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Awdhesh (Dash) Kalia, Ph.D.

School of Health Professions, Division of Education & Training

Present Title & Affiliation

Primary Appointment

Professor, School of Health Professions, Division of Academic Affairs, Sr VP Office, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

Associate Graduate Program Director, Diagnostic Genetics and Genomics, School of Health Professions, Division of Academic Affairs, Sr VP Office, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

Research Interests

Decades of epidemiological and evolutionary studies show that despite predominantly clonal reproduction many pathogenic bacterial species accumulate extensive genetic diversity over time, and that ecologically and genetically related bacteria often differ in their virulence potential. These aspects are perhaps best illustrated by the two organisms that we investigate in my lab: Helicobacter pylori and Streptococcus pyogenes. Both these bacterial species are considered obligate human-specific pathogens that are responsible for a wide-variety of clinical disorders. For example, H. pylori can cause gastric cancer, peptic ulcers, duodenal ulcers, atrophic gastritis, and S. pyogenes can cause a spectrum of diseases that range from mild (strep throat) to severe invasive diseases (eg. TSLS) and can also trigger autoimmune syndromes such rheumatic fever. Paradoxically, both H. pylori and S. pyogenes can also establish long-term colonization in their human host without causing any significant disease. Disconcertingly, there are no reliable markers that can predict the likelihood of a particular clinical outcome following infection by either H. pylori or S. pyogenes. My lab studies two fundamental questions:

1) What are the molecular and evolutionary forces that shape and maintain genetic diversity in H. pylori and among pyogenic streptococci ?

2) How does genetic diversity in H. pylori and S. pyogenes shape the outcome of host-pathogen interaction?

The main themes of my lab include microbial molecular evolution, microbial cell biology and microbial genomics. Using this integrated approach we hope to better understand the pathogenic mechanisms that shape the evolution of host-pathogen interactions, and translate our findings to develop reliable predictive and therapeutic interventions for H. pylori and Streptococcal infections.

Education & Training

Degree-Granting Education

2000	All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, IND, PHD, Microbiology
1993	University of Delhi, Delhi, IND, MS, Cell Biology
1991	University of Delhi, Delhi, IND, BS, Zoology

Postgraduate Training

2002-2004	Research Fellowship, Evolutionary Genomics, Molecular Evolution, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO
2000-2000	Research Training, Molecular Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratories, Woodshole, MA
1999-2002	Research Fellowship, Population Genetics, Evolutionary Epidemiology, Yale University, New Haven, CT

Board Certifications

2015	American Society for Clinical Pathology-Board of Certification - Molecular Biology

Experience & Service

Academic Appointments

Associate Professor, Department of School of Health Professions, Division of Academic Affairs, Sr VP Office, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2017 - 2021

Assistant Professor, Department of School of Health Professions, Division of Academic Affairs, Sr VP Office, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2011 - 2017

Associate Professor (With Tenure), University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 2010 - 2011

Assistant Professor, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 2004 - 2010

Administrative Appointments/Responsibilities

Education Coordinator-Undergraduate Program in Molecular Genetic Technology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2011 - 2014

Honors & Awards

2021	MD Anderson Distinguished Educator, MD Anderson Acadmey of Health Science Educuation
2020	University of Texas System Regents Outstanding Teacher Award, University of Texas System
2017	Faculty Inductee, The Alpha Eta Society, The National Scholastic Honor Society for Allied Health Professions
2016	Faculty Educator of the Month, The University of Cancer MD Anderson Cancer Center
2015	Fellow, Association of Clinical Scientists
2010	Red and Black Mentor Award, University of Louisville
2008	Favorite Faculty Award, University of Louisville
2006	Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award, Oak-Ridge Association of Universities
2006	Favorite Faculty Award, University of Louisville
2000	James Hudson Brown-Alexander Brown-Coxe Postdoctoral Fellowship, Yale University
2000	Emerging Infectious Disease Fellowship, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta [declined]
1998	Special Student Honor Oration Award, American Society for Microbiology
1997	Young Investigator Award, International Society for Chemotherapy
1993	JRF/NET National Fellowship, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India
1993	National Research Fellowship, University Grants Commission, Government of India [declined]

