Graduate Student Profile - Vignesh Nathan

Vignesh Nathan successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation on July 11, 2025. Vignesh is originally from Indianapolis, Indiana, and he received his B.S. from Purdue University.  

Vignesh's dissertation was entitled, "Dietary applications of anthocyanins in conjunction with lactobacillus probiotics for the modulation of host microbiota, inflammation, and oxidative stress in gastrointestinal diseases".

Gastrointestinal diseases such as ulcerative colitis are a growing health burden. Dietary interventions using probiotics and phytochemicals have been used as a preventive measure; however, there is limited research on their combined use. Thus, Vignesh's research involved utilizing Lactobacillus probiotics and blueberry polyphenols to assuage colitis symptoms. Here, he saw a combinatorial approach was effective but was dependent on disease state. Taken together, the research underlines how a prebiotic and probiotic approach should be further considered when looking to have a multifaceted and robust health response.

Vignesh was advised by Lavanya Reddivari. Other members of his graduate committee included Arun Bhunia, Jonathan Pasternak, Kee-Hong Kim, and Ferhan Ozadali.

Vignesh was first introduced to Purdue Food Science as an undergraduate student. Vignesh explains what drew him to Purdue Food Science, saying, "I completed an undergraduate degree in biology and conducted undergraduate research with Dr. Arun K. Bhunia during my time. I enjoyed my research looking at gut health and knew I wanted to stay in the department. There, I was introduced to Dr. Lavanya Reddivari, who was working with phytochemicals, and this allowed me to use my previous experience with probiotics and host-pathogen interactions to better understand the diet-host interactions in gastrointestinal disease."

During his time at Purdue, Vignesh received the B.J Liska Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award in 2022. Vignesh also served as the Vice President of the Food Science Graduate Research Association in 2022-23.  

Since graduation, Vignesh has started his career as a Senior R&D Scientist at NutriScience Innovations in Chicago. Congratulations, Vignesh! We can't wait to see what you accomplish next!