Venkat Gopalakrishnan
Professor and Head
University of Saskatchewan
Canada
Biography
Dr. Venkat Gopalakrishnan is a Professor and Head in the Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine in the University of Saskatchewan. His Academic Credentials includes B.Sc., Chemistry, M.Sc., Ph.D., in the University of Madras, India, His research includes Cellular and Subcellular Basis for the Vascular and Cardiac Actions of Peptides (arginine vasopressin, angiotensin II, endothelin and ghrelin). Studies involve characterization of Ca2+ signal transduction events regulated by peptides using: i) functional measurement of changes in tension responses of cardiac and vascular tissues, perfused vascular bed preparations (ii) receptor binding and receptor expression studies using primary cultures of neonatal rat cardiomyocytes, minimally passaged cultured rat vascular smooth muscle (VSM) cells and endothelial cells (EC), iii) agonist(s)-evoked changes in effector systems (measurement of IP3, cAMP, cGMP, cysteinyl leukotrienes and [Ca2+]i levels and protein kinase C activity), (iv) quantification of [Ca2+]i, changes in single cardiomyocyte, VSM cells and EC using imaging technique. The major focus is to examine the role of these peptides in both normal as well as experimental models of hypertension and diabetes mellitus
Research Interest
diabetes mellitus, hypertension,receptor binding and receptor expression studies,