Research Associate

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Objective:

Seeking a position in pharmaceutical-industry where I can utilize my experimental and analytical skills, acquired during my research career, towards the growth of the organization and to convert the organizational goals into reality.

Major strengths

• Creative and self-motivated scientist with strong background in Pharmacology, Neurobiology, Molecular Biology, Metabolism and Biomarker discovery.

• Extensive hands-on experience of in vivo and in vitro model systems for pre-clinical studies, and strong communication and problem-solving skills with the ability to meet tight deadlines.

• Breadth of experience in identifying targetable pathways and drug discovery by utilizing molecular and pharmacological approaches (Pharmacodynamic profiling and drug screening).

• Excellent team player and strong builder of effective interdisciplinary collaborations for applied research resulting in 27 peer-reviewed (3 under review) publications.

• Strong ability to explore and develop new lines of research, and managing multiple projects.

• Proficient in data analysis, writing scientific reports and supervising research associates. Education

Ph.D. (Zoology), April’ 2011: University of Lucknow, India M.Sc. (Zoology), 2003: Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University, Agra, India B.Sc. (Zoology, Botany and Chemistry), 2001: Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University, Agra, India Research Experience

Research Associate 2015 - Present

Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA:

• Conducting pre-clinical studies to support the repurposing of FDA-approved drugs (IP, IV, SC, PO, ICV dosing) that acts in the CNS, for the treatment of hypoglycemia unawareness.

• Conducting next-generation RNA-sequencing to determine the genome-wide microRNAomic and transcriptomic profiling in brain and serum/exosome samples, and to identify and/or develop biomarkers for recurrent hypoglycemia and diabetes in rodents.

• Perform lentivector transfections and inject lentiviruses into rodent brains by stereotaxic surgery.

• Developed luciferase assay for the interaction of microRNA to 3’UTR region of target gene.

• Execute immunoassays (RIA, EIA, ELISA) for hormonal (i.e. insulin, glucagon, epinephrine, norepinephrine) response and conduct real time PCR for microRNA and gene expression.

• Conducted pre-clinical testing (i.e. pharmacodynamic profile) for the action of newly synthesized glucose-responsive insulin molecule using ITT and glucose clamp in rodent model of diabetes.

• Support multiple projects and serve as an expert resource in pharmacology and molecular biology by team members, and involve in grants writing and supervising students. Postdoctoral Fellow 2014 –2015

Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA:

• Established 2-deoxyglucose-induced hypoglycemia unawareness model for repurposing of FDA-approved drugs.

• Designed fluorescence 2-deoxyglucose based assay to study glucose uptake in brain. Postdoctoral Fellow 2011 – 2014

Department of Integrative Biology & Physiology, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), USA:

• Developed and characterized metabolic syndrome (MetS) and type 2 diabetes model in rodents.

• Designed and executed Seahorse extracellular flux analyzer assay for real time measurement of cellular bioenergetics in in vivo (traumatic brain injury model) and in vitro model system. Rahul Agrawal, Ph.D.

Research Associate

Department of Internal Medicine,

University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA

Email: *************@*****.***

Residency Status: Permanent Resident

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• Performed multiplex bead-based assay for the detection and quantification of multiple analytes

(proteins) in a single sample volume using BioPlex system.

• Conducted cytochrome C oxidase enzyme assay, physiological (GTT, ITT) and behavioral

(Cognition, Anxiety) tests in rodents, and utilized Gas chromatography for lipids analysis.

• Established collaborations with multidisciplinary research groups, supervised students, and communicated scientific findings via presentations to the scientific and general audience. Ph.D. Research Fellow 2004 –2011

Research Institution: Division of Pharmacology, CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), India Ph.D. degree awarded from: University of Lucknow, Lucknow, India in April 2011 Title: Molecular and pharmacological evaluation of central insulin receptors in behavioral responses

• Established models of dementia and amnesia by utilizing pharmacological tools to test the memory enhancing potential of novel drugs or compounds.

• Performed stereotaxic neurosurgery for administration of drugs into different brain regions.

• Performed western blot, RNA isolation, RT-PCR, biochemical or enzyme kinetics assays to study the role of anti-oxidant drugs in dementia

• Conducted rodents’ behavioral tests to assess cognitive, anxiety and locomotor functions Invited Talks, Teaching & Mentoring Experience

• Oral presentation of research findings at several (9) meetings/conferences.

• Science (Biology) teacher at higher secondary school in India: July 2004-Dec 2004.

• Supervised 7 undergraduate and 2 graduate students with study design, data interpretation, and presentation.

