Sabarirajan Jayaraja

Sabarirajan Jayaraja

Sabarirajan Jayaraja, Post-doctoral Research Associate

Advisor: Dr. Jay Reddy

Office: VBS 205
Phone: 402-472-2851
Email: sjayaraja2@unl.edu

Sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase 2a role in autoimmune diseases Sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase 2a (SERCA2a), a critical regulator of calcium homeostasis, is known to be decreased in heart failure (HF). Patients with myocarditis or dilated cardiomyopathy develop autoantibodies to SERCA2a suggesting that they may have pathogenetic significance. Any alterations in the SERCA2a function can disturb contractibility of the heart leading to HF. In viral myocarditis model, recently we have shown that the identification of multiple immunodominant epitopes of SERCA2a in A/J mice and one of these epitopes, SERCA2a 971–990, induces mainly atrial inflammation by potentially acting as a common epitope to both T cells and B cells. Altered expression of SERCA2a has been reported in major heart diseases including ischemic heart disease, cardiomyopathies and congestive HF, in which downregulated expression of SERCA2a can result in both systolic and diastolic heart dysfunctions. Conversely, overexpression of SERCA2a can improve the contractile function of failing hearts and also diminish cardiac fibrosis in congestive HF by altering TGF-b signaling. My current focus is to develop SERCA2a transgenic mice and implicate the role of SERCA2a in autoimmune diseases.

Biochemistry

Immunology

Cell and Molecular Biology

Innate Immune Response

Infectious Disease model

Autoimmune disease

Lipid Biochemistry

Ph.D in Biochemistry, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India

M.Sc in Biochemistry, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India

B.Sc in Chemistry, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India

Mar 2019 – Present:
Postdoctoral research associate in the School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE

Jan 2016 – Feb 2019:
Lecturer in St. Xavier College of Nursing, Sakkottai, Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, India

Mar 2012 – Oct 2015:
Postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pediatrics, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO

Sabarirajan J, Dakhama A, Yun B, Ghosh M, Lee H, Redente EF, Uhlson CL, Murphy RC, Leslie CC (2016). Cytosolic phospholipase A2 contributes to innate immune defense against Candida albicans lung infection. BMC Immunol. 17(1):27. PMID: 27501951.

Yun B, Lee HJ, Sabarirajan J, Suram S, Murphy RC and Leslie CC (2016). Prostaglandins from cytosolic phospholipase A2α/cyclooxygenase-1 pathway and mitogen-activated protein kinases regulate gene expression in Candida albicans-infected macrophages. J Biol Chem. 291(13):7070-86. PMID: 26841868.

Sabarirajan J, Vijayaraj P, Sarkar M, Nachiappan V (2013). Effect of lipopolysaccharide on alteration of phospholipids and their fatty acid composition in spleen and thymus by in vitro metabolic labeling. J Appl Toxicol. 33(6): 418-25. PMID: 22081452.

Sabarirajan J, Vijayaraj P, Nachiappan V (2010). Induction of acute respiratory distress syndrome in rats by lipopolysaccharide and its effect on oxidative stress and antioxidant status in lung. Indian J Biochem Biophys. 47(5):278-84. PMID: 21280564.

Vijayaraj P, Sabarirajan J, Nachiappan V (2011). Enhanced phospholipase B activity and alteration of phospholipids and neutral lipids in Saccharomyces cerevisiae exposed to N-nitrosonornicotine. Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek. 99(3):567-77. PMID: 21046464.

Vijayaraj P, Sabarirajan J, Nachiappan V (2011). Impaired phospholipid metabolism in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by increased phospholipase B activity induced by 4-(methyl nitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone. Toxicol Environ Chem. 93(4):700-714.

Vijayaraj PS, Muthukumar K, Sabarirajan J, Nachiappan V (2011). Evaluation of antihyperlipidemic activity of ethanolic extract of Cassia auriculata flowers. Indian J Biochem Biophys. 48(1); 54-58. PMID: 21469603.

Vijayaraj P, Muthukumar K, Sabarirajan J, Nachiappan V (2013). Antihyperlidemia activity of Cassia auriculata flowers in triton WR 1339 induced hyperlipidemia rats. Exp Toxicol Pathol. 65(1-2):135-41. PMID: 21852078

2011 —  Senior Research Fellow (SRF), Council of Science and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, India.

2011   Best Oral Presentation in an “International conference on Medical Genetics and Genomics”, Department of Biomedical Science, Bharathidasan University, India.

2006   University Research Fellow (URF), Department of Biochemistry, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India.