kala-venkiteswaran
Kala Venkiteswaran, Ph.D
Assistant Professor of Neurology and NBS

Education

1983-1986

B.Sc.

University of Calicut

India

1987-1989

M.Sc

Cochin University of Science and Technology

India

1998

PhD

Advisor Dr. DM Vasudevan MD. Govt. Medical College

India


Biography

I am involved in studying the dopaminergic and neuroprotective aspects of retinal pigment epithelial cell derived and other stem cells pertinent to the experimental therapeutics for Parkinson’s disease. In these I am conducting some gene therapy experiments to optimize dopamine secretion from these cells. I am also interested in understanding the proteomic and genomic changes when RPE cell is transdifferentiated into neurons to be used for transplantation therapy for treatment of Parkinson’s disease.

I am also interested in studying the immune privileged properties of retinal pigment epithelial cells to understand why the RPE grafts are not getting rejected when transplanted into the brain. This will give insight to the understanding of what all molecules contribute to the immune tolerance of RPE cells and how these cells survive without immunosuppression.

Research Interest

  • Antigens, CD
  • Brain Tissue Transplantation
  • Cadherins
  • Capillary Permeability
  • Corpus Striatum
  • Cyclosporine
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins,
  • Dyskinesia, Drug-Induced
  • Endothelium, Vascular
  • Genetic Vectors
  • Immunosuppressive Agents
  • Kidney Transplantation
  • Lipoproteins
  • Mucuna
  • Parkinson Disease, Secondary
  • Phytotherapy
  • Plant Extracts
  • Substantia Nigra
  • Subthalamic Nucleus
  • Tacrolimus

Scientific Activities:

  • Assistant Professor, Departments of Neurology and Neural and Behavioral Sciences, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and College of Medicine, Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, PA.
  • Adjunct appointment: School of Environmental Sciences, Department of Science, Engineering and Technology, PSU Harrisburg.
Professional Research Experience

1999-2000

Postdoctoral fellow

Emory University

USA

2001-2005

Research Associate

Cleveland Clinic Foundation

USA

2005-2006

Research Associate

Penn State Hershey Med Center

USA

2006-current

Assistant Professor

Penn State Hershey Medical Center and College of Medicine

USA

2006-current

Director

Gene Therapy Laboratory, Penn State Hershey Medical Center

USA

2009

Special TCS training fellowship under Dr. Daniela Berg

 

USA

2010-current

Director

TCS laboratory, PSUCOM Movement Disorders Program.

USA

2013 fall – current

Adjunct Instructor

Penn State University

USA

Society / Organization Membership
  • Society for Neuroscience (SFN)
  • Society for Neuroscience, Central Pennsylvania Chapter (SFN Central PA)
  • American Society for Neural Therapy and Repair (ASNTR)
  • American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB)
  • American Society for Gene Therapy (ASGT)
  • Organization for Advancement of Women (OAW, Penn State University Hershey)
Professional Development Training
  • Post doctoral training: Emory University (1998-2000) and Cleveland Clinic foundation (2000-2005).
  • Junior Faculty Development program (JFDP 2007) Penn State College of Medicine.
  • Stereology for systematic random sampling using Stereoinvestigator (mbf biosciences).
  • Neuroleucida for neuron tracing, characterization and brain volume estimation.
  • Transcranial sonography (TCS) for estimation of substantia nigra hyperechogenesity (Daniela Berg Tubigen Germany).
  • CITI (clinical trial) training to conduct ultrasound research and co-registration with MRI on patients with Parkinson’s disease.
  • ACRP clinical coordinators training modules, 2016
Honors And Awards
  • Valedictorian, Undergraduate Class of 1986 (Major in Zoology), University of Calicut, India, 1986. Gold Medalist. Class Rank 1/500.
  • Valedictorian, Graduate School (Biotechnology), Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin, India, 1989. Class rank 1/10.
  • University Grants Commission Research Fellowship (India), 1990-1994
  • Albert Kingman Memorial Award, Society for Investigative Dermatology, 2000.
  • NIH (NINDS) Travel Award for “best paper presentations by junior members” at American Society for Neural Transplantation and Repair (ASNTR), Clearwater Beach, Clearwater, FL, 2005.
  • Young investigator APDA
  • Young investigator APDA 2nd year
  • Barsumian Fellowship
  • Barsumian Fellowship 2nd year
  • Barsumian Fellowship 3rd year.

