Archana Unnikrishnan, PhD
- Position: Chickasaw Nations Endowed Scholar, Asst. Professor, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Biography
Assistant Professor in the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Dr. Unnikrishnan received her doctorate in Nutrition and Food Science from Wayne State University and pursued aging research training with Dr. Arlan Richardson at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Unnikrishnan’s research focuses on various aspects of Aging, (1) the effect of dietary restriction on aging and insulin sensitivity, (2) the effect of dietary restriction on DNA methylation, and (3) the role played by DNA methylation in dietary restriction mediated metabolic/cellular memory.
Her preliminary work shows that DR improves glucose tolerance and insulin tolerance within days of starting the restriction reaching significance by 10 days and has a metabolic memory i.e., the effect of DR on insulin sensitivity and glucoregulation persists even when DR is discontinued. To understand the mechanism behind the metabolic memory she is studying DNA methylation and is currently using a novel technology to measure the genome-wide patterns of 5mCG and 5hmCG in specific sequences of mice fed ad libitum or a DR diet. As a proof of concept data from the methylation work shows that DR alters DNA methylation status of the cis-acting region of the promoter of Nts1 gene which persists even when DR is discontinued. This ongoing study is the first study to determine the role played by DNA methylation in the DR mediated cellular/metabolic memory.
Her research also focuses on characterizing the effect of short-term and life-long DR on DNA methylation in intestinal stem cells and delineate the functional outcome of these methylation changes with respect to intestinal stem cell regeneration, integrity, enteroendocrine functions and insulin sensitivity using organoids. She also aims to determine if DNA methylation plays a role in the DR mediated changes in the expression of genes involved in insulin sensitivity. This research holds promise to understand how modifying early genes sensitive to nutrition can pattern metabolism for a lifetime.
Archana-Unnikrishnan@ouhsc.edu
Additional Websites
- Graduate School
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PhD
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI -
Post-doctoral Training
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Oklahoma City, OK
- Effects of early-life interventions on Aging.
- Effect of Short-term Dietary Restriction on various physiological process such as insulin sensitivity and intestinal stem cell function.
- Effect of short-term Dietary Restriction on Epigenetics (DNA methylation).