Biography
Dr. Shipra Nagar is a research fellow at NatPro, Centre for Natural Products Research, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at TCD. She completed her masters in Chemistry with specialization in Organic Chemistry in 2010, and Ph.D. under DAAD Sandwich Program (India-Germany) in Natural Product Chemistry in 2017. Post Ph.D., she worked as an Assistant Professor at Department of Chemistry, Doon University, India (2017-2018), and later worked as a National Post-Doctoral Fellow (NPDF) at National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, India (2019-2020) to conduct research on Exopolysaccharides from Antarctic and Himalayan microbes. During Ph.D., she was awarded with prestigious DAAD Research Grants (2014-2016; 26,985 EUR research grant) to work on structural characterization of plant polysaccharides with Prof. Dr. Petra Mischnick at Institute of Food Chemistry, Technical University, Braunschweig, Germany and Prof. Dr. Andreas Hensel at Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology and Phytochemistry, Westfälische Wilhelms University, Muenster, Germany. During this period, she obtained an immense experience and knowledge in polysaccharides chemistry. She worked on method development of plant polysaccharide isolation techniques and methylation protocols for linkage analysis. In 2018, she was awarded with Young Scientist fellowship (47,000 EUR research grant; not availed) and NPDF fellowship (23,000 EUR research grant) in 2019. During NPDF (March 2019 - December, 2020), she obtained experience in handling microbial cultures, and molecular analyses (DNA isolation and gene amplification). In the past 10 years (since 2011), she has been awarded with several national and international awards and fellowships to work on polysaccharide chemistry.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Tolan, K., Selo, M. A., Obaidi, I., O"Connell, P., Carty, M., Nagar, S., Healy A. M., Sheridan, H., The effects of upstream processing on the chemical profile and immunomodulating activity of Echinacea purpurea tinctures., Phytochemistry Letters, 68, 2025, p102971-
Erol, Ö., Nagar, S., Selo, M. A., Obaidi, I., Walsh, J. J., Sheridan, H., & Choi, Y. H., Identification of anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial compounds from leaves and rhizome of Iris pseudacorus collected in Ireland bogland using chemical profiling techniques., Fitoterapia, 185, 2025, p106671-
Case, S. and O'Brien, T. and Ledwith, A.E. and Chen, S. and Horneck Johnston, C.J.H. and Hackett, E.E. and O'Sullivan, M. and Charles-Messance, H. and Dempsey, E. and Yadav, S. and Wilson, J. and Corr, S.C. and Nagar, S. and Sheedy, F.J., β-glucans from Agaricus bisporus mushroom products drive Trained Immunity, Frontiers in Nutrition, 11, (1346706), 2024
Shipra Nagar, Maria Pigott, Sophie Whyms, Apolline Berlemont, Helen Sheridan , Effect of Extraction Methods on Essential Oil Composition: A Case Study of Irish Bog Myrtle -Myrica gale L., Separations, 2023
Sophie Whyms, Shipra Nagar, Maria Pigott, Klaas Kok, Hailey A. Luker, Alfredo López, Tao Zhang, Immo A. Hansen, Helen Sheridan, Short Lecture "Investigating the Insect Repellency of an Irish Bog Plant, Bog Myrtle (Myrica gale L.), Planta Medica, 89, (14), 2023, p1293 - 1294, p1293-1294
S Nagar, M Pigott, W Kukula-Koch, H Sheridan, Unravelling Novel Phytochemicals and Anticholinesterase Activity in Irish Cladonia portentosa, Molecules 2, 28, (10), 2023, p4145-
Cillian Jacques Gately, Ismael Obaidi, Maria Pigott, Özlem Erol, Shipra Nagar, Wirginia Kuku"a"Koch, Young Hae Choi, Helen Sheridan, Unlocking nature"s pharmacy: a story of an Irish tormentil, Planta Medica, 89, (14), 2023, p1353 - 1354, p1353-1354
Shipra Nagar, Maria Pigott, Ismael Obaidi, Cillian Jacques Gately, Shilong Chen, Sophie Whyms, Lee Sherlock, Özlem Erol, Kavita Gadar, Young Hae Choi, Ronan R. McCarthy, Jandirk Sendker, Wirginia Kuku"a"Koch, Michael Carty, Gaia Scalabrino, Helen Sheridan, Unravelling the healing power of Irish bogland species, Planta Medica, 89, (14), 2023, p1355 - 1355, p1355-1355
Shipra Nagar, I Obadi, Michael Carty, W Kuku"a-Koch, Helen Sheridan, Short Lecture "Unique Molecules from a Bioactive Irish Bog Lichen, Cladonia portentosa", Planta Medica, 88, 2022
Maria Pigott, Shipra Nagar, Isa Woulfe, Gaia Scalabrino, Helen Sheridan, Unlocking Nature"s Pharmacy: Composition and bioactivity of essential oil of bog-myrtle (Myrica gale) grown on Irish boglands, Planta Medica, 2022
