Bindu Diana Paul, MS, PhD

Primary Academic Title

Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences

Recent News Articles and Media Coverage

• Fatigue Is So Much More Than Being Tired, The Atlantic (July 27, 2023)

  How covid brain fog may overlap with ‘chemo brain’ and Alzheimer’s, The Washington Post (March 27, 2022)

  COVID-19 NEWS: For Many, Long COVID Looks a Lot Like Chronic Fatigue, Hopkins Medicine (August 25, 2021)

  Rotten Egg Gas Could Guard Against Alzheimer’s Disease, Hopkins Medicine (January 12, 2021)

  Broccoli Sprout Compound May Restore Brain Chemistry Imbalance Linked to Schizophrenia, Hopkins Medicine (May 08, 2019)

  A New Signaling Pathway Involving the Golgi Apparatus Identified in Cells With Huntington’s Disease, Hopkins Medicine (March 07, 2018)

  New Evidence: How Amino Acid CysteineCombats Huntington’s Disease, Hopkins Medicine (July 26, 2016)

  Brain Degeneration In Huntington’s Disease Caused By Amino Acid Deficiency, Hopkins Medicine (March 26,2014)

Additional Academic Titles

Associate Professor of Neuroscience, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Research Summary

Redox signaling in Aging and Neurodegeneration

Redox regulation plays a central role in signal transduction processes operating in the brain. Aberrant redox signaling is a hallmark of several neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and various Ataxias. It is becoming increasingly clear that redox imbalance contributes to disease progression and pathophysiology of these diseases. My laboratory studies the molecular mechanisms underlying redox homeostasis in the brain with a focus on signaling mediated by gaseous messenger molecules such as hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and nitric oxide (NO). H2S and NO signal via post-translational modifications, on reactive cysteine residues, termed persulfidation/sulfhydration and nitrosylation respectively. We also study signaling mediated by redox active small molecules (bilirubin, cysteine, cysteamine, NAD+ and glutathione) and associated enzymes. Most recently we have been studying redox signaling in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and COVID-19. Using cell culture, mouse models and patient samples, we have shown that modulating sulfhydration and nitrosylation networks have therapeutic benefits. These studies have yielded important clues that may be harnessed to develop novel therapeutics that delay, halt, reverse or better still, prevent neurodegeneration.

Honors

• Catalyst Award, Johns Hopkins University, 5/4/22
• Herbert Tabor Young Investigator Award, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 6/1/15
• Poster Award, CHDI Foundation, 2/27/14
• Travel Award, Gordon Research Conference on Oxygen Radicals, 2/3/08
• Travel Award, FASEB Conference on Steroid Hormone Receptors: Integration of Plasma Membrane- and Nuclear-Initiated Signaling in Hormone Action, 7/31/04
• Travel Award, Gordon Research Conference on Mechanisms of Hormone Action, 7/28/02
• Fogarty International Visiting Fellowship, National Institutes of Health, 7/11/01
• Prof. E.R.B. Shanmughasundaram Endowment Award, Madurai Kamaraj University, 7/1/93
• Thiru K. Ayyamperumal Endowment Award, Madurai Kamaraj University, 7/1/93
• Prof. S. Krishnaswamy Endowment Prize, Madurai Kamaraj University, 7/1/93
• Sponsored Fellowship, DBT (Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India), 8/1/91
• Balaji Merit Gold Medal, Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi, 8/1/91

Graduate Program Affiliations

• Pharmacology

  BCMB

  Neuroscience

  Chemistry-Biology Interface (CBI)

Memberships

• Society for Neuroscience
• American Society for Cell Biology
• American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics