- Title Postdoctoral Associate – Harris Lab
- Education M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
- Office K214
- Email poojaj@bu.edu
- Area of Interest Neuroscience, Epilepsy, Alzheimer’s and Prion diseases.
I am currently a joint Postdoctoral Associate in the laboratories of Dr. David Harris and Dr. Mikel Garcia-Marcos in the Department of Biochemistry at Boston University School of Medicine. I did B.Sc. from Hindu College, Delhi University, India, and I hold my M.Sc. & Ph.D. from the Department of Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. In my M.Sc., I studied kinetics of rat brain sodium channel in CNa18 cells and effect of conopeptide mo3964 on rat brain type-IIa sodium channel.
During my Ph.D., I investigated a novel neuroprotective role of lactate against epilepsy as a signaling factor by using patch-clamp electrophysiology technique and immunohistochemistry on subicular pyramidal neurons of acute hippocampal brain slices. My research revealed how an endogenous metabolite-lactate at physiological concentration can suppress the neuronal hyperexcitability via inhibiting induced epileptiform firing through activation of G-protein inwardly rectifying potassium channel (GIRK) channel and a lactate specific GPCR-GPR81or HCA1. Moreover, the study also revealed the underlying signaling pathways and associated molecular factors responsible for the neuroprotection in an in vitro model of epilepsy.
At present, my research in Dr. Mikel Garcia-Marcos’lab focusses on decoding the role of a G-protein regulator on neurotransmission and associated signaling pathways where I am utilizing my experience of electrophysiology and knowledge of GPCR signaling. I joined Dr. Harris’ lab in order to explore a different field of cellular and molecular neuroscience wherein my aim is to develop an advance model system to investigate very early synaptic changes impacting neurotransmission associated with neurodegenerative diseases like Prion and Alzheimer diseases.
Publications:
Lactate reduces epileptiform activity through HCA1 and GIRK channel activation in rat subicular neurons in an in vitro model. Pooja Jorwal and Sujit Kumar Sikdar. EPILEPSIA, 2019. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/epi.16389.
A Disulfide Stabilized β‑Sandwich Defines the Structure of a New Cysteine Framework M‑ Superfamily. Aswani K. Kancherla, Srinu Meesala, Pooja Jorwal, Ramasamy Palanisamy, Sujit K. Sikdar, and Siddhartha P.Sarma , ACS Chem Biol. 2015 Aug 21;10(8):1847-60. 10.1021/acschembio.5b00226. PubMed PMID: 25961405.