Dr Vikesh Chhabria

Research

1.) An alternative to antibiotics, development of cell membrane coated nanoparticles as a detoxification platform-  Bacteria can cause many different types of infections. Virulence factors e.g. adherence proteins, biofilm formation, endotoxins and exotoxins allow invasion by bacteria and cause infections such as respiratory, urinary, and intestinal and blood stream infections. If left untreated they can lead to a condition known as sepsis. Sepsis is a whole body inflammatory response that can be fatal. Exotoxins, such as pore forming toxins are one of the virulence factors secreted by bacteria that are responsible for causing sepsis. Current treatment and management of sepsis includes surgical drainage of fluids, blood transfusions and administration of antibiotics. Sepsis is a rapid onset with an increased mortality rate of 8% per hour. This means that prompt treatment is imperative and due to the increase in antibiotic resistance, treatment has become more difficult.

The aim of this study is to develop biomimetic nanosponges from mammalian erythrocyte ghosts, as a potential treatment for toxin related sepsis. The nanosponges had the ability to absorb streptolysin-O and a-haemolysin.

2.) Protein Aggregation screening of biopharmaceuticals - a three year million pound innovate UK funded project in collaboration with GSK, AstraZeneca, Fujifilm Diosynth, CPI, Malvern Pananalytical and Paraytec, developing novel analytics to characterize the aggregation potential of biologics (monoclonal antibodies, vaccine candidates, virus like particles, antibody-drug conjugates and advanced therapy medicinal products). As part of this project, we developed a novel ex-vivo method for protein aggregation screening of biopharmaceuticals, which is of great value to the end users within the consortium. Therefore, the method has been kept under an inventional disclosure. This project not only involved industrial collaborations, but partnerships with other external and inter-departmental research groups synthesizing various other complex delivery systems such as Lipid-silica-SPIONS, Liposomes, Solid lipid nanoparticles and Dendrimers, to encapsulate poorly soluble drugs for delivery in several in-vitro disease states.

Teaching

Delivered, planned and assessed components of all year undergraduate biomedical sciences and pharmacy modules such as immunology, biochemistry, clinical microbiology, industrial microbiology, infection and immunity, lab skills, pathology, pharmaceutical sciences, physiology, haematology, drug discovery and delivery, and pharmacology.

Biography

Having completed my undergraduate degree in Biomedical sciences at the University of Central Lancashire, I was offered a partly funded PhD in Pharmaceutical Microbiology, synthesizing novel nanoformulations using mammalian erythrocytes to mop up bacterial pore-forming toxins that cause severe sepsis, constituting aspects of microbiology, biochemistry and pharmaceutical sciences.

In 2016, I was appointed an associate lecturer in clinical pharmacology which involved delivering, planning and assessing components of all year undergraduate biomedical sciences and pharmacy modules such as immunology, biochemistry, clinical microbiology, industrial microbiology, infection and immunity, lab skills, pathology, pharmaceutical sciences, physiology, haematology, drug discovery and delivery, and pharmacology.

I am an experienced research scientist who works in the area of protein aggregation screening of biopharmaceuticals. In 2017 I was offered a three-year postdoctoral research associate position in Professor Robert Forbes's Lab, working on developing novel tools for protein aggregation screening of biopharmaceutical candidates, a million pound innovate UK project in collaboration with GSK, AstraZeneca, Fujifilm Diosynth, CPI, Malvern Pananalytical and Paraytec.

In 2021, I was appointed a lecturer in biomedical Sciences at Cardiff University. I am the Module lead for BI1002 (Structure and Function of living organisms), ED&I Lead student facing and Disability Lead. 

Honours and awards

01/2018           Award for the best poster at the International Workshop on Nanomaterials in Health/Medicine.

01/2018           Award for the best poster at the 3^rd International Symposium on Nanoparticles/Nanomaterials and Applications.

10/2023           Exploring Bioscience Symposium- Biochemical Society LA grant awarded 200£

08/2024           Biochemical Society’s Sponsored Seminar Series Grant- Bridging Silos: Cross Disciplinary Approaches to AI in the Biosciences

Professional memberships

Local Ambassador for the Biochemical Society.