Professor Sanjib Bhakta, Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Biochemistry, UCL & Birkbeck, University of London

Sanjib Bhakta is a Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Biochemistry, Strategic Dean (Internationalisation and Partnership) and Programme Director of Global Infectious Diseases at the Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, UCL and Birkbeck, University of London.

His continued research interest in infectious bacterial diseases is focussed on developing novel therapeutics as well as repurposing existing drugs to tackle antimicrobial resistance and persistence in tuberculosis (TB).

He graduated from The Queen’s College, University of Oxford completing a second doctoral degree (DPhil in Pharmacology) and received a “Sir William Paton Prize” from the Oxford University Division of Medicine.

He is a Chief Editor of Frontiers in Antibiotics and has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles in various international journals. His original research publication in Nature Scientific Report (Top 100 most read article in 2018) on anti-infective molecules from Persian Shallots revealed resistance-reversal properties of natural products and featured in BBC Health News (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42751095).

As a Principal Investigator at the Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Sanjib leads his interdisciplinary research and research-informed innovative teaching both at the undergraduate and postgraduate level. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK, Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, ASEM-DUO Professorial Fellow and a Cipla Distinguished Fellow.

He is an “Antibiotic Action Champion”, member of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. As a STEM ambassador Sanjib has volunteered for the Wellcome Trust-funded programme “Researchers in Residence”, a winner of “I’m a Scientist, Get me out of Here”, Birkbeck Public Engagement Award and Microbiology Society Outreach Prize. Sanjib has participated in the British Science Museum “News & Views” programme.

He mentors MRes, Mphil, PhD students and early career research staff at various career acceleration programmes organised by Oxford and London University Career Services.