Research
Dr. Nair is Professor and Associate Dean of Research in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Wyoming. His research focuses on treatments for type-2 diabetes. Type-2 diabetes is an emerging health problem. Targeting, insulin resistance, which occurs long before the onset of frank type-2 diabetes is an attractive strategy to preempt diabetes and its complication. Our lab is interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms leading to insulin resistance. Our ultimate goal is to design and develop novel therapeutic strategies to prevent or treat this condition. We use the general techniques of cell biology such as tissue culture, Western blotting, immunoprecipitation, immunocytochemistry and the techniques of molecular biology, including the use of adenoviral vectors for transgene expression and knock-out animals to address our research questions. Outcome of our studies will help in understanding the mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of diabetes and may aid in developing novel therapeutic strategies to treat or prevent these conditions. We have characterized novel low molecular-weight chromium complexes that can alleviate insulin resistance by augmenting insulin signaling both in cultured myotubes and in genetic and nutritional animal models of insulin resistance. In addition to insulin resistance, we are also interested in cardiac complications associated with insulin resistance. Our recent studies have unraveled roles cathepsin K and endothelin-receptor-A in obesity associated cardiometabolic dysfunctions.
Selected Publications
1. Hua Y*, Nair S (2014) Proteases in cardiometabolic diseases: Pathophysiology, molecular mechanisms and clinical applications Biochim Biophys Acta – Molecular Basis of Disease (in press)
2. Kandadi MR**, Panzhinskiy E*, Roe ND*, Nair S, Hu D, Sun A. Deletion of Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase 1B Knockout Rescues against Myocardial Anomalies in High Fat Diet-Induced Obesity: Role of AMPK-Dependent Autophagy. Biochim Biophys Acta (in press)
3. Zhu X, Hu N, Chen X, Zhu MZ, Dong H, Xu X, Luo F, Hua Y, Nair S, Samson WK, Xiong L, Ren J. Neuronostatin Attenuates Myocardial Contractile Function through Inhibition of Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Ca-ATPase in Murine Heart. Cell Physiol Biochem. 33:1921-19, 2014
4. Panzhinskiy E*, Lapchak PA, Topchiy E, Lehmann TE, Ren J, Nair S. A Novel Neurotrophic Curcumin Analog Mitigates Obesity-Associated Insulin Resistance. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 349: 248-57, 2014
5. Xu X*, Hua Y*, Nair S, Ren J. Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor Deletion Exacerbates Pressure Overload-Induced Cardiac Hypertrophy through Mitigating Autophagy. Hypertension. 63: 490-9, 2014
6. Panzhinskiy E*, Ren J, Nair S: Protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B and insulin resistance: Role of endoplasmic reticulum stress/reactive oxygen species/nuclear factor kappa B axis, PLoS One. 18: e77228, 2013
7. Kandadi MR**, Hua Y*, Zhu M, Turdi S*, Nathanielsz PW, Ford SP, Nair S, Ren J: Influence of Gestational Overfeeding and Obesity on Myocardial Pro-inflammatory Mediators in Fetal Sheep Heart. J Nutr Biochem. 23:1982-90, 2013
8. Ceylan-Isik A**, Kandadi MR**, Chicco AJ, Ren J, Nair S: Apelin Alleviates High-Fat Diet-Induced Myocardial Contractile Dysfunction. J Mol Cell Cardiol. 63: 4-13, 2013
9. Hua Y*, Dolence J**, Ramanan S##, Ren J, Nair S: Bisdemethoxycurcumin inhibits PDGF-induced vascular smooth muscle cell motility and proliferation. Mol Nutr Food Res 1611-1618, 2013
10. Panzhinskiy E*, Ren J, Nair S: Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase 1B as a Therapeutic Target in Obesity Related Conditions. Curr Med Chem. 21: 2609-25, 2013