Moment of pride: Calicut University professor bags central government fellowship

An assistant professor in the Zoology Department of Calicut University, Dr EM Aneesh, has brought laurels to the university. He has received the Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB) International Research Experience (SIRE) Fellowship of the Department of Science and Technology, which is offered by the Government of India, to research post-COVID infections at Imperial College, London.

Dr Aneesh will join the team of Matthew Fisher, Professor of Fungal Epidemiology at Imperial College for the research, which will be six months long, starting from August 1, 2022, to January 31, 2023. The assistant professor said that the findings of the research will be used to create a system in India to prevent these post-COVID fungal infections, as reported by ENS.

"In the coming years, post-COVID fungal infections are also going to pose a big threat to the health system. We have already identified some fungal infections like black fungus. However, we need to conduct more research on these fungal infections. Our research aims to identify the types of fungal infections and the methods to prevent them," the assistant professor said.

Dr Aneesh is 39 years old and is a native of Wayanad, Kerala. He has been working with Calicut University for the past year and holds a PhD in Mosquito-Borne Diseases. Currently, he is also carrying out two studies on the Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) or monkey fever under the central government's Bio-Technology Department and Department of Science and Technology, respectively. The studies aim to find out preventive methods against KFD, as reported by ENS.