S Nagar, I Obadi , M Carty , W Kuku"a-Koch , H Sheridan, Unique Molecules from a Bioactive Irish Bog Lichen, Cladonia portentosa, Planta Medica, GA " 70th Annual Meeting 2022, Thessaloniki, Greece, 28.08.22"31.08.2022, 88, (15), Thieme, 2022, pp1426 - 1427
Shipra Nagar, Runa Antony, Meloth Thamban, Extracellular polymeric substances in antarctic environments: A review of their ecological roles and impact on glacier biogeochemical cycles., Polar Science, 2021, p100686-
Junying Liu, Ismael Obaidi, Shipra Nagar, Gaia Scalabrino, Helen Sheridan , The antiviral potential of algal-derived macromolecules, Current Research in Biotechnology, 2021
Shipra Nagar, Shilong Chen, Isa Woulfe, Michael Carty, Obdabi I, Manuel Ruether, Peter O'Connell, Young Choi, Helen Sheridan, Unlocking Nature's Pharmacy - the story of an Irish Bog Lichen. , Planta Medica, 69th International Congress and Annual Meeting of the Society for Medicinal Plant and Natural Product Research (GA), Bonn. FRG, September 6-8th, edited by Thieme , 2021
Shipra Nagar, Ajeet Kumar Lakhera and Vineet Kumar, Upgrading Methylation Method for Structural Studies of Polysaccharides: Case Analysis of a Bioactive Polysaccharide from Acacia tortilis. , Journal of Biologically Active Products from Nature, 10, (2), 2020, p70 - 85
Opportunity of plant oligosaccharides and polysaccharides in drug development in, editor(s)VINOD KUMAR TIWARI , Carbohydrates in Drug Discovery and Development: Synthesis and Application, Elsevier, 2020, pp587 - 639, [1. Vineet Kumar, Shipra Nagar and Pradeep Sharma]
Shipra Nagar and Andreas Hensel and Petra Mischnick and Vineet Kumar, A unique polysaccharide containing 3- O -methylarabinose and 3- O -methylgalactose from Tinospora sinensis, Carbohydrate Polymers, 193, 2018, p326--335
Shipra Nagar, Andreas Hensel, Petra Mischnick and Vineet Kumar, A Unique Polysaccharide containing 3-O-Methylarabinose and 3-O-Methylgalactose from Tinospora sinensis, Carbohydrate Polymers, 193, 2018, p326 - 335
Vineet Kumar and Shipra Nagar, Studies on Tinospora cordifolia monosugars and correlation analysis of uronic acids by spectrophotometry and GLC, Carbohydrate Polymers, (99), 2014, p291 - 296
Vineet Kumar, Shipra Nagar and Y. C. Tripathi, Do assorted approaches aid in estimation of uronic acids? Case studies on Tinospora sinensis polysaccharides, International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 70, 2014, p360 - 363
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Shipra Nagar and Y. C. Tripathi, Phytochemicals from food plant residues - an approach to environmental clean-up., Universities' Journal of Phytochemistry and Ayurvedic Heights, 1, (10), 2011, p12 - 15
Research Expertise
Description
Isolation, purification, fractionation, derivatisation and characterization of polysaccharides, using wet lab methods and further analysis using advanced chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques viz. HPLC, Capillary electrophoresis, HPAEC, IEC, GPC, GC-FID, FT-IR, UV-Vis spectrophotometer, GC-MS, ESI-MS, LC-MS, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, 2D NMR etc. Chemical transformations and modification of polysaccharides. NMR- and MS-based untargeted and targeted metabolomics data mining and feature based molecular networking in natural product drug discovery.Projects
- Title
- Structural Investigations of Extracellular Polymeric Substances from Antarctic microbes with special reference to exopolysaccharides
- Summary
- Huge algal and bacterial biodiversity in Antarctic sea ice plays a vital role in Antarctic coastal food web. It acts as source of Extracellular Polymeric Substances (EPSs) in water as a response to environmental stress such as low temperatures, high salinity, pH difference etc. EPS is composed of exopolysaccharides (ExP), proteins, lipids and DNA. Amongst these, ExP (40-90%) is main component and exhibit unique properties viz. cryoprotection, anti-desiccation ;trace metal uptake & binding, sequestration of dissolved organic matter (DOM) & nutrients; adhesion, buffering against high salinity & pH; aggregate formation and biofilm production thereby assisting microbial communities to endure extremes of temp., salinity, and nutrient availability. EPS can influence environment substantially by its role in biogeochemical cycles, especially carbon cycle. They are also key to microbial biofilm stabilization by acting as substrate for growth of complex microbial communities. They aid in cryoconite granules formation on glacial