Affiliations
Postdoctoral Fellow, Monell Chemical Senses Center
Education
B.Tech., Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology (India)
Ph.D., Nutrition and Metabolism, University of Calgary (Canada)
Laboratory Of
Dr. Guillaume de Lartigue
Research Summary
Metabolic disorders are increasing among global populations and are believed to be a consequence of affordable unhealthy food choices. My research focuses on investigating how long-term consumption of palatable high-fat, high-sugar foods cause changes in the architecture and function of gut-brain circuitry to promote metabolic disorders including obesity. By utilizing a combination of neural activity and circuit mapping with state-of-the-art gut and brain manipulation approaches, my research aims to unravel how neural networks that receive inputs from the gut about different foods are dysregulated in metabolic disease states. I am confident that determining how what we eat affects our body sensory functions and knowing the targets that are commonly disrupted in metabolic conditions such as obesity, diabetes and heart diseases is the way towards developing more effective treatments.
Keywords
energy balance, nutrition, obesity, metabolism, gut-brain axis, gut microbiome, feeding behavior, neurophysiology
Representative Publications
Avirineni BS*, Singh A*, Zapata RC, Stevens RD, Phillips CD, and Chelikani PK. (2022). Diets Containing Egg or Whey Protein and Inulin Fiber Improve Energy Balance and Modulate Gut Microbiota in Exercising Obese Rats. Molecular Nutrition and Food Research. doi.org/10.1002/mnfr.202100653 (*Equal contribution)
Brierley DI, Holt MK, Singh A, de Araujo A, Vergara M, Afaghani MH, Lee SJ, Scott K, Langhans W, Krause E, de Kloet A, Gribble FM, Reimann F, Rinaman L, de Lartigue G, Trapp S. (2021). Central and peripheral GLP-1 systems independently and additively suppress eating. Nature Metabolism doi.org/10.1038/s42255-021-00344-4
Singh A, Zapata RC, Pezeshki A, Knight CG, Tuor UI, Chelikani PK. (2020). Whey protein and its components lactalbumin and lactoferrin affect energy balance and protect against stroke onset and renal damage in salt-loaded and high-fat fed male spontaneously hypertensive stroke-prone rats. Journal of Nutrition. doi.org/10.1093/jn/nxz312
Singh A, Zapata RC, Pezeshki A, Workentine M, Chelikani PK. (2019). Host genetics and diet composition interact to modulate gut microbiota and predisposition to metabolic syndrome in spontaneously hypertensive stroke-prone rats. FASEB Journal. doi.org/10.1096/fj.201801627RRR.
Singh A, Zapata RC, Pezeshki A, Reidelberger R, Chelikani PK. (2018). Inulin fiber dos-dependently modulates energy balance, gut microbiota, glucose tolerance and diet preference in male high-fat fed rats. Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. doi.org/10.1016/j.jnutbio.2018.05.017.
