News
Nirujan Rameshkumar Awarded the “2025 PHAFA Award”
Nirujan Rameshkumar was awarded the 2025 PHAFA award to present his research on AMPK at the Society for Neuroscience Conference.
Jo’s Accepted into Medical School!
Johane Boff (Jo), a member of Dr. Thirumalini Vaithianathan's lab, was recently accepted into medical school. She will be a part of the class of 2029 starting this fall.
Sivatharshan Sivakumar Awarded the “Rising Star Award” at UTHSC’s Pharmacology Journal Club
Sivatharshan Sivakumar, a member of Dr. Thirumalini Vaithianathan's lab, was awarded the “Rising Star Award” for his outstanding performance and participation at UTHSC’s Fall 2024 Pharmacology Journal Club.
Dr. Thirumalini Vaithianathan is Promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure at UTHSC
On July 10th, 2024, Dr. Thirumalini Vaithianathan was effectively promoted to Associate Professor with tenure at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
UTHSC LSP Student, Saivikram Madireddy, Wins Second Place for Presentation at the Conference in Neuroscience
Saivikram Madireddy and mentor Thirumalini Vaithianathan won second place at the Conference in Neuroscience held by the Department of Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology at the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany, following their presentation titled “Hyperglycemia and Retinal Synaptic Development in a Zebrafish Model."
Nirujan Rameshkumar Awarded the “2024 PHAFA Award”
Nirujan Rameshkumar, a member of Dr. Thirumalini Vaithianathan's lab, was awarded the 2024 PHAFA award to present his research “AMPK in Retinal Rod Bipolar Cell Synaptic Transmission” at the Retinal Neurobiology and Visual Processing Conference.
Johane Boff Awarded the “Outstanding Presenter Award” at UTHSC’s Pharmacology Journal Club
Johane Boff, a member of Dr. Thirumalini Vaithianathan's lab, presented about the conformational changes of Syntaxin-3b in the regulation of SNARE complex assembly at UTHSC’s Pharmacology Journal Club. Her presentation, titled “Conformational change of Syntaxin-3b in regulating SNARE complex assembly in the ribbon synapses,” was awarded the “Outstanding Presenter Award.”
Johane Boff Awarded “Best Selected Talk” at the Junior European Calcium Society Conference
Johane Boff, a member of Dr. Thirumalini Vaithianathan's lab, recently presented her lab’s research at the Junior European Calcium Society Conference. Her presentation on “The Effects of Aging on Rod Bipolar Cell Ribbon Synapses” was awarded the prize of “Best Selected Talk.”
Johane Boff Presented on “Zebrafish as a Model for Studying Retinopathies” at the Zebrafish Disease Model Society Conference
Johane Boff, a member of Dr. Thirumalini Vaithianathan's lab, recently presented her lab’s research at the Zebrafish Disease Model Conference in Durham, North Carolina. Her presentation focused on using zebrafish as a disease model to study retinopathies. Johane discussed her lab's findings on how embryonic hyperglycemia impacts the development of retinal synapses and explored the effects of aging on rod bipolar cell ribbon synapses.
Vaithianathan Awarded Supplemental Grant on Targeting Retinal Ribbon Synapse in Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer’s-Focused Administrative Supplements: Our overall objective is to establish a novel and robust model for AD in adult zebrafish treated with okadaic acid (OKA) that exhibits the holistic representation of important AD hallmarks and replicates the memory deficiencies to determine whether defects in synaptic vesicle mobility, synaptic mitochondrial dynamics, and local calcium homeostasis are a prelude to future development of Alzheimer’s disease.
Thirumalini Vaithianathan, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Addiction Science, and Toxicology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, has spent a decade studying molecular signaling involved in vision. She has just received $1.9 million from the National Eye Institute for her project titled, “Dynamics of calcium signals control neurotransmitter release in retinal ribbon Synapses”. Read more.
UTHSC’s Vaithianathan Receives $1.9 Million Grant for Retinal Research - UTHSC News