Journal of Nursing & Care

Piyali Mandal

Biography

 Ms. Mandal worked on characterization of melanin producing primary isolates of Cryptococcus neoformans phenotypically and genotypically and also studied the protective effect of melanin production against the potent antifungal Amphotericin-B. Her work also included studying the ultrastructural differences in the melanin producing and the melanin lacking strains of Cryptococcus neoformans by Electron Microscopy. This collaborative research was conducted with Dr. Joshua D. Nosanchuk as the US collaborator, in collaboration with Dr. Arturo Casadevall at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, USA. Her training and work experience from AITRP benefitted her to a great extent in her Ph.D. thesis back in India. Her work at AITRP resulted in four publications (Fems Microbiology Letters, Journal of Clinical Microbiology and BMC Microbiology) and several presentations at national and international conferences. After defending her thesis Ms. Mandal joined as a Post Doctoral Fellow in University of Iowa, Iowa, USA and is currently working on determining mechanisms by which Francisella tularensis evade killing by human neutrophils.