Saurabh Mehta

Research Philosophy

The Mehta Research Group primarily works in India in the states of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and coastal Ecuador. Our focus is on vulnerable populations including mothers and children, and those suffering from infectious diseases such as HIV infection, Tuberculosis, Dengue virus infection, Zika virus infection, and Malaria.

The aspirational goal and guiding principle of our team is to deliver community health care in the community itself to either prevent poor health outcomes and/or reduce their severity/impact. Consequently, our research is on a) identifying risk factors that predict poor health in our communities as early as possible through active surveillance; b) inventing field-friendly devices such as the Cornell NutriPhone and FeverPhone to enable community-level or point-of-need diagnoses; and c) intervening to modify the identified risk factors mainly through sustainable interventions.

Given that a) the majority of the world is either over- or under-nourished; and b) diet and nutrition-related factors represent the largest proportion of risk factors for global mortality and morbidity, we often use nutritional interventions to modify the risk of adverse health outcomes in our research. Further, we examine the mechanistic linkages between nutrition and health - for example, we recently concluded a randomized trial of iron-rich pearl millet among children in urban slums of Mumbai to determine its effect on growth and immune function, among other outcomes, and are also assessing how this effect may be modified by the gut microbiome’s composition and function.

Recent Publications

For a full list of publications, visit Mehta's bibliography. 

