Meenakshi Malik

Meenakshi Malik

Education

  • Post-doctoral Fellowship, Microbial Pathogenesis, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY
  • PhD, Immunology, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, India

Courses Taught at ACPHS

  • Microbiology
  • Bacterial Pathogenesis
  • Advanced Topics in Microbiology

Research Interests

  • The long-term research goal of my laboratory is to understand the host mediated mechanisms of innate immunity against intracellular bacterial pathogens. Over the past decade, my research has focused on elucidating the many complexities of innate immunity against Francisella tularensis, a category A biothreat agent. Our findings have yielded important insights into the role of pattern recognition receptors in protective immunity against Francisella infection. The focus of a recently renewed three-year research grant funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health is to explore how Francisella evades the host innate immune responses and blocks the development of adaptive immune responses required for protection from subsequent infections. Defining the molecular mechanism(s) of suppression of innate immunity and how this impacts adaptive immunity will be an essential first step towards development of immunotherapeutic, as well as effective vaccine strategies to combat this fatal disease.
  • Another area of research in the lab is to investigate the molecular mechanisms leading to the development of antibiotic resistance in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains. S. aureus is a major human pathogen that has demonstrated rapid emergence of resistance against novel antibiotics shortly after their introduction. Daptomycin is one of the few available intravenous antibiotics used to treat serious bloodstream infections including endocarditis secondary to MRSA. However, emergence of daptomycin resistance during therapy of MRSA-endocarditis has been documented with this high organism load infection. A three-year research grant awarded jointly by Wadsworth Center and Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is exploring the emergence of daptomycin-resistant S. aureus using a bioreactor infection model, innovative mathematical pharmacokinetic/ pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) systems analyses and advanced bioinformatics tools. Unraveling unique molecular mechanisms responsible for the emergence of daptomycin resistance is essential for the development of new antimicrobial drugs.

Learn More About Dr. Malik

  • Member, Study Section, Immunology (ZRG1 IMM-T81, ZRG1 IMM-U81), IRG Center for Scientific Review, National Institutes of Health, August 2018.
  • Member, Microbiology BSc Fellowship Peer Review Committee, American Heart Association, September 2018.
  • Reviewer, Czech Science Foundation, 2018.
  • Organizer, Eastern New York Branch of American Society for Microbiology Meeting, Albany NY, October 2018.
  • Moderator, Host-Pathogen Interactions session in Eastern New York Branch of American Society for Microbiology Meeting, Albany NY, October 2018.
  • Member, Study Section, Immunology, IRG Center for Scientific Review, National Institutes of Health
  • Member, Study Section, Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, IRG Center for Scientific Review, National Institutes of Health
  • American Association of Immunologists Undergraduate Faculty Award
  • Young Investigator Award by Society for Leukocyte Biology and the International Endotoxin & Innate Immunity Society
  • Overseas Development Authority (ODA/DFID) Fellowship, U.K.

  • Repression of inflammasome by Francisella tularensis, 2R15AI107698-03, 9/01/20 – 8/30/24, NIH/NIAID
  • Repression of inflammasome by Francisella tularensis, 2R15AI107698-02, 12/01/16 – 11/30/19, NIAID/NIH
  • Repression of inflammasome by Francisella tularensis, 1R15AI107698-01, 07/16/13 – 11/30/16, NIAID/NIH
  • Modeling the emergence of antimicrobial resistance, 02/16/16 – 02/15/19, Investment in collaborative research at the Wadsworth Center and ACPHS grant
  • Modulation of host innate immune response by Francisella tularensis, 1R56AI101109-01A1, 09/06/13 – 08/31/16, NIAID/NIH
  • Synergistic extra- and intracellular recognition of Francisella tularensis, 7R21AI075250-03, 12/22/08-11/30/12, NIAID/NIH
  • Modulation of macrophage function by Francisella tularensis, 7R56AI090072-02, 09/01/10 – 08/31/12, NIAID/NIH

Alqahtani, M., Ma, Z., Miller, J., Yu, J., Malik, M., and Bakshi, C.S. Comparative analysis of absent in melanoma 2-inflammasome activation in Francisella tularensis and Francisella novicida. Frontiers in Microbiology. 2023 May 17; 14:1188112. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1188112. eCollection 2023. PMID: 37266012

Ma, Z., Higgs, M., Alqahtani, M., Bakshi, C.S., and Malik, M. Thioredoxin A1 controls the oxidative stress response of Francisella tularensis Live Vaccine Strain (LVS). Journal of Bacteriology. 2022 May 17;204(5): e0008222. doi: 10.1128/jb.00082-22. Epub 2022 Apr 27. PMID: 35475633

Mishra, S., Lasek-Nesselquist, E., Mathur, A., Ma, Z., Boonthaworn, K., O’Donnell, N., Sui, H., Pata, J.D., McDonough, K.A., Jayachandran, P., and Malik, M. Phenotypic and genetic changes associated with the seesaw effect in MRSA strain N315 in a bioreactor model. Journal of Global Antimicrobial Resistance. 2022 Jan 24: S2213-7165(22)00017-0. doi: 10.1016/j.jgar.2022.01.013.

Suresh, R.V., Westcott, E.L., Higgs, M., Russo, V., Bakshi, C.S., and Malik, M. NLRP3 increases host susceptibility to Tularemia. Frontiers in Microbiology. 12:725572. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.725572. eCollection 2021.

Marghani, D., Ma, Z., Centone, A.J., Huang, W., Malik, M., and Bakshi, C.S. An AraC/XylS family transcriptional regulator modulates the oxidative stress response of Francisella tularensis. Journal of Bacteriology. September 2021. JB0018521. doi: 10.1128/JB.00185-21.