Honors & Awards

2018 Clinical Research Certificate from University of Utah. 2016 Research published (EBioMedicine 2016) on the influence of metabolic syndrome in brain gene networks, honored as 2016 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award for making the world better.

2015 Media reports on research findings (Agrawal et al. 2016) for the detrimental influence of fructose in pathobiology of brain trauma were featured worldwide by ~20 journals, magazines, and newspapers and also broadcasted on CBS News. 2015 13th ISN Advanced School Travel Award, Mission Beach, Australia. 2014 ISN travel award for 6th ISN special neurochemistry conference, Tokyo, Japan 2014 Miami 2014 Winter Symposium Travel Award, Miami, USA. 2013 ISN travel award to attend ISN-main meeting at Cancun, Mexico 2012 Invited for "Are You What You Eat" press conference at 42nd SFN meeting in New Orleans, USA, to address the influence of metabolic syndrome in brain to general public 2012 Several media reports on research findings (Agrawal et al. 2012) for the influence of metabolic syndrome in neurobehavioral functions were featured worldwide by ~50 journals, magazines, and newspapers including Forbes, National Geographic news and broadcasted on several International/National TV stations including, Russia-2 TV station. 2012 The Journal of Physiology-Early Investigator Prize, Physiological Society, UK. 2006-09 Senior Research Fellowship-Life Sciences under CSIR Fellowship Scheme, India 2004-06 Junior Research Fellowship-Life Sciences under CSIR Fellowship Scheme, India 2004 GATE- certificate in Life sciences with 94.25 percentile score Technical Expertise

• Rodent (Rat and mouse) handling and drug administration: IP, ICV, PO, SC;

• Development of animal models: Model of diabetes, Fructose induced Metabolic Syndrome, Streptozotocin (ICV) induced Alzheimer disease, Scopolamine (IP) induced amnesia, Fluid percussion induced traumatic brain injury (TBI) and Ovariectomy;

• Implantation of arterial and venous catheters in rodents: hypoglycemic clamp studies;

• Stereotaxic procedures: Drug administration into specific brain regions; 3

• Behavioral tests: Morris water maze, Passive avoidance, Barnes maze and Elevated plus maze test;

• Bio-Plex system: Multiplex bead-based assay for the detection and quantification of multiple analytes (proteins) in a single sample volume;

• Gas Chromatography: Lipid extraction and fatty acid methylation for estimation of different fatty acids using gas chromatography;

• NMR: Adipose Fat profiling in rodents;

• Extracellular Flux (XF) Analyzer system: Fluorescent optical sensor-based assay to determine cellular bioenergetics profile in real time;

• Cell culture and maintenance: Neuro-2a (N2a)-neuroblastoma, liver hepatocellular carcinoma

(HepG2) and human embryonic kidney (HEK)-293 cells;

• Cloning and Transfection: Cloning of 3’UTR gene region to the pGL-3 luciferase vector, lentivector transfection in HEK293 cells, Luciferase assay.

• Immunoassays: ELISA, RIA, EIA, Immunoprecipitation, Western Blotting; Immunohistochemistry and Immunocytochemistry;

• Nucleic acid extraction and real-time PCR;

• Microscopy: Fluorescence and Bright-field;

• Biochemical and enzyme activity assays: MDA, GSH, AChE activity Professional Memberships

2013- Member (20957), International Society for Neurochemistry (ISN) 2010-2014 Member (210034060), Society for Neuroscience (SFN) 2008- Member (LA-173), Indian Pharmacological Society (IPS) 2007- Member (LA-38), Indian Academy of Neurosciences (IAN) Peer-Reviewing Journals list

1) Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology, 2) Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics, 3) Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology, 4) Clinical Epidemiology, 5) International Journal of Health Sciences, 6) Journal of Endocrinology, 7) Life Sciences, 8) Metabolic Brain Disease, 9) Neurochemistry International, 10) Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment Research articles submitted/under review/published: 1. Agrawal R, Durupt G, Verma D, Montgomery M, Vieira-de-Abreu A, Taylor C, Swaminathan S, Fisher SJ (2019). MicroRNA-7a overexpression in VMH restores the sympathoadrenal response to hypoglycemia. Under Review in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. Impact Factor: 13.251.

2. Qiu Y*, Agrawal R*, Chen D, Zheng N, Kim J, Durupt G, Fisher SJ, Chou DHC (2019). Long-lasting designer insulin with glucose-dependent solubility reduces incidence of hypoglycemia. Under Review in ACS Central Science. Impact Factor: 11.228. *Equal Authorship.