surface and are known to be significantly responsible for acceleration in glacial and ice sheet melting. EPS may also aggregate to form particulate organic matter, which may be degraded to dissolved organic carbon and dissolved organic nitrogen by microbes, thereby adding to the pool of DOM in environment. In microbial dominated ecosystems, EPS can represent a major source of biologically labile carbon that fuels the microbial web. Despite significant role of EPS in Antarctic coastal ecosystems, very few studies have been carried out to unravel the chemical structures of constituent ExP. The studies so far carried out in this region have been limited to monosaccharide analysis and quantification of EPS, carbohydrate, uronic acid and protein contents. Hence, it is important to carry out complete structural characterization of ExP from polar microbes for a better understanding of their role in Antarctic coastal environments. The study used microbial cultures of representative samples from such supraglacial ecosystems situated within coastal East Antarctica (Larsemann Hills and Dronning Maud Land), collected as part of the ongoing 'Cryosphere and Climate' project at National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Goa, India. It was proposed to profile the compositional structure of EPSs produced by microbes and to characterize their constituent ExP. Elucidation of ExP structure would lead to enhanced understanding of their role in polar environment, viz., biogeochemical processes, food web, their atmospheric processing and relevance for climate. The complete and thorough structural profiling of EPS would provide potentially new insights into structure-activity relationship and behavior of EPS, and its interaction with surrounding environment. Further, study would provide background data necessary for exploring industrial prospects of polar ExP.
- Funding Agency
- Science and Engineering Research Board, Department. of Science and Technology, India
- Date From
- April, 2019
- Date To
- December, 2020
- Title
- Assessing the immunomodulatory potential and chemical fingerprinting of novel bio-marine functional ingredients
- Summary
- This project characterised and evaluated proprietary Irish macroalgal ß-glucans and fucoidans for their potential as scientifically validated immune-modulating ingredients. While fungal ß-glucans were known activators of innate immune pathways, macroalgal ß-glucans had remained underexplored, particularly in relation to Trained Innate Immune Memory (TRIM). Using reporter cell assays, macrophage and monocyte models, and in-vivo TRIM profiling, the project mapped how these marine carbohydrates influenced inflammatory signalling and Dectin-1-mediated responses. Top-performing extracts underwent advanced chemical and rheological fingerprinting at NatPro to link molecular structure with bioactivity and to guide optimisation of Nutramara"s extraction processes.
- Funding Agency
- Enterprise Ireland; Nutramara
- Date From
- Nov 2023
- Date To
- Oct 2024
Recognition
Representations
Faculty Representative of research staff (research fellows, postdocs and research assistants) in Faculty Executive Committee at Faculty of Health Sciences that encompasses four Schools- Pharmacy, Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing & Midwifery at Trinity College Dublin.
Awards and Honours
1. National Post-Doctoral Fellowship by Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology, India, in February, 2019 (23,000 EUR research grant).
2. Young Scientist Fellowship under Scheme for Young Scientists and Technologists (SYST), Science for Equity, Empowerment and Development (SEED) Division, Department of Science and Technology, India, in October, 2018 (47,000 EUR research grant) (not availed).
Best paper presentation award in 4 International and 5 National Conferences
Gold medal in M.Sc. Chemistry
Memberships
DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst; German Academic Exchange Services)
The International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce (INPST)
Good Practice in Traditional Chinese Medicine Research Association (GP-TCM-RA)
Society for Medicinal Plant and Natural Product Research (GA)
The Phytochemical Society of Europe (PSE)
Network of Arctic Researchers Ireland (NARI)
Metabolomics Society
Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (MRSC)
Fellow of Institute Chemistry of Ireland (FICI)
ACCTI (Association of Carbohydrate Chemists and Technologists (India))