Prof. K. Dharmalingam

Qualification M.Sc., Ph.D.
Designation Director
Aravind Medical Research Foundation
e-mail id kdharmalingam@aravind.org
dharmalingam.k@gmail.com

Dr. K. Dharmalingam is a DBT Distinguished Biotechnology Research Professor. He joined Aravind Medical Research Foundation as Director- Research from July 2013. He has published more than 200 papers in peer reviewed journals in the area of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology authored two books and holds two patents. He was instrumental in promoting Biotechnology research and teaching in India. His area of current research interest is mainly Proteomics of eye diseases. His previous research includes DNA restriction and repair in E coli and regulation of antibiotic biosynthesis in streptomyces. He is a member of Indian Academy of Sciences and Indian National Science Academy and an elected member of Guha Research Conference. Dr.K.Dharmalingam has obtained numerous honors and awards including the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award (1992).

Peer-Reviewed Journals:
  1. Divya Arunachalam, Venkatesh Prajna Namperumalsamy, Lalitha Prajna, Dharmalingam Kuppamuthu “Human corneal epithelial cells internalize Aspergillusflavus spores by actin mediated endocytosis” Infection and Immunity 2021;89
  2. Wong SSW, Venugopalan LP, Beaussart A, Karnam A, Shait Mohammed MR, Jayapal JM, Bretagne S, Bayry J, Prajna L, Dharmalingam K, Latgé J-P, Aimanianda    V. Species-Specific Immunological Reactivities Depend on the Cell-Wall Organization of the Two Aspergillus, Aspergillus fumigatus and A. flavus. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2021;11:643312
  3. Sarah SzeWah Wong, Irene Daniel, Jean-Pierre Gangneux, Jeya Maheshwari Jayapal, Hélène Guegan, Sarah Dellière, Prajna Lalitha, Rajashri Shende, TarunaMadan, Jagadeesh Bayry, J. Iñaki Guijarro, Dharmalingam  Kuppamuthu, Vishukumar Aimanianda “Differential interactions of serum and bronchoalveolar lavage complement proteins with conidia of airborne fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus” Infect immune 2020 Aug 19;88(9)
  4. Mohammed Razeeth Shait Mohammed, Sandhya Krishnan, Rabbind Singh Amrathlal, Jeya Maheshwari Jayapal, Venkatesh Prajna Namperumalsamy, Lalitha Prajna, Dharmalingam Kuppamuthu “Local Activation of the Alternative pathway of complement system in Mycotic Keratitis patient tear” Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2020;10: 205
  5. Lini Nirmala, Kuppamuthu Dharmalingam “Organisation of Mycobacterium lepraemce operon and expression of mce genes in leprosy patients”International Journal of Advanced Biotechnology Research (IJABR). 2019;9:13-24
  6. Sivakumar Rathinam, Irene Daniel, Dharmalingam Kuppamuthu & Jeya Maheshwari Jayapal “Molecular Mimicry between Betaine Aldehyde Dehydrogenase of Leptospira and Retinal Dehydrogenase 1 of Human Lens: A Potential Trigger for Cataract Formation in Leptospiral Uveitis Patients” Ocular Immunology and Inflammation 2019 e pub
  7. S Rajasekaran, Chitraa Tangavel, Sri Vijay Anand, Dilip Chand Raja Soundararajan, Sharon Miracle Nayagam, Monica Steffi Matchado, Raveendran Muthurajan, Ajoy Prasad Shetty, Rishi Mugesh Kanna, Dharmalingam Kuppamuthu “Inflammaging determines health and disease in lumbar discs—evidence from differing proteomic signatures of healthy, aging, and degenerating discs“ The Spine Journal 000 (2019) 1−12
  8. Niranjana Parthiban, Nithya Lakshmi Sampath, Jayapal Jeya Maheshwari, Namperumalsamy Venkatesh Prajna, Prajna Lalitha, Kuppamuthu Dharmalingam “Quantitative Profiling of tear proteome reveals down regulation of Zinc alpha -2 glycoprotein in Aspergillus flavus keratitis patientsExp Eye Res. 2019 (Jun 21) E pub