3. Xiong X, Menting J, Disotuar MM, Smith NA, Delanie C, Ghabash G, Maikawa CL, Appel EA, Agrawal R, Wang X, He X, Fisher SJ, MacRaild CA, Norton RS, Forbes BE, Smith BJ, Safavi-Hemami H, Olivera B, Lawrence MC, Chou DHC (2019). Mini-Ins: A minimized, bioactive insulin analog inspired by A cone snail peptide with fast-acting properties. Under Review in Nature. Impact Factor: 41.577.

4. Agrawal R, Vieira-de-Abreu A, Durupt G, Taylor C, Chan O, Fisher SJ (2018). Insulin regulates GLUT4 in the ventromedial hypothalamus to restore the sympathoadrenal response to hypoglycemia in diabetic rats. American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism 315: E1286-E1295. PMID: 30226996. Impact Factor: 4.018. 4

5. Jackson DA, Michael T, Vieira de Abreu A, Agrawal R, Bortolato M, Fisher SJ (2018). Prevention of severe hypoglycemia-induced brain damage and cognitive impairment with verapamil. Diabetes 67(10): 2107-2112. PMID: 29724724. Impact Factor: 7.273. 6. Krishna G, Agrawal R, Zhuang Y, Ying Z, Paydar A, Harris NG, Royes LF, Gomez-Pinilla F

(2017). 7,8-dihydroxyflavone facilitates the action exercise to restore plasticity and functionality: Implications for early brain trauma recovery. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta- Molecular Basis of Disease 1863(6): 1204-1213. PMID: 28315455. Impact Factor: 5.108 7. Qingying M, Zhuang Y, Ying Z, Agrawal R, Yang X, Gomez-Pinilla F (2017). Traumatic brain injury induces genome-wide transcriptomic, methylomic, and network perturbations in brain and blood predicting neurological disorders. EBioMedicine 16: 184-194. PMID: 28174132. Impact Factor: 6.183

8. Meng Q, Ying Z, Noble E, Zhao Y, Agrawal R, Mikhail A, Zhuang Y, Tyagi E, Zhang Q, Lee JH, Morselli M, Orozco L, Guo W, Kilts TM, Zhu J, Zhang B, Pellegrini M, Xiao X, Young MF, Gomez-Pinilla F, Yang X (2016). Systems nutrigenomics reveals brain gene networks linking metabolic and brain disorders. EBioMedicine 7: 157-166. PMID: 27322469. Impact Factor: 6.183.

9. Agrawal R, Zhuang Y, Noble E, Vergnes L, Ying Z, Reue k, Gomez-Pinilla F (2016). Dietary fructose aggravates the pathobiology of TBI by influencing energy homeostasis and plasticity. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism 36(5): 941-953. PMID: 26661172. Impact Factor: 6.045.

10. Agrawal R, Noble E, Tyagi E, Zhuang Y, Ying Z, Gomez-Pinilla F (2015). Flavonoid derivative 7,8-DHF attenuates TBI pathology via TrkB activation. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta- Molecular Basis of Disease 1852: 862-872. PMID: 25661191. Impact Factor: 5.108. 11. Tyagi E, Zhuang Y, Agrawal R, Ying Z, Gomez-Pinilla F (2015). Interactive actions of Bdnf methylation and cell metabolism for building neural resilience under the influence of diet. Neurobiology of Disease 73: 307-318. PMID: 25283985. Impact Factor: 5.227. 12. Agrawal R, Zhuang Y, Cummings BP, Stanhope KL, Graham JL, Havel PJ, Gomez-Pinilla F

(2014). Deterioration of plasticity and metabolic homeostasis in the brain of the UCD-T2DM rat model of naturally occurring type-2 diabetes. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta- Molecular Basis of Disease 1842: 1313-1323. PMID: 24840661. Impact Factor: 5.108. 13. Agrawal R, Tyagi E, Vergnes L, Reue K, Gomez-Pinilla F (2014). Coupling energy homeostasis with a mechanism to support plasticity in brain trauma. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta- Molecular Basis of Disease 1842: 535-546. PMID: 24345766. Impact Factor: 5.108.

