Dr. Kalpana Luthra
Dr. Kalpana Luthra
Professor & Head
Department of Biochemistry
Room No-4001, 4th Floor,
Convergence Block,
All India Institute of Medical Sciences,
New Delhi-110029
Phone: 011-26549242
Email Id: kalpanaluthra[at]gmail[dot]com
Academic Details :
- PhD in Biochemistry in the year 1994, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
- Masters in Science (M.Sc in Biochemistry) in the year 1987, SIES College, Mumbai
Dr. Kalpana Luthra is a Professor & Head in the Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India. She completed her PhD at AIIMS in 1994 and joined as faculty at AIIMS in 1998. She was awarded Shakuntala Amir Chand Prizeby Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for the year 2003 & Fogarty fellowship in 2002 and availed training in HIV-1 antibody related work at New York University. She is a Fellow of The National Academy of Medical Sciences India (NAMS), National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) & Indian National Science Academy (INSA).
Research Focus of the lab
HIV Immunology: Coevolution of virus and antibody responses, generation and characterization of human recombinant anti-HIV-1 monoclonal antibodies
HIV-1 is a complex virus with a remarkable ability to protect itself from our intricate network of immune system. This is achieved by masking itself from the immune recognition by acquiring the host proteins or by escaping the humoral response by virtue of its extraordinary ability to mutate. This leads to generation of diverse strains of HIV-1 virus, making the treatment and prevention a complicated process. More than 90% of the HIV-1 infections in India are caused by clade C viruses. Our lab focuses on studying various aspects of HIV-1 infection which includes:
- Characterizing the antibody responses against the circulating virus in infected donors, particularly infected infants and pediatric patients.
- Generation and characterization of human anti-HIV-1 recombinant monoclonal antibodies as potential therapeutic reagents against HIV-1.
- To study the coevolution of virus and antibody responses during natural infection and map neutralization determinants on the HIV-1C viruses circulating in infant and adult infected individuals to identify clade C specific epitopes for immunogen design.
- Currently, our lab i
