天美传媒

I have almost 40 years of experience in the field of alcoholism research, with much of my work focusing on the molecular sites and mechanisms of alcohol action in brain. My group has extensive experience with mouse behavioral models of alcohol consumption and dependence and was involved in some of the initial studies of the neuroimmune basis of alcohol dependence. Profiling brain gene expression is key to understanding addiction, and we were among the first to study the human brain transcriptome. We have implemented microRNA profiling and next-generation sequencing to extend our studies of molecular remodeling by alcohol in human and mouse brain. We study the genetic overlap in human alcoholics and animal models of alcohol dependence and examine the neurobiological systems involved. My research encompasses the fields of genomics, behavior, systems biology, and bioinformatics. Overall, my work has combined functional, structural, behavioral, and genomic approaches to define sites of alcohol action. Currently, I am Associate Director of the Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research at The University of Texas at Austin and previously served as Director for 20 years. I am also the Consortium Director for the Integrative Neuroscience Initiative on Alcoholism (INIA)-Neuroimmune, where our goal is to identify and test candidate drugs that may be repurposed to treat alcohol use disorders. 

Auinash (Nash) Kalsotra is a professor and Willam C. Rose Scholar of Biochemistry in the School of Molecular & Cellular Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He also is an adjunct professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cancer Center@Illinois, and Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. 
Kalsotra is a Chan Zuckerburg Biohub Chicago investigator, a Beckman Institute fellow, and an associate editor of the WIREs RNA journal (Wiley).
He received his undergraduate degree in pharmacy from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India (1999). While earning his PhD at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, he was a Harry S. and Isabel Cameron doctoral fellow and studied the role of cytochromes P450 in the progression and resolution of inflammation. During his postdoctoral work as a Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation fellow and an American Heart Association young investigator at Baylor College of Medicine, he began his studies on post-transcriptional gene regulation and RNA biology in human health and disease. Kalsotra started his independent research group in 2013.
He teaches MCB 354: The Biochemical and Physical Basis of Life, a course with large enrolments of over more than 400 students each academic yera. As a junior faculty mentor and advisor, he provides guidance and support to pre-tenured faculty in the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology.
As an active member of the RNA Society, Kalsotra has organized/chaired scientific sessions at various national and international meetings. He also serves as an expert reviewer for several funding agencies and journals. Additionally, as a steering committee member of the Rustbelt RNA community, he is involved in guiding RNA research in the Midwest, promoting long-term efforts to ensure the viability of the annual RRM conference, and fostering the professional development of students from smaller universities and predominantly undergraduate institutions.
Research interests
Kalsotra’s research interests are to uncover the biological function(s) of RNA in tissue development, regeneration, and disease. He is particularly interested in understanding:

how various RNA processing mechanisms integrate with transcriptional, translational, and metabolic programs to ensure normal tissue growth and function,
why misregulation of these mechanisms results in disease, and
whether they can be leveraged to prevent or reverse particular human disorders.

Recent work from the Kalsotra laboratory has resulted in many high-profile publications, e.g., Genes & Dev., J. Exp. Med, Genome Res., Dev. Cell, J. Clin. Invest., PNAS, Nature Struct. Mol. Biol., eLife, and Nature Commun. He has also published invited articles, including perspectives and opinions in Nature Reviews, Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev., Semin. Cell Dev. Biol. Kalsotra is regularly invited to present his research findings at major conferences, universities, and research centers. His research activities have been funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Chan Zuckerburg Initiative, March of Dimes, and American Heart Association.
 
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