Meet Our Team
Aneesh Thakur, DVM, MVSc, PhD
Principal Investigator
Research Scientist, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization
Adjunct Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology
Aneesh Thakur is an immunologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization. He earned his DVM and MVSc in Microbiology and Immunology from the CSK Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, India. From 2007-2009, he was a research scientist in the Tuberculosis Aerosol Challenge Facility at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi. He attended graduate school at the Technical University of Denmark and completed his PhD in Immunology. He then joined the CSK Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Veterinary Microbiology. From 2016-2020, he carried out postdoctoral research at the University of Copenhagen and became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacy. He joined VIDO in 2022 to establish and lead a research group focused on vaccine formulations for mucosal delivery.
Team Members
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Lamees Nayef
Research Technician
Lamees Nayef completed her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. In her research work, she focused on optimizing two drug delivery systems, a liposome core multilayer coated nanoparticle and a chitosan-based hydrogel. The two drug delivery systems were used to deliver Bone Morphogenetic Protein 7 (BMP-7), a protein that accelerates bone regeneration. She has obtained a MASc in Biomedical Engineering and BEng in Chemical Engineering at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
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Naga Suresh Kola
Graduate student
Naga Suresh Kola graduated from Technische Universität Dresden, Germany in molecular bioengineering with a research focus on DNA and lipid nanotechnology and notable for characterization of biomolecules. He is honored with a bachelor's degree in pharmaceutical sciences and expertise in the drug development process. His research point of view is that investigating the structural implications of biosystems (nanocarriers) with polyelectrolytes (oligonucleotides) aids in developing technological therapies.
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Dhruv Patel
Graduate student
Dhruv Patel has done his graduation from the Department of Pharmaceutics at the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), SAS Nagar, India. His research focused on targeting ligand coated nano drug delivery systems (specifically polymeric nanoparticles) to the tumor sites. He has experience in development and characterization of the nano-formulations. He has completed his Bachelors in Pharmaceutical Sciences from L. M. College of Pharmacy, Ahmedabad, India. He has also worked at Dr. Reddys Laboratories where he developed oral solid formulations.
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Anna Martens-Koop
Graduate student
Anna Martens-Koop completed her Honors Bachelor's of Science (HBSc) in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Her Honors project investigated the synergistic biofilm formation of various human-isolated bacterial species. She was an executive member on the Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology Student Association (BMISA) at the University of Saskatchewan in 2022-2023.