Gourav Rakshi is a Commonwealth Split-Site PhD Scholar based at Birkbeck, University of London. He’s recently actively shared his research to mark World TB Day, World Health Day, presenting his investigative work to a broader community of scientists and early career researchers.
I’m a Commonwealth Split-Site PhD scholar conducting research at the ISMB-Mycobacterial Research Laboratory within the School of Natural Sciences at Birkbeck, University of London. I’m also a member of the UCL-TB Centre. My research is jointly supervised by Professor Venkatesan Jayaprakash (Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, India) and Professor Sanjib Bhakta (Birkbeck, University of London, UK), and my interdisciplinary project contributes to a UK-India education and research initiative aimed at accelerating the development of novel therapeutic interventions against drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB).
On 21 March, I presented a poster at the IOI Early Career Researcher Conference 2025, held at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. This conference fosters interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers, clinicians, industry experts, and postgraduate students, encouraging innovative, multidisciplinary approaches to tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
A few days later, on 24 March, I delivered a Turbo Talk at the World TB Day Symposium 2025, held at the John Snow Lecture Theatre, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). I was honoured to receive first prize for my presentation. This annual symposium brings together the global TB research community – including scientists, clinicians, policymakers, and affected communities – to share insights on TB research, control strategies, diagnostics, and policy development, while addressing future challenges.
World TB Day, observed on 24 March each year, commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced his discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis as the causative agent of tuberculosis. The symposium, jointly hosted by the UCL-TB and LSHTM TB Centres, highlights current TB research, control measures, and policy initiatives, connecting a wide range of stakeholders – from researchers and healthcare professionals to diagnostics experts and members of affected communities.
UCL-TB/ LSHTM-TB World TB Day Symposium 2025
Continuing my engagement with the wider scientific community, I participated in a panel discussion on 2 and 3 April at the 4th ACE Drug Discovery Summit, held at Insurance Hall, London. The session, titled In Vitro and In Vivo Testing of Drugs to Accelerate New Drug Discovery: Complementary Approaches, featured leading experts from academia and industry. During the event, Professor Bhakta delivered a keynote lecture on Models and Methods in Antimicrobial Drug Development (for further reading: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38949698/). Other distinguished panellists included Soroush Safaei, Senior Principal Scientist at Sanofi; Chandan Seth Nanda, Vice President of Target and Drug Discovery at Pear Bio; Annick Sawala, Head of Translational Research at Vivan Therapeutics; and Bilada Bilican, Senior Director at AstraZeneca’s Applied Stem Cell Sciences, Centre for Genomics Research. The ACE Drug Discovery Summit provided an excellent platform for global experts to explore trends, challenges, and innovations in drug discovery through presentations and interactive sessions.
Reflecting on these experiences, I can say that as a final-year PhD student, presenting my work to an international audience and engaging in meaningful discussions with both academic and industry leaders has been incredibly rewarding. This journey wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the Commonwealth Scholarship, and I’m deeply grateful to my doctoral training supervisors for their unwavering support and mentorship.
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