Biology of Mycobacterial Lipids

Dr Zeeshan Fatima is currently Associate Professor at the Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Haryana, India. Dr Fatima took her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Banaras Hindu University, in 2000 and 2002, respectively. She earned her doctoral degree in biochemistry from Aligarh Muslim University, in 2008. She has held research positions under nationally and internationally funded research projects, which include her postdoctoral work in 2010, at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. In 2012, Dr Fatima received two Young Scientist awards under fast-track and women scientist schemes, respectively, from the Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi, India.  Additionally, she has acquired regular projects for funding from the Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences, Mumbai, the Ministry of AYUSH, and DBT, New Delhi, India. She is actively engaged in research in the field of infectious diseases, in particular, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. She has 45 peer-reviewed papers to her credit in international and national journals of repute and has authored three books. She has successfully convened three national conferences as organizing secretary. She has supervised four PhD students and guided 25 undergraduate and postgraduate students in their research projects. She is life member of the International Society of Infectious Diseases, the Association for Microbiologists, India, and the Society of Biological Chemists, India Dr. Stéphane Canaan is currently Director of Research at the CNRS in the Laboratory of Engineering of Macromolecular Systems, Marseille, France. Dr Canaan has been working for 26 years in the field of lipolytic enzymes, his main interest being to decipher their physiological functions and biochemical mechanisms of action in several organisms. He earned his doctoral degree in biochemistry and cellular biology from Aix-Marseille University, in 1999. In 2000, he received the GERLI prize for his thesis. He spent five years as a post-doctoral fellow, three years at Seattle University, USA, and two years in the AFMB lab in Marseille, France. He acquired a permanent position at CNRS in 2004. He has published 87 papers in peer-reviewed journals and has three patents in this field. Since 2004, he has headed the Lipolysis and Bacterial Pathogenicity team, consisting of 9-10 members, whose main research topics involve characterizing the lipolytic enzymes in lipid metabolism of pathogenic mycobacteria (Mycotuberculosis, Mycoabscessus, Mycoulcerans, etc.), to develop specific and potent inhibitors of these enzymes, thus opening new possibilities of controlling mycobacterial infections. In 2015, he organized a mycobacterial meeting with 160 participants. The team is internationally recognized in the field of biochemistry of mycobacterial lipases. Since 2006, Dr Canaan has obtained more than 15 projects, 9 as principal investigator and 6 as partner. Moreover, since 2005, he has supervised 10 PhD students, 3 currently in progress, and more than 60 graduate and undergraduate students.

• 1. An overview of mycolic acids: structure-function-classification, biosynthesis, and beyond2. Lipid biosynthetic pathways as potential drug targets for emerging mycobacterial pathogens3. Mycobacterial lipids in the host-pathogen interface: roles in pathogenesis and host immune response4. Lipids and glycolipids as biomarkers of mycobacterial infections5. Multifaceted roles of mycobacterium cell envelope glycolipids during host cell membrane interactions6. Conserved mechanisms drive host-lipid access, import, and utilization in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and M. marinum7. Biological implications of mycobacterial lipids on NKT-cells stimulation8. The effect of chemically synthetic mycobacterial mycolates on phospholipidome immunomodulation of murine macrophages9. Polyketide synthases in mycobacterial lipid metabolism10. Understanding mycobacterial lipid metabolism and employing it as a tool to produce attenuated TB vaccine candidates11. Deciphering the physiological role of serine enzymes involved in mycobacterial lipid metabolism using activity-based protein profiling12. Intrabacterial lipid inclusions: overview of an amazing organelle13. Multiple facets and functions of the toxin mycolactone produced by Mycobacterium ulcerans