Kasturi Haldar Rev. Julius A. Nieuwland, C.S.C. Professor

Research Interests:

Our goal is to query molecular mechanisms and translate them into therapeutics for rare neurological disorders as well as neglected infectious diseases.

We study epigenetic regulation in neurodegenerative disorders, intellectual disability and chronic pain. We utilize computational big-data approaches and ‘systems’ validation in biochemical, cellular and preclinical murine models to move targeted brain-permeant therapy down the drug discovery and development pipeline.

Our work in neglected infectious diseases is in parasitic and bacterial pathogens and their engagement of the host response to define mechanisms of virulence and inflammatory disease and pathogenic drug targets.

Here a major focus is in malaria parasites, and their mechanisms of drug resistance, since resistance to antimalarials threatens global malaria control and elimination. To accelerate development of new therapies, we partner with pharmaceutical companies in innovative models of private public product-development partnerships.

Biography:

• Rev. Julius A. Nieuwland C.S.C. Professor of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, IN
• James Parsons and Carrie Quinn Director, Boler-Parseghian Center for Rare and Neglected Diseases, IN 2009-2022
• Charles and Emma Morrison Professor of Pathology, Northwestern University School of Medicine, IL 1999-2008
• Associate Professor, Department Microbiology-Immunology, Stanford University, CA 1994-1998
• Assistant Professor, Department Microbiology-Immunology, Stanford University, CA 1988-1994
• Postdoctoral Associate, Rockefeller University, NY 1985-1988
• Foreign Expert, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing China 1984-1985
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Rockefeller University, NY 1984-1985
• Ph. D. Biochemistry, Dept. of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA

Recent Papers:

• Alam MS, Cooper B, Farris JD, Haldar K. Tolerance of chronic HDACi treatment for neurological, visceral and lung Niemann-Pick Type C disease in mice. Sci Rep. 2018 Mar 1;8(1):3875. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-22162-7.
• Bhattacharjee S, Coppens I, Mbengue A, Suresh N, Ghorbal M, Slouka Z, Safeukui I, Tang HY, Speicher DW, Stahelin RV, Mohandas N, Haldar K. Remodeling of the malaria parasite and host human red cell by vesicle amplification that induces artemisinin resistance. Blood. 2018 Mar 15;131(11):1234-1247. doi: 10.1182/blood-2017-11-814665. Epub 2018 Jan 23.
• Haldar K, Bhattacharjee S, Safeukui I. Drug resistance in Plasmodium. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2018 Mar;16(3):156-170. doi: 10.1038/nrmicro.2017.161. Epub 2018 Jan Review.
• Collins CJ, Loren BP, Alam MS, Mondjinou Y, Skulsky JL, Chaplain CR, Haldar K, Thompson DH. Pluronic based β-cyclodextrin polyrotaxanes for treatment of Niemann-Pick Type C disease. Sci Rep. 2017 Apr 28;7:46737. doi: 10.1038/srep46737.
• Haldar K. Protein trafficking in apicomplexan parasites: crossing the vacuolar Rubicon. Curr Opin Microbiol. 2016 Aug;32:38-45. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2016.04.013. Epub 2016 May 4. Review.
• Alam MS, Getz M, Haldar K. Chronic administration of an HDAC inhibitor treats both neurological and systemic Niemann-Pick type C disease in a mouse model. Sci Transl Med. 2016 Feb 17;8(326):326ra23. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aad9407.
• Haldar K. From Cell and Organismal Biology to Drugs. PLoS Pathog. 2015 Jun 25;11(6):e1005002. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005002. eCollection 2015 Jun.
• Mbengue A, Bhattacharjee S, Pandharkar T, Liu H, Estiu G, Stahelin RV, Rizk SS, Njimoh DL, Ryan Y, Chotivanich K, Nguon C, Ghorbal M, Lopez-Rubio JJ, Pfrender M, Emrich S, Mohandas N, Dondorp AM, Wiest O, Haldar K. A molecular mechanism of artemisinin resistance in Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Nature. 2015 Apr 30;520(7549):683-7. doi: 10.1038/nature14412. Epub 2015 Apr 15.
• Safeukui I, Gomez ND, Adelani AA, Burte F, Afolabi NK, Akondy R, Velazquez P, Holder A, Tewari R, Buffet P, Brown BJ, Shokunbi WA, Olaleye D, Sodeinde O, Kazura J, Ahmed R, Mohandas N, Fernandez-Reyes D, Haldar K. Malaria induces anemia through CD8+ T cell-dependent parasite clearance and erythrocyte removal in the spleen. MBio. 2015 Jan 20;6(1). pii: e02493-14. doi: 10.1128/mBio.02493-14.
• Rajasimha HK, Shirol PB, Ramamoorthy P, Hegde M, Barde S, Chandru V, Ravinandan ME, Ramchandran R, Haldar K, Lin JC, Babar IA, Girisha KM, Srinivasan S, Navaneetham D, Battu R, Devarakonda R, Kini U, Vijayachandra K, Verma IC. Organization for rare diseases India (ORDI) - addressing the challenges and opportunities for the Indian rare diseases' community. Genet Res (Camb). 2014 Aug 13;96:e009. doi: 10.1017/S0016672314000111. Review.