Scientist

AKSHAY SHARMA

New York city, N.Y. • +1-646-***-**** • ************@*****.*** • www.researchgate.net/profile/Akshay-Sharma-38 Education

City University of New York, New York City September 2024 Doctor of Philosophy: Biology

Dissertation Research: Voltage Set Points for Sodium Channel Inactivation: Intrinsic and Modulatory Mechanisms Advisor: Dr. Mitchell Goldfarb

City University of New York, New York City February 2021 Master of Philosophy, Biology

Symbiosis International University, Pune, India October 2016 Master of Science: Biotechnology

Thesis Research: Quantification of Homocysteinylated Albumin in clinical plasma of patients with cardiovascular complications Advisor: Dr. Mahesh Kulkarni

Nowrosjee Wadia College, Pune, India July 2014

Bachelor of Science: Biotechnology

Relevant Experience

Hunter College of The City University of New York, New York City September 2024 - Present Research Associate Advisor: Dr. Mitchell Goldfarb

• Engineered, cloned, expressed and purified recombinant proteins for binding assays.

• Designed and initiated an ELISA-based assay to quantify the low-affinity interaction between the III-IV loop and the C- terminal domain of the cardiac voltage-gated sodium channel, using a recently described disulfide trapping method. Hunter College of The City University of New York, New York City August 2017 – May 2025 Teaching Adjunct

• Organized and planned material, lecture, set exams and coordinated teaching assistant workload for the introductory Biology lab courses of Anatomy & Physiology I & II and Principles of Biology I & II.

• Guided and supported students in problem solving and reasoning on lab experiments; graded and provided feedback on assignments

City University of New York, New York City August 2017 - September 2024 Molecular Biology and Neuroscience Doctoral Researcher

• Investigated the functional roles of specific amino acids in the C-terminal domain of the cardiac voltage-gated sodium channel and demonstrated how these residues differentially regulate voltage-dependent inactivation, activation and persistent sodium current.

• Identified and characterized a novel region within the sodium channel carboxyl-terminal domain, termed the juxtamembrane segment, as the regulatory affector domain allowing fibroblast growth factor homologous factor (FHF) modulation of sodium channel inactivation.

• Mentored and trained 4 undergraduate students in cloning, cell culture techniques, electrophysiology and protein purification techniques.

CSIR - National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India December 2015 - June 2017 Masters Dissertation Student and Project Assistant

• Investigated the effects of homocysteinylated albumin on endothelial function using a SWATH-MS based proteomics approach.

• Contributed to the development of a mass spectrometry method for quantifying homocysteinylated albumin in clinical plasma samples.

• Conducted proteomic analysis of endothelial cells to assess the effects of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) on vascular function.

CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India May 2015 - July 2015 Summer Trainee

• Assisted in a projected studying the association of Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) gene variants to Indian Visceral Leishmaniasis.

• Assisted in DNA extraction from blood samples of patients suffering from Visceral Leishmaniasis.

• Performed sequencing PCR on purified DNA samples and assisted in DNA sequence analysis. Scientific Skill Set

• Molecular Biology: Proficient in DNA & RNA isolation, gel electrophoresis, primer designing, PCR, site-directed mutagenesis, cloning, bacterial transformation, recombinant protein expression, protein purification, UV-spectroscopy, affinity chromatography, size exclusion chromatography, SDS-PAGE, Western blotting, Biolayer Interferometry, Isothermal Titration Calorimetry and Microscale Thermophoresis. Experience with developing ELISA assays.

• Tissue Culture: Adept at growth and maintenance of mammalian cell lines, mammalian cell transfection, Cell based assays (MTT assay, Apoptosis assay, Oxidative Stress assay and Angiogenesis assay) and immunofluorescence.

• Proteomics: Experienced in the mass spectrometry techniques MALDI-TOF and LC-MS. Familiar with acquisition methods like PRM and SWATH and mass spectrometric data analysis using software like Proteome Discoverer and PinPoint.

• Biophysical: Adept at Patch Clamp. Experienced with Flow cytometry and Fluorescence Microscopy

• Animal handling: Experience with mouse handling, colony maintenance, mouse brain dissection and brain slice recording.

• Scientific Software: GraphPad Prism, PyMol, ImageJ, MacVector, pClamp, AutoAssembler, Microsoft Office. Publications and Dissertation

1. Sharma, A., Marra, C., Mohammad, N., Iatckova, V., Lawrence, L., & Goldfarb, M. (2025). Carboxyl Terminal Domain Missense Mutations Alter Distinct Gating Properties of the Cardiac Sodium Channel. bioRxiv, 2025-05. (In Press, Journal of General Physiology).

2. Sharma, Akshay, "Voltage Set Points for Sodium Channel Inactivation: Intrinsic and Modulatory Mechanisms"

(2024). CUNY Academic Works. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/6046 3. Sharma, N., Raut, P. W., Baruah, M. M., & Sharma, A. (2021). Combination of quercetin and 2- methoxyestradiol inhibits epithelial–mesenchymal transition in PC-3 cell line via Wnt signaling pathway. Future Science OA, 7(9), FSO747 4. Banarjee, R., Sharma, A., Bai, S., Deshmukh, A., Kulkarni, M. (2019). Proteomic study of endothelial dysfunction in response to homocysteinylated albumin. Journal of Proteins and Proteomics, 10, 167-178 5. Mishra, A., Sundaravadivel, P., Tripathi, S. K., Jha, R. K., Badrukhiya, J., Basak, N., Anerao, I., Sharma, A., & Thangaraj, K. (2019). Variations in macrophage migration inhibitory factor gene are not associated with visceral leishmaniasis in India. Journal of Infection and Public Health, 12(3), 380- 387 6. Banarjee, R., Sharma, A., Bai, S., Deshmukh, A., Kulkarni, M. (2018). Proteomic study of endothelial dysfunction induced by AGEs and its possible role in diabetic cardiovascular complications. Journal of proteomics, 187, 69-79 Posters and Achievements

• Designed and developed the poster presented at The British Society for Cardiovascular Research (BSCR) autumn meeting, 2016 at University of Leeds, Leeds, UK, titled ‘Understanding endothelial dysfunction in diabetic cardiovascular complications using mass spectrometry-based proteomics.’ Banarjee, R., Sharma, A., Bai, S., Deshmukh, A., Kazi, R., & Kulkarni, M. (2016). P47 Understanding endothelial dysfunction in diabetic cardiovascular complications using mass spectrometry-based proteomics. Heart, 102(Suppl 8), A16-A17

• Recipient of the CUNY Science Fellowship award (2017)

• Qualified the Indian Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) - Biotechnology in February 2017

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