Preparedness for Future Pandemics (PDF)

to molecular biology and cardiovascular diseases with more than twenty years of research experience. In DRDO, she worked in the area of chemical warfare agents (CWA), particularly on nerve agents and her research predominantly focused on the detection of expression of neuro specific genes after CWA exposure. Dr Iti has vast research experience in high altitude-induced maladies which is directly relevant to Indian soldiers stationed at high to extreme altitudes pertaining to various documented complications related to thromboembolic/coagulation disorders. She is working on preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic strategies to combat the disease. Amid the pandemic as a researcher, she worked on various aspects of COVID-19 progression/severity, mainly, the association of the ABO blood group, thrombotic markers, genetic variants and many more which would be helpful to mitigate the severity of the disease. Dr Iti has many publications in reputed national/international journals and life member of many scientific societies. She has attended and presented papers in various national and international conferences.



Dr. Swati Srivastava is currently serving as a Senior Scientist at Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), Delhi, India and has been actively engaged in research activities for over 18 years. She did her master's in environmental biology with a specialization in biotechnology from the Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi. Dr. Swati obtained her Ph.D. degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Delhi. She joined DIPAS, Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) as Scientist in 2004 and since then working actively in the field of molecular biology and genomics on several research projects. Her research interests include identification of biomarkers for susceptibility and genetic resistance of human beings to various high-altitude maladies such as venous thrombosis (VT) and high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) under extreme environmental conditions. She has published several research articles in various reputed national and international journals, including three book chapters. Her research area includes multi-OMICS-based studies on high altitude maladies under which she has identified various potential miRNAs, genomic and exomic variants and methylation patterns that could be useful as early predictive and diagnostic biomarkers for high altitude disease management. Recently, she has been engaged in identification of biomarkers for prediction of COVID-19 susceptibility and severity and has published several research articles related to it. She is a recipient of DRDO Lab-level Technology Group award and Best Research Publication award. Also, she has presented her work at various international conferences. Dr. Swati is a life member of several scientific societies and an active reviewer of many reputed international journals.