• Vetrano M, Wegman A, Koes B, Mehta S, King CA. Serum IL-1RA levels increase from follicular to luteal phase of the ovarian cycle: A pilot study on human female immune responses. PLoS One. 2020;15(9):e0238520. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0238520. eCollection 2020. PubMed PMID: 32881904.
• Centeno-Tablante E, Medina-Rivera M, Finkelstein JL, Rayco-Solon P, Garcia-Casal MN, Rogers L, Ghezzi-Kopel K, Ridwan P, Peña-Rosas JP, Mehta S. Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through breast milk and breastfeeding: a living systematic review. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2020 Aug 28;. doi: 10.1111/nyas.14477. [Epub ahead of print] Review. PubMed PMID: 32860259.
• Ruth CJ, Huey SL, Krisher JT, Fothergill A, Gannon BM, Jones CE, Centeno-Tablante E, Hackl LS, Colt S, Finkelstein JL, Mehta S. An Electronic Data Capture Framework (ConnEDCt) for Global and Public Health Research: Design and Implementation. J Med Internet Res. 2020 Aug 13;22(8):e18580. doi: 10.2196/18580. PubMed PMID: 32788154; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7453324.
• Shanmugakani RK, Srinivasan B, Glesby MJ, Westblade LF, Cárdenas WB, Raj T, Erickson D, Mehta S. Current state of the art in rapid diagnostics for antimicrobial resistance. Lab Chip. 2020 Aug 7;20(15):2607-2625. doi: 10.1039/d0lc00034e. Epub 2020 Jul 9. PubMed PMID: 32644060; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7428068.
• Gomes F, Bergeron G, Bourassa MW, Dallmann D, Golan J, Hurley KM, King SE, da Silva ACF, Mehta S. Interventions to increase adherence to micronutrient supplementation during pregnancy: a protocol for a systematic review. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2020 Jun;1470(1):25-30. doi: 10.1111/nyas.14319. Epub 2020 Feb 13. PubMed PMID: 32052867; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7384083.
• Yu EA, Finkelstein JL, Brannon PM, Bonam W, Russell DG, Glesby MJ, Mehta S. Nutritional assessment among adult patients with suspected or confirmed active tuberculosis disease in rural India. PLoS One. 2020;15(5):e0233306. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0233306. eCollection 2020. PubMed PMID: 32442216; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7244113.
• Finkelstein JL, Herman HS, Plenty A, Mehta S, Natureeba P, Clark TD, Kamya MR, Ruel T, Charlebois ED, Cohan D, Havlir D, Young SL. Anemia and Micronutrient Status during Pregnancy, and Their Associations with Obstetric and Infant Outcomes among HIV-Infected Ugandan Women Receiving Antiretroviral Therapy. Curr Dev Nutr. 2020 May;4(5):nzaa075. doi: 10.1093/cdn/nzaa075. eCollection 2020 May. PubMed PMID: 32440638; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7229869.
• Gomes F, Bourassa MW, Adu-Afarwuah S, Ajello C, Bhutta ZA, Black R, Catarino E, Chowdhury R, Dalmiya N, Dwarkanath P, Engle-Stone R, Gernand AD, Goudet S, Hoddinott J, Kaestel P, Manger MS, McDonald CM, Mehta S, Moore SE, Neufeld LM, Osendarp S, Ramachandran P, Rasmussen KM, Stewart C, Sudfeld C, West K, Bergeron G. Setting research priorities on multiple micronutrient supplementation in pregnancy. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2020 Apr;1465(1):76-88. doi: 10.1111/nyas.14267. Epub 2019 Nov 6. PubMed PMID: 31696532; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7186835.
• Wang R, Vemulapati S, Westblade LF, Glesby MJ, Mehta S, Erickson D. cAST: Capillary-Based Platform for Real-Time Phenotypic Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing. Anal Chem. 2020 Feb 4;92(3):2731-2738. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.9b04991. Epub 2020 Jan 16. PubMed PMID: 31944675.
• Finkelstein JL, Colt S, Layden AJ, Krisher JT, Stewart-Ibarra AM, Polhemus M, Beltrán-Ayala E, Tedesco JM, Cárdenas WB, Endy T, Mehta S. Micronutrients, Immunological Parameters, and Dengue Virus Infection in Coastal Ecuador: A Nested Case-Control Study in an Infectious Disease Surveillance Program. J Infect Dis. 2020 Jan 1;221(1):91-101. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiz427. PubMed PMID: 31428794; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6910873.
• Nevins JE, Venkatramanan S, Mehta S, Haas JD. Predicting potential to benefit from an iron intervention: a randomized controlled trial of double-fortified salt in female Indian tea pluckers. Public Health Nutr. 2019 Dec;22(18):3416-3425. doi: 10.1017/S1368980019001800. Epub 2019 Jul 25. PubMed PMID: 31342886; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6891141.
• Gannon BM, Thakker V, Bonam VS, Haas JD, Bonam W, Finkelstein JL, Udipi SA, Mehta S. A Randomized Crossover Study to Evaluate Recipe Acceptability in Breastfeeding Mothers and Young Children in India Targeted for a Multiple Biofortified Food Crop Intervention. Food Nutr Bull. 2019 Dec;40(4):460-470. doi: 10.1177/0379572119855588. Epub 2019 Jul 30. PubMed PMID: 31359782.
• Gannon BM, Glesby MJ, Finkelstein JL, Raj T, Erickson D, Mehta S. A point-of-care assay for alpha-1-acid glycoprotein as a diagnostic tool for rapid, mobile-based determination of inflammation. Curr Res Biotechnol. 2019 Nov;1:41-48. doi: 10.1016/j.crbiot.2019.09.002. Epub 2019 Oct 25. PubMed PMID: 32342042; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7185229.
• Ahmad R, Xie L, Pyle M, Suarez MF, Broger T, Steinberg D, Ame SM, Lucero MG, Szucs MJ, MacMullan M, Berven FS, Dutta A, Sanvictores DM, Tallo VL, Bencher R, Eisinger DP, Dhingra U, Deb S, Ali SM, Mehta S, Fawzi WW, Riley ID, Sazawal S, Premji Z, Black R, Murray CJL, Rodriguez B, Carr SA, Walt DR, Gillette MA. A rapid triage test for active pulmonary tuberculosis in adult patients with persistent cough. Sci Transl Med. 2019 Oct 23;11(515). doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aaw8287. PubMed PMID: 31645455.
• Kim J, Cao XE, Finkelstein JL, Cárdenas WB, Erickson D, Mehta S. A two-colour multiplexed lateral flow immunoassay system to differentially detect human malaria species on a single test line. Malar J. 2019 Sep 18;18(1):313. doi: 10.1186/s12936-019-2957-x. PubMed PMID: 31533756; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6749696.
• Dwarkanath P, Vinotha P, Thomas T, Joseph S, Thomas A, Shirley G, Sheela CN, Mehta S, Kurpad AV. Relationship of Early Vitamin D Concentrations and Gestational Diabetes Mellitus in Indian Pregnant Women. Front Nutr. 2019;6:116. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2019.00116. eCollection 2019. PubMed PMID: 31448279; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6691186.
• Huey SL, Finkelstein JL, Venkatramanan S, Udipi SA, Ghugre P, Thakker V, Thorat A, Potdar RD, Chopra HV, Kurpad AV, Haas JD, Mehta S. Prevalence and Correlates of Undernutrition in Young Children Living in Urban Slums of Mumbai, India: A Cross Sectional Study. Front Public Health. 2019;7:191. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00191. eCollection 2019. PubMed PMID: 31355176; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6639755.
• Finkelstein JL, Fothergill A, Hackl LS, Haas JD, Mehta S. Iron biofortification interventions to improve iron status and functional outcomes. Proc Nutr Soc. 2019 May;78(2):197-207. doi: 10.1017/S0029665118002847. Epub 2019 Jan 30. PubMed PMID: 30698117.
• Wang R, Ongagna-Yhombi SY, Lu Z, Centeno-Tablante E, Colt S, Cao X, Ren Y, Cárdenas WB, Mehta S, Erickson D. Rapid Diagnostic Platform for Colorimetric Differential Detection of Dengue and Chikungunya Viral Infections. Anal Chem. 2019 Apr 16;91(8):5415-5423. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.9b00704. Epub 2019 Mar 29. PubMed PMID: 30896928.
• Srinivasan B, Finkelstein JL, O'Dell D, Erickson D, Mehta S. Rapid diagnostics for point-of-care quantification of soluble transferrin receptor. EBioMedicine. 2019 Apr;42:504-510. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2019.03.017. Epub 2019 Mar 16. PubMed PMID: 30885726; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6491390.
• Oeschger T, McCloskey D, Kopparthy V, Singh A, Erickson D. Point of care technologies for sepsis diagnosis and treatment. Lab Chip. 2019 Feb 26;19(5):728-737. doi: 10.1039/c8lc01102h. Review. PubMed PMID: 30724931; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6392004.
• Finkelstein JL, Mehta S, Villalpando S, Mundo-Rosas V, Luna SV, Rahn M, Shamah-Levy T, Beebe SE, Haas JD. A Randomized Feeding Trial of Iron-Biofortified Beans on School Children in Mexico. Nutrients. 2019 Feb 12;11(2). doi: 10.3390/nu11020381. PubMed PMID: 30759887; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6412428.

