Karthikeyani Chellappa
Brown University, RI·Biochemistry
Cells must bring nutrients in and process them efficiently. Transporters are proteins that carry molecules across the cell's outer membrane, and enzymes are proteins that chemically convert those molecules.
- Fields
Biochemistry
Physiology
Pharmacology
- Topics
NAD metabolism
nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide
membrane transport
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2030
What they work on
- Define how nicotinamide (NAM), the main NAD building block, crosses the plasma membrane of mammalian cells through the biphasic transport system the lab discovered.
- Determine how NAMPT, the rate-limiting enzyme that converts NAM toward NAD, regulates NAM transport into cells.
- Establish the significance of NAMPT's control of NAM transport for cellular NAD balance and function, and develop genetic and pharmacological tools for NAD biology and precursor supplementation.
More about the research
When transporters and enzymes work together, metabolic pathways can run more efficiently. This project studies that teamwork using NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide), a molecule needed for more than 400 reactions in the body. Falling NAD levels are linked to obesity, diabetes, aging, and heart and brain diseases. Supplements that raise NAD help in rodents but have shown limited benefit in human trials, so better understanding of NAD metabolism is needed.
Why it matters
Low NAD levels are linked to obesity, diabetes, aging, and cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, but NAD-boosting supplements have shown limited benefit in human trials. Learning how cells take up nicotinamide and how NAMPT controls that uptake could explain this gap. It could also guide better nutrient supplementation strategies and research tools for NAD and gut microbiome studies.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
John Varga
University of Michigan, MI·Medicine & Clinical Research
Map where CD38, an immune-cell enzyme that breaks down the energy molecule NAD, is expressed in systemic sclerosis patient biopsies, and determine its cell type-specific role in fibrosis using engineered mice and disease models.
Ren Zhang
Wayne State University, MI·Biochemistry
Determine whether MNADK, the mitochondrial NAD kinase, preserves liver energy balance and insulin sensitivity and reduces risk of NASH and type 2 diabetes, using genetically engineered mouse models.
Kristen Curran
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, WI·Biology
Define changes in gene expression and metabolism during dorsal mesoderm specification by comparing wild-type and bmal1 knockout Xenopus animal caps induced with activin, using RNA-seq plus measurements of oxygen consumption and NAD+/NADH ratios.
The school
Brown University: 23 labs on PI Pages, $375M a year on research, 251 research doctorates a year.
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