Priyanka attained her MSc in Molecular Biology from the University of Mysuru, India, followed by a PhD in Biotechnology from Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology, India in 2017.
Her doctoral research was dedicated to investigating specialized antimicrobial natural products and antibiotic biosynthetic gene clusters from actinobacteria. For the first time, she reported 3,5-bis(1,1-dimethylethyl)-phenol as an antimicrobial agent produced by Nocardia sp. PB-52. After her PhD, she received the prestigious DBT-RA and N-PDF postdoctoral fellowships from Government of India to pursue research at International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, India where she worked on novel antimalarials identified by MS techniques from Streptomyces species active against Plasmodium falciparum. Thereafter, she served as Guest Faculty in the department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at Tezpur University, India and later as a Scientific Officer in the BioNEST Incubation Centre at National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research- Guwahati India. Additionally, she contributed as a Research Associate at the School of Dentistry in Cardiff University, Wales, where she focussed on exploring antimicrobial and anti-biofilm activity of hexylresorcinol and other commercially available products in artificial saliva aimed at managing oropharyngeal infections.
Her current research at LSTM is within iiCON project and the citizen Science project ‘Swab and Send’ led by Dr Adam P. Roberts. Her project involves preparation and screening of natural microbial isolate library along with fractionation, purification, and characterization of novel antimicrobial natural products from environmental bacteria inhibiting the growth of drug resistant Enterobacteriaceae and Candida. Furthermore, she also actively engages in public outreach activities for raising awareness about the critical issues surrounding antimicrobial resistance.
Memberships
Society of Actinomycetes Japan Member
American Society of Pharmacognosy Member
Association of Microbiologists of India Member
Indian Society of Cell Biology Member