Office of Postdoctoral Affairs

Cheshta Sharma

Postdoctoral Fellow

  • Professional Background

    Education

    • 2006 - B. Sc. Zoology (hons.) - University of Delhi
    • 2008 - M.Sc. Biotechnology - Punjab Technical University
    • 2018 - Ph.D. Medical Microbiology - University of Delhi

    Honors

    • 2011 - Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (CSIR-UGC NET) fellowship for pursuing Ph.D. (All India Rank-63).
    • 2013 - Travel award by ICMR, Govt. of India for 23rd European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Berlin, Germany
    • 2014 - ALLFUN Scholarship for participation and oral presentation of my work in 6th Advances against aspergillosis held at Madrid, Spain
    • 2016 - Travel award by European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) for oral presentation at 26th ECCMID, Amsterdam, Netherlands
    • 2018 - Travel Award by ICMR, Govt. of India to participate in the 8th Advances against aspergillosis, Lisbon, Portugal
  • Publications
    1. Sharma C, Kadosh D. Post-transcriptional control of antifungal resistance in human fungal pathogens. Crit Rev Microbiol. 2022:1-16.
    2. Rybak JM, Sharma C, Doorley LA,  Barker KS, Palmer GE, Rogers PD. Delineation of the direct contribution of Candida auris ERG11 mutations on clinical triazole resistance. Microbiol Spectr. 2021;9:e0158521.
    3. Nishimoto AT, Sharma C, Rogers P.D. Molecular and genetic basis of azole antifungal resistance in the opportunistic pathogenic fungus Candida albicans. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2019;  doi:10.1093/jac/dkz400.
    4. Sharma C, Nelson-Sathi S, Singh A, Radhakrishna Pillai M, Chowdhary A. Genomic perspective of triazole resistance in clinical and environmental Aspergillus fumigatus isolates without cyp51A mutations. Fungal Genet Biol. 2019;132:103265.
    5. Colley T*, Sharma C*, Alanio A, Kimura G, Daly L, Nakaoki T, Nishimoto Y, Bretagne S, Kizawa Y, Strong P, Rapeport G, Ito K, Meis JF, Chowdhary A. Anti-fungal activity of a novel triazole, PC1244, against emerging azole-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus and other species of Aspergillus. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2019;74:2950-2958. (*Equal contribution)
    6. Sharma C, Kumar R, Kumar N, Masih A, Gupta D, Chowdhary A. Investigation of multiple resistance mechanisms in voriconazole resistant Aspergillus flavus clinical isolates from a chest hospital surveillance in Delhi, India. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2018;62: pii: e01928-17.
    7. Chowdhary A, Prakash A, Sharma C, Kordalewska M, Kumar A, Sarma S, Tarai B, Singh A, Upadhyaya G, Upadhyay S, Yadav P, Singh PK, Khillan V, Sachdeva N, Perlin DS, Meis JF. A multicentre study of antifungal susceptibility patterns among 350 Candida auris isolates (2009-17) in India: role of the ERG11 and FKS1 genes in azole and echinocandin resistance. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2018;73:891-899.
    8. Fakhim H, Vaezi A, Dannaoui E, Sharma C, Mousavi B, Chowdhary A, Meis JF, Badali H. In vitro combination of voriconazole with micafungin against azole-resistant clinical isolates of Aspergillus fumigatus from different geographical regions. Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis. 2018;91(3):266-268.
    9. Chowdhary A, Sharma C, Meis JF. Candida auris: A rapidly emerging cause of hospital acquired multi-drug resistant fungal infections globally.  PLoS Pathog. 2017;13:e1006290.
    10. Chowdhary A, Sharma C, Meis JF. Azole-resistant aspergillosis: epidemiology, molecular mechanisms and treatment. J Infect Dis. 2017;216:S436-S444.
    11. Sharma C, Chowdhary A. Molecular basis of antifungal resistance in filamentous fungi. Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2017;pii: S0924-8579(17)30267-4. 
    12. Chowdhary A, Hagen F, Sharma C, Al-Hatmi AMS, Giuffrè L, Giosa,Shangrong Fan D, Badali H,  Felice MR, de Hoog S, Meis JF, Romeo O. Whole genome-based amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis reveals genetic diversity in Candida africana. Front Microbiol. 2017;8:556.
    13. Arendrup M, Prakash A, Meletiadis J, Sharma C, Chowdhary A. Comparison of EUCAST and CLSI reference microdilution MICs of eight antifungal compounds for Candida auris and associated tentative epidemiological cutoff values. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2017;61:pii: e00485-17.
    14. Sanyal SK, Kanwar P, Yadav AK, Sharma C, Kumar A, Pandey GK. Arabidopsis CBL interacting protein kinase 3 interacts with ABR1, an APETALA2 domain transcription factor, to regulate ABA responses. Plant Sci. 2017;254:48-59.
