PhD student
Pharm D
Chinnu Jerard is currently pursuing her PhD at Curtin University, under the guidance of Dr. Archita Mishra and Dr. Ankur Sharma. She is a part of the Early Life Microbial Immunology Team led by Dr. Archita Mishra at Telethon Kids Institute. Her PhD project focuses on identifying the microbial-immune priming in early life and how human gut microbes shapes our immunity in perinatal period, providing protection against infections in early life. Having successfully completed a six-year integrated postgraduate course named Pharm D (Doctor of Pharmacy), specialized in Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics, Chinnu holds the title of a pharma doctor.
Chinnu embarked on her scientific journey immediately after her Pharm D graduation in 2017. She conducted research projects exploring the therapeutic effectiveness of Mentha arvensis and Coriandrum sativum in hepatocellular carcinoma and acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity. Subsequently, Chinnu secured admission to a Department of Biotechnology funded project in India. Her work involved investigating the impact of locally-injectable TRPV1 receptor and low-voltage activated calcium channel blockers on the nerve-tumor interface in vivo and intracellular calcium response in DRG neurons from cancer-induced bone pain animals. Additionally, Chinnu conducted in vitro secretome mediated interactions between sensory neurons and breast cancer cells and also phenotypic detection and enumeration of circulating endothelial cells in peripheral venous and pulmonary arterial blood from children with pulmonary arterial hypertension.
With five years of research experience in India, Chinnu has acquired a wealth of expertise in various scientific techniques and methodologies. She possesses adept skills in areas such as cell culture techniques, microfluidic cell culture, animal handling, pain behavioral testing, animal perfusion and dissection, tissue isolation, paraffin embedding and sectioning of tissues, immunohistochemistry, ratiometric calcium imaging, immunocytochemistry, fluorescence microscopy and Fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Her current research interests revolve around Microbial Immunity, Tumor microenvironment and Cancer immunotherapy.