  9. Kim R, Krishnadas R, Dharmalingam K, Jeya Maheshwari J. Proteomics of Neurodegenerative Disorders of the Eye. In: Prakash G and Iwata T editor. Advances in Vision Research: genetic eye research in Asia and the Pacific Vol II. Singapore: Springer Nature . 2019 p. 393-402
  10. Dharmalingam K. Immunology of the eye. In: Prajna NV, editor. Peyman’s Principles & practice of ophthalmology. 2nd ed. 2 Vols. New Delhi: Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers; 2019. p. 163-174.
  11. Mohammed, R. S. M., Kumar, M., Amrathlal, R. S., Kannan, P., Maheshwari, J.J., Prajna, N.V., Lalitha, P., Dharmalingam, K. “Identification of the proteoforms of surface localized Hydrophobin A of Aspergillus flavus and determination of the mechanism of proteoform generation.” Journal of Proteomics 193 (2019) 62–70
  12. Mohammed Razeeth Shait Mohammed, Muthu Kumar, Rabbind Singh Amrathlal, Priya Kannan, Jeya Maheshwari Jayapal, Venkatesh Prajna Namperumalsamy, Lalitha Prajna, Dharmalingam Kuppamuthu “Data set for the spore surface proteome and Hydrophobin A/RodA proteoforms of A.flavus”. Data in Brief 2019
  13. Rajasekaran, Chitraa Tangavel, Siddharth N. Aiyer, Sharon Miracle Nayagam, Raveendran, Naveen Luke Demonte, Pramela Subbaiah, Rishi Kanna, Ajoy Prasad Shetty, K. Dharmalingam “ISSLS PRIZE IN CLINICAL SCIENCE 2017: Is infection the possible initiator of disc disease? An insight from proteomic analysis” Eur Spine J (2017) 26:1384–1400
  14. Jeyalakshmi Kandhavelu, Naveen Luke Demonte, Venkatesh Prajna Namperumalsamy,Lalitha Prajna, Chitra Thangavel, Jeya Maheshwari Jayapal, Dharmalingam Kuppamuthu “Aspergillus flavus induced alterations in tear protein profile reveal pathogen induced host response to fungal infection” Journal of Proteomics 2017 Jan 30;152:13-21
  15. JeyalakshmiKandhavelu, Naveen Luke Demonte, Venkatesh Prajna Namperumalsamy, Lalitha Prajna, Chitra Thangavel, Jeya Maheshwari Jayapal, Dharmalingam Kuppamuthu “Data set of Aspergillus flavus induced alterations in tear proteome: Understanding the pathogen-induced host response to fungal infection” Data in Brief 9(2016)888–894
  16. Selvam RM, Nithya R, Devi PN, Shree RS, Nila MV, Demonte NL, Thangavel C,Maheshwari JJ, Lalitha P, Prajna  NV,  Dharmalingam    Exoproteome  of Aspergillus flavus corneal isolates and saprophytes: Identification of proteoforms of an oversecreted alkaline protease. J Proteomics. 2015. 115:23-35.
  17. Selvam RM, Nithya R, Devi PN, Shree RS, Nila MV, Demonte NL, Thangavel C,Maheshwari JJ, Lalitha P, Prajna NV, Dharmalingam K. Data set for the mass spectrometry based exoproteome analysis of Aspergillus flavus Data in Brief. 2015. 2: 42-47;
  18. Sivaganesa Karthikeyan R, Vareechon C , Prajna NV , Dharmalingam, K Pearlman E, and Lalitha P IL-17 expressionin peripheral blood neutrophils from fungal keratitis patients and healthy cohorts in south India” Journal of Infect Dis. 2015 Jan 1;211(1):130–4.
  19. Srinivasan Senthilkumari, Badri Talwar, Kuppamuthu Dharmalingam, Ravilla D Ravindran, Ramamurthy Jayanthi, Perisamy Sundaresan, Charu Saravanan, Ian S Young, Alan D Dangour, Astrid Fletcher “Polymorphisms in sodium-dependent vitamin C transporter genes and plasma, aqueous and lens ascorbate concentrations in an ascorbate depleted setting”. Eye Res.2014;124:24-30
  20. Amrathlal Rabbind Singh, Paranthaman Senthamaraikannan, Chitra Thangavel, Ravikanth Danda, Shunmugiah Karutha Pandian, Kuppamuthu Dharmalingam (2013) “ChiS histidine kinase negatively regulates the production of chitinase ChiC in Streptomyces peucetius. Microbiological Research (Epub ahead of print)
