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Dr Tejasri Yarlagadda completed her PhD in the Respiratory Virus Research Group, under the primary supervision of Professor Kirsten Spann. Prior to commencing her PhD, she completed a her Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences (Honours), where she investigated the antiviral response of nasal epithelial cells in children with recurrent or chronic otitis media. Tejasri was awarded the Children’s Hospital Foundation PhD Scholarship Grant and a Faculty of Health Top-Up Scholarship for her current research.
The Interactions between Probiotic Bacteria and Respiratory Viruses within the Epithelium of the Upper Respiratory Tract
Viral upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with human rhinoviruses (HRV) being the most common viruses identified in URTIs in both children and adults. A large range of etiologic agents challenge the development of efficient therapies. Empirical research suggests that probiotics can reduce the duration and severity of respiratory infection symptoms. However, the antiviral mechanisms of probiotics are unclear. Therefore, the focus of this research was to characterise the innate immune response to therapeutic probiotics with and without co-exposure to common respiratory viruses using an in vitro model of well-differentiated nasal epithelial cells. The outcome of this research will be thorough understanding of how these microbes interact within the nasal epithelium and whether probiotics are protective against viral infections, or if their beneficial action may be inhibited by viral infections.