MESSAGE FROM THE CHIEF
Hobart W. Harris, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor of Surgery
Chief, Division of General Surgery
Aditi Bhargava, Ph.D.
Assistant Adjunct Professor of Surgery
Contact Information
UCSF Center for the Neurobiology of Digestive Diseases
Department of Surgery
513 Parnassus Avenue, Room S-1268
Campus Box 0660
San Francisco, CA 94143-0660
Tel: 415-502-8453 or 415-476-6978
Fax: 415-476-0936
Education
- 1984-86, University of Rajasthan, B.S., Zoology (Honors)
- 1986-88, University of Poona, M.S., Molecular Biology
Fellowships
- 1988-90, AIIMS, Fellow, Virology
- 1995-96, New York Medical Col., Postdoctoral Fellow, Medicine
- 1996-00, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, Postdoctoral Fellow, Medicine/Physiology
- 2000-03, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, Postdoctoral Fellow, Medicine/Physiology (laboratories of Drs. Mary F. Dallman and David Pearce)
Postdoctoral Training
- 1990-95, University of Poona, Ph.D. (Molecular and Developmental Biology)
Research Interests
Her current research examines the role of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) family of neuropeptides (CRF and urocortins) and their receptors (CRFR1, CRFR2 in mediating stress and immune responses in the gut. The mechanisms by which Ucn peptides cause intestinal inflammation are not fully understood, and the contributions of specific peptides and their receptors to intestinal inflammatory diseases are unknown. The role of peripherally produced urocortins and CRF in modulating inflammation in murine and rodent models of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an active area of research. Trafficking of CRF receptors in response to specific Ucn ligands is another area of ongoing research. Her postdoctoral work examined the paradoxical effects of glucocorticoid action in gene regulation. Her work resulted in identification of Sgk1 as a key regulator of Na+ homeostasis in the kidney and determined the mechanism by which Sgk1, a serine-threonine kinase is pivotal for regulation of epithelial Na+ channel (ENaC) in the kidney collecting ducts, both in vitro, and in vivo, in rat kidney. Her work also demonstrated how chronic elevations in glucocorticoid concentrations result in neuronal cell death by identifying proteins that regulate Ca2+ extrusion mechanisms from neurons.
Biography
Aditi Bhargava, Ph.D. was appointed as an Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco in 2004. Her research laboratory is in the UCSF Center for the Neurobiology of Digestive Diseases, Department of Surgery.
Dr. Bhargava is a recipient of the several awards: Certificate of Merit (1986); Graduate Research Fellowship (1988-1993), CSIR, India; UNESCO/TWAS Human Genome Fellowship (1992); Senior Research Fellowship, Department of Biotechnology, India (1994-1995); Quest Diagnostic Young Investigator Award, Endocrine Society (2003, 2004, 2005); and a Young Investigator Travel Award, GIRI Conference, Canada (2006-2009).
She serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Molecular and Genetic Medicine, Oxford, UK since 2005. She is also a member of the Minority Affairs Committee of the Endocrine Society.
Selected Publications
- Bhargava A, Dallman MF, Pearce D, Choi S. Long double-stranded RNA-mediated RNA interference as a tool to achieve site-specific silencing of hypothalamic neuropeptides. Brain Res Brain Res Protoc. 13: 115-25, Jun/2004. This is one of the first report that unequivocally provides evidence that RNAi can be used in vivo in adult rats to silence gene expression. I was responsible for the study design, execution of majority of experiments, data analysis and writing of the manuscript.
- la Fleur SE, Wick EC, Idumalla PS, Grady EF, Bhargava A. Role of peripheral corticotropin-releasing factor and urocortin II in intestinal inflammation and motility in terminal ileum. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 102: 7647-52, May/24/2005. Here we showed that it is possible to study tissue-specific function of genes in vivo, without creating a conditional knock out animal. This is the first report that unequivocally provides evidence that peripherally sysnthesized CRF exerts pro-inflammatory effects in the ileum. I was responsible for the study design, execution of majority of experiments, data analysis and writing of the manuscript..
- Jean Philippe V, Jasmin L, Bhargava A, Ohara PT. Potassium trafficking by satellite glial cells in the trigeminal ganglion as a determinant of orofacial neuropathic pain. Neuron Glia Biology. (In Press), 2007. My key contribution was to design, develope and synthesize the RNA sequences essential to obtain silencing of this potassium channel. In addition, I helped in data analysis and writing of the manuscript.
- Chang J, Hoy JJ, Idumalla PS, Clifton MS, Pecoraro N, and Bhargava A. Urocortin2 expression in the rat gastrointestinal tract under basal conditions and in chemical colitis. Peptides. (In Press), 2007. In this was designed to demonstrate a role for Urocortin system in intestinal diseases such as the inflammatory bowel disease. I was responsible for conceptualing and designing this study. I also performed experiments, analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript.
- Clifton MS, Hoy JJ, Chang J, Idumalla PS, Fakhruddin H, Grady EF, Dada S, Corvera CU, Bhargava A. The Role of Calcitonin Receptor-Like Receptor in Colonic Motility and Inflammation. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol., Mar/15/2007. In absence of a knockout mice for CLR, we used transient silencing in freely moving adult rats to demonstrate that CLr is a functional receptor for CGRP. I conceptualized and designed the studies. I, including data analysis and writing the manuscript, performed major portions of these experiments that included surgeries on rats and motility experiments.