Awards & Honours

•           Received Global Health Travel Award for attending Keystone symposium of HIV persistence in Boston in 2015

•           Received Cytometry quiz- Awtar Krishnan prize in 12th Indo-US Cytometry Workshop and has been awarded free  membership for ISAC (The International Society for Advancement of Cytometry)

•           Manuscript in viral Immunology selected for prize under BD Biosciences Loyalty Program

Work Experience

Post Held

Employer

Duration

Scientist D

National AIDS Research Institute, Pune

Sep 2016 till date

Scientist C

National AIDS Research Institute, Pune

Sep 2012 to Sep 2016

Scientist B

National AIDS Research Institute, Pune

March 2007 to Sep 2012

Research Officer

National AIDS Research Institute, Pune

Aug 2003 to March 2007

Lecturer

K J Sommaiya Medical College, Mumbai

Dec 2002 to July 2003

List of grants received

Conferences/Trainings/Workshops Attended

1. Possible role of plasma Galectin-9 levels as a surrogate marker of viremia in HIV infected patients on anti-retroviral therapy. Abstract selected for presentation as a poster exhibition at the 10th IAS Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2019) in 2019.

2. Participated in research group meeting on Comprehensive strategies against MDR-TB utilizing overseas network at Tokyo in 2018 and presented findings of “Immunological studies in Pulmonary Tuberculosis to determine immune responses responsible for protection as well as severity of the disease”

3. Oral presentation on “Role of elevated levels of Osteopontin and Galectin-9 in tuberculosis and HIV disease progression”in conference on matricellular proteins in infectious diseases, Japan, in 2018.

4.Poster presentation on “Development of flow cytometry based assay to assess ADCC activity against HIV infected target CD4+cells”. Poonam Suryawanshi, Ashwini Shete, Madhuri Thakar in Immunocon 2017 at Nirma University , Ahmadabd, Gujarat in 2017

5. Meeting related to Antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) to Australia in 2015

6. Training on Dimer ELISA at Australia in 2015

7. Participated in the "keystone symposia-E1 mechanisms of HIV persistence: implications for a cure and presented a poster on “T-bet induces IL-10 secretion in HIV infected CD4 T cells” at Boston in 2015

8. Differential nature of immune responses in mediating protection from tuberculosis (TB) caused by re-infection versus reactivation. Poster presentation in 8th Annual meeting of The Cytometry Society in Mumbai in 2015.  

9. Oral presentation on Latency in HIV infection in ASICON 2015 in Mumbai

10. Invited talk on “CD4 /CD8 Testing –NACO Guidelines” in APPI flow cytometry workshop in Mumbai 

11. Invited talk on “CD4 Immunophenotyping for HIV Monitoring using Flow Cytometry” in Second APPI annual conference 2015 in Mumbai

12. Presentation on “NARI experience in raising the seroconverter cohort” in Indo-East Africa Collaboration program  a  Technical Consultation and Round table Discussion on Acute Infection at New Delhi in 2015

13. Participated in AIDS 2014 conference and a meeting under AISRF project, “Antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC): a new frontier in vaccine research”  at University of Melbourne, Australia in 2014   

14. Attended 2nd  International Science Symposium on HIV & Infectious Diseases (HIV Science 2014 and organized by YRG care) in 2014 at Chennai

15. NABL basic and Refresher course on ISO 15189-2012  in 2011 and 2013, respectively   

16. Attended FIMSA 2012 in New Delhi during 14-17 March 2012.

17. Presented a poster on “Effect of cryopreservation on phenotypic composition of PBMCs: Priyanka Jaywant, Ashwini Shete, Madhuri Thakar, Swarali Kurle, Darmesh P Singh and R.S. Paranjape” in 4th Annual TCS Symposium and 12th Indo-US workshop on Flowcytometry in 2011

18. Present poster on “Can HIV antigens inducing reactivation of HIV replication be used as a strategy for elimination of latent HIV by activating cellular reservoir?: Implications in the settings of therapeutic vaccinations” in TRAI conference, Goa, organized by NARI, USF and CRF, Goa in 2011

