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- Honorary Senior Lecturer
- Infection, Immunity & Inflammation Dept
- UCL GOS Institute of Child Health
- Faculty of Pop Health Sciences
Sanjib Bhakta is currently a full-Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Biochemistry, Strategic Dean (Internationalisation and Partnership) and Programme Director of MRes Global Infectious Diseases at the Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Birkbeck, University of London and UCL (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/biology/our-staff/academic/sanjib-bhakta).
Following a BSc (Hons), an MSc and a PhD in Molecular Microbiology & Biochemistry from world class Universities & Research Institutions in India, Dr Bhakta joined the Oxford University Division of Medical Sciences as an Oxford University innovation Senior Research Scholar and shortly after he was awarded with a Wellcome Trust International post-doctoral Fellowship. He graduated from The Queen’s College, University of Oxford completing a second doctoral degree (DPhil in Pharmacology) and received a “Sir William Paton Prize” from the Oxford University Division of Medicine. He attained his first academic appointment at the University of London as a University Lecturer to lead his interdisciplinary research and research-informed teaching and promoted to a Senior Lecturer (equivalent to Associate Professor), to a Reader and then a full Professor in 2019. He became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK after achieving a PGCHE from the University of London. To date, he has supervised twelve PhD students, post-doctoral scientists, a UNESCO-L’Oreal “Women in Science” Fellow, an ERS-International Fellow, a ICMR-International Fellow in his Laboratory. Prof. Bhakta is a core member of UCL-TB (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/tb) and MRC-funded TB Drug Discovery consortium, UK. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, received Academic Excellence Award, awarded with a Cipla Distinguished Fellowship in Pharmaceutical Sciences, BITE Professorial Fellowship and elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology. He is an “Antibiotic Action Champion” member of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. As a STEM ambassador Professor Bhakta has volunteered for the Wellcome Trust-funded programme “Researchers in Residence”, a winner of “I’m a Scientist, Get me out of Here” and has participated in the British Science Museum “News & Views” programme. His original research publication in Nature Scientific Report (Top 100 most read article in 2018) on anti-infective molecules from Persian Shallots revealed resistance-reversal properties of natural products and featured in BBC Health News (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42751095).On a regular basis, he has acted as a Mentor for PhD students and early career international research staffs at a career acceleration programme organised by Oxford and London University Career Services.
Professor Sanjib Bhakta’s research interests have focused on tackling antimicrobial resistance in global infectious bacterial pathogens including Mycobacterium tuberculosis. His graduate research was on the structural and functional characterisation of β-lactam drug targets. He has also investigated a number of endogenous pathways and molecular machines (cell-wall and cell-division associated proteins) and the role of transporter proteins in relation to efflux-mediated antimicrobial resistance. Since his academic appointment (in 2006;http://www.ismb.lon.ac.uk) at the Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Birkbeck, University of London, he has developed his research laboratory (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/departments/biology/our-research/mycobacteria-lab/) and co-ordinated interdisciplinary research collaborations primarily to investigate: (a) cell-wall metabolism and recycling (supported by the Wellcome Trust and MRC, UK); (b) chemical biology approaches to evaluate the antibiotic potential of novel chemical scaffolds from natural sources (supported by translational research awards, European Respiratory Society, Global Challenges Research Fund, Commonwealth, British Council and interdisciplinary PhD studentships in collaboration with UCL School of Pharmacy and Royal Free Hospital/UCL. Professor Bhakta is a member of the London International Development Centre (LIDC: https://lidc.ac.uk/) since its inception.
Professor Sanjib Bhakta, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, practices innovative and research-led methods in learning and teaching. In addition to face-to-face teaching, syllabus, instructions and all relevant learning materials, formative and summative assessment feedbacks are available to the enrolled students via Moodle. Prof Bhakta is the Programme Director of MRes Global Infectious Diseases and a Member of the Department’s Graduate Research Degrees Committee.
A number of timely and important literature-based research projects and/or laboratory based experimental research projects on mycobacterial diseases (such as Tuberculosis and Leprosy) are offered to the above undergraduate, postgraduate and MPhil/PhD research students.
To discuss a research project in person, please contact Professor Sanjib Bhakta:
s.bhakta@bbk.ac.uk, sanjib.bhakta@ucl.ac.uk
01-OCT-2019 | Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Biochemistry | ISMB Department of Biological Sciences | Birkbeck, University of London/UCL, United Kingdom |
01-OCT-2014 – 30-SEP-2019 | Reader in Molecular Microbiology and Biochemistry | ISMB Department of Biological Sciences | Birkbeck, University of London/ UCL, United Kingdom |
01-OCT-2009 – 30-SEP-2014 | University Senior Lecturer in Microbiology | ISMB Department of Biological Sciences | Birkbeck, University of London/ UCL, United Kingdom |
01-AUG-2006 – 30-SEP-2009 | University Lecturer in Microbiology | ISMB School of Biological and Chemical Sciences | Birkbeck, University of London/ UCL, United Kingdom |
01-OCT-2003 – 31-JUL-2006 | Post Doctoral Research Scientist (Wellcome Trust) | Department of Pharmacology/ The Queen's College | University of Oxford, United Kingdom |
01-AUG-2002 – 30-SEP-2003 | Wellcome Trust International Travelling Fellow | Department of Pharmacology | University of Oxford, United Kingdom |
01-SEP-2001 – 31-JUL-2002 | Oxford University Innovation Senior Research Scholar | Department of Pharmacology | University of Oxford, United Kingdom |
01-SEP-2000 – 31-AUG-2001 | Senior Research Fellow | Department of Chemistry | Bose Institute, India |
01-APR-1998 – 31-AUG-2000 | Junior Research Fellow | Department of Chemistry | Bose Institute, India |