Department of
Biology

Rajesh Gokhale obtained his PhD from Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore and Postdoctoral studies from Stanford University, USA. He moved back to India to join faculty of National Institute of Immunology (NII), Delhi. From 2009 to 2016, he was Director of CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB), Delhi.

Research

Interplay between metabolic reprogramming, inter-organ crosstalk and inflammation

The present focus of Prof. Rajesh Gokhale's laboratory is to elucidate interplay between metabolic reprogramming and immunity in the context of infectious disease tuberculosis (TB). Clinical treatment of infectious diseases has often focussed on efficient pathogen elimination and disease severity has been assumed to be a direct function of pathogen burden. This perspective has failed to explain several complexities of TB pathogenesis, such as wasting syndrome cachexia (a condition associated with progressive loss of muscle mass and functions). Infection by pathogens can trigger variety of responses in host that as a consequence could result in multisystem dysfunction and pathology. Future intervention strategies developed based on these considerations are likely to maximize patient’s survival and also their health-related quality of life.

Selected Publications

Motiani RK*, Tanwar J, Raja DA, Vashisht A, Khanna S, Sharma S, Srivastava S, Sivasubbu S, Natarajan, VT, Gokhale RS* (2018) STIM1 activation of adenylyl cyclase 6 connects Ca2+ and cAMP signaling during melanogenesis. EMBO J. 37(5): e97597. (*co-corresponding authors)

Anand A, Verma P, Singh AK, Kaushik S, Pandey R, Shi C, Kaur H, Chawla M, Elechalawar CK, Kumar D, Yang Y, Bhavesh NS, Banerjee R, Dash D, Singh A, Natarajan VT, Ojha AK, Aldrich CC, Gokhale RS (2015). Polyketide quinones are alternate intermediate electron carriers during mycobacterial respiration in oxygen-deficient niches. Molecular Cell 60(4):637-50.

Natarajan VT, Ganju P, Ramkumar A, Grover R, Gokhale RS (2014). Multifaceted pathways protect human skin from UV radiation. Nat Chem Biol: 17;10(7):542-5.

Arora P, Goyal A, Natarajan VT, Rajakumara E, Verma P, Gupta R, Yousuf M, Trivedi OA, Mohanty D, Tyagi A, Sankaranarayanan R* and Gokhale RS* (2009) Mechanistic and functional insights into fatty acid activation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Nat. Chem. Biol. 5(3):166-73 (*Co-corresponding authors).

Trivedi OA, Arora P, Sridharan V, Tickoo R, Mohanty D, Gokhale RS. (2004): Enzymic activation and transfer of fatty acids as acyl-adenylates in mycobacteria. Nature 428: 441-445.