Virology

Biography

Dr. Babita Agrawal is a professor in the Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She completed M.Sc. (1987) in biochemistry and PhD (1993) in Immunology. After completing post-doctoral work, she joined a major Canadian biotech company in 1996 where she received outstanding R & D achievement awards for consecutive years and rose to the position of Manager and Head of Immunology Research. She headed a large group of scientists, focusing on basic to translational research on novel immunotherapy and vaccine technologies, leading to clinical trials. In 2001, she joined the University of Alberta as an assistant professor and received a Medical Scholar Award in 2002 from the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR). In 2007, she was promoted to the rank of associate professor with tenure. In the same year she obtained a Senior Scholar Award from the Alberta Innovates Health Solutions (AIHS). In 2011, she was honored by Dean’s Award in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, U of Alberta. In 2013, she was promoted to full professor. She is an established investigator with proven leadership in immunotherapy and vaccine research. In addition to a number of provincial and national grant committees, she has served as an external scientific expert in cellular immunology and vaccine research on NIH and NCI, U.S.A., grant panels and site visits.

Research Interest

Her research focuses on studying immune regulation and innate and adaptive immune responses, and novel small molecule inhibitors against viral infections and cancer, in order to design and study novel vaccine, immuno- and chemo-therapeutic strategies. She has published several pioneering papers in the field and has a number of issued patents. Recently, she has co-founded a small biotech based on her research in the areas of vaccine and therapeutics.