The L&T Department of Ocular Pathology started in 1986 by Dr.Jyotirmay Biswas. The department is involved in ophthalmic diagnosis of ocular surface lid and intraocular tumors. Apart from these, the pathologistshave decades of expertise in diagnosing a wide range of disorders through skin biopsy. The focus is on understanding the molecular mechanisms on Ocular tumors and identifying biomarkers. The department is also focused in understanding the immunology of eye diseases. The department members have received several awards and international recognition for research and have above 500 publications. Research projects are through extramural funding, mostly government and international agencies; DBT, ICMR and DST. Doctoral programme to award Ph.Ds are in collaboration with Anna University, SASTRA University and Deakin University.

Dr.S Krishnakumar, MBBS, MD Pathology, with over two decades of experience in Ocular Pathology uses his expertise to look at ocular cancers using multiple technological platforms. The current work focuses on identifying RNA and DNA aptamers for retinoblastoma and prognosticating Uveal melanoma. He was previous recipient of programme support to retinoblastoma under COE programme from DBT, India.

Dr.Nivedita Chatterjee, Ph.D, uses her training in neuroscience to study neuron-glia in the context of neuroimmunology using molecular and cell biology techniques to look at neuroprotection in the eye. She also works with model systems to study neuron glia interactions, with emphasis on immunology. She works with HIV+patients to assess and investigate changes at the retina due to chronic inflammation. Current projects include peripheral immune and retinal interactions and a slew of research projects working with HIV patients to study latency and identify biomarkers of chronic inflammation.

Patient Care

• Routine pathological diagnosis.


• Investigations related to ocular diseases.

Projects

Nivedita Chatterjee

• Swagatika Sahoo, R Ranjith Kumar, Brandon Nicolay, Omkar Mohite, Karthikeyan Sivaraman, Vikas Khetan, Pukhraj Rishi, Suganeswari Ganesan, Krishnakumar Subramanian, Karthik Raman, Wayne Miles, Sailaja V Elchuri: Metabolite systems profiling identifies exploitable weaknesses in Retinoblastoma. FEBS Letters 11/2018;, DOI:10.1002/1873-3468.13294


• Subramanian Krishnakumar: Clinical profile, risk factors and outcome of medical, surgical and adjunct interventions in patients with Pythium insidiosumkeratitis.. British Journal of Ophthalmology 09/2018;, DOI:10.1136/bjophthalmol-2017-311804.


• Shweta Agarwal, Geetha Iyer, Bhaskar Srinivasan, Saket Benurwar, Mamta Agarwal, Niveditha Narayanan, Meena Lakshmipathy, N Radhika, Rama Rajagopal, S Krishnakumar, Lily Therese K: Clinical profile, risk factors and outcome of medical, surgical and adjunct interventions in patients with Pythium insidiosum keratitis. British Journal of Ophthalmology 09/2018;, DOI:10.1136/bjophthalmol-2017-311804


• Akilandeswari Balachandran, AjitZambre, Jagjot Singh Kainth, Lakshmi DheviNagarajha Selvan, Sowmya Parameswaran, Zahra Afrasiabi, Subramanian Krishnakumar, Raghuraman Kannan, AnandhiUpendran: Targeting HMGA protein inhibits retinoblastoma cell proliferation. RSC Advances 09/2018; 8(55):31510-31514., DOI:10.1039/C8RA06026F


• Gopinath K. Chatterjee N., “Differential immune mechanism of HIV1 Tat variants and its regulation by AEA” (2015) 5:09887Nature Scientific Reports Gopinath K. Chatterjee N. “Anandamide rescues retinal barrier properties in Müller glia through nitric oxide regulation.” (2015); 284:536-45 Neuroscience.


• Beta M, Khetan V, Chatterjee N, Suganeswari G, Rishi P, Biswas J, Krishnakumar S. (2014) EpCAM knockdown alters microRNA expression in retinoblastoma-functional implication of EpCAM regulated miRNA in tumor progression.12;9(12), PLoS One.Chatterjee N. “Glial cells in retinal disorders: an overview.” (2014) February XXXII (1) Sci J Med & Vis Res Foun


• Gopinath K. Chatterjee N., “HIV-1 Tat-mediated inflammation in the retina can be regulated by endocannabinoids.” (2014) 59C:10-23 Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience RavikanthDanda, Gopinath Krishnan, Kalaivani Ganapathy, Uma Maheswari Krishnan, Khetan Vikas, Sailaja Elchuri,Nivedita Chatterjee, SubramanianKrishnakumar (2013), “Targeted Expression of Suicide Gene by Tissue-specific Promoter and microRNA Regulation for Cancer Gene Therapy”. December 31, 2013 DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0083398 Plos One.


• Gopinath K., Chatterjee N. (2013) “Detergent resistant membrane fractions are involved in calcium signaling in Muller glial cells of retina.” The International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology 45(8):1758-66


• Gopinath K., Chatterjee N. (2012) "Endocannabinoids alleviate pro-inflammatory conditions by modulating innate immune response in Muller glia during inflammation”. Glia, 60(11): pp1629-45

• B.sc (Medical Laboratory Technology)
• M.sc (Medical Laboratory Technology)

Training programme

• Internship project


• Summer school project


• Workshop

PhD Programme

Larsen & Toubro of Ocular Pathology Department
Vision Research Foundation,
18, College Road, Nungambakkam,
Chennai - 600 006.
Phone: +91-44-42271807, +91-44-42271500
Email: histopath@snmail.org