Dr Priyanka Hastak

Dr Priyanka Hastak

Research Associate

B.Tech, Msc (Biotech), PhD

Medicine & Health
The Kirby Institute

Priyanka is a post-doctoral Research Associate at the Kirby Institute. She graduated with her Bachelors in Technology (Biotech) before pursuing her Masters in Biotechnology at the Australian National University in Canberra. 

She completed her PhD in early 2021, her project was on genomic surveillance of antimicrobial resistant pathogens in sepsis patients at the University of Technology, Sydney funded by the AusGem (Australian Centre for Genomic Epidemiology and Microbiology). During her PhD she gained expertise in conducting long read sequencing and bioinformatics analysis to discover not only the resistance and virulence patterns but the emerging multi-drug resistant E. coli clones in sepsis patients.

She was recruited at the Kirby Institute in the Immunovirology and Pathogenesis program in 2021 and her research is focused on understanding the T cell response in sepsis patients and in vaccinated cancer patients. Her aim is to leverage her expertise in molecular biology and bioinformatics to examine the T cell transcriptome and answer questions about their role in localised immunity.

 

  • Journal articles | 2023
    Beaton B; Sasson SC; Rankin K; Raedemaeker J; Wong A; Hastak P; Phetsouphanh C; Warden A; Klemm V; Munier CML; Hoppe AC; Tea F; Pillay A; Stella AO; Aggarwal A; Lavee O; Caterson ID; Turville S; Kelleher AD; Brilot F; Trotman J, 2023, 'Patients with treated indolent lymphomas immunized with BNT162b2 have reduced anti-spike neutralizing IgG to SARS-CoV-2 variants, but preserved antigen-specific T cell responses', American Journal of Hematology, 98, pp. 131 - 139, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajh.26619
    Journal articles | 2023
    Chowdhury PR; Hastak P; DeMaere M; Wyrsch E; Li D; Elankumaran P; Dolejska M; Browning GF; Marenda MS; Gottlieb T; Cheong E; Merlino J; Myers GSA; Djordjevic SP, 2023, 'Phylogenomic analysis of a global collection of Escherichia coli ST38: evidence of interspecies and environmental transmission?', mSystems, 8, http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/msystems.01236-22
    Journal articles | 2023
    Rankin K; Hastak P; Wong A; Sasson SC; Beaton B; Yeola A; Warden A; Turville S; Kelleher AD; Brilot F; Trotman J, 2023, 'Immune response to COVID‐19 vaccination in patients with Waldenström macroglobulinaemia who pause their BTKi therapy', eJHaem, 4, pp. 728 - 732, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jha2.724
    Journal articles | 2022
    Hastak PS; Andersen CR; Kelleher AD; Sasson SC, 2022, 'Frontline workers: Mediators of mucosal immunity in community acquired pneumonia and COVID-19', Frontiers in Immunology, 13, http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.983550
    Journal articles | 2022
    Rankin K; Beaton B; Sasson S; Raedemaecker J; Wong A; Hastak P; Phetsouphanh C; Warden A; Patel M; Klemm V; Munier CML; Carey Hoppe A; Tea F; Pillay A; Ospina A; Aggarwal A; Lavee O; Caterson ID; Turville S; Kelleher AD; Brilot F; Trotman J, 2022, 'PB2087: EFFICACY OF A 3RD COVID VACCINE, INCLUDING DURING A BTKI PAUSE, IN INDIVIDUALS WITH WALDENSTRÖM MACROGLOBULINEMIA AND FOLLICULAR LYMPHOMA', HemaSphere, 6, pp. 1958 - 1959, http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/01.hs9.0000851180.32970.18
    Journal articles | 2021
    Beaton B; Sasson SC; Rankin K; Raedemaeker J; Wong A; Hastak P; Warden A; Stella AO; Aggarwal A; Caterson ID; Phetsouphanh C; Turville S; Kelleher AD; Brilot F; Trotman J, 2021, 'Efficacy of Vaccine BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) in Individuals with Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia and Follicular Lymphoma in Australia', BLOOD, 138, http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/blood-2021-149348
    Journal articles | 2020
    Hastak P; Cummins ML; Gottlieb T; Cheong E; Merlino J; Myers GSA; Djordjevic SP; Chowdhury PR, 2020, 'Genomic profiling of Escherichia coli isolates from bacteraemia patients: a 3-year cohort study of isolates collected at a Sydney teaching hospital', Microbial Genomics, 6, pp. e000371 - e000371, http://dx.doi.org/10.1099/mgen.0.000371
    Journal articles | 2020
    Hastak P; Fourment M; Darling AE; Gottlieb T; Cheong E; Merlino J; Myers GSA; Djordjevic SP; Chowdhury PR, 2020, 'Escherichia coli ST8196 is a novel, locally evolved, and extensively drug resistant pathogenic lineage within the ST131 clonal complex', Emerging Microbes & Infections, 9, pp. 1780 - 1792, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/22221751.2020.1797541

AusGem Grant (2017-2021)

NHMRC Grant (2021-Present)

International Research Scholarship (2016-2021)