Texas Christian University
Biology Department
2800 S. University Drive
P.O. Box 298930
Fort Worth, Texas 76129 U.S.A.
Office (817) 257-6180   FAX (817) 257-6177

EDUCATIONAL HISTORY
1982–1985, University of Bombay, SIES College, B.Sc. in Chemistry/Biochemistry

1986–1997, University of Pittsburgh. Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics

POSTDOCTORAL POSITIONS
1998–2000: Department of Molecular Biology,
University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, Texas

2000–2002: Department of Molecular Biology and Oncology,
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.

PRESENT POSITION
Since 2002: Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Texas Christian University

TEACHING AWARDS
2005 TCU Panhellenic Outstanding Professor of the Year

GRADUATE THESES DIRECTED
Jebiwot Gladys Keitany (2005) The role of double stranded RNA-dependent protein kinase (PKR) in cell proliferation and cancer. Master of Science.

Berly Gail Pinto (2004) Primary Advisor: George King, Dept. of Psychology.
Doctor of Philosophy

Melanie Whitehead (2005) Biodegradable polymer scaffolds containing mesoporous silicon and one-dimensional nanostructures of silicon and germanium for use in tissue engineering. (Primary advisor: Jeff Coffer, Dept. of Chemistry) Master of Science.

GRANTS FUNDED
A. Extramural
American Chemical Society Institutional Research Grant, ‘The role of PKR in lung cell transformation’. 2003–2004

B. Intramural
TCU New Faculty, RCAF, 'Regulation of transcription factor ATF-2 by Hepatitis C virus protein NS5A' 2002–2003

TCU RCAF, ‘Transformation of liver cells by Hepatitis C virus’ 2004–2005

TCU RCAF, ‘Isolation of Novel anti-Hepatitis C virus drugs from plant extracts’ 2005–2006

TCU RCAF, ‘Identification of molecules that interact with Hepatitis C virus protein NS5A’ 2006–2007

ARTICLES PUBLISHED
A. Refereed publications
P.A. Maurides, G.R. Akkaraju & R. Jagus. Evaluation of a protein phosphorylation state by a combination of vertical slab isoelectric focusing and immunoblotting. (1989) Anal. Biochem., 183, 144–151.

G.R. Akkaraju, P. Whitaker-Dowling, J.S. Youngner and R. Jagus. Vaccinia specific kinase inhibitory factor prevents translational inhibition by double-stranded RNA in rabbit reticulocyte lysate. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 10321–10325.

G.R. Akkaraju, L.J. Hansen and R. Jagus. Increase in eukaryotic initiation factor 2B activity following fertilization reflects changes in Redox potential. (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 24451–24459.

Huard, J., Akkaraju, G., Watkins, S. C., Pike-Cavalcoli, M. and Glorioso, J.C. LacZ gene transfer to skeletal muscle using a replication-defective Herpes simplex virus Type I mutant vector. (1997) Human Gene Therapy, 8, 439–452.

Akkaraju, G. R., Huard, J. Cohen, J, Goins, W. F. and Glorioso, J.C. Herpes simplex virus vector-mediated dystrophin gene transfer and expression in mdx mouse skeletal muscle (1999) J. of Gene Medicine, 1, 280–289.

Basu, A. and Akkaraju, G. R. Regulation of Caspase activation and cis-Diamminedichloroplatinum (II)-induced cell death by Protein kinase C. (1999) Biochemistry, 38, 4245–4251.

Akkaraju, G. R. and Basu, A. Overexpression of Protein kinase C-eta attenuates caspase activation and Tumor Necrosis Factor-α-induced cell death. (2000) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm., 279, 103–107.

Wang, C., Deng, L., Hong, M., Akkaraju, G. R., Inoue, J.-I. and Chen, Z. J. TAK1 is a ubiquitin-dependent kinase of MKK and IKK. (2001) Nature, 412, 346–351.

Frederickson, B., Akkaraju, G. R., Foy, E., Wang, C., Pflugheber, J., Chen, Z. J. and Gale, M. Activation of the Interferon-beta promoter during Hepatitis C virus RNA replication. (2002) Viral Immunology, 15, 29–40.

Basu, A., Lu, D., Sun, B., Moor, A. N., Akkaraju, G. R. and Huang, J. Proteolytic activation of protein kinase C-epsilon by caspase-mediated processing and transduction of anti-apoptotic signals. (2002) J. Biol. Chem., 277, 41850–41856.

Porous Silicon-Based Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering and Other Biomedical Applications. (2006) Jeffery L. Coffer, Melanie A. Whitehead, Dattatri K. Nagesha, Priyabrata Mukherjee, Giridhar Akkaraju, Mihaela Totolici, Roghieh S. Saffie, and Leigh T. Canham. Phys. Stat. Sol., (In Press)

B. Non-refereed publications
Basu, A. and Akkaraju, G. R. Compartmentalized protein kinase C activation in ovarian carcinoma cells. IN: Methods in Molecular Medicine, Ovarian Cancer, ed. Bartlett, J. Humana Press (2000).

Huard, J., Goins, W.F., Akkaraju, G.R., Krisky, D., Oligino, T., Marconi, P, Day, C.S., Glorioso, J.C. Gene transfer to muscle and spinal cord using herpes simplex virus-based vectors. Stem Cell Biol. Gene Ther. (1998) P.J. Quesenberry, G.S. Stein, B. Forget and S. Weissman (eds.), John Wiley and Sons, Inc., pp. 179–200.

MEETING ABSTRACTS
Basu, A., Akkaraju, G. R., Mohanty, S., and Sun, B. (2001) Differential sensitivity of Breast Cancer cells to Tumor necrosis factor-alpha: Involvement of Protein kinase C-epsilon. Proc. Amer. Assoc. Cancer Res., 42, 535

Akkaraju, G. R., Gale, M., Chen, Z. J. (2003) Inhibition of antiviral gene expression by Hepatitis C virus protein NS5A. Proc. Amer. Assoc. Cancer Res., 44, 1014.

Chen L., Nezafati, K. and Akkaraju, G. R. (2004) Hepatitis C virus protein NS5A blocks antiviral gene expression and apoptosis in the infected cell. 57th annual symposium on Fundamental Cancer Research, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Signal Transduction: From Pathways to networks. Oct. 12–15, Houston TX.

Chen, L., Nezafati, K. A., Kingeter, A. J., and Akkaraju, G. R. (2005) Hepatitis C virus protein NS5A inhibits etoposide-induced apoptosis in HeLa cells. International Symposium for Translation Research, Apoptosis and Cancer, Trivandrum, India.

MEMBERSHIPS HELD IN PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Active Member, American Association for Cancer Research.

Member, American Society for Virology