CDFD :: Fungal pathogenesis

M. Sc. (Biotechnology) - Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar
Ph. D. - Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh

After obtaining her post-graduate degree in Biotechnology from the Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Rupinder Kaur joined Dr. Anand Bachhawat’s group at the Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh for her Ph.D programme. As a graduate student, she addressed the issue of diverse substrate specificity of multi-drug resistance pump, Pdr5p in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using a combination of genetic and molecular approaches, she showed that both the efficiency as well as the substrate specificity of Pdr5p is modulated by the altered lipid/sterol composition of the plasma membrane. After the completion of her doctoral thesis work in 1999, Rupinder joined the group of Dr. Tamar Enoch at Harvard Medical School to carry out a genetic and biochemical analysis of cell cycle checkpoints in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. In the fall of 2001, she decided to venture into the field of fungal pathogenesis and joined the laboratory of Dr. Brendan Cormack at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Here, she changed the organism of her choice form the fission yeast to the pathogenic yeast Candida glabrata. Using a combination of genetic screens, micro-array and biochemical analysis, she showed that a family of cell surface-associated aspartyl proteases is required for the virulence of C. glabrata. After returning to India, Rupinder joined CDFD as a staff scientist in November of 2006. She has been awarded the Innovative Young Biotechnologist award (IYBA), the National Women Bioscientist Award (Young Category) and the Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance Senior Fellowship. Her current interests are aimed at a better understanding of the patho-biology of C. glabrata and C. tropicalis.