14. Tyagi E, Agrawal R, Zing Y, Gomez-Pinilla F (2014). TBI and sex: Crucial role of progesterone protecting the brain in an omega-3 deficient condition. Experimental Neurology 253: 41-51. PMID: 24361060. Impact Factor: 4.483. 15. Tyagi E, Agrawal R, Zhuang Y, Abad C, Waschek JA, Gomez-Pinilla F (2013). Vulnerability imposed by diet and brain trauma for anxiety-like phenotype: implications for post-traumatic stress disorders. PLoS ONE 8(3): e57945. PMID: 23483949. Impact Factor: 2.766. 16. Ying Z, Feng C, Agrawal R, Zhuang Y, Gomez-Pinilla F (2012). Dietary omega-3 deficiency from gestation increases spinal cord vulnerability to traumatic brain injury-induced damage. PLoS ONE 7(12): e52998. PMID: 23300842. Impact Factor: 2.766. 17. Agrawal R, Gomez-Pinilla F (2012). “Metabolic syndrome” in the brain: Deficiency in omega-3-fatty acid exacerbates dysfunctions in insulin receptor signaling and cognition. The Journal of Physiology 590(10): 2485-2499. PMID: 22473784. Impact Factor: 4.739. 18. Bhatia HS*, Agrawal R*, Sharma S, Huo YX, Ying Z, Gomez-Pinilla F (2011). Omega-3- fatty acid deficiency during brain maturation reduces neuronal and behavioral plasticity in adulthood. PLoS ONE 6(12): e28451 (1-9). PMID: 22163304. Impact Factor: 2.766.*Equal Authorship.

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19. Agrawal R, Tyagi E, Shukla R, Nath C (2011). Insulin receptor signaling in rat hippocampus: A study in STZ (ICV) induced memory deficit model. European Neuropsycopharmacology 21(3): 261-273. PMID: 21195590. Impact Factor: 4.129. 20. Tyagi, E, Agrawal R, Nath C, Shukla R (2010). Effect of melatonin on neuroinflammation and acetylcholinesterase activity induced by LPS in rat brain. European Journal of Pharmacology 640: 206-210. PMID: 20450904. Impact Factor: 3.040. 21. Agrawal R, Mishra B, Tyagi E, Nath C, Shukla R (2010). Effect of curcumin on brain insulin receptors and memory functions in STZ (ICV) induced dementia model of rat. Pharmacological Research 61(3): 247–252. PMID: 20026275. Impact Factor: 4.897. 22. Tyagi E, Agrawal R, Nath C, Shukla R (2010). Cholinergic protection via α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and PI3K-Akt pathway in LPS induced neuroinflammation. Neurochemistry International 56(1): 135-142. PMID: 19781587. Impact Factor: 3.603. 23. Tyagi E, Agrawal R, Nath C, Shukla R (2010). Inhibitory role of cholinergic system mediated via α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in LPS induced Neuroinflammation. Innate Immunity 16(1): 3-13. PMID: 19586999. Impact Factor: 2.312. 24. Agrawal R, Tyagi E, Saxena G, Nath C (2009). Cholinergic influence on memory stages: A study on scopolamine amnesic mice. Indian Journal of Pharmacology 41(4): 192-196. PMID: 20523872. Impact Factor: 0.902.

25. Swarnkar S, Tyagi E, Agrawal R, Singh MP, Nath C (2009). A comparative study on oxidative stress induced by LPS and rotenone in homogenates of rat brain regions. Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology 27: 219-224. PMID: 21783943. Impact Factor: 2.776.

26. Agrawal R, Tyagi E, Shukla R, Nath C (2009). A Study of brain insulin receptors, AChE activity and oxidative stress in rat model of ICV STZ induced dementia. Neuropharmacology 56: 779-787. PMID: 19705549. Impact Factor: 4.249. 27. Saxena G, Singh SP, Agrawal R, Nath C (2008). Effect of donepezil and tacrine on oxidative stress in intracerebral streptozotocin induced model of dementia in mice. European Journal of Pharmacology 581: 283-289. PMID: 18234183. Impact Factor: 3.040.

28. Tyagi E, Agrawal R, Nath C, Shukla R (2008). Influence of LPS induced neuroinflammation on acetylcholinesterase activity in rat brain. Journal of Neuroimmunology 205: 51-56. PMID: 18838174. Impact Factor: 2.655.

29. Agrawal R, Tyagi E, Shukla R, Nath C (2008). Effect of insulin and melatonin on acetylcholinesterase activity in brain areas of amnesic mice. Behavioral Brain Research 189: 381-386. PMID: 18336929. Impact Factor: 3.173. 30. Tyagi E, Agrawal R, Nath C, Shukla R (2007). Effect of anti-dementia drugs on LPS induced neuroinflammation in mice. Life Sciences 80: 1977-1983. PMID: 17395211. Impact Factor: 3.234.

Abstracts Presented in Conferences/Meetings/Symposia: 41 I hereby declare that information provided in the resume is true to the best of my knowledge. Date: May 22, 2019 Rahul Agrawal

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