The Murphy Group
Bioinspired Materials Laboratory

Ligi Milesh

Position title: PhD, Researcher II

Email: milesh@wisc.edu

Department Affiliation:

Department of Surgery, School of Medicine and Public Health

Education Background:

Ph.D. Biotechnology, Jain University, Bangalore, India

M.Sc. Biotechnology, Bangalore University, India

Research Description:

Effect of Cold atmospheric Plasma (CAP) and CAP activated Exosomes on Neuroblastoma and Glioblastoma

 Publications

  • Milesh, L., Nair, B., Nguyen, H. M., Aiken, T., Shohet, J. L., & Le, H. D. (2025). Cold Atmospheric Plasma Selectively Targets Neuroblastoma: Mechanistic Insights and In Vivo Validation. Cancers, 17(21), 3432. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers17213432
  • Liang NW+, Milesh L+, Buttram KN, Park JL, Zhang J, Summey LA, Franck C, Beebe DJ, Le HD, Li C. (2025). Under-oil neuronal cell culture: Enhanced system stability, yield, and modulated oxygen environment. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 422, 110511. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2025.110511
    (+ Co-first authors; contributed equally to this work)
  • Milesh, L., Kushwaha, R. K., Mathew, T., & Kumar, S. (2024). Future of Food, Exploring Edible Insects—An Alternative Approach: A Review. Asian Journal of Dairy and Food Research. https://doi.org/10.18805/ajdfr.DR-2134
  • Milesh, L., Mathew, T., Kushwaha, R. K., Halder, S., Jadhav, R., David, A., Harish, K., Madhu, R., & Ashok, K. (2020). Current Status of Pandemic COVID-19: A Review. Journal of Pharmaceutical Research International, 32(37), 14–25.
  • David, A., Halder, S., Milesh, L., Mathew, T., Kushwaha, R. K., Jadhav, R., & Madhu, R. (2020). Breast, Ovarian, and Uterine Cancer: Etiology, Pathophysiology, and Management—A Review. International Journal of Life Science and Pharma Research, 10(5), 186–195.
  • Jadhav, R., Milesh, L., Mathew, T., Madhu, R., Raghavendra, Maruti, Halder, S., Kushwaha, R. K., & David, A. (2020). Black Soldier Fly/Larvae: A Weapon for Solid Waste Management and Alternative Feed for Poultry and Aquatic Industries. International Journal of Life Science and Pharma Research, 10(5), L113–120.
  • Shome, R., Deka, R. P., Milesh, L., Sahay, S., Grace, D., & Lindahl, J. F. (2019). Coxiella seroprevalence and risk factors in large ruminants in Bihar and Assam, India. Acta Tropica, 194, 41–46.
  • Sengupta, P. P., Rudramurthy, G. R., Ligi, M., Jacob, S. S., Rahman, H., & Roy, P. (2019). Development of an antigen ELISA using monoclonal antibodies against recombinant VSG for the detection of active infections of Trypanosoma evansi in animals. Veterinary Parasitology, 266, 63–66.
  • Rudramurthy, G. R., Sengupta, P. P., Ligi, M., & Rahman, H. (2018). Antigen detection ELISA: A sensitive and reliable tool for the detection of active infection of surra. Acta Tropica, 187, 23–27.
  • Sengupta, P. P., Rudramurthy, G. R., Ligi, M., Jacob, S. S., Rahman, H., & Roy, P. (2018). Development and evaluation of recombinant antigen and monoclonal antibody-based competition ELISA for the sero-surveillance of surra in animals. Journal of Immunological Methods, 460, 87–92.
  • Rudramurthy, G. R., Sengupta, P. P., Ligi, M., & Rahman, H. (2017). An inhibition enzyme immuno assay exploring recombinant invariant surface glycoprotein and monoclonal antibodies for surveillance of surra in animals. Biologicals, 46, 148–152.
  • Rudramurthy, G. R., Sengupta, P. P., Ligi, M., Balamurugan, V., Suresh, K. P., & Rahman, H. (2017). Serodiagnosis of animal trypanosomosis using a recombinant invariant surface glycoprotein of Trypanosoma evansi. Indian Journal of Experimental Biology, 55, 209–216.
  • Ligi, M., Sengupta, P. P., Rudramurthy, G. R., & Rahman, H. (2016). Flagellar antigen based CIELISA for sero-surveillance of surra. Veterinary Parasitology, 219, 17–23.
  • Krishnamoorthy, P., Sengupta, P. P., Das, S., Ligi, M., Shome, B. R., & Rahman, H. (2016). Cytokine gene expression and pathology in mice experimentally infected with different isolates of Trypanosoma evansi. Experimental Parasitology, 170, 168–176.
  • Ligi Jose, Sengupta, P. P., Rudramurthy, G. R., & Rahman, H. (2016). Seroprevalence of surra in camels using flagellar antigen in some areas of Rajasthan: A pilot survey. International Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, 5, 23–26.
  • Sengupta, P. P., Ligi, M., Rudramurthy, G. R., Balamurugan, V., & Rahman, H. (2016). Development of ELISA exploring recombinant variable surface glycoprotein for diagnosis of surra in animals. Current Science, 111(12), 2022–2027.
  • Ligi Jose, Sengupta, P. P., Rudramurthy, G. R., & Rahman, H. (2015). A pilot sero-survey for surra in livestock in Karnataka by ELISA using flagellar antigen of Trypanosoma evansi. International Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, 4, 99–103.
  • Sengupta, P. P., Rudramurthy, G. R., Ligi, M., Roy, M., Balamurugan, V., Krishnamoorthy, P., Nagalingam, M., Singh, L., & Rahman, H. (2014). Sero-diagnosis of surra exploiting recombinant VSG antigen based ELISA for surveillance. Veterinary Parasitology, 205, 490–498.
  • Rudramurthy, G. R., Sengupta, P. P., Lakkundi, J. N., Ligi, M., D’Souza, P. E., & Rahman, H. (2014). Sequencing and analysis of invariant surface glycoprotein (ISG) gene from Trypanosoma evansi dog isolate. Research in Biotechnology, 6, 1–9.