19. Participated in “Galvanizing evidence for management of HIV/AIDS” organized by NARI in 2011    

20. Presentation on “Immunogenecity testing in vaccine trials” in workshop on Advanced diagnostic and research techniques conducted by NARI during Microcon 2008

21. Presented a poster on “Immune response in BALB/c mice to Vaccinia construct expressing gag gene from transmitted Indian HIV-1 subtype C  strain: Ashwini Shete, Madhuri Thakar, Yogesh Rajmane, Snehal Suregaonkar, Srikanth Tripathy, C.G. Raut, Sekhar Chakrabarti and Ramesh Paranjape” in 34th Annual conference of Indian Immunology Society in Pune in December 2007.                          

22. Participated in GCLP implementation meeting at Nairobi in 2006 and South Africa in 2007

23. Training on GCLP by Qualogy at London in 2004

List of Publications

1.      Both Full-Length and its Protease-Cleaved Products of Osteopontin are Elevated in Infectious Diseases. Toshio Hattori, Hiroko Iwasaki-Hozumi, Gaowa Bai, Haorile Chagan-Yasutan, Ashwini Shete, Elizabeth Freda O Telan, Atsushi Takahashi, Yugo Ashino, Takashi Matsuba. Biomedicines 2021, 9, 1006.

2.      Anti HIV-1 ADCC and HIV-1 Env can be partners in reducing latent HIV reservoir. Poonam Suryawanshi, Rajani Bagul, Ashwini Shete, Madhuri Thakar. Accepted for publication in Frontiers in Immunology 2021;12:663919

3.      Agreement between dried blood spots and HemoCue in Tamil Nadu, India. Reshma P. Roshania, Rukshan V. Mehta, Ashwini Shete, Rohini Bingewar, Sangeeta Kulkarni, Aprajit Mahajan, Grant Miller, Alessandro Tarozzi & Reynaldo Marto. Scientific Reports 2021;11(1):9285

4.      Unsterile injection equipment associated with HIV outbreak and an extremely high prevalence of HCV—A case-control investigation from Unnao, India. Sandip Patil; Amrita Rao; Preety Pathak; Swarali Kurle; Arati Mane; Amit Nirmalkar; Anil Singhal; Vinita Verma; Mukesh Kumar Singh; DCS Reddy; Ashwini Shete; Manjula Singh; Raman Gangakhedkar, Samiran Panda. PLoS One. 2020; 15(12): e0243534

5.      Elevated Levels of Galectin-9 but Not Osteopontin in HIV and Tuberculosis Infections Indicate Their Roles in Detecting MTB Infection in HIV Infected Individuals. Ashwini Shete, Shubhangi Bichare, Vishwanath Pujari, Rashmi Virkar, Madhuri Thakar, Manisha Ghate,  Sandip Patil, Annapurna Vyakarnam,  Raman Gangakhedkar,  Gaowa Bai, Toshiro Niki and Toshio Hattori. Front. Microbiol. 2020; 11: 1685.

6.      Possible role of plasma Galectin‑9 levels as a surrogate marker of viremia in HIV infected patients on antiretroviral therapy in resource‑limited settings. Ashwini Shete, Sampada Dhayarkar, Ashwini Dhamanage, Smita Kulkarni, Manisha Ghate, Shashikala Sangle, Uttam Medhe, Vinita Verma, Shobini Rajan, Toshio Hattori and Raman Gangakhedkar. AIDS Res Ther (2020) 17:43

7.      Urgent need for evaluating agonists of angiotensin-(1-7)/ Mas receptor axis for treating patients with COVID-19. Ashwini Shete. Int J Infect Dis. 2020 May 7;96:348-351

8.      High IL-5 levels possibly contributing to HIV viremia in virologic non-responders at one year after initiation of anti-retroviral therapy. Shete A, Kurle S, Dhayarkar S, Patil A, Kulkarni S, Ghate M , Sangale S, Medhe U, Rajan S, Verma V, Gangakhedkar R. Microb Pathog. 2020;143:104117.

