Vijayalakshmi Ravindranath

Vijayalakshmi Ravindranath (born 18 October 1953) is an Indian neuroscientist. She is currently Professor, Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. She was the Founder Director of the National Brain Research Centre, Gurgaon (2000-9) and founder Chair of the Centre for Neuroscience at Indian Institute of Science. Her main area of interest is the study of brain related disorders including neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.^[1][2]

Education and career

Ravindranath earned her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from Andhra University and received her Ph.D. (Biochemistry) in 1981 from Mysore University and worked at the National Cancer Institute, USA as a Postdoctoral Fellow. She joined the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, where she studied the metabolizing capacity of the human brain, focusing especially on psychoactive drugs and environmental toxins.^[3]

Awards and recognitions

Ravindranath is an elected fellow of various Indian academies namely Indian Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and National Academy of Medical Sciences,^[4] Indian Academy of Neurosciences and Third World Academy of Sciences.^[5]

• Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Medical Sciences in 1996,^[6]
• KP Bhargava Medal of Indian National Science Academy
• Om Prakash Bhasin Award for Science & Technology in 2001.,^[7]

S.S. Bhatnagar Award of Indian National Science Academy (2016)

• Padma Shri Award in 2010.^[8]

Publications

1. Ray, Ajit; Kambali, Maltesh; Ravindranath, Vijayalakshmi (2016). "Thiol Oxidation by Diamide Leads to Dopaminergic Degeneration and Parkinsonism Phenotype in Mice: A Model for Parkinson's Disease". Antioxidants & Redox Signaling. doi:10.1089/ars.2015.6602. 
2. Johnson, William M.; Golczak, Marcin; Choe, Kyonghwan; Currran, Pierce L.; Gorelenkova Miller, Olga; Yao, Chen; Wang, Wenzhang; Lin, Jiusheng; Milkovic, Nicole M.; Ray, Ajit; Ravindranath, Vijayalakshmi; Zhu, Xiongwei; Wilson, Mark A.; Wilson-Delfosse, Amy L.; Chen, Shu G.; Mieyal, John Joseph (2016). "Regulation of DJ-1 by glutaredoxin 1 in vivo – implications for Parkinson's disease". Biochemistry. doi:10.1021/acs.biochem.5b01132. 
3. Ravindranath, Vijayalakshmi; Dang, Hoang-Minh; Goya, Rodolfo G.; Mansour, Hader; Nimgaonkar, Vishwajit L.; Russell, Vivienne Ann; Xin, Yu (2015). "Regional research priorities in brain and nervous system disorders". Nature. 527 (7578): S198. doi:10.1038/nature16036. PMID 26580328. 
4. Ray, Ajit; Sehgal, Neha; Karunakaran, Smitha; Rangarajan, Govindan; Ravindranath, Vijayalakshmi (2015). "MPTP activates ASK1–p38 MAPK signaling pathway through TNF-dependent Trx1 oxidation in parkinsonism mouse model". Free Radical Biology and Medicine. 87: 312–25. doi:10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2015.06.041. PMID 26164633. 
5. Ahmad, Faraz; Nidadavolu, Prakash; Durgadoss, Lalitha; Ravindranath, Vijayalakshmi (2014). "Critical cysteines in Akt1 regulate its activity and proteasomal degradation: Implications for neurodegenerative diseases". Free Radical Biology and Medicine. 74: 118–28. doi:10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2014.06.004. PMID 24933620. 
6. Ravindranath, Vijayalakshmi (2014). "CYP2D6: Genetics, Pharmacology and Clinical Relevance": 102. doi:10.2217/fmeb2013.14.9. ISBN 978-1-78084-462-6.  |chapter= ignored (help)
7. Ravindranath, Vijayalakshmi; Strobel, Henry W (2013). "Cytochrome P450-mediated metabolism in brain: Functional roles and their implications". Expert Opinion on Drug Metabolism & Toxicology. 9 (5): 551. doi:10.1517/17425255.2013.759208. 

References