    15. Sharma C, Kumar N, Pandey R, Meis JF, Chowdhary A. Whole genome sequencing of emerging multidrug resistant Candida auris isolates in India demonstrates low genetic variation. New Microbes New Infect. 2016;13:77-82.
    16. Prakash A*, Sharma C*, Singh A, Singh PK, Kumar A, Hagen F, Govender PN, Colombo AL, Meis JF, Chowdhary A. Evidence of genotypic diversity among Candida auris isolates by multilocus sequence typing, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry and amplified fragment length polymorphism. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2016;22:277.e1-9. (*Equal contribution)
    17. Chang H, Ashu E, Sharma C, Kathuria S, Chowdhary A, Xu J. Diversity and origins of Indian multi-triazole resistant strains of Aspergillus fumigatus. Mycoses. 2016;59:450-66.
    18. Chowdhary A, Masih A, Sharma C.  Azole Resistance in moulds—approach to detection in a clinical laboratory. Curr Fungal Infect Rep. 2016;10:96–106.
    19. Sharma C, Kumar N, Meis JF, Pandey R, Chowdhary A. Draft genome sequence of a fluconazole-resistant Candida auris strain from a candidemia patient in India. Genome Announc. 2015;3:e00722-15.
    20. Sharma C, Hagen F, Moroti R, Meis JF, Chowdhary A. Triazole-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus harbouring G54 mutation: Is it de novo or environmentally acquired? J Glob Antimicrob Resist. 2015;3:69-74.
    21. Chowdhary A, Sharma C, Kathuria S, Hagen F, Meis JF. Prevalence and mechanism of triazole resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus in a referral chest hospital in Delhi, India and an update of the situation in Asia. Front Microbiol. 2015;6:428.
    22. Kathuria S, Sharma C, Singh PK, Agarwal P, Agarwal K, Hagen F, Meis JF, Chowdhary A. Molecular epidemiology and in-vitro antifungal susceptibility of Aspergillus terreus species complex isolates in Delhi, India: evidence of genetic diversity by amplified fragment length polymorphism and microsatellite typing. PLoS One. 2015;10:e0118997.
    23. Kathuria S, Singh PK, Sharma C, Prakash A, Masih A, Kumar A, Meis JF, Chowdhary A. Multidrug-resistant Candida auris misidentified as Candida haemulonii: characterization by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry and DNA sequencing and its antifungal susceptibility profile variability by Vitek 2, CLSI Broth Microdilution, and Etest Method. J Clin Microbiol. 2015;53:1823-30.
    24. Sharma C, Muralidhar S, Xu J, Meis JF, Chowdhary A. Multilocus sequence typing of Candida africana from patients with vulvovaginal candidiasis in New Delhi, India. Mycoses. 2014;57:544-52.
    25. Chowdhary A, Anil Kumar V, Sharma C, Prakash A, Agarwal K, Babu R, Dinesh KR, Karim S, Singh SK, Hagen F, Meis JF. Multidrug-resistant endemic clonal strain of Candida auris in India. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2014;33:919-26.
    26. Chowdhary A, Sharma C, van den Boom M, Yntema JB, Hagen F, Verweij PE, Meis JF. Multi-azole-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus in the environment in Tanzania. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2014;69:2979-83.
    27. Chowdhary A Sharma C, Hagen F, Meis JF. Exploring azole antifungal drug resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus with special reference to resistance mechanisms. Future Microbiol. 2014;9:697-711.
    28. Chowdhary A, Sharma C, Kathuria S, Hagen F, Meis JF. Azole-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus with the environmental TR46/Y121F/T289A mutation in India. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2014;69(2):555-7.
    29. Kumar A, Babu R, Bijulal S, Abraham M, Sasidharan P, Kathuria S, Sharma C, Meis JF, Chowdhary A. Invasive mycosis due to species of Blastobotrys in immunocompromised patients with reduced susceptibility to antifungals. J Clin Microbiol. 2014;52:4094-9.
    30. Sharma C, Wankhede S, Muralidhar S, Prakash A, Singh PK, Kathuria S, Kumar DA, Khan N, Randhawa HS, Meis JF, Chowdhary A. Candida nivariensis as an etiologic agent of vulvovaginal candidiasis in a tertiary care hospital of New Delhi, India. Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis. 2013;76:46-50.
    31. Chowdhary A, Sharma C, Duggal S, Agarwal K, Prakash A, Singh PK, Jain S, Kathuria S, Randhawa HS, Hagen F, Meis JF. New clonal strain of Candida auris, Delhi, India. Emerg Infect Dis. 2013;19:1670-3.
    32. Chowdhary A, Kathuria S, Xu J, Sharma C, Sundar G, Singh PK, Gaur SN, Hagen F, Klaassen CH, Meis JF. Clonal expansion and emergence of environmental multiple-triazole-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus strains carrying the TR₃₄/L98H mutations in the cyp51A gene in India. PLoS One. 2012;7(12):e52871.