Dr Shanker Karunanithi

Globally, half a million people die of heat-related complications every year. Dr Karunanithi and his team are developing medications to make the body heat tolerant and prevent such deaths and illnesses when the body gets hot. In a decade from now, heat-related deaths are predicted to rise above 200%. The medications his team are developing aim to reduce that percentage.

Publications (past 5 years)

• Karunanithi, S, Lin, YQ, Odierna, L, Mena-Gonzalez, J, Menon, H, Neely, GG, Noakes, PG & Lavidis, NA,
  Moorhouse, AJ & van Swinderen, B (2020b). Activity-dependent global downscaling of evoked neurotransmitter
  release across glutamatergic inputs in Drosophila. The Journal of Neuroscience 40(42): 8025-41. 
• Karunanithi, S, Cylinder, D, Ertekin, D, Zalucki, OH, Marin, L, Lavidis, NA, Atwood, HL & van Swinderen, B.
  (2020a). Proportional downscaling of glutamatergic release sites by the general anesthetic propofol at Drosophila
  motor nerve terminals. eNeuro 7(1): 1-14.
• Troup, M, Zalucki, OH, Kottler, BD, Karunanithi, S, Anggono, V, & van Swinderen, B (2019). Syntaxin1A
  neomorphic mutations promote rapid recovery from isoflurane anesthesia in Drosophila melanogaster.
  Anesthesiology 131(3): 555-568.
• Karunanithi, S, Troup, M, & van Swinderen, B (2018). Using Drosophila to understand general anesthesia: from
  synapses to behavior. Methods in Enzymology 602: 153-176.
• Bademosi, AT, Steeves, J, Karunanithi, S, Zalucki, OH, Gormal, RS, Lauwers, E, Verstreken, P, Anggono, V,
  Meunier, FA, & van Swinderen, B (2018). Trapping of syntaxin1A in presynaptic nanoclusters by a clinically relevant
  general anesthetic. Cell Reports 22(2):427-440.