BHUBANESWAR: Scientist at the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar Soma Chattopadhyay has been selected for Biotech Product, Process Development and Commercialisation Award 2019 by the Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi.
Chattopadhyay has worked extensively for the last 20 years on several viruses. She has been selected for her scientific contribution in the development of antibodies against the non-structural proteins (nsP1, nsP2, nsP3 and NsP4) of chikungunya virus (CHIKV).
Her lab has been focusing on several aspects of chikungunya viral infection for understanding of its basic mechanisms and the host factors involved during the process of infection.
Chattopadhyay’s group is the first to develop and characterise highly sensitive and specific polyclonal antibodies against the non-structural proteins of CHIKV.
The lab has also developed and characterised a monoclonal antibody against nsP2 of CHIKV.
The antibodies can be explicitly used as sensitive and specific tools for experimental investigations of CHIKV replication and infection.