Dr. Lokendra Sharma
Assistant Professor
Biotechnology Programme
Central University of South Bihar
India
Biography
Personal Statement: My overall goal is to serve as a faculty member at a research oriented academic institute, where I can continue my research and incorporate my research experiences into effective teaching. I gained scientific training during my Ph.D. and postdoctoral research, focused on clinically relevant projects of cellular metabolism, cancer and neuro-degeneration. During my doctoral research, I characterized pharmacologically important genes and proteins i.e. sterol glucosyl-transferases, which are useful in synthesizing bioactive molecules with anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor activities. Findings from my Ph.D. research developed my interest further in cell signaling, metabolic pathways and their role in understanding the mechanism of human diseases. After submission of my Ph.D. thesis, I was selected for further research training at a prestigious medical institute, The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio in Texas United States. I pursued exciting studies to examine mitochondrial biology in cancer and neuro-degeneration, in particular the role of mitochondrial complex I defects in human diseases. Subsequently I joined one of the top Children’s Hospitals in United States: Children’s Hospital of Pittsburg (CHP) for my further training. My work at CHP was to investigate the effect of oncogenic c-MYC on mitochondrial metabolism in cell proliferation. In these years of my research, I worked in collaboration with clinicians, scientists and successfully completed several clinical projects. In addition, I participated in teaching and mentoring program to help prospective medical and Ph.D. students in their degree courses. I frequently present my research work in scientific meetings and serve as editorial board member/reviewer in several international peer reviewed journals. Results of my research work have been published in several high impact journals and some of the manuscripts are in the process of submission. Recently, I joined Central University of Bihar under UGC-faculty recharge program.
Research Interest
Mitochondria, Oxidative stress, Metabolism and Cancer.
Publications
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Lu J, Sharma LK, Bai Y. Implications of mitochondrial DNA mutations and mitochondrial dysfunction in tumorigenesis. Cell Res. 2009 Jul;19(7):802-15.
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Sharma LK, Lu J, Bai Y. Mitochondrial respiratory complex I: structure, function and implication in human diseases. Curr Med Chem. 2009;16(10):1266-77.
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Park JS*, Sharma LK*, Li H, Xiang R, Holstein D, Wu J, Lechleiter J, Naylor SL, Deng JJ, Lu J, Bai Y. A heteroplasmic, not homoplasmic, mitochondrial DNA mutation promotes tumorigenesis via alteration in reactive oxygen species generation and apoptosis. Hum Mol Genet. 2009 May 1;18(9):1578-89