9.      Persons living with HIV continue to present late for care: A trend analysis from 2011-2015. Kadam AV, Bembalkar SC, Panchal NU, Mamulwar MS, Shete AV, Godbole SV. Indian J Sex Transm Dis 2019;40:133-8

10.  Incomplete functional T-cell reconstitution in immunological non-responders at one year after initiation of antiretroviral therapy possibly predisposes them to infectious diseases. Ashwini Shete, Sampada Dhayarkar, Shashikala Sangale, Uttam Medhe, Narayan Panchal, Girish Rahanea, Rajendra Yelgate, Ashwini Dhamanage, Raman Gangakhedkar Int J Infect Dis. 2019 Apr;81:114-122.

11.  Loss of Cellular Immune Response against Shared Mycobacterial Antigens is Associated with Active Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Adults. Ashwini Shete, Vishwanath Pujari, Poonam Kadam, Shubhangi Bichare, Narayan Panchal, Jyoti Pawar, Shraddha Bapat, Raman Gangakhedkar, Tilak Dhamgaye and Madhuri Thakar. J Clin Cell Immunol 2018, 9:554

12.  Higher expression of human telomerase reverse transcriptase in productively-infected CD4 cells possibly indicates a mechanism for persistence of the virus in HIV infection Poonam Suryawanshi, Sheela Godbole, Jyoti Pawar, Madhuri Thakar, Ashwini Shete. Microbiology and Immunology 2018;65: 317-326. Article DOI: 10.1111/1348-0421.12585

13.  Effect of combination antiretroviral therapy on HIV-1-specific antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity responses in subtype B- and subtype C-infected cohorts. Madhavi V, Kulkarni A, Shete A, Lee WS, Mclean MR, Kristensen AB, Ghate M, Wines BD, Hogarth PM, Parsons MS, Kelleher A, Cooper DA, Amin J, Emery S, Thakar M, Kent SJ. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2017 Mar 23. doi: 10.1097

14.  Indian Long Term Non Progressors show broad ADCC responses with preferential recognition of V3 region of Envelope and a region from Tat protein. Archana Kulkarni, Swarali Kurle, Ashwini Shete, Manisha Ghate, Sheela Godbole, Vijaya Madhavi,Stephen Kent, Ramesh Paranjape, Madhuri Thakar. Frontiers in Immunology 2017: 8(14) · 

15.  Development of IFN-g secretory ELISPOT based assay for screening of ADCC responses. Ashwini Shete, Poonam Suryawanshi, Chetan Chavan, Archana Kulkarni, Sheela Godbole, Manisha Ghate and Madhuri Thakar. Journal of Immunological methods. 2017;441:49-55

16.  HIV infected CD4+ T cells use T-bet dependent pathway for production of IL-10 upon antigen recognition. Ashwini Shete, Poonam Suryawanshi, Sheela Godbole, Jyoti Pawar, Ramesh Paranjape and Madhuri Thakar. Scandinavian Journal of Immunology. 2016:83(4):288-96

17.  Duplicate analysis method: a cheaper alternative to commercial IQC materials in limited resource settings for monitoring CD4 testing. Ashwini Shete, Dharmesh P Singh, Bharati Mahajan, Amol Kokare, Ramesh Paranjape, and Madhuri Thakar. AIDS Res Ther. 2015; 12: 25

18.              Clinical trials with anti- latency agents. A Shete. NARI Bulletin Volume 5, Issue 3&4, October 2014: 11-13.

19.  Pseudomembranous type of oral candidiasis is associated with decreased salivary flow rate and secretory immunoglobulin A levels. Neeta Bagul, Bela Mahajan, Mamata Reddy, Ashwini Shete, Arun Risbud and Arati Mane. Mycopathologia 2015:180: 75–80

20.              Is prime boost strategy a promising approach in HIV vaccine development? Ashwini Shete, Madhuri Thakar, S.M. Mehendale and R.S. Paranjape. J AIDS Clin Res 2014:5:293. 

