Dr. Vasudharani Devanathan
Assistant Professor
IISER Tirupati
Principal Investigator
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Dr. Harshini Chakravarthy
Post Doctoral Research Fellow
PhD Physiology, Michigan State University, 2015
Identification of core molecular mechanisms leading to neurodegeneration in the diabetic retina. Recent data suggests that cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) may regulate dendritic morphogenesis, patterning of retinal arbors, synaptic specificity between retinal neurons. I am interested in looking into the effect of diabetes on expression and function of specific CAMs, and their interactions with other neuronal cell surface proteins. Understanding the role of CAMs in the retina may provide significant new insights into the highly complex mechanisms leading to neuronal dysfunction in diabetic retinopathy.​
Dr Mallikarjuna Nimgampalle
Post Doctoral Research Fellow
PhD Microbiology, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, 2019
I am keenly interested in exploring the anti-neuroinflammatory compounds from stilbenoids as therapeutics for the functional recovery of spinal cord injury. Extensive research has demonstrated that the Rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) pathway plays a crucial role in neuronal growth, differentiation, development, migration, metabolism, apoptosis, and cell contraction in the central nervous system. Spinal cord secondary injury activates ROCK2, which is involved in neuroinflammation and cell death processes. ROCK2 inhibition has been demonstrated to reduce the neuroinflammation, reorganize the cytoskeleton, improve axon regeneration, remyelination, and aid in the functional recovery of neurons. Still, there is a lack of much research on the functional activities of cell adhesive molecules under the conditions of neuroinflammation and oxidative stress. And the cross-talk between cell adhesive molecules and the ROCK signaling pathway has to be studied to find out the novel cellular pathway.
Gowthaman S
Doctoral Research Fellow
MSc Biotechnology, Madurai Kamaraj University, 2016
Role of Cell Adhesion Molecules (CAM) and neuronal proteins in neurogenesis. From previous research work, it is recognized that association of CAM molecules with extracellular proteins influences neuritogenesis. My research deals with how CAM molecules regulate neurogenesis, understanding the underlying signaling mechanisms, studying CAM-extracellular protein interactions, and using knockout models to study the role of neuronal proteins. Identifying specific protein interactions and signaling mechanism of CAMs can greatly influence therapy for neurodegenerative diseases.
Sapana Sharma
Doctoral Research Fellow
MSc Biotechnology, KIIT University, 2016
Role of cell adhesion molecules (CAM) in diabetes-related neurodegeneration in brain. Recent studies have revealed that diabetes is a risk factor for cognitive dysfunction or dementia, especially those related to Alzheimer's disease. Additional research has demonstrated that CAM is distributed around amyloid plaques in the cerebral cortex of mice and interestingly, also interacts with amyloid precursor protein, which accumulates during neurodegeneration. Indeed, over-expression of CAM inhibits the expression of amyloid precursor protein. I am interested in studying the expression, and functional interactions of CAMs in the diabetic brain.
Arulvendhan M
Doctoral Research Fellow
MSc Biochemistry, Government Arts College, Kumbakonam, 2012
I am interested in elucidating the molecular machineries that regulate autophagy during neurite outgrowth in both the embryonic and adulthood nervous system. Neurite outgrowth is a dynamic process, involving both extension and retraction of neurites, as a cost-effective mechanism, to reach their right partner. The dynamicity of neurite outgrowth is supported by both protein synthesis and degradation at the local area of growing edges. Autophagy is an evolutionarily-conserved intracellular pathway that mediate the degradation of cellular components in lysosomes. Studies have demonstrated that inhibitory class of heterotrimeric G-proteins (Gαiβγ) involves in the regulation of autophagy in non-neuronal cells. However, evidences for such regulatory role in neurons are lacking. Interestingly, Giproteins are enriched in growing neurite tips, suggesting that they may involve in autophagic regulation during neurite outgrowth.
Sree Varshini Murali
Project Assistant
Budding Researchers
Advait Saxena
Shyam Sampath
