Bijay’s interest in infectious disease started during MS thesis when he performed molecular epidemiological research on various infectious bacteria such as Shigella, Salmonella, and pathogenic E. coli at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR, B). Further, a travel award from the American Society for Microbiology helped him to learn advanced research on the molecular basis of pathogenesis in Aeromonas species in Dr. Chopra’s Lab. Later, he decided to obtain PhD in this field.

He is currently studying the role of quorum sensing (QS) in the regulation of virulence from an emerging human pathogen Aeromonas hydrophila and modulation of host immune response by QS signaling molecules in a mouse model. QS is a bacterial communication system that allows bacteria to regulate gene expression in response to changes in cell-population density. Since QS is a global regulator of virulence factors, it represents an excellent target for the development of new generation vaccines and/or therapeutics.

Bijay graduated in August of 2011 and took a postition as a postdoctoral fellow at UT Health Science Center in Houston, TX.