Dr. Divija Deshpande

- Expanding the scope of endogenous opioid pathway in diabetes-related neurobehaviour and in human nerve tissue samples - Investigating the role of endogenous opioids in the dysfunction of multiple organs during diabetes - Guidance of PhD student projects - Writing scientific manuscripts

- Studied the relevance of endogenous opioid pathway to painful diabetic neuropathy using cell culture models and diabetic mouse models - Investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying the dysfunctional opioid network during diabetes in vitro and in vivo - Studied the functional consequences by measuring sensory responses in mice. - Modulated sensory responses by virus-mediated gene delivery directly into the sensory ganglia in diabetic mice

Using confocal microscopy and immunoblotting, studied the phosphorylation of proteins involved in mTOR signalling pathway and changes in actin organisation in colon cancer cells

- Establishment of a novel cell culture model for studying dengue haemorrhagic fever pathology - Studied cytopathic effects in vitro post virus infection using confocal and electron microscopy - Studied cell migration properties using in vitro angiogenesis assay after infection with dengue virus

- Studied the effect of dengue virus coat protein on human platelet morphology using electron microscopy - Studied the changes in platelet adhesion and clotting behaviour upon incubation with dengue virus and its coat proteins

Doctoral thesis - Impairment in the endogenous opioid system contributes to painful diabetic neuropathy Diabetes, Neuropathy, Pain research, Virology, Translational Medicine

Master Thesis: Effects of Dengue virus E protein derived peptides on platelet aggregation & biology Pathologies of various viral diseases, Virus production & propagation (in vivo, in vitro), Epidemiology, Statistics, Vaccines, antivirals, Techniques: molecular biology, serology, bioinformatics

Immunology, Biochemistry, Recombinant DNA Technology, Microbiology, In vitro and in vivo methods, molecular and cell biology techniques, statistical methods