Shwetha Shivaprasad

I am a trained virologist, currently working as a DST-Ramanujan Fellow at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, India. I completed my postdoctoral work from Stanford University and my PhD from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

During my PhD, I identified and characterized the molecular mechanisms by which the protein HuR supports HCV infection in human liver cells, paving the way for the use of chemical inhibitors of HuR as antivirals. I discovered novel microRNA and protein biomarkers that can be used to monitor disease progression in HCV infected patients. 

As a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Peter Sarnow at Stanford University, I started working on mosquito-borne RNA viruses. I developed high throughput RNA-centric proteomics-based methods to identify host proteins essential for Dengue virus infection in human and mosquito cells and identified Loquacious as a pro-Dengue mosquito protein that can be targeted to block virus transmission.

Currently, my lab focuses on identifying unique ways in which RNA viruses manipulate host cellular machineries, using  cutting-edge mass spectrometry-based methods, molecular and biochemical approaches with the ultimate goal of designing novel antiviral interventions.

I love to make time for hiking, biking, writing, yoga and reading historical fiction.