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Raghava Potula, MHA, PhD

Assistant Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Telephone:  215-707-2368

Fax:  215-707-8132

Email: rpotula@temple.edu

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Medical Microbiology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, India, 1995

 

Hospital Administration, CSM Institute of Graduate Studies, Pune, India, 2000

 

PhD, Microbiology, Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Pondicherry, India, 2001

 

Postdoctoral Fellowship, Department of Microbiology, Molecular Genetics and Immunology, Kansas University Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, 2001-2004

 

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, 2004-2006

 

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• Clinical microbiology and infectious disease
• Developing and evaluating molecular biomarkers and diagnostic tests for infectious agents

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Understanding the ability of drugs of abuse to impair many aspects of the immune system has become more urgent as it has aroused serious global problems of considerable concern to health. Illicit drugs such as methamphetamine, a highly addictive psychostimulant, alter immune function and increase host susceptibility to infections. Considering the high prevalence and incidence of methamphetamine abuse and its association with HIV-1 infection, understanding the causal mechanisms of how methamphetamine modulates immune function are timely and of paramount importance. Current research is underway to determine how methamphetamine disarms the adaptive immune system, rendering the host more susceptible to HIV-1 infection. Employing a combination of in vitro systems and a well-defined animal model to study the combined effects of HIV-1 and methamphetamine, we are investigating the implications of methamphetamine exposure on T cell functions, underlying mechanism of impaired T cell function and how subsequent T cell dysfunction affects the immune system responses to HIV-1 infection in and outside of CNS. Identification of such underlying mechanisms will highlight new therapeutic and prophylactic methods to improve the immunity in the setting of drug abuse.

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• American Society for Microbiology
• American Association of Advancement of Science
• International Society of Neurovirology
• Society on NeuroImmune Pharmacology
• Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists

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Recent Medically Related Publications, Obtained from PubMed (Click on PubMed ID to view abstract)

22345580. Li H, Singh S, Gorantla S, Potula R, Persidsky Y, Poluektova L, Kanmogne GD, Dysregulation of Claudin-5 in HIV-induced Interstitial Pneumonitis and Lung Vascular Injury: Protective Role of PPAR-? Am J Respir Crit Care Med :()2012 Feb 16

21397004. Persidsky Y, Ho W, Ramirez SH, Potula R, Abood ME, Unterwald E, Tuma R, HIV-1 infection and alcohol abuse: neurocognitive impairment, mechanisms of neurodegeneration and therapeutic interventions. Brain Behav Immun 25 Suppl 1:(S61-70)2011 Jun

20668216. Potula R, Hawkins BJ, Cenna JM, Fan S, Dykstra H, Ramirez SH, Morsey B, Brodie MR, Persidsky Y, Methamphetamine causes mitrochondrial oxidative damage in human T lymphocytes leading to functional impairment. J Immunol 185:5(2867-76)2010 Sep 1

20631174. Ramirez SH, Fan S, Dykstra H, Reichenbach N, Del Valle L, Potula R, Phipps RP, Maggirwar SB, Persidsky Y, Dyad of CD40/CD40 ligand fosters neuroinflammation at the blood-brain barrier and is regulated via JNK signaling: implications for HIV-1 encephalitis. J Neurosci 30:28(9454-64)2010 Jul 14

19654589. Ramirez SH, Potula R, Fan S, Eidem T, Papugani A, Reichenbach N, Dykstra H, Weksler BB, Romero IA, Couraud PO, Persidsky Y, Methamphetamine disrupts blood-brain barrier function by induction of oxidative stress in brain endothelial cells. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 29:12(1933-45)2009 Dec

18670212. Potula R, Ramirez SH, Knipe B, Leibhart J, Schall K, Heilman D, Morsey B, Mercer A, Papugani A, Dou H, Persidsky Y, Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma activation suppresses HIV-1 replication in an animal model of encephalitis. AIDS 22:13(1539-49)2008 Aug 20

18458093. Potula R, Persidsky Y, Adding fuel to the fire: methamphetamine enhances HIV infection. Am J Pathol 172:6(1467-70)2008 Jun

18209083. Ramirez SH, Heilman D, Morsey B, Potula R, Haorah J, Persidsky Y, Activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) suppresses Rho GTPases in human brain microvascular endothelial cells and inhibits adhesion and transendothelial migration of HIV-1 infected monocytes. J Immunol 180:3(1854-65)2008 Feb 1

