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The Dr Y.S. Narayana Rao Oration Award was instituted by Smt. Kamala
Narayana Rao in 1972, in memory of her husband, late Dr Y.S. Narayana Rao,
former Director of King Institute of Preventive Medicine, Guindy, Chennai. It is
given to a scientist for carrying out sustained research work in the field of
Microbiology.
The award for the year 2010 is being presented to Dr Praveen Rishi, Reader-
Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology, Panjab University,
Chandigarh for her research work on 'Salmonella-host interactions and
possible biotherapeutic intervention'.
In view of the differential expression of virulence traits under in vivo and in
vitro conditions, her research interest has been directed towards the Salmonellamacrophage
interactions in order to understand the survival strategies of the
organism in response to different kinds of environmental stresses, which the
microorganisms encounter inside the host. In this context, outermembrane
proteins which get coordinately expressed under the conditions mimicking
the in vivo situations have been identified. Work using probiotics and prebiotics
indicated that these may act by different mechanisms involved in affording
protection against Salmonella-induced liver damage. Additionally, in view of
the emerging drug resistance in the pathogen, she evaluated the biotherapeutic
potential of products from eukaryotic (Paneth cell cryptdin) origin. She
documented that cryptdin-2, a cationic antimicrobial peptide, has the
therapeutic potential against experimental Salmonellosis.
Dr Rishi has published over 90 research papers in national and international
journals.