Dr. Anumantha Kanthasamy Lab

Christine Bowen

Postdoctoral Researcher

Christine is a passionate postdoctoral researcher who completed her PhD at Emory University with a focus on Pottasium channel regulation of Microglia during Alzheimer’s Disease. Prior to her PhD, Christine completed her postbaccalaureate studies at the NIEHS with a focus in Neuroinflammation and completed her bachelor’s degree at Appalachian State Univerisity.

Research Focus

• Studies how Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is altered by regulation of transcription. Parkinson’s Disease significantly alters what RNAs get translated into proteins. This alteration occurs prior to translation with the evaluation of the RNAs. The body uses methylation as a communication technique to evaluate whether RNAs should be translated or degraded.
• Studying a group of proteins in the m6A pathway that decide which RNAs are methylated and the terminal outcome of those RNAs
• Evaluating how the m6A pathway may be changing disease conditions of PD, using KO models and proximity labeling to determine what proteins and RNAs are interreacting with the m6A pathway and how altering those pathways affects downstream function

ORCID

Piyush Padhi

Postdoctoral Research Associate in Translational Neuroscience

Jonathan (Yuan Teng) Chang

Graduate Assistant

Jonathan is a graduate assistant in Dr. Kanthasamy’s lab, supporting research and keeping projects moving. Outside the lab, you’ll find Jonathan on the pickleball court, biking trails, or unwinding with music, watching Netflix, and playing the Nintendo Switch.

Research Focus

• ELP3-mediated α-Synuclein post-translational modification reduces Protein aggregation and neurotoxicity in Parkinson’s Disease models

Publications

• EGFR phosphorylates DNAJB1 to suppress α-synuclein aggregation in Parkinson’s disease

Griffin Clabaugh

Graduate Assistant

Griffin is from Des Moines, Iowa and received his Bachelor’s of Science from Iowa State University in 2020.

Research Focus

• Investigating neuroprotective signaling in the olfactory system during early stages of neurotoxicity and neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease

Publications

• Prokineticin-2 Upregulates GDNF in Astrocytes and Pharmacological Modulation of PK2 Receptors offers Neuroprotection in Experimental Models of Parkinson’s Disease

Anthony Fleck

Graduate Assistant

Amanda George

Graduate Assistant

Amanda is a Neuroscience Ph.D. student investigating how engineered probiotics and microbial metabolites can modulate gut–brain axis signaling to prevent neuroinflammation and Parkinson’s disease progression.

Research Focus

• Understanding the mechanistic links between intestinal inflammation, microbial metabolism, and neurodegenerative disease progression, with a focus on Parkinson’s disease (PD) and the gut to brain axis
• Defining how engineered commensal microbes and their metabolites can modulate key neuroinflammatory signaling pathways to prevent or attenuate PD-related pathology

Chelva Janarthanam

Graduate Student

Experienced dental professional with over 10 years of clinical practice and a Master’s in Public Health specializing in Health Education. Chelva is currently venturing into the field of research, where consistent perseverance has led to multiple publications and a successful transition into an graduate student researcher.

Research Focus

• Focused on optimizing biomarker assays for the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases using minimally invasive human bio samples, such as skin, sub mandibular gland, extra cellular vesicles, plasma and serum, to enhance diagnostic accuracy and accessibility.

Publications

• High-Yield α-Synuclein Purification and Ionic Strength Modification Pivotal to Seed Amplification Assay Performance and Reproducibility

Ahyoung Jang

Graduate Assistant

Ahyoung investigates the neuroprotective mechanisms of Parkinson’s disease, focusing on mitochondrial and nuclear networks as innovative treatment strategies. Her work includes developing hiPSC-derived models and exploring protein kinase d1 (PKD1) signaling to protect against mitochondrial toxicity and neurodegeneration in dopaminergic systems.

Research Focus

• Exploring neuroprotective mitochondrial and nuclear subcellular networks as a novel treatment for Parkinson’s disease

Gargi Khadse

Graduate Student

Cameron (Drake) Miller

Ph.D. Candidate

Originally from northwest GA, Drake earned his B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology with honors and a research distinction at UGA. During this time, he dedicated himself to undergraduate research with Dr. Shelley Hooks, investigating neuroimmune mechanisms in cell and animal models of Parkinson’s disease. He has now been with Dr. Kanthasamy for three years, and is a Ph.D. candidate focusing on mechanistic insights and therapeutic potential of epitranscriptomic dysregulation in neuroinflammation.

Research Focus

• Elucidating mechanistic contributions of epitranscriptomic dysregulation to neuroinflammation during ADRD onset and progression in an effort to identity and develop safe and efficacious therapeutic strategies

Publications

• Pathological α-synuclein dysregulates epitranscriptomic writer METTL3 to drive neuroinflammation in microglia

Alyssa Otto

Graduate Assistant

Jacob Thomas

Graduate Assistant

Jacob received a BSc in Biochemistry from The Ohio State University (2022) and is currently pursuing Ph.D. in Physiology & Pharmacology.

Research Focus

• Optimizing L-dopa producing live biotherapeutic through refining formulation and with additional engineering

Amanda Gregory

Research Technician I

Manikandan Samidurai

Assistant Research Scientist

Manikandan is an Assistant Research Scientist with a PhD from Chonnam National University and postdoctoral training at Iowa State University, studying neuroinflammation and how toxicants and misfolded proteins drive neurodegeneration.

Research Focus

• Dr. Samidurai’s research focuses on how neuroinflammation disrupts cellular and molecular pathways that drive neurodegeneration, with particular interest in how environmental toxicants and misfolded proteins including α-synuclein, β-amyloid, and Tau aggregates trigger chronic inflammation, redox imbalance, and cellular senescence.
• Investigating how sustained inflammatory signaling impairs nuclear pore complex integrity and nucleocytoplasmic transport, contributing to neuronal dysfunction and disease progression.
• Characterizing a newly developed Alzheimer’s disease mouse model that provides a powerful platform to study pathogenic mechanisms, microglial and neuronal vulnerability, and the development of Alzheimer’s disease–related pathology.

Publications 

Orchid

Lena Tata

Administrative Assistant / Student Worker

Ileia Scheibe

Research Technician III

Gary Zenitsky

Research Associate II

Gary joined the Kanthasamy Lab just as 2013 got underway.

• Sara Ahern
• Sriyesh Akam
• Alayna Bhula
• Courtney Coco
• Juliann Gardner
• Kaushik Gattu
• Aliya Gilani
• Varun Gudapati
• Sisira Gudi
• Reva Hegde
• Eric Hunter
• Elijah Jernigan
• Sarah Krause
• Catherine (Kate) Kudela
• Rohan Kumar
• Karthik Kuppuswamy
• Liana Liang
• Fatima Manzar
• Isabella Nguyen
• McKenzie Nguyen
• Yoga Nori
• Emily Novielli
• Aanya Patel
• Arya Patel
• Esha Patel
• Isabel Pileggi
• Humza Rahman
• Karthik Rajkumar
• Arya Rane
• Gabriel Richardson
• Anaghah Sanikapally
• Samiha Sarwar
• Sabrina Sciortino
• Dana Shekastehband
• Riya Shirodkar
• Abraham Soto
• Joshua Stephen
• Kruthy H Takkala
• Ridhi Thumar
• Suchita Vanguri
• Shrida Venkatesh
• Linda Zapata