Profile
Dr. Vemula is Head of Research, and an Associate Professor at iBRIC-inStem. He has obtained PhD from IISc, Bangalore and postdoctoral training from City University of New York and Harvard Medical School, USA. His expertise is developing chemical technologies for medical applications. His work spans the fields of biomaterials, drug discovery, drug delivery, medical devices, and chemical biology. He has published >90 peer-reviewed papers, has given >200 national and international invited lectures including three TEDx talks, and has >30 issued or pending national/international patents, which have been licensed to multiple biotech companies. Several technologies developed in his lab have formed the foundation for multiple products on the market, and currently under development. His technologies have led to the launch of 7 startup companies. Thus far, >25 products that are developed based on his technologies are in the market worldwide.
Current Focus Areas
My lab is developing small-molecular potential drugs for the treatment of epithelial and endothelial barrier dysfunction-associated diseases such as IBD, alcohol liver disease, and sepsis.
My lab is developing specifically designed polymers based nanofibrous sheets as novel blood bags to enhance the quality and shelf-life of stored blood.
My lab is developing prophylactic technologies, such as dermal hydrogel and anti-pesticide fabric to protect farmers from pesticide-induced toxicity.
My lab is developing inflammation-targeting drug delivery systems to prevent non-specific toxicity in treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases.
My lab is developing small-molecular drugs to activate stem cells to regenerate gut.
Selected Publications
Pandey S, Mahato M, Srinath P, Bhutani U, Goap TJ, Ravipati P, Vemula PK.* (2022) "Intermittent scavenging of storage lesion from stored red blood cells by electrospun nanofibrous sheets enhances their quality and shelf-life" Nature Communications 13, 7394.
Singh R, Chandrashekharappa S, Bodduluri SR, Baby BV, Hegde B, Kotla NG, Hiwale AA, Saiyed T, Patel P, Vijay-Kumar M, Langille MGI, Douglas GM, Cheng X, Rouchka EC, Waigel SJ, Dryden GW, Alatassi H, Zhang H-G, Haribabu B, Vemula PK,* Jala VR.* (2019) “Enhancement of the gut barrier integrity by a microbial metabolite through the Nrf2 pathway” Nature Communications 10, 89.
Jain A, Dhiman S, Dhayani A, Vemula PK,* George S.* (2019)“Chemical fuel-driven living and transient supramolecular polymerization” Nature Communications 10, 450.
Thorat K, Pandey S, Chandrashekharappa S, Vavilthota N, Hiwale AA, Shah P, Sreekumar S, Upadhyay S, Phuntsok T, Mahato M, Mudnakudu-Nagaraju KK, Sunnapu O, Vemula PK.* (2018) “Prevention of pesticide-induced neuronal dysfunction and mortality with nucleophilic poly-Oxime topical gel” Science Advances 4, eaau1780.
Haroon MM, Lakshmanan V, Sarkar SR, Lei K, Vemula PK*, Palakodeti D.* (2021) "Mitochondrial state determines functionally divergent stem cell population in planaria" Stem Cell Reports 16, 1302-1316.