Sadeesh K. Ramakrishnan

Dr. Ramakrishnan’s research interest is to understand the role of gastrointestinal hypoxia signaling in metabolism, obesity, type 2 diabetes and cancer. Tissues constantly experience a dynamic change in cellular oxygen levels influenced by oxygen consumption and utilization. Cellular response to changes in oxygen tension is mediated at the molecular level by the highly conserved transcription factors, hypoxia-inducible transcription factor (HIF). Numerous studies have established the important roles of hypoxia signaling in various pathological disease models. However, the physiological role of hypoxia signaling is not well understood. The overarching goal of Dr. Ramakrishnan's research program is to determine the conserved role of hypoxia signaling in metabolic elasticity as an impetus to design effective therapies to treat metabolic diseases and their complications. The goals of his research are to: (i) determine the mechanisms by which the physiological cues activate hypoxic responses, (ii) determine the role of hypoxic signaling in the sensing and regulation of metabolic homeostasis, (iii) determine the role of hypoxia-mediated metabolic adaptation in cancer and (iv) identify isoform specificity and therapeutic use of HIFs in metabolic diseases and cancer.