Dr. Nancy Hilda
Dr. Nancy Hilda
Designation: Scientist C
Division/Unit: Virology & Biotechnology
Email: nancyh[dot]j[at]icmr[dot]gov[dot]in
Educational Qualification
M.Sc., PhD.
Personal Statement
My career in research has been focusing on immunological responses during tuberculosis and HIV infection. My research in human immunology for the past 13 years has spun around neutrophil and monocyte responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), T cell responses to TB vaccines and cell mediated responses to Mtb. With regard to HIV, I have prior work experience on CD4 T cell responses during HIV infection. As Co-Investigator in few vaccine trials, I have understood the importance of measuring immune response generated by a vaccine candidate in order to identify possible correlates of protection. My experience thus far is driving me to design a vaccine immunogen that can potentially protect against the disease of concern.
Research Focus
β’ Immune responses during tuberculosis β’ TB vaccine induced immunity β’ HIV vaccine designing β’ Neutrophil Extracellular Trap formation
Ongoing projects as Principal investigator
1) Neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation during pulmonary tuberculosis and diabetes co-morbidity 2) Harnessing T Cell Repertoires (TCR) and metrics of diversity and clonality for HIV vaccine development
Significant Publications
1. Joseph NH, Poovazhagi V, Kannan T, Karthik M, Suba S, Selvaraj A, Elilarasi S, Balasubramanian S, Hanna LE, Venkataraman A. Immunological Analysis of Different Treatment Strategies for Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). Indian J Pediatr. 2025 Jul;92(7):783-784. doi: 10.1007/s12098-025-05548-0. Epub 2025 May 9. PMID: 40343609. 2. J NH, Venkataraman A, Thiruvengadam K, B B, M K, S S, Balaji S, S E, Smuk M, Hanna LE, Prendergast AJ. Evaluation of platelet indices as markers of tuberculosis among children in India. ERJ Open Res. 2024 Feb 26;10(1):00734-2023. doi:10.1183/23120541.00734-2023. PMID: 38410718; PMCID: PMC10895425. 3. Daniel EA, Thiruvengadam K, Chandrasekaran P, Hilda N, Umashankar P, Prashanthi P, Selvachithiram M, Pattabiraman S, Bhanu B, Sivaprakasam A, Paradkar M, Kulkarni V, Karyakarte R, Shivakumar SVBY, Mave V, Gupta A and Hanna LE (2024) Discovery of a blood-based miRNA signature that can predict onset of active tuberculosis among household contacts of TB patients. Front. Tuberc. 2:1415346. doi: 10.3389/ftubr.2024.1415346 4. J NH, K LP, Selvaraj A, Chinnaraj S, Luke Elizabeth H. Toll like receptor (2 and 4) expression and cytokine release by human neutrophils during tuberculosis treatment-A longitudinal study. Mol Immunol. 2021 Oct 25;140:136-143. doi: 10.1016/j.molimm.2021.10.009. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34710721. 5. Ponnan SM, Vidyavijayan KK, Thiruvengadam K, Hilda J N, Mathayan M, Murugavel KG, Hanna LE. Role of Circulating T Follicular Helper Cells and Stem-Like Memory CD4+ T Cells in the Pathogenesis of HIV-2 Infection and Disease Progression. Front Immunol. 2021 Apr 16;12:666388. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.666388. PMID: 33936106; PMCID: PMC8085399. 6. Nancy Hilda J, Jayakrishna P, Bharat GV, Veronika T, Srikanth P Tripathy SP, Luke Elizabeth Hanna. Abstracts from the International Science Symposium on HIV and Infectious Diseases (ISSHID 2019): Infectious diseases : Chennai, India. 12-14 October 2019. BMC Infect Dis. 2020;20(Suppl 1):324. doi: 10.1186/s12879-020-05038-y. 7. Hilda JN, Das S, Tripathy SP, Hanna LE. Role of neutrophils in tuberculosis: A bird's eye view. Innate Immun. 2020;26:240-247. doi: 10.1177/1753425919881176. Epub 2019 Nov 17. 8. Nancy Hilda J, Das S. Neutrophil CD64, TLR2 and TLR4 expression increases but phagocytic potential decreases during tuberculosis. Tuberculosis (Edinb). 2018;111:135-142. doi: 10.1016/j.tube.2018.06.010. Epub 2018 Jun 9. 9. Hilda JN, Das SD. TLR stimulation of human neutrophils lead to increased release of MCP-1, MIP-1Ξ±, IL-1Ξ², IL-8 and TNF during tuberculosis. Hum Immunol. 2016 Jan;77(1):63-7. doi: 10.1016/j.humimm.2015.10.005. Epub 2015 Oct 16. 10. Hilda JN, Narasimhan M, Das SD. Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains modify granular enzyme secretion and apoptosis of human neutrophils. Mol Immunol. 2015 Dec;68(2 Pt A):325-332. doi: 10.1016/j.molimm.2015.09.019. Epub 2015 Oct 9.
Awards and Honours
β’ Underwent Leadership Development Programme 2024 (cohort 3) conducted by International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) to develop essential Scientific Leadership qualities. β’ Selected for the ECR Career Development Network (ECDN) of VALIDATE network which is offered to developing researchers (female) for two years where they encourage and support career progression β’ Received 2nd prize for BEST POSTER AWARD at the International Science Symposium on HIV and Infectious Diseases (ISSHID 2019): Infectious diseases held at SIRRH, Chennai from Oct 12-14, 2019 β’ Obtained ICMR- PDF in 2017 β’ Obtained ICMR-SRF in 2013 β’ Qualified CSIR-NET with JRF in 2010 β’ Received Prof. Wilson Medal for securing 1st rank in M. Sc Biotechnology (2007-2009), Loyola College, Chennai 600034