Professional Memberships

Association of Clinical Scientists

Co-Chair, Program Committee 138th ACS Annual Meeting, Houston, 2017 - 2018

American Association for Advancement of Science

Professional Member, 2004 - Present

American Society for Microbiology, Washington D.C, DC

Full Member, 1998 - Present

Selected Publications

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Aryal NK, Pant V, Wasylishen AR, Parker-Thornburg J, Baseler L, El-Naggar AK, Liu B, Kalia A, Lozano G, Arur S. Constitutive Dicer1 phosphorylation accelerates metabolism and aging in vivo. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 116(3):960-969, 2019. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30593561.
Li X, Arias CA, Aitken SL, Galloway Peña J, Panesso D, Chang M, Diaz L, Rios R, Numan Y, Ghaoui S, DebRoy S, Bhatti MM, Simmons DE, Raad I, Hachem R, Folan SA, Sahasarabhojane P, Kalia A*, Shelburne SA*.. Clonal Emergence of Invasive Multidrug-Resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis Deconvoluted via a Combination of Whole-Genome Sequencing and Microbiome Analyses. Clin Infect Dis 67(3):398-406, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29546356, *, Equal Contribution.
Perpich JD, Kalia A*, Price CTD, Jones SC, Wong K, Gehring K, Kwaik YA*.. Divergent evolution of Di-lysine ER retention vs. farnesylation motif-mediated anchoring of the AnkB virulence effector to the Legionella-containing vacuolar membrane. Sci Rep 7(1):5123, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28698607 *, Co-corresponding Authors.
Petrosyan V, Holder M, Ajami NJ, Petrosino JF, Sahasrabhojane P, Thompson EJ, Kalia A, Shelburne SA. Complete Genome Sequence of Streptococcus mitis Strain SVGS_061 Isolated from a Neutropenic Patient with Viridans Group Streptococcal Shock Syndrome. Genome Announc 4(2), 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27056234.
Evers C, Patel K, Petrosyan V, Morrison C, Varghese V, Chu RA, Baig A, Thompson EJ, Chase M, Hu PC, Kalia A. Draft Genome Sequences of Four Genetically Distinct Human Isolates of Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis. Genome Announc 3(5), 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26430051.
Putty K, Marcus SA, Mittl PR, Bogadi LE, Hunter AM, Arur S, Berg DE, Sethu P, Kalia A. Robustness of Helicobacter pylori Infection Conferred by Context-Variable Redundancy among Cysteine-Rich Paralogs. PLoS One 8(3):e59560, 2013. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 23555707.
Kersulyte D, Kalia A, Gilman RH, Mendez M, Herrera P, Cabrera L, Velapatiño B, Balqui J, Paredes Puente de la Vega F, Rodriguez Ulloa CA, Cok J, Hooper CC, Dailide G, Tamma S, Berg DE. Helicobacter pylori from Peruvian amerindians: traces of human migrations in strains from remote Amazon, and genome sequence of an Amerind strain. PLoS One 5(11):e15076, 2010. e-Pub 2010. PMID: 21124785.
Al-Khodor S, Price CT, Kalia A*, Abu Kwaik Y*. Functional diversity of ankyrin repeats in microbial proteins. Trends Microbiol 18(3):132-9,, 2010. e-Pub 2009. PMID: 19962898.
Ogura M, Perez JC, Mittl PR, Lee HK, Dailide G, Tan S, Ito Y, Secka O, Dailidiene D, Putty K, Berg DE, Kalia A. Helicobacter pylori evolution: lineage- specific adaptations in homologs of eukaryotic Sel1-like genes. PLoS Comput Biol 3(8):e151, 2007. e-Pub 2007. PMID: 17696605.
Albert TJ, Dailidiene D, Dailide G, Norton JE, Kalia A, Richmond TA, Molla M, Singh J, Green RD, Berg DE. Mutation discovery in bacterial genomes: metronidazole resistance in Helicobacter pylori. Nat Methods 2(12):951-3, 2005. e-Pub 2005. PMID: 16299480.
Aspholm-Hurtig M, Dailide G, Lahmann M, Kalia A, Ilver D, Roche N, Vikström S, Sjöström R, Lindén S, Bäckström A, Lundberg C, Arnqvist A, Mahdavi J, Nilsson UJ, Velapatiño B, Gilman RH, Gerhard M, Alarcon T, López-Brea M, Nakazawa T, Fox JG, Correa P, Dominguez-Bello MG, Perez-Perez GI, Blaser MJ, Normark S, Carlstedt I, Oscarson S, Teneberg S, Berg DE, Borén T. Functional adaptation of BabA, the H. pylori ABO blood group antigen binding adhesin. Science 305(5683):519-22, 2004. PMID: 15273394.
Kalia A, Bessen DE. Natural selection and evolution of streptococcal virulence genes involved in tissue-specific adaptations. J Bacteriol 186(1):110-21, 2004. PMID: 14679231.
Bessen DE, Kalia A. Genomic localization of a T serotype locus to a recombinatorial zone encoding extracellular matrix-binding proteins in Streptococcus pyogenes. Infect Immun 70(3):1159-67, 2002. PMID: 11854196.

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Grant & Contract Support

Title:	Evolution of virulence in commensal and pathogenic streptococci
Funding Source:	Oak Ridge Association of Universities
Role:	Principal Investigator

Title:	Origin and evolution of the FCT-genomic island required for streptococcal pathogenesis
Funding Source:	American Society for Microbiology
Role:	Principal Investigator

Title:	Project-based core curriculum development initiative (PICCDIn) for training the next generation molecular technologist
Funding Source:	UT Academy of Health Sciences
Role:	Principal Investigator

Title:	Integration of digital-droplet (ddPCR) PCR based diagnostic assays in the Diagnostic Genetics (DG) molecular genetics and genomics core-curriculum
Funding Source:	MD Anderson Cancer Fund
Role:	Project Leader