21.              Current Trends in HIV/AIDS. Ashwini Shete. J HIV AIDS Infect Dis. 2013: 1: 1-2.

22.              Is Cure of HIV Infection in Sight? Ashwini Shete and R.S. Paranjape IJMR 2013:138: 824-828.

23.              Safety and immunogenicity of DNA and MVA HIV-1 subtype C vaccine prime-boost regimens: A phase I randomised trial in HIV-uninfected Indian volunteers. Sanjay Mehendale, Madhuri Thakar, Seema Sahay, Makesh Kumar, Ashwini Shete, Pattabiraman Sathyamurthi, Amita Verma, Swarali Kurle, Aparna Shrotri, Jill Gilmour, Rajat Goyal, Len Dally, Eddy Sayeed, Devika Zachariah, James Ackland, Sonali Kochhar , Josephine H Cox, Jean-Louis Excler, Vasanthapuram Kumaraswami, Ramesh Paranjape, Vadakkuppatu Devasenapathi Ramanathan. PLoS ONE. 2013: 8(2): e55831.

24.              Differential modulation of phenotypic composition of HIV infected and uninfected PBMCs during cryopreservation Ashwini Shete, Priyanka Jayawant, Madhuri Thakar, Swarali Kurle, Darmesh P Singh and R.S. Paranjape. Journal of Immunoassay and Immunochemistry 2013:34:333-345

25.              HIV antigen specific reactivation of HIV infection from cellular reservoirs: Implications in the settings of therapeutic vaccinations. Ashwini Shete, Madhuri Thakar, Dharmesh P. Singh, Raman Gangakhedkar, Asmita Gaikwad,  Jyoti Pawar, Ramesh Paranjape. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 2012 Aug;28(8):835-43.

26.              In vitro sensitization of T cells with DC associated/delivered HIV constructs can induce polyfunctional CTL response, memory T cell response and virus suppression. Swarali Kurle, Madhuri Thakar, Ashwini Shete, Ramesh Paranjape. Viral Immunol. 2012 Feb;25(1):45-54. Epub 2012 Jan 10.

27.              T-cell Epitopes Identified by BALB/c Mice Immunized with Vaccinia Expressing HIV-1 Gag lie within immunodominant Regions Recognized by HIV-infected Indian Patients. Ashwini V Shete, Madhuri R Thakar, Srikanth P Tripathy, CG Raut,1 Sekhar Chakrabarti,2 and Ramesh S Paranjape. J Glob Infect Dis. 2011 Jul-Sep; 3(3): 246–253

28.  Peripheral Blood CD4+ T Lymphocyte Counts in Healthy Adult Indians: A Review Ashwini Shete, Madhuri Thakar, Philip Raj Abraham, Ramesh Paranjape. Indian J Med Res. 2010 Dec;132(6):667-75

29.  Safety and Immunogenicity of tgAAC09, a recombinant Adeno-Associated virus type C vaccine in India Sanjay Mehendale, Seema Sahay, Madhuri Thakar, Sushant Sahasrabuddhe, Meghana Kakade, Ashwini Shete, Aparna Shrotri, Aggeliki Spentzou, Tony Tarragona, Gwynneth Stevens, Sonali Kochhar, John Louis Excler, Pat Fast, Ramesh Paranjape. Indian J Med Res 132, August 2010, pp 168-175

30.  Measuring T-cell immunity in HIV vaccine clinical trials: PBMC and ELISPOT assay proficiency concordance in laboratories from 3 continents. Boaz MJ, Hayes P, Tarragona T, Seamons L, Cooper A, Birungi J, Kitandwe P, Semaganda A, Kaleebu P, Stevens G, Anzala O, Farah B, Ogola S, Indangasi J, Mhlanga P, Van Eeden M, Thakar M, Pujari A, Mishra S, Goonetilleke N, Moore S, Mahmoud A, Sathyamoorthy P, Mahalingam J, Narayanan PR, Ramanathan VD, Cox JH, Dally L, Gill DK, Gilmour J. Clin Vaccine Immunol. 2009 Feb;16(2):147-55. Epub 2008 Dec 17

31.  Outbreak of Leptospirosis in Mumbai: A De, A Varaiya, A Pujari, M Mathur, M Bhat, S Karande , ME Yeolekar. Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology 2002;20:153-155.