Mohammad Moshahid Khan is an associate professor at the Department of Neurology and the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. He received his Ph.D. from Hamdard University and did his postdoctoral research at the University of Iowa. His research is focused on defining the contribution of DNA repair deficits to neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. DNA damage has been extensively studied in mitotic cells, including neural progenitors, yet its role in postmitotic neurons during neurodegenerative conditions remains unclear. Among possible forms of DNA damage, DNA double-strand breaks are the most harmful and perilous as they markedly impact genome integrity, transcriptional activity, as well as neuronal and synaptic function. However, there is a gap in understanding the onset and progression of the neurodegenerative disease from DNA double-strand breaks to the molecular and cellular abnormalities and motor/cognitive deficits. We have a long-standing interest and years of experience in DNA damage repair mechanisms in neurological disorders and plan to address this important gap in the current knowledge using human postmortem brain tissues and experimental models of neurological diseases. His long-term research is committed to unraveling the mysteries of neurological diseases and to discovering new treatments for these incurable diseases.
Dr. Murali M. Yallapu is an associate professor at the Department of Immunology and Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Texas Rio Grande Valle. He graduated in chemistry, physics, and mathematics from Sri Krishnadevaraya University, with a bachelor of science degree in 1996. Then, he continued to complete his master's and Ph.D. studies at the same university. He obtained his master of science and Ph.D. degrees in 1999 and 2005, respectively. He has worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, USA (2006–2007), the Department of Biomedical Engineering, ND-20, Lerner Research Institute Cleveland, OH, USA (2007–2008), and the Cancer Biology Research Center, Sanford Research/USD, Sioux Falls, USA (2008–2010). His laboratory research goal is to study the fate of nanoformulations that lead to novel insights into various biological factors and properties responsible for effective and targeted delivery and treatment.
Subhash C. Chauhan, Ph.D., is the director of the South Texas Center of Excellence in Cancer Research at the UTRGV School of Medicine. He earned his Ph.D. from the Central Drug Research Institute in Lucknow, India. He later joined the University of Tennessee Health Science Center faculty, where he served as a professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the College of Pharmacy and Cancer Research Center. He is an accomplished researcher with 24 years of experience in cancer immunology research, and he has garnered several high-award grants from the National Institutes of Health. He currently serves as chair of the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at the UTRGV School of Medicine.
Gladys E. Maestre holds a degree from St. Vincent of Paul College (1981), a master’s degree from the University of Zulia (1989) and a Ph.D. from Columbia University (1996). She joined the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in 2016 and served as a professor of biomedical sciences at the Division of Neurosciences from 2016 to 2018. From 2018 to the present, she has worked as a professor of neurosciences and human genetics as well as a director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging Research. Her research area mainly focuses on Alzheimer’s and dementia cases.
Dr. Manish K. Tripathi is an assistant professor at the Department of Medicine and Oncology ISU, School of Medicine, University of TX Rio Grande Valley, McAllen, TX. He is member of South Texas Center of Excellence in Cancer Research, School of Medicine, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, McAllen, TX. He obtained his B.Sc. in chemistry, physics and mathematics at Kanpur University, India (1992), his M.Sc. in biochemistry at Lucknow University, India (1994), his M.Tech. in biotechnology (major in pharmaceutical and industrial biotechnology) at the Institute of Engineering & Technology, Lucknow, India (1997), and his Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology at the Central Drug Research Institute/Hamdard University, India (2003). Additionally, he has been a member of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) since 2002, the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) since 2006, and a life member of the Association of Microbiologists of India since 1999.
