Dr.Divyambika CV, completed her under graduation from TN Govt Dental College in 2002 and finished her Post Graduation at Ragas Dental College and Hospital in 2008. She stood first in the MDS University examinations of Dr.MGR Medical University in the year 2008. She has a teaching experience of more than 16 years and is currently working as Professor in the department of Oral medicine and Radiology, Sri Ramachandra Dental college and Hospital, SRIHER. She has a great passion for teaching and her expertise is on the diagnosis and management of oral and maxillofacial diseases. She is also actively involved also involved in the clinical diagnosis based on oral manifestations of medically compromised patients and offers appropriate management for the patients.
She has immense interest in pursuing and guiding research activities. She has received the GATE grant of SRIHER twice in the year 2010-2011 and 2016-17. Currently she has ongoing research projects funded by ICMR (2021-2024; 2023-2026) as principal investigator; DBT BioCARe and SERB-CRG, CSIR-ASPIRE funded projects as co-investigator. Research focus is currently on early identification of oral cancer and development of novel therapeutic modalities for oral potentially malignant disorders
She has undergone training for tobacco cessation counselling and render the services to the needy patients. She has received scholarship twice in the years 2012 and 2015 to attend the prestigious World Conference on Tobacco or Health. She has numerous publications in indexed high impact factor journals delivered more than 40 guest lectures in regional, national and international forums. She has also guided undergraduates and post graduates for their scientific presentations and projects. She is a recognized PhD supervisor and currently guiding four PhD scholars under her. She is also a doctoral committee member at Anna University, Madras University and Dr.MGR Medical University.
Her contribution in the field of early identification and medical management of tobacco associated potentially malignant disorders and medical management of oral and para-oral diseases has provided cure and symptomatic relief, thus improving the overall quality of life of needy patients.
The objective of the study was to evaluate the proteomic expression profiling in clinical stages of OSMF compare it with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and validate the differentially expressed markers using Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and gene expression profiling in OSMF using Nanostring nCounter platform and validate using Real-time Polymerase Chain reaction (RT-PCR). The present study is the first of its kind in India to the best of our knowledge, assessing the altered expression of proteins and gene expression using the Nanostring platform in different clinical stages of OSMF and OSMF cases which has undergone malignant transformation.
Nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems offer a promising solution to enhance the therapeutic effectiveness of poorly water-soluble drugs, mitigating challenges linked to limited bioavailability. Silymarin, a potent flavonoid from Milk Thistle, holds significant hepatoprotective and antioxidant properties. However, its clinical potential is impeded by poor aqueous solubility. This study centers on formulating and characterizing Silymarin-loaded Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles using the water-in-oil-in-water (w/o/w) emulsion method. PLGA, chosen for its biocompatibility and controlled release properties, acts as an ideal matrix for encapsulating hydrophobic compounds like Silymarin. This encapsulation within nanoparticles aims to offer a protective environment, improve bioavailability, and enable controlled release kinetics.
The study aims to develop a novel saliva-based miRNA assay for detection of malignant potential in Oral Potentially Malignant disorders. The current study employs Nanostring n- counter platform to evaluate miRNA mutational signatures in saliva samples of Oral submucous Fibrosis (OSMF) patients and to develop a salivary miRNA panel as a cost effective POC device . Nanostring platform, will be the first of its kind technology to be used in the project , which can enable to identify panel of dysregulated genes in saliva of OSMF, Oral cancer patients
The aim of the current study is to develop a novel antibody based disposable immunoassay as a novel point-of-care test for the early detection of oral cancers using saliva as the matrix. The proposed research aims to express the antigen, raise anti-vimentin antibodies in Chicken for developing IgY antibodies as capture and detection reagent for monitoring of secreted vimentin expression in saliva and developing a dual color plasmonic ELISA for visual detection of vimentin in the saliva of oral cancer patients. The current study will pave way for early identification of underlying malignant potential, disease monitoring and help in risk stratification of oral potentially malignant disorders patients
The current study aims to develop an in vitro diagnostic kit development (Lollipop Assay) against soluble salivary CD44 isoform for rapid diagnosis and disease monitoring for oral cancers and oral potentially malignant disorders. Saliva-based point of care device will be designed and clinically validated in healthy controls, patients diagnosed with oral potentially malignant disorders (leukoplakia and oral submucous fibrosis) and oral cancer
The study aims to assess the expression of EGFR in saliva and exfoliated buccal cells of OSMF and OSCC patients and validate the expression of EGFR in tissue samples of OSMF and OSCC using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT -PCR) and the immuno expression of EGFR in OPMD with dysplasia and OSCC using IHC. The validation studies using IHC have shown increased immuno expression of EGFR in OSCC compared to OPMD. Furthermore, gene expression studies performed using RT-PCR validate the upregulation of EGFR in OSCC in comparison to OSMF and healthy controls. EGFR expression could be considered a promising diagnostic marker and its evaluation in saliva and exfoliated buccal cells using ELISA could serve as a valuable screening diagnostic tool for OPMD.
University First rank in MDS (Oral Medicine and Radiology) in the year 2008 conferred by Tamilnadu Dr.MGR Medical University
Best poster in World Conference on Tobacco or Health- 2012 held in Singapore with cash award of 400 Singapore dollars
Best paper in International Conference on Indian Society for Dental Research for original research held at Chennai in 2012
Best e poster in Faculty category , Faculty Original research and Manguluru study Group Award with cash award of Rs.3000/- by Indian academy of Oral Medicine and Radiology (IAOMR) in 2020
Overall Best e poster with cash award of Rs.10,000/- at National conference on Real World evidence in Oncology 2023 at Tirunelveli on 01.04.2023
Best paper second place- Dentocon 3 – Holistic approach in Orodental care: An Innovative Perspective at Seema Dental College and Hospital, Rishikesh
Senior Researcher award in Oral Medicine and Radiology 2023 conferred by Indian Dental Association (IDA) Thiruvallur Branch on 23.07.2023
Sergio Litewka -Patent Award – 2022 for securing Indian Patent at University Day Celebrations of SRIHER – 20.09.2023
Best oral presentation – 3rd Indian Cancer Congress held at Mumbai from 2nd November 2023 till 5th November 2023
Best oral presentation – 34th National Conference of Indian Academy of Oral Medicine and Radiology from 01.12.2023-13.12.2023
First prize in Ideathon with cash award of Rs.3000/- conducted by Sri Ramachandra Innovation and Incubation Council (SRIIC), SRIHER during Science Week Celebrations from 26.02.2024 till 1.03.2024
Lakshmanan Award for best research publication in Sri Ramachandra Dental College and Hospital at the University Day Celebrations of SRIHER – 20.09.2024
Best paper 1st place for scientific paper presentation at Indian Dental Conference from 7.02.2025 till 9.02.2025
Life Member of Indian Academy of Oral medicine and Radiology
Life Member of Asian Academy of Maxillofacial Radiology
Annual Member of Indian Dental Association (IDA) Thiruvallur Branch
Life member of Tamilnadu Branch of Indian Academy of Oral medicine and Radiology