Ritika Kar Bahal

Dr. Ritika Kar Bahal is a Research Fellow at the School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Western Australia. She completed her PhD in respiratory infectious diseases at the University of Delhi (2016) and focuses on the microbiome's role in health and disease. Her work spans respiratory tract infections, early-life microbiome development, and human milk microbiome analysis. She collaborates with Prof. Mark Nicol in clinical microbiology research and has secured grants from Springer Nature and the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation.

Education: PhD in Infectious Diseases (University of Delhi, 2016), M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Biochemistry (University of Delhi).

Research interests include microbiome dynamics in respiratory health, microbe-host interactions, and developing culture-based pipelines for studying human milk microbiota. She explores how microbiota influence susceptibility to infections and contribute to infant development. Her recent projects address probiotic-based therapies for childhood pneumonia and asthma prevention.

Grants & Projects: Leads initiatives like the Nature Microbiome Accelerator Award (2025–2026) and the 'Respiratory Probiotics' project (2025–2029). Collaborates on WHO diagnostic stewardship projects and human milk microbiome studies in mastitis.

Labs/Teams: Part of the clinical microbiology group at UWA, contributing to interdisciplinary research on microbial communities and translational health solutions.