, India. Arch Virol. 2025 Jan 10;170(2):36.
Vijayan A, Sukumaran A, Jones S, Paul A, Ahmed S, Mehta P, Mohanan M, Santhosh Kumar, Sreekumar E, Shenoy P. (2024) Boosting Vaccine Response in Autoimmune Rheumatic Disease Patients With Inadequate Seroconversion: An Analysis of the Immunogenicity of Vector-Based and Inactivated Vaccines. Cureus 16(3): e55764.
Modak A, Mishra SR, Awasthi M, Aravind A, Singh S, Sreekumar E (2024). Fingolimod (FTY720), an FDA-approved sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) receptor agonist, restores endothelial hyperpermeability in cellular and animal models of dengue virus serotype 2 infection. IUBMB Life.76(5):267-285. doi: 10.1002/iub.2795.
Indu P S, Anish T S, Chintha S, Libu G K, Tony L, Siju NS, Sreekumar E, Santhoshkumar A, Aravind R, Saradadevi K L, Sunija S, J, Anupriya M G, Mathew T, Reena K J, Meenakshy M, PNamitha P, Pradeep Kumar N, Roop Kumari, Mohamed A J, Nagpal B, SSarkar S, Sadanandan R, Velayudhan R. (2023). The Lancet Regional Health-Southeast Asia. Lancet Reg Health Southeast Asia. 11;22:100337.
Kaviyil JE, Raja K, Gaitonde R, Easwaran S, Kala VK, Ponnambath DK (2023). Targeted Sanger Sequencing of a Cluster of COVID-19 Cases in the Surgical ICU of a Non-COVID Hospital: Lessons Learned. Cureus15(9): e44755. doi:10.7759/cureus.44755
Jancy SV, Lupitha SS, Chandrasekharan A, Varadarajan SN, Nelson-Sathi S, Prasad R, Jones S, Easwaran S, Darvin P, Sivasailam A, Santhoshkumar TR (2023). A high- throughput screening system for SARS-CoV-2 entry inhibition, syncytia formation and cell toxicity. BiolProced Online. 25(1):22. doi: 10.1186/s12575-023-00214-1.
Pradeep P, Sivakumar KC, Sreekumar E (2023). Host Factor Nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1/B23) Exerts Antiviral Effects against Chikungunya Virus by Its Interaction with Viral Nonstructural Protein 3 Microbiol Spectr.11(4): e0537122. doi:10.1128/spectrum.05371-22.
Modak A, Mishra SR, Awasthi M, Sreedevi S, Sobha A, Aravind A, Kuppusamy K, Sreekumar E (2023). Higher-temperature-adapted dengue virus serotype 2 strain exhibits enhanced virulence in AG129 mouse model. FASEB J. 37(8):e23062. doi: 10.1096/fj.202300098R.
Sagna A, Nair RVR, Hulyalkar N, Rajasekharan S, Nair VTG, Sivakumar KC, Suja SR, Baby S, Sreekumar E (2023). Ethyl palmitate, an anti-chikungunya virus principle from Sauropusandrogynus, a medicinal plant used to alleviate fever in ethnomedicine. J.Ethnopharmacol. 309:116366
Chandran D, Sreekumar E, Prajitha KC, Sharahudeen A, Raveendran CL; Research team (2022). Breakthrough infection with SARS-CoV-2 delta variant in old-age homes in a Southern District of Kerala, India. Indian J Public Health. 66(Supplement):S36- S40. doi: 10.4103/ijph.ijph_1084_22.
Lupitha SS, Darvin P, Chandrasekharan A, Varadarajan SN, Divakaran SJ, Easwaran S, Nelson-Sathi S, Umasankar PK, Jones S, Joseph I, Pillai MR, Santhoshkumar TR (2022). A rapid bead-based assay for screening of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies. Antib Ther.5(2):100-110. doi: 10.1093/abt/tbac007.
Nair SR, Abraham R, Sreekumar E (2022). Generation of a Live-Attenuated Strain of Chikungunya Virus from an Indian Isolate for Vaccine Development. Vaccines (Basel).10(11):1939.
Rugma R, Valsan C, Sreekumar E, Sathiavathy KA (2022). Molecular detection of dengue virus serotypes prevalent in central Kerala and its correlation with disease severity. Indian J Microbiol Res.9(1):55-61.
Sankaradoss A, Jagtap S, Nazir J, Moula SE, Modak A, Fialho J, Iyer M, Shastri JS, Dias M, Gadepalli R, Aggarwal A, Vedpathak M, Agrawal S, Pandit A, Nisheetha A, Kumar A, Bordoloi M, Shafi M, Shelar B, Balachandra SS, Damodar T, Masika MM, Mwaura P, Anzala O, Muthumani K, Sowdhamini R, Medigeshi GR, Roy R, Pattabiraman C, Krishna S, Sreekumar E*(2022). Immune profile and responses of a novel dengue DNA vaccine encoding an EDIII-NS1 consensus design based on Indo- African sequences. Mol Ther. 30(5):2058-2077. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2022.01.013.
Nelson-Sathi S, Umasankar PK, Sreekumar E, Nair RR, Joseph I, Nori SRC, Philip JS, Prasad R, Navyasree KV, Ramesh S, Pillai H, Ghosh S, Santosh Kumar TR, Pillai MR (2022). Mutational landscape and in silico structure models of SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor binding domain reveal key molecular determinants for virus-host interaction. BMC Mol Cell Biol. 23(1):2. doi: 10.1186/s12860-021-00403-4.
Principal Investigator
geeturose@d1.iav.res.in
Technical Officer
sreeja@d1.iav.res.in
Project Associate
sreekarthikasnair@gmail.com
PhD Student (UGC-JRF)
aaryajanil@gmail.com
Project Associate
libyann2441995@gmail.com
Project Scientist
nanditha@d1.iav.res.in
Project Associate I
varshaiyengar02@gmail.com
Project Associate
paruathira789@gmail.com