Vikas V. Dukhande

Associate Professor
Postdoctorate, Biochemistry, University of KentuckyPhD, Idaho State UniversityBS, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai University

Dr. Dukhande is an Associate Professor in Pharmacology in Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. He is an external member of the Einstein-Mount Sinai Diabetes Research Center. Dr. Dukhande is originally from Mumbai, India where he got his B.S. (Pharmacy) from ICT, Mumbai University after which he worked for a year in Unilever Research India where he screened natural actives that affected skin pigmentation. He then went on to earn his PhD from Idaho State University, under the mentorship of Dr. Jim Lai, studying cell death mechanisms. Next, he joined Dr. Matthew Gentry’s lab as a postdoc in Biochemistry Department in College of Medicine University of Kentucky, where he studied ubiquitination and phosphorylation in a neurodegenerative epilepsy- Lafora disease. 

Dr. Dukhande has received several grants and awards including NIH grants to study glioblastoma, diabetes, an AHA (American Heart Association) postdoctoral fellowship, a research presentation award and travel awards from ASPET. The unifying theme of Dukhande lab research is to elucidate molecular mechanisms of cell death. His research aims to discover intricate connections between cellular metabolism and cell death. Currently, Dukhande lab is working on research projects to find treatments for cancers such as glioblastoma and pancreatic cancer. Another area of interest is to study molecular mechanisms of insulin resistance involved in metabolic disorders such as diabetes. He is interested in deciphering the roles of protein post-translational modifications in governing these cellular processes. His lab uses pharmacology, biochemistry, and molecular biology techniques to approach research objectives.

Dr. Dukhande also teaches Pharmacology and Physiology to Pharm.D. students. He teaches Cell Signaling and coordinates Pharmacology journal club. Dr. Dukhande has mentored several graduate, undergraduate, and high school students in research. Our work is supported by a research grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

Teaching Interests

Anatomy and Physiology, Pharmacology, Drugs and Infectious Diseases, Active learning

Research Interests

Metabolic disorders (Diabetes, Lafora disease), Cell death, Protein posttranslational modifications, Cancer Pharmacology

Courses Taught

PHR 4105 DRUGS & INFECTIOUS DISEASES

PHS 259 CELL SIGNALS AND SYSTEMS

PHS 3504 APPL HUMAN ANATOMY &PHYSIOLOGY

PHS 3509 INTRODUCTION TO PHARMACOLOGY

Select Publications

Journal Articles

Barot, S., Stephenson , O., Vemana , hp., Yadav , A., Bhutkar , S., Trombetta , L., & Dukhande VV. (2022) Metabolic Alterations and Mitochondrial Dysfunction Underlie Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cell Death Induced by a Glycogen Metabolic Inhibitor. Biochem Pharmacology. 2022 Aug 1;115201. doi: 10.1016/j.bcp.2022.115201. Online ahead of print.

Vemana HP, Saraswat A, Bhutkar S, Patel K, Dukhande VV. A novel gene therapy for neurodegenerative Lafora disease via EPM2A-loaded DLinDMA lipoplexes. Nanomedicine (Lond). 2021 Jun;16(13):1081-1095. doi: 10.2217/nnm-2020-0477.

Barot, S., Abo-Ali, E. M., Zhou, D. L., Palaguachi, C., & Dukhande, V. V. (2019). Inhibition of glycogen catabolism induces intrinsic apoptosis and augments multikinase inhibitors in hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Experimental Cell Research, 381(2), 288–300.

Raththagala, M., Brewer, M. K., Parker, M. W., Sherwood, A. R., Wong, B. K., Hsu, S., Bridges, T. M., Paasch, B. C., Hellman, L. M., Husodo, S., Meekins, D. A., Taylor, A. O., Turner, B. D., Auger, K. D., Dukhande, V. V., Chakravarthy, S., Sanz, P., Woods, Jr, V. L., Li , S., Vander Kooi, C. W., and Gentry, M. S. (2015). Structural mechanism of laforin function in glycogen dephosphorylation and lafora disease.. Molecular cell. vol. 57, pp. 261-72.

Jang, E. R., Shi, P., Bryant, J., Chen, J., Dukhande, V. V., Gentry, M. S., Jang, H., Jeoung, M., and Galperin, E. (2014). HUWE1 is a molecular link controlling RAF-1 activity supported by the Shoc2 scaffold.. Molecular and cellular biology. vol. 34, pp. 3579-93.

Dukhande, V. V., Kawikova, I., Bothwell, A. L., and Lai, J. C. (2013). Neuroprotection against neuroblastoma cell death induced by depletion of mitochondrial glutathione.. Apoptosis : an international journal on programmed cell death. vol. 18, pp. 702-12.

Dukhande, V. V., Sharma, G. C., Lai, J. C., and Farahani, R. (2011). Chronic hypoxia-induced alterations of key enzymes of glucose oxidative metabolism in developing mouse liver are mTOR dependent.. Molecular and cellular biochemistry. vol. 357, pp. 189-97.

Romá-Mateo, C., Solaz-Fuster Mdel, C., Gimeno-Alcañiz, J. V., Dukhande, V. V., Donderis, J., Worby, C. A., Marina, A., Criado, O., Koller, A., De Rodriguez Cordoba, S., Gentry, M. S., and Sanz, P. (2011). Laforin, a dual-specificity phosphatase involved in Lafora disease, is phosphorylated at Ser25 by AMP-activated protein kinase.. The Biochemical journal. vol. 439, pp. 265-75.

Dukhande, V. V., Rogers, D. M., Romá-Mateo, C., Donderis, J., Marina, A., Taylor, A. O., Sanz, P., and Gentry, M. S. (2011). Laforin, a dual specificity phosphatase involved in Lafora disease, is present mainly as monomeric form with full phosphatase activity.. PloS one. vol. 6, pp. e24040.

Isaac, A. O., Dukhande, V. V., and Lai, J. C. (2007). Metabolic and antioxidant system alterations in an astrocytoma cell line challenged with mitochondrial DNA deletion.. Neurochemical research. vol. 32, pp. 1906-18.

Dukhande, V. V., Malthankar-Phatak, G. H., Hugus, J. J., Daniels, C. K., and Lai, J. C. (2006). Manganese-induced neurotoxicity is differentially enhanced by glutathione depletion in astrocytoma and neuroblastoma cells.. Neurochemical research. vol. 31, pp. 1349-57.