Publications

  1. Vasudevan D. M., Shanavas K. R., Venkiteswaran K, Vijayakumar T., Kumari T. V., Association of Herpes group of viruses with oral cancers, Proceedings of the 2nd International Congress on oral cancers, New Delhi, India.1991
  2. Shanavas KR, Venkiteswaran K, Vasudevan DM, Vijayakumar T, Yadav M. Anti-HHV-6 antibodies in normal population and in cancer patients in India. J Exp Pathol. 1992; 6(1-2): 95-105. PMID: 1320669.
  3. McHugh, R. S., Venkiteswaran, K., Wang Y-C. and Selvaraj P. Cells modified with lipid-anchored proteins: A novel approach to cancer vaccines. Proceedings of the Symposium on: Frontiers in Biology and Biotechnology,Ed. A. Oommen, pp. 26-27, 1997.
  4. Bruce Sundstrom, Kala Venkiteswaran, Periasamy Selvaraj and Demetrious Sgoutas Oxidized lipoproteins enhance the in vitro tube formation by endothelial cells cultured on Matrigel. Angiogenesis: Models,Modulators and Applications, Edited by Maragoudakis, Plenum Press, New York, 367-375, 1998.
  5. Nagarajan S, Venkiteswaran K, Anderson M, Sayed U, Zhu C, Selvaraj P. Cell-specific, activation-dependent regulation of neutrophil CD32A ligand binding function. Blood. 2000 Feb 1; 95(3): 1069-77. PMID: 10648424.
  6. Venkiteswaran K, Sgoutas DS, Santanam N, Neylan JF. Tacrolimus, cyclosporine and plasma lipoproteins in renal transplant recipients. Transpl Int. 2001 Dec; 14(6): 405-10. PMID: 11793038.
  7. Venkiteswaran, K. Xiao K., Summers S., Calkins C. C., Vincent P. A., Pumiglia K., and Kowalczyk A. P. Regulation of endothelial barrier function and growth by VE-cadherin, plakoglobin, and {beta}-catenin, Am J Physiol Cell Physiol Sept. 2002 283: C811-C821. PMID: 12176738.
  8. Zhao, Z., Krishnaney, A., Teng, Q., Garrity-Moses, M., Tanase, D., Liu, JK., Venkiteswaran, K., Subramanian, T., Davis, M., Boulis, NM., Anatomically discrete functional effects of adenoviral clostridial light chain gene-based synaptic inhibition in the deep layers of the superior colliculus/deep mesencephalic nucleus of the midbrain, Gene Therapy 13 (12): 942-952, 2006. PMID: 16511525
  9. Lieu CA, Kunselman AR, Manyam BV, Venkiteswaran K, Subramanian T. A water extract of Mucuna pruriens provides long-term amelioration of parkinsonism with reduced risk for dyskinesias. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2010 Aug; 16 (7) :458-65. PMID:20570206. PMC2909380
  10. Gilmour, TP., Piallat, B., Lieu, CA., Venkiteswaran, K., Ramachandra, R., Rao, AN., Petticoffer, AC., Berk, M., Subramanian, T., The effect of striatal dopaminergic grafts on the neuronal activity in the substantia nigra reticulata and subthalamic nucleus in hemiparkinsonian rats, Brain, 134(Pt 11):3276-89. PMID: 21911417. PMCID: PMC3212711.
  11. Piquet, AL.*, Venkiteswaran, K.*, Marupudi, NI, Berk, M., Subramanian, T. Immunological challenges to cell transplantation in Parkinson’s disease. Brain Res Bull., 88(4): p.320-331 2012 PMID: 22521427. PMC3376210. Equal first author.
  12. Lieu, C.A., Venkiteswaran, K., Gilmour, T., Rao, A., Petticoffer, A., Gilbert, E.V., Deogaonkar, M., Manyam, B.V. and Subramanian, T. The anti-parkinsonian and anti-dyskinetic mechanisms of Mucuna pruriens in the MPTP-treated non-human primate. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Manuscript 840247.
  13. Quynh Vo, Timothy P. Gilmour, Kala Venkiteswaran, Jidong Fang, and Thyagarajan Subramanian, “Polysomnographic Features of Sleep Disturbances and REM Sleep Behavior Disorder in the Unilateral 6-OHDA Lesioned Hemiparkinsonian Rat,” Parkinson’s Disease, vol. 2014, Article ID 852965, 2014.
  14. Wang J, Yang QX, Sun X, Vesek J, Mosher Z, Vasavada M, Chu J, Kanekar S, Shivkumar V, Venkiteswaran K, Subramanian T. MRI Evaluation of asymmetry of nigrostriatal damage in the early stage of earlyonset Parkinson’s disease. Parkinsonism Relat Disord, 2015, Jun;21(6):590-6.http://dx.doi.org/j.parkreldis.2015.03.012. PMID:25825242
  15. Thyagarajan Subramanian, Kala Venkiteswaran. Update on movement disorders - five new things in Parkinson’s disease. BMH medical journal 2015; 2(3):60-70. Review article.
  16. Kala Venkiteswaran, Danielle N. Alexander, Matthew D. Puhl, Anand Rao, Amanda L. Piquet, Jennifer E. Nyland, Megha P. Subramanian, Puja Iyer, Matthew M. Boisvert, Erin Handly, Thyagarajan Subramanian, & Patricia Sue Grigson. Transplantation of Human Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells in the Nucleus Accumbens of cocaine self-administering rats provides protection from reinstatement. Brain Res. Bull. Special issue on addiction research by Patricia Sue Grigson. Brain Res Bull. 2016 May;123:53-60. doi: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2015.11.008. Epub 2015 Nov 10.
  17. Venkiteswaran K, Subramanian T and Grigson PS. Commentary on - Human Embryonic Retinal Pigment Epithelial (RPE) Cell Transplants for Chronic Refractory Cocaine Addiction. Health Care: Current Reviews 2016, 4:2 http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2375-4273.1000165.

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