Mobile Health and Diagnostics

Dr. Mehta is the co-inventor of the Cornell Nutriphone, a smartphone platform for real-time quantitative determination of biomarkers of nutritional status, along with David Erickson. The group now has a working prototype for measuring vitamins D and B12 status from a single drop of blood and have published a couple of papers with support from the National Science Foundation and the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future. Current plans are to expand the platform to detect iron deficiency, vitamin A status, and inflammatory biomarkers with additional support from the Micronutrient Initiative and the Thrasher Research Fund. 

We have also used this technology to detect acute febrile illnesses such as Dengue virus infection and are planning to build upon this technology to detect other diseases. The National Institutes of Health recently awarded us an R01 grant for expansion of our technology to six different infections, the FeverPhone. We also have two major projects in the mHealth space - ConnEDCt, a database solution for collecting data on tablets and smartphones in resource-limited settings with inconsistent internet; and a SMS-based adherence improvement project for patients with tuberculosis at our field site in India. 

Learn more about our technology related projects. 

Biofortification

Biofortification is the process of increasing the micronutrient levels in crops through breeding. Recent advancements in this technology can improve the content of several nutrients, particularly vitamin A, iron, and zinc by several-fold, compared to conventional crops. We are examining the efficacy of biofortification as a sustainable agriculture-based nutritional intervention to improve health status in two large randomized trials in the urban slums of Mumbai with support from HarvestPlus/International Food Policy Research Institute. 

