Nitasha Menon
Visiting PhD Student - Amrita University


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Nitasha Menon
After making the big move from Florida to Kerala, India in 2012, Nitasha received her B.Sc. degree in Biotechnology in 2015 from the Amrita School of Biotechnology. During this time, she developed an interest in bacterial pathogens while working on a project under the guidance of Dr. Sanjay Pal and Dr. Nandita Mishra funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that looked at the potential of Staphylococcal amidases in eliminating pathogenic bacteria in sewage effluents. Her interest in this area continued as she ventured on to complete her Master’s in Biotechnology from Amrita. Her Master’s thesis on investigating the therapeutic potential of natural products, such as clove bud oil, against multidrug resistant gram-negative pathogens was largely completed during her first visit to the Nizet Lab in 2017.

Currently, Nitasha is working towards her Ph.D. at Amrita, where she has been uncovering novel bacteriophages to combat multidrug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa under the guidance of Dr. Geetha Kumar. Her research in the Nizet lab  focus  on exploring  alternative methods to target antibiotic-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii by boosting the activities of the host innate immune system.