Lalita Ramakrishnan

**Lalita Ramakrishnan** (born 1959) is an Indian-born American microbiologist who is known for her contributions to the understanding of the biological mechanism of tuberculosis.  she serves as a professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the University of Cambridge, where she is also a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow and a practicing physician. Her research is conducted at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (MRC LMB), where she serves as the Head of the Molecular Immunity Unit of the Department of Medicine embedded at the MRC LMB. Working with Stanley Falkow at Stanford, she developed the strategy of using *Mycobacterium marinum* infection as a model for tuberculosis. Her work has appeared in a number of journals, including *Science*,  *Nature*, and *Cell*.  In 2018 and 2019 Ramakrishnan coauthored two influential papers in the *British Medical Journal* (BMJ) arguing that the widely accepted estimates of the prevalence of latent tuberculosis—estimates used as a basis for allocation of research funds—are far too high. She is married to Mark Troll, a physical chemist.

## Rayuwa ta farko da ilimi
An haifi Ramakrishnan a shekara ta 1959 a Baroda (yanzu Vadodara)   kuma ya girma a can.  Iyayenta duka masana kimiyya ne kamar yadda ɗan'uwanta, mai cin nasarar Nobel Venki Ramakrishnan yake. Lokacin da Ramakrishnan take yarinya, mahaifiyarta tana da tarin fuka sau uku.

A matsayinsa na dalibi na makarantar sakandare, Ramakrishnan ya yi fice a lissafi da kimiyyar lissafi. Ramakrishnan ta fara halartar makarantar likita tana da shekaru 17, wanda "ba abu ne mai ban mamaki a Indiya ba, inda horo na musamman ya fara jim kadan bayan makarantar sakandare. "  A shekara ta 1983, ta kammala karatu tare da digiri na farko na likita a Vadodara  daga Kwalejin Kiwon Lafiya ta Baroda . 

Bayan ya dauki wani zaɓi a cikin ilimin rigakafi mai zurfi, Ramakrishnan ya yanke shawarar nazarin ilimin rigakafin. A shekara ta 1990, ta kammala karatu daga Jami'ar Tufts tare da PhD a cikin Immunology .  Daga nan sai ta zama ta farko da ta kammala karatun digiri na farko na shirin zama na likita a Cibiyar Kiwon Lafiya ta Tufts-New England .  Bayan kammala zumunci a cikin Cututtukan Cututtuka a Jami'ar California a asibitocin San Francisco, gami da Babban Asibitin San Francisco (yanzu Babban Asibityar Zuckerberg San Francisco da Cibiyar Trauma),  Ramakrishnan ta kammala aikin postdoctoral a dakin gwaje-gwaje na Stanley Falkow a Jami'an Stanford, inda ta haɓaka dabarun amfani da kamuwa da *Mycobacterium marinum* a cikin zebrafish a matsayin abin koyi ga tarin fuka. 

## Ayyuka da bincike
A shekara ta 2001, Ramakrishnan ta shiga bangaren koyarwa na Jami'ar Washington,  inda ta yi aiki a matsayin masanin kimiyya na asali da likitan cututtukan cututtuka. Yayinda take a Jami'ar Washington, ta fara nazarin tarin fuka a cikin kifi a matsayin kusanci da tarin fuka. Wannan dabarar ta haifar da sabon fahimtar ilimin halitta game da yadda cutar ke tasowa. Zebrafish larvae suna bayyane kuma suna ba da kansu ga sarrafa *Kwayar halitta.*; ta hanyar kamuwa da su da kwayar cutar ta halitta, *Mycobacterium marinum*, kwayar cuta da ke haifar da tarin fuka a cikin kifi kuma dangi ne na kusa da kwayar cute da ke haifar le tarin fuka, za ta iya bin diddigin kamuwa da cuta yayin sarrafa kwayoyin halitta na duka larvae da kwayoyin cuta. Wannan tsarin "ya ba da damar cikakken rarraba tsarin granuloma"  (granuloma tsari ne na tsarin rigakafi wanda ya kunshi ƙwayoyin halitta, wanda ake kira macrophages, wanda ke cinye kwayoyin cuta da sauran ƙwayoyin kasashen waje). A shekara ta 2010, Ramakrishnan shine babban marubucin binciken da aka buga a matsayin labarin murfin Cell.