 Patents

  • Sengupta Pinaki Prasad, Ligi Milesh, Vinayagamurthy Balamurugan, Habibur Rahman (2021). ‘Recombinant variable surface glycoprotein and monoclonal antibody based competitive inhibition enzyme linked immunosorbant assay for detection of antibodies against Trypanosoma evansi’. Granted No: 361741, dated: 03.18.2021.
  • Sengupta Pinaki Prasad, Ligi Milesh, Habibur Rahman (2021).’Monoclonal antibody based double antibody sandwich ELISA for the detection of Trypanosoma evansi antigen in animals’ Granted No: 369790, dated: 06.21.2021.

Book Chapter Published

  • Middha, K., David, A., Haldar, S., Boro, H., Panda, P., Bajare, N., Milesh, L., Devaraj, V.R., Usha, T. (2022). Databases, DrugBank, and virtual screening platforms for therapeutic development, Computational Approaches for Novel Therapeutic and Diagnostic Designing to Mitigate SARS-CoV-2 Infection: In Revolutionary Strategies to Combat Pandemics (pp. 291-334), Elsevier, Chapter 14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-91172-6.00021-2.
  • Ravinath, , Giri, A.K., Bijalwan, S., Vasudevan, K., Das, A.J., Milesh, L., Ramesh, N., Middha, S.K. (2024). Distinct biotic and abiotic factors influencing microbial diversity of soil: Metagenomic tools and approaches employed. In Applications of Metagenomics: Agriculture, Environment, and Health (pp. 271-293), Elsevier, Chapter 13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-98394-5.00016-X.

 Research Project Mentoring / Leadership – Undergraduate Students, UW–Madison

 (Mentored 12 undergraduate students across independent research projects; recent examples below)

  • Sunshine & Alysson Lee (2024) — Optimization of neuroblastoma cell culture in an under-oil microfluidic system
    Ying-Yun Chang (2024) — Evaluation of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) treatment effects in glioblastoma
    •  Tiffany J. See (STEM Catalyst Program, 2024) — Training in in vitro cell culture techniques
    •  Emmet Jones (2024) — Investigation of fractionated CAP treatment in neuroblastoma
  • Anirudh Warrier (2026) and Max Abraham Goldberg (2026)- On going

 Awards and honors:

  • Winner, The Charles N. Ford, MD Surgery Science Image Contest Award, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Department of Surgery (2024)
    •  Runner-Up, Surgery Science Image Contest, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Department of Surgery (2023)
    •  Research Excellence Award, Institute of Sciences (InSc), India (2021)
    •  Best Researcher Award, Department of Biotechnology, REVA University, Bangalore, India (2019)
    •  Best Researcher Award in Animal Sciences, RULA, India (2019)
    •  Best Poster Presentation Award, National Conference, Department of Biotechnology, Ballari, India (2019)
    •  Best Presentation Award, Research Retreat: Exploring Pathways Unlocking Ideas, Jain University, Bangalore, India; presented by Mrs. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Managing Director, Biocon Pvt. Ltd. (2016)