Dr. Tiwari is an infectious disease Scientist with a focus on tuberculosis chemotherapy, bacterial pathogenesis, and host-pathogen interactions. During her research career at the Yale School of Medicine and Albert Einstein College of medicine, she had published several papers in prestigious journals such as a PNAS, Immunity, Science and Nature Immunology, and has successfully filed a collaborative patent “Double Auxotrophic Mycobacterium and Uses Thereof”. Along with other awards in the Yale School of Medicine and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Dr. Tiwari had recently received the University of Texas System’s Faculty STARs Program Award.Tuberculosis is a debilitating disease caused by the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). The success of Mtb lies in its survival in macrophages by evasion of host immune responses. The only available vaccine until now is BCG, and its efficacy varies with age and geographical distribution. The focus of the lab is (1) Identification of novel mycobacterial factors involved in virulence and evasion of host immune responses (2) Vaccines and (3) Understanding of metabolic pathways required for survival and persistence of mycobacteria in the host. Dr. Tiwari’s lab will be using multiple techniques involving a combination of molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, metabolomics, cell biology and immunology to address these questions.Her passion at UTEP involves developing a better understanding of the host-pathogen interactions, identifying potential new drug targets, vaccine candidates and also initiating active collaboration with other research faculty. We are also interested in focusing on research and collaborations to understand mechanisms involved in HIV-TB coinfections and cancer immunotherapy.