A cikin shekara ta 2014, Ramakrishnan ya shiga bangaren koyarwa na Jami'ar Cambridge a matsayin babban mai bincike na Wellcome Trust da Farfesa na Immunology da Cututtukan Cututtuka. Aiki a Seattle, kuma daga baya a Cambridge, ya haifar da gano bayanan kwayoyin da na salula na hulɗar mycobacterial da mai karɓar bakuncin a kowane mataki na kamuwa da cuta. Wannan ya samar da mahimman bayanai waɗanda ke ba da shawarar sabbin hanyoyin magance tarin fuka. Ramakrishnan da ƙungiyar bincikenta sun nuna cewa lipids guda biyu (wani nau'in kwayar mai) a saman mycobacteria suna aiki tare don ba da damar ƙwayoyin cuta su fara kauce wa macrophages wanda zai kashe su kuma a maimakon haka shiga macrophaxes wanda ke ba su wuri don girma. Ta gano cewa ƙwayoyin cuta suna motsawa wajen samar da granulomas wanda ke ba su tashar jiragen ruwa mai aminci, sabanin rawar da granuloma ke takawa wajen kare mai masaukin daga ƙwayoyin. Daga baya macrophages masu kamuwa da cutar a cikin granulomas sun mutu, kuma wannan yana hanzarta ci Kayan ƙwayoyin cuta kuma yana inganta ci gaban cutar. Wadannan binciken sun haifar da magungunan da aka yi niyya da su wanda ke nuna alkawari ga marasa lafiya na tarin fuka. Ramakrishnan da ƙungiyarta sun magance matsalar haƙuri da miyagun ƙwayoyi a cikin tarin fuka, kuma sun sami magani wanda ke hana ci gaban juriya ga daidaitattun magungunan da aka yi amfani da su don magance cutar.

Ramakrishnan daga baya ya yi amfani da zebrafish don nazarin kuturta, wani cuta mai banƙyama tare da mummunar sakamako na jijiyoyi. Ta nuna cewa Mycobacterium leprae lipid yana haifar da lalacewar jijiya ta hanyar haifar da martani mara kyau a cikin macrophages.

Baya ga binciken kimiyya na asali, Ramakrishnan, tare da Marcel Behr da Paul Edelstein, sun sake nazarin binciken game da manufar tarin fuka don sanin ko mutanen da suka kamu *M. tarin fuka* suna da kamuwa da cuta na tsawon rai wanda zai iya haifar da cuta a kowane lokaci mai zuwa. Wadannan binciken, dukansu an buga su a cikin British Medical Journal (BMJ), sun nuna cewa lokacin da tarin fuka ke da ɗan gajeren lokaci, yawanci a cikin watanni bayan kamuwa da cuta, kuma da wuya fiye da shekaru 2 bayan kamuwa. Sun kuma nuna cewa fiye da 90% na mutanen da suka kamu da cutar tarin fuka sama da shekaru biyu ba su taɓa kamuwa da tarin fuka ba koda kuwa tsarin rigakafin su ya lalace sosai. Gwaje-gwaje na rigakafi don kamuwa da tarin fuka kamar gwajin fata na tarin fuka da gwajin fitar da gamma na interferon (IGRA) kawai suna nuna kamuwa da cutar da ta gabata, tare da yawancin mutanen da suka kamu da cutar a baya ba za su iya kamuwa da kwayar cutar ba. Ramakrishnan ya gaya wa New York Times cewa masu bincike "sun kashe daruruwan miliyoyin daloli suna bin bayan jinkiri, amma duk ra'ayin cewa kashi ɗaya cikin huɗu na duniya sun kamu da tarin fuka ya dogara ne akan rashin fahimta. "

Labarin BMJ na farko game da jinkiri ya kasance tare da edita da Soumya Swaminathan, Mataimakin Darakta Janar na Hukumar Lafiya ta Duniya, wanda ya amince da binciken kuma ya yi kira ga ƙarin kudade na binciken tarin fuka da aka jagoranta a mafi yawan sassan duniya, maimakon mai da hankali ga ƙananan matsala da ke shafar ƙasashe masu arziki kawai.[1] Masu bincike da suka gabata sun yi gargadi game da "bomb din lokaci" na shari'ar tarin fuka a Amurka da sauran kasashe masu arziki waɗanda ya kamata su zama mai da hankali.[2] Ayyukan Ramakrishnan da abokan aikinta sun sanya shakku game da wannan gargadi. A rubuce-rubuce a cikin The Atlantic, 'yar jaridar kimiyya Katherine J. Wu ta yi sharhi cewa "ko da manyan hukumomi a duniya game da tarin fuka suna rarraba abin da ya kasance hikima ta al'ada".[3]

### Kyaututtuka da girmamawa
An zabi Ramakrishnan a matsayin memba na Kwalejin Kimiyya ta Amurka a shekarar 2015.  Ta sami wasu kyaututtuka da yawa, ciki har da Kyautar Darakta ta Cibiyar Lafiya ta Kasa (NIH) da kuma Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigators a cikin Kyautar Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease .  Ta kuma yi aiki a cikin juri na Life Sciences don Kyautar Infosys a cikin 2016. A shekara ta 2018 an zabe ta Fellow na Royal Society (FRS)  da Fellow na Kwalejin Kimiyya ta Kiwon Lafiya (FMedSci).   An sanya ta memba na European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) a cikin 2019.

## Manazarta