The first trial focuses on children 12-18 months of age and a high iron- and zinc-variety of pearl millet. This feeding trial will continue for 9 months and examine the impact of biofortified pearl millet-based complementary food on iron and zinc status, growth, and immune and cognitive function. The second one expands the crop portfolio to include orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, wheat, and lentils, in addition to pearl millet to deliver 50-70% of the estimated average requirements for vitamin A, iron, and zinc to breastfeeding mothers and their 6-12 months old infants. 

Learn more about the study on infants and study on children ages 12-18 months. 

Infectious Diseases

Dr. Mehta's earlier  research has highlighted the potential role of vitamin D as a modifiable risk factor for slowing disease progression and disease severity both in the context of HIV and Tuberculosis. Building upon this work, Dr. Mehta is currently the principal investigator on a trial of vitamin D supplementation in patients with tuberculosis and those with HIV co-infection. The major outcomes of interest, in addition to treatment response, include immune competence and effect on vitamin D status. In another study, the group is collaborating with the National Institute of Nutrition in Hyderabad, India to examine the association of vitamin D with immune activation in hospitalized children. In Kenya, the research group is focusing on shedding more light on the relationship of vitamin D status with vaccine responses among infants. 

In recent work, we have also highlighted how the dual epidemic of diabetes and TB is posing a major challenge for high-burden settings such as India. Even at our field site, patients with TB who also have diabetes have a three-fold higher risk of having drug resistance to the first line TB treatment. Further, current recommendations for screening for diabetes or prediabetes will miss nearly 90% of those at risk. The research group is also helping setup active surveillance systems for infectious diseases such as Dengue and Tuberculosis in Ecuador and India to facilitate early detection and triage/referral of various illnesses, interrupt transmission cycles, and characterize the background population for future intervention, efficacy, and effectiveness studies. 

Learn more about the vitamin D supplementation trial. 

Postdoctoral Fellows

Balaji Srinivasan, Ph.D. 

INSiGHT, Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University
bs627 [at] cornell.edu 

Balaji’s research focus is on developing micro-nano-bio-systems to address key biomedical problems in a highly interdisciplinary environment. His current work is on development of a lateral flow assay for smartphone-based detection of nutritional biomarkers. His previous research experience includes: Development of an impedance-based portable microfluidic platform for detection of E. coli O157:H7, avian influenza virus, and insulin; Development of microfluidic systems for in vitro tissue culture (Organs-on-Chips) applied to drug toxicity testing.

Bryan Gannon, Ph. D.

Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University
bg348 [at] cornell.edu

Bryan’s research includes micronutrient status and intervention assessment using stable isotope methodology. He has experience with efficacy trials of biofortified crops and is involved with a trial investigating the impact of multiple biofortified crops on micronutrient status, immune function, and cognitive function in children. He is working on developing novel diagnostics utilizing a mobile platform to integrate nutrition and infection/inflammation assessment for use in resource limited settings.

Rathina Kumar Shanmuga Kani, Ph.D.

Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University
rs876 [at] cornell.edu

Rathina received his doctoral degree in Medical Sciences from Osaka University, Japan. He has experience on the diagnosis and molecular epidemiology of multidrug-resistant pathogens. Currently, he is focusing on the development of point-of-care diagnostics for infectious diseases.

Amit Kumar Barui, Ph.D.

Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University
akb247 [at] cornell.edu

Amit’s research work focuses on assessment of food safety and quality in resource limited settings. He is presently working on smartphone-based point-of-need method development. His has experience in SELEX, aptamer, lateral flow assay and food analysis.

Laura Hackl, Ph.D.

Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University
lsh85 [at] cornell.edu

Laura studied Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Vienna and received her PhD from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, where she focused on improving iron absorption from post-harvest iron fortified rice in vulnerable populations. She has conducted several stable isotope absorption studies and has profound knowledge in technical aspects of food fortification.

Laura’s general research interests are maternal and child nutrition with a focus on micronutrient supply through nutrition interventions. She is currently involved in a randomized control trial on the effects of bio-fortified staple crops on micronutrient status of Indian mother-infant pairs.

Melisa Medina-Rivera, Ph.D.

Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University
mm2463 [at] cornell.edu

Melisa received her doctoral degree in the Biochemistry Department from the University at Buffalo. In her latest project, she gained experience in designing and optimizing biochemical assays to test DNA-protein and protein-protein interactions. She also has experience in molecular cloning, DNA/RNA extraction, qRT-PCR, and protein purification. She is intrigued by innate immune responses and developing state-of-the-art technology to improve early diagnostics of tropical febrile illnesses.

Graduate Students

Samantha L. Huey

Doctoral Candidate
Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University
slh277 [at] cornell.edu 

Sam received her B.S. in Biology with minors in Nutrition & Global Diseases from Cedar Crest College (Allentown, PA). At Cornell, she focuses on understanding the interactions between micronutrients and infectious diseases and their impact on the gut microbiome. Currently, she is conducting fieldwork for the bio-fortified pearl millet study taking place among infants and young children living in urban slums of Mumbai, India.

Susannah Colt

Doctoral Candidate
Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University
sc2638 [at] cornell.edu 

Suze holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Biology and Anthropology and a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health. Prior to joining the Mehta Research Group, Suze was involved in sero-surveillance and basic research of infectious diseases. She is currently studying the relationship between vitamin A status and the immune response to acute febrile illnesses in resource-limited settings. Suze is also developing a rapid point-of-care assay to assess vitamin A levels in whole blood. 

Elizabeth Centeno Tablante

Doctoral Student
Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University
ect53 [at] cornell.edu

Elizabeth Centeno Tablante is a biologist trained at the University of Carabobo in Venezuela. She holds a Master’s degree in Clinical Trials from University of Seville, Spain and a Master’s in Biomedicine from University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain. Prior to joining the Mehta Research Group Elizabeth was working as full-time consultant for the World Health Organization conducting evidence assessment and systematic reviews for informing global guidelines related to nutrition policies, HIV/AIDS and child health. Elizabeth is now conducting a field study in Ecuador studying the relationship between infectious diseases and micronutrients. 

Camille Elyse Jones

Doctoral Student
Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University
cj392 [at] cornell.edu

Camille joins our team as a Dean’s Excellence Graduate Fellow. She earned a Bachelor of Science from Howard University with a major in biology and minors in chemistry and business administration. She then earned a Masters in Public Health from Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine while working as a Masters International Peace Corps Volunteer in Mochudi and Gaborone, Botswana. Continuing her Peace Corps service with the U.S. Agency for International Development, Camille pioneered program design in supply chain management, building the capacity of health professionals to provide antiretroviral medications and health commodities to patients throughout the country. As a result of her time working in communities, Camille became increasingly interested in environmental health determinants, and sought avenues to take an epidemiological approach to investigate relationships between nutrition and disease.

Kripa Rajagopalan

Doctoral Student
Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University
kr489 [at] cornell.edu

Kripa is a first-year Doctoral student from India where she did her undergraduate and graduate education (B.Sc. Life Sciences-Mumbai University; M.Sc. Food Science and Nutrition-S.N.D.T. Women’s University). She worked in India with the marginalized communities before her Master of Science degree in Public Health (Human Nutrition-Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health). Her early experiences involve nutrition counseling to pregnant and lactating women, and mothers of low-birth weight babies and immunocompromised children (Foundation for Mother and Child Health-India). She has been involved in research projects such as PRACHITI (studying the relationship between diet, gut microbiome, and inflammation among HIV-infected and uninfected pregnant women based in India)—a project of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine-Division of Infectious Diseases. Her research interests include exploring risk factors, especially the modifiable ones such as poor nutrition, inflammation, and infection, to prevent diseases.

Meghan Mary Trumbull-Kennedy

Master’s Student
Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University
mmt95 [at] cornell.edu

Meghan received a B.A. in Biology with a minor in Chemistry at Alfred University. Undergraduate Research focused on Cold Tolerance and Anthocyanins in Tomatoes.  Currently working towards a Master’s in Nutrition.

Pratiwi Ridwan

Doctoral Student
Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University
pr453 [at] cornell.edu

Pratiwi is a second year master student with research interest in infectious disease and nutrition. She did her undergraduate in Faculty of Medicine of Padjadjaran University - Indonesia. Prior to joining Mehta Research Group, She was working as a medical doctor at primary health care in Sumba island, East Nusa Tenggara - Indonesia.