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Dr Maitreyi Shivkumar

Job: Senior Lecturer in Molecular Biology

Faculty: Health and Life Sciences

School/department: Leicester School of Pharmacy

Address: ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH

T: 0116 366 4475

E: maitreyi.shivkumar@dmu.ac.uk

W:

 

Personal profile

Dr Maitreyi Shivkumar is a Senior Lecturer in Molecular Biology in the School of Pharmacy at ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ. Her research interests are in understanding host-pathogen interactions, with a focus on virology.

She completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge on host entry and dissemination of herpesviruses in mouse models. Following this, she was a post-doc at University College London studying HIV-1 spread between T cells, before joining ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ in 2019.

Research group affiliations

  • Infectious Diseases Research Group (IDRG)
  • Leicester Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation (LIPI)

Publications and outputs

For full list of research outputs: , 

  • Dean B, Cooper G, Shivkumar M*, & Snape TJ* (2023) Hydroxy-xanthones as promising antiviral agents: Synthesis and biological evaluation against human coronavirus OC43. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry. []

 

  • Reuschl AK, Mesner D*, Shivkumar M*, et al. (2022) HIV-1 Vpr drives tissue residency during selective infectino of resting memory T cells. Cell Reports. []

 

  • Owen L, Laird K, & Shivkumar M (2022) Antiviral plan-derived natural products to combat RNA viruses: Targets throughout the viral life cycle. Letters in Applied Microbiology. [] 

 

  • Cordiero AS*, Patil-Sen Y*, Shivkumar M*, et al. (2021) Nanovaccine delivery approaches and advanced delivery systems for the prevention of viral infections: From development to clinical application. Pharmaceutics, 13(12): 2091 [] 

 

  • Owen L, Shivkumar M, Cross RBM, & Laird K (2021) Porous surfaces: stability and recovery of coronaviruses. Interface Focus, 12: 20210039 []

 

  • Shivkumar M, Adkin P, Owen L, & Laird K (2021) Investigation of the stability and risks of fomite transmission of human coronavirus OC43 on leather. FEMS Microbiology Letters, 368(16):fnab112 [] 

 

  • Owen L, Shivkumar M, & Laird K (2021) The stability of model human coronaviruses on textiles in the environment and during health care laundering. mSphere, 6: e00316-21 [] 

 

  • Owen L, Laird K, & Shivkumar M (2021) The effect of climbing chalk powder on the infectivity of human coronavirus OC43. Letters in Applied Microbiology, 72(6): 725-729 []

 

  • Len ACL, Starling S, Shivkumar M, & Jolly C (2017) HIV-1 Activates T Cell Signaling Independently of Antigen to Drive Viral Spread. Cell Reports, 18(4): 1062-1074. []

 

  • Shivkumar M, Lawler C, Milho R, & Stevenson PG (2016) Herpes simplex virus 1 interaction with myeloid cells in vivo. Journal of Virology, 90: 8661–8672 []

 

  • Nicoll MP, Hann W, Shivkumar M, et al. (2016) The HSV1 Latency-Associated Transcript Functions to Repress Latent Phase Lytic Gene Expression and Suppress Virus Reactivation from Latently Infected Neurons. PLoS Pathogens, 12(4): e1005539 []

 

  • Shivkumar M, Milho R, May JS, et al. (2013) Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Targets the Murine Olfactory Neuroepithelium for Host Entry. Journal of Virology, 87(19): 10477-10488 []

Key research outputs

 

Research interests/expertise

  • Antiviral drug discovery
  • Host-pathogen interactions
  • HIV-1 and T cell immunology
  • Environmental stability and disinfection of coronaviruses

Areas of teaching

  • Microbiology
  • Virology
  • Immunity and Immunology
  • Vaccine Immunology
  • Gene therapy
  • Cancer

 

  • MRes (Masters by Research) 
  • PhD students

Qualifications

  • MBiochem (Hons) Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry (2012, University of Oxford)
  • Ph.D. in Viral Pathology (2016, University of Cambridge) 
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (2021, ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ)

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ taught

  • Pharmacy MPharm
  • Pharmaceutical Sciences BSc
  • Pharmaceutical Biotechnology MSc
  • Quality by Design MSc

Membership of external committees

  • Editorial Board Member: The Biochemist magazine, Biochemical Society (May 2022 - present)

Membership of professional associations and societies

  • Biochemical Society (2008)
  • Microbiology Society (2012)
  • American Society of Virology (2015)
  • British Society of Immunology (2018)
  • Fellow of Higher Education Academy FHEA (2021)

Key articles information

 

Current research students

  • Gemma Cooper (Ph.D., 1st supervisor)
  • Brandon Moulds (Ph.D., 1st supervisor)
  • Abdelrhman Moustafa (Ph.D., 2nd supervisor)
  • Dolgormaa Janchivlamdan (Ph.D., 2nd supervisor)
  • Jake Dunlop (Ph.D., 2nd supervisor)
  • Alisher Djumaev (Ph.D., 2nd supervisor)
  • Manuela Segorean (M.Res., 2nd supervisor)

For enquiries about M.Res. and Ph.D. projects, contact maitreyi.shivkumar@dmu.ac.uk

Public Outreach

  • Why a vaccine can provide better immunity than an actual infection, The Conversation, 14 Sep 20 [] 
  • Coronavirus: What happens when a person is simultaneously infected with two variants? The Conversation, 3 Mar 21 [] 

 

  • Aspire To: A children's book of real-life representative role-models, by  | 

 

  • , an interactive activity developed for and run at the British Science Festival, Leicester, September 2022
  • , an interactive workshop run at the Oxford Science and Ideas IF Festival, Oxford, October 2023
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