  21. Sandip Kumar Nandi1, Elengikal Abdul Azeez Rehna, Alok Kumar Panda, Sugathan Shiburaj, Kuppamuthu Dharmalingam, Ashis Biswas (2013) “A S52P Mutation in the “α-crystallin domain” of Mycobacterium leprae HSP18 Reduces its Oligomeric Size and Chaperone Function” FEBSJ 280;5994-6009
  22. Jayapal Jeya Maheshwari and Kuppamuthu Dharmalingam (2013) “Protective role of Mycobacterium leprae small heat-shock protein in heterologous hosts, Escherichia coli and Mycobacterium smegmatis, grown under stress” Journal of Medical Microbiology 62: 959–967
  23. Durairaj M. Kumar, Vikas Patil, Bini Ramachandran, Murugesan V. Nila,Kuppamuthu Dharmalingam, Kumaravel Somasundaram (2013) “Temozolomide-modulated glioma proteome: Role of interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase-4 (IRAK4) in chemosensitivity” Proteomics13; 2113-2124
  24. Sivagnanam Ananthi, Namperumalsamy Venkatesh Prajna, Prajna Lalitha,  Murugesan Valarnila, Kuppamuthu Dharmalingam (2013) “Pathogen Induced Changes in the Protein Profile of Human Tears from Fusarium Keratitis Patients” PLoS one 53018: 8; 1-16
  25. Bini Ramachandran, Kanak Lata Dikshit, Kuppamuthu Dharmalingam (2012)Recombinant E. coli expressing Vitreoscilla haemoglobin prefers aerobic metabolism under microaerobic conditions:A proteome-level study Biosci. 37;617– 633]
  26. Sivagnanam Ananthi, Ramachandran Sarojini Santhosh, Murugesan Valar Nila, Namperumalsamy Venkatesh Prajna, Prajna Lalitha, Kuppamuthu Dharmalingam (2011) “Comparative proteomics of human male and female tears bytwo- dimensional electrophoresis” Experimental Eye Research 92 ; 454-463
  27. Rajapandian Sivaganesa Karthikeyan, SixtoM. Leal Jr, Namperumalsamy Venkatesh Prajna, Kuppamuthu Dharmalingam, David M. Geiser, Eric Pearlman, and Prajna Lalitha (2011) “Expression of Innate and Adaptive Immune Mediators in Human Corneal Tissue Infected With Aspergillus or Fusarium ”The Journal of Infectious Diseases 204:942–50
Books Published:
  1. Experiments with M13. Gene cloning and DNA sequencing. Macmillan India Pvt. Ltd. 1986
  2. Concepts in Biotechnology (1996) (ed.) Balasubramanian, D, C F A Bryce, K.Dharmalingam, J Green and Kunthala Jayaraman. University Press, Hyderabad. Chapters contributed: “Plant Biotechnology” – K. Dharmalingam and K.Veluthambi
  3. Deep Roots, Open Skies: New Biology in India (2004) (ed.) S.K. Basu, J.K. Batra and D.M. Salunke. Narosha Publishing House, New Delhi.  Chapter contributed: “Modern Biotechnology in India”
Books Chapters published:
  1.  Kim R, Krishnadas R, Dharmalingam K, Jeya Maheshwari J. Proteomics of Neurodegenerative Disorders of the Eye. In: Prakesh G and Iwata T editor. Advances in Vision Research: genetic eye research in Asia and the Pacific Vol II. Singapore: Springer Nature. 2019 p. 393-402
  2. Dharmalingam K. Immunology of the eye. In: Prajna NV, editor. Peyman’s principles & practice of ophthalmology. 2nd ed. 2 Vols. New Delhi: Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers; 2019. p. 163-174.

2016 : Bireswar Chakrabarti Oration Award

2010-2015 : Recipient of DBT Distinguished Research Professorship

2010 : Nominated member for Tamil Nadu State Academic Audit Accreditation Council (TNSAAC)

2007-2010 : Nominated member for Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education

2007 : Recipient of Tata Innovation Fellowship Award

1997-2000 : Nominated member in Syndicate of Madurai Kamaraj University

1994 : Elected Fellow for National Academy of Sciences

1992 : Recipient of Shanthi Swarup Bhatnagar Award

1985 : Elected Member for Guha Research Conference