Director's Page

Dr. Amit Prakash Sharma Director of the National Institute of Malaria Research of ICMR is an accomplished scientist with international reputation of excellence in malaria parasite biology. Dr. Sharma has made seminal contributions leading to the delineation of principles governing structure function relationships of key malaria parasite proteins. This work may also lead to the design of inhibitors targeting critical stages of the parasite in the human host. Dr Sharma has published over >95 papers in international peer-reviewed journals and is recipient of various awards for his contributions to malaria research. Dr Sharma is interested in enhancing basic malaria research that is embedded in the overall aim to control malaria.

Selected Publications:

1. Saurabh Singh et al and Amit Sharma1. Structural basis for recognition of Duffy receptor by malaria parasite Duffy-binding-like domain. Nature, 439(7077), 741-744, 2006.

2. Sharma A, Yogavel M, Akhouri RR, Gill J, Sharma Amit1. Crystal structure of soluble domain of malaria sporozoite protein UIS3 in complex with lipid. Journal of Biological Chemistry 283, 24077-24088, 2008.

3. Rachna Hora, et al and Amit Sharma1. Erythrocytic Casein Kinase II Regulates Cytoadherence of Plasmodium falciparum-infected Red Blood Cells. Journal of Biological Chemistry 284, 6260-6269, 2009.

4. Bhatt et al and Amit Sharma1 'Malaria parasite tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase secretion triggers pro-inflammatory responses’. Nature Communications 2011 Nov 8;2:530.

5. Vitul Jain et al and Amit Sharma1 “Dimerization of Arginyl-tRNA Synthetase by Free Heme Drives Its Inactivation in Plasmodium falciparum.” Structure, 2016

6. Kato et al, and Amit Sharma et al “Diversity-oriented synthesis yields novel multistage antimalarial inhibitors. Nature. 2016 Sep 7; 538 (7625): 344-349, 2016

7. Vitul Jain et al and Amit Sharma1 "Potent quinazolinone scaffold against malaria, leishmaniasis, toxoplasmosis, cryptosporidiosis and coccidiosis" Structure, 2017

8. Yoga et al and Amit Sharma, Crystal structure of malaria parasite HPPK-DHPS enzyme and implications for sulfadoxine resistance, Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2018

9. Jyoti et al and Amit Sharma1 Profiles of Kelch mutations in Plasmodium falciparum across South Asia and their implications for tracking drug resistance, International Journal of Parasitology: Drugs and drug resistance; 2019

10. Baragana et al and Amit Sharma et al “Lysyl-tRNA synthetase as a drug target in apicomplexan parasites” PNAS, USA, Feb. 2019

Awards:
2019 Lakshmipat Singhania-IIM Lucknow National Leadership Award
2019 National Institute of Pathology (ICMR) Oration Award
2018 Om Prakash Bhasin Award in Biological Sciences
2017 Selected for Royal Society Commonwealth Science Conference
2015 Infosys Science Award in Biological Sciences
2015 Elected fellow of The World Academy of Sciences
2015 Elected fellow of Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi
2014 Ranbaxy Science Research Award in Basic Medical Sciences
2014 JC Bose fellowship, Govt. of India
2013 Outstanding Senior Research Program Grant, DBT, Govt. Of India
2013 Member of NASI editorial board, India
2013 Selection committee for Early Career Wellcome Trust-DBT fellowships
2012 Elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore
2011 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Biological Sciences
2010 ISCA Platinum Jubilee Lecture Award
2009 Goyal Young Scientist Prize
2008 National Bioscience Award, DBT, Govt. Of India