Draft:Dr Rajnish Chaturvedi, CSIR-IITR, Lucknow

Dr Rajnish Kumar Chaturvedi (born 1978) is a Senior Principal at CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (CSIR-IITR), Lucknow. He has also been associated as a Professor of Biological Sciences at the Academy of Scientific and Industrial Research (AcSIR). He completed his Ph.D. from CSIR-IITR, in 2006. He has almost 24 years of experience in neuroscience and neurotoxicology. He joined CSIR-IITR as a Scientist in 2008 after completing his postdoctoral fellowship in the field of neurobiology and neuroscience at the Department of Neurology and Neuroscience, Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University, New York, USA from 2006-2008 with world’s renowned neurologist M. Flint Beal. He has been a very successful and productive researcher and has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals like, the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Nature Medicine, EMBO, ACS Nano, Human Molecular Genetics, and Molecular Neurobiology. In total, he published 75 research articles including 10 reviews and 2 chapters in the books with h index-38 and total citations 6000.

His thrust research areas are Molecular Neurotoxicology, Stem Cell Neurobiology, and regenerative medicine. His research work involved understanding the cellular and molecular mechanism of neurodegenerative disorders especially Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease, and how environmental toxicants modulate the disease pathogenesis. In addition, he is also involved in the identification of molecules, that can induce "BRAIN SELF REPAIR" by activating resident Neural Stem Cell Population. Dr Rajnish is known for his studies on the role of transcriptional Co-activator PGC-1 alpha in the pathogenesis of Huntington’s disease. The pioneer studies carried out by his research group have identified the role of neural stem cells in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease, where he found the process of generation of new neurons (neurogenesis) is inhibited in Alzheimer’s disease. His group found that environmental toxicants not only induce neurodegeneration but also inhibit the process of neurogenesis and autophagy in the brain. Dr Chaturvedi has developed a novel method to enhance the “brain self-repair mechanism” using curcumin. His studies established a novel role of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in curcumin-mediated enhancement of neurogenesis in Alzheimer’s disease. Further, he identified three novel molecular targets of curcumin viz Wif-1, Dkk, and GSK-3β. His group has provided conclusive evidence that ethosuximide an epileptic drug increased neuronal regeneration in rodent models of Alzheimer’s disease and could be used for drug repurposing in Alzheimer’s disease. Similarly, nanoparticle-mediated delivery of otherwise blood-brain barrier impermeable drug dopamine could be a promising therapeutic approach in Parkinson’s disease. Studies carried by him possess clinical relevance and could be useful to develop novel therapeutic strategies, which could enhance brain self-repair mechanisms by inducing endogenous neural stem cells, and ultimately relieve behavioral symptoms in neurodegenerative disorders, particularly Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Chaturvedi's work has significant implications for improving human health and understanding the impact of toxic substances on our environment.

Dr. Chaturvedi's research on Bispehnol-A (BPA) has contributed significantly to the understanding of its toxicological mechanisms and health risks. His work has contributed in:

1. Informed regulatory policies: Contributing to the development of guidelines and regulations for BPA use. 2. Raised public awareness: Highlighting the potential health risks associated with BPA exposure. 3. Guided future research: Identifying areas for further investigation, such as BPA's effects on human health and environmental exposure.

Environmental contaminants alter regulatory dynamics of hippocampal neurogenesis through interfering cell signaling:

• Bisphenol-A (BPA), an environmental xenoestrogen endocrine disruptor and a component of plastic baby feeding bottles and food cans, poses serious health hazards among children and pregnant women. Increased levels of BPA have been identified in the urine and blood of children having autism, attention deficits and hyperactivity disorders, low IQ, and mental retardation. All these neurological disorders are associated with reduced generation of neurons in the brain. He provided experimental evidence in rodents that exposure to BPA and onset of these disease phenotypes could be due to reduced generation of neurons in the brain and neuroregeneration could be targeted for mitigation of disease phenotypes. o He has identified that BPA, cypermethrin and carbofuran a carbamate pesticide inhibit the ability of neural stem cells (NSC)/Oligodendrocytes progenitor cell proliferation and differentiation in neurons in the brain leading to cognitive dysfunction and these diseases like phenotypes (Mishra et al., Toxicological Sciences. 127(1):84-100, 2012, Tiwari et al., 2014a,b, 2015; Molecular Neurobiology, Seth et al., Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2017 Nov 24;292(47):19423-19440; Yadav et al., Mol Neurobiol. 2021 Jan;58(1):263-280.; Seth et al., Neurotoxicology. 2019 Jan;70:161-179.). o Studies carried out by his group first time suggested significant inhibitory effects of BPA on NSC proliferation and neuronal differentiation in the rat via the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway (Tiwari et al., Mol. Neurobiol. 2015 Dec;52(3): 1735-57, and Mol Neurobiol. 2016 Jul;53(5):3010-29). BPA exposure both during prenatal and postnatal periods alters myelination in the hippocampus of the rat brain leading to cognitive deficits (Tiwari et al., Mol. Neurobiol. 2015 Jun;51(3):1395-416). Further, his studies also provided conclusive evidences that BPA Impairs Hippocampal Neurogenesis via Inhibiting Regulation of the Ubiquitin Proteasomal System (Singh et al., Mol Neurobiol. 2023 Jun;60(6):3277-3298). Interestingly, his study suggested that Bisphenol-A inhibits mitochondrial biogenesis via impairment of GFER mediated mitochondrial protein import in the rat brain hippocampus. (Goyal et al., Neurotoxicology. 2021 Jul;85:18-32). Further, Bisphenol-A Mediated Impaired DRP1-GFER Axis and Cognition Restored by PGC-1α Upregulation Through Nicotinamide in the Rat Brain Hippocampus (Goyal et al., Mol Neurobiol. 2022 Aug;59(8):4761-4775). o He has also identified Notch as a therapeutic target against BPA mediated neurodegeneration and suggested that Notch pathway up-regulation via curcumin mitigates bisphenol-A (BPA) induced alterations in hippocampal oligodendrogenesis. (Tandon et al., J Hazard Mater. 2020 Jun 15;392:122052). o On the basis of his translational research work on BPA, the regulatory agency European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) reduced the tolerable daily intake. level from 50 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day (µg/kg of bw/day) to a temporary TDI of 4 µg/kg of bw/day. This revised guidelines on the basis of his and other’s work will help reducing the exposure levels of BPA in human particularly children and will help to save them against BPA mediated toxicity. o Due to his outstanding and dynamic credentials, he got the various prestigious awards like DBT National Bioscience Award-2016, NASI-Scopus Young Scientist Award-2015, Lady Tata Memorial Young Scientist Award-2014, National Academy of Sciences (NASI) Young Scientist Award-2013, Indian National Science Academy (INSA) Young Scientist Award-2012, and Gauri Ganguly Memorial Young Scientist Award-2012. During these periods he visited various countries to present his research work. In addition, he is also serving as editorial board member of several reputed journal including BioMed Research International, Evidence Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Neural Plasticity, Scientific Reports and Journal of Chemical Neuroanatomy etc.