16565506. Potula R, Haorah J, Knipe B, Leibhart J, Chrastil J, Heilman D, Dou H, Reddy R, Ghorpade A, Persidsky Y, Alcohol abuse enhances neuroinflammation and impairs immune responses in an animal model of human immunodeficiency virus-1 encephalitis. Am J Pathol 168:4(1335-44)2006 Apr

16398932. Jayakeerthi RS, Potula RV, Srinivasan S, Badrinath S, Shell Vial Culture assay for the rapid diagnosis of Japanese encephalitis, West Nile and Dengue-2 viral encephalitis. Virol J 3:(2)2006 Jan 6

16260388. Persidsky Y, Potula R, Haorah J, Rodent model systems for studies of HIV-1 associated dementia. Neurotox Res 8:1-2(91-106)2005 Oct

15961516. Potula R, Poluektova L, Knipe B, Chrastil J, Heilman D, Dou H, Takikawa O, Munn DH, Gendelman HE, Persidsky Y, Inhibition of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) enhances elimination of virus-infected macrophages in an animal model of HIV-1 encephalitis. Blood 106:7(2382-90)2005 Oct 1

15793361. Smith MS, Niu Y, Buch S, Li Z, Adany I, Pinson DM, Potula R, Novembre FJ, Narayan O, Active simian immunodeficiency virus (strain smmPGm) infection in macaque central nervous system correlates with neurologic disease. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 38:5(518-30)2005 Apr 15

15618469. Dhillon NK, Sui Y, Potula R, Dhillon S, Adany I, Li Z, Villinger F, Pinson D, Narayan O, Buch S, Inhibition of pathogenic SHIV replication in macaques treated with antisense DNA of interleukin-4. Blood 105:8(3094-9)2005 Apr 15

15579283. Buch S, Sui Y, Dhillon N, Potula R, Zien C, Pinson D, Li S, Dhillon S, Nicolay B, Sidelnik A, Li C, Villinger T, Bisarriya K, Narayan O, Investigations on four host response factors whose expression is enhanced in X4 SHIV encephalitis. J Neuroimmunol 157:1-2(71-80)2004 Dec

15331406. Potula R, Dhillion N, Sui Y, Zien CA, Funa K, Pinson D, Mayo MS, Singh DK, Narayan O, Buch S, Association of platelet-derived growth factor-B chain with simian human immunodeficiency virus encephalitis. Am J Pathol 165:3(815-24)2004 Sep

15111302. Sui Y, Potula R, Dhillon N, Pinson D, Li S, Nath A, Anderson C, Turchan J, Kolson D, Narayan O, Buch S, Neuronal apoptosis is mediated by CXCL10 overexpression in simian human immunodeficiency virus encephalitis. Am J Pathol 164:5(1557-66)2004 May

14982750. Buch S, Sui Y, Potula R, Pinson D, Adany I, Li Z, Huang M, Li S, Dhillon N, Major E, Narayan O, Role of interleukin-4 and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 in the neuropathogenesis of X4 simian human immunodeficiency virus infection in macaques. J Neurovirol 10 Suppl 1:(118-24)2004

14498983. Sui Y, Potula R, Pinson D, Adany I, Li Z, Day J, Buch E, Segebrecht J, Villinger F, Liu Z, Huang M, Narayan O, Buch S, Microarray analysis of cytokine and chemokine genes in the brains of macaques with SHIV-encephalitis. J Med Primatol 32:4-5(229-39)2003 Aug

12630721. Potula R, Badrinath S, Srinivasan S, Japanese encephalitis in and around Pondicherry, South India: a clinical appraisal and prognostic indicators for the outcome. J Trop Pediatr 49:1(48-53)2003 Feb

12213709. Hicks A, Potula R, Sui YJ, Villinger F, Pinson D, Adany I, Li Z, Long C, Cheney P, Marcario J, Novembre F, Mueller N, Kumar A, Major E, Narayan O, Buch S, Neuropathogenesis of lentiviral infection in macaques: roles of CXCR4 and CCR5 viruses and interleukin-4 in enhancing monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 production in macrophages. Am J Pathol 161:3(813-22)2002 Sep

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