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Raghava Potula, PhD

Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Associate Professor, Center for Substance Abuse Research

Raghava Potula
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Contact Information

Contact Information

Phone

215-707-2368
About Me

Clinical Interests

  • Clinical microbiology and infectious disease
  • Developing and evaluating molecular biomarkers and diagnostic tests for infectious agents

Research Interests

Understanding the ability of drugs of abuse to impair many aspects of the immune system has become more urgent as it has aroused serious global problems of considerable concern to health. Illicit drugs such as methamphetamine, a highly addictive psychostimulant, alter immune function and increase host susceptibility to infections. Considering the high prevalence and incidence of methamphetamine abuse and its association with HIV-1 infection, understanding the causal mechanisms of how methamphetamine modulates immune function are timely and of paramount importance. Current research is underway to determine how methamphetamine disarms the adaptive immune system, rendering the host more susceptible to HIV-1 infection. Employing a combination of in vitro systems and a well-defined animal model to study the combined effects of HIV-1 and methamphetamine, we are investigating the implications of methamphetamine exposure on T cell functions, underlying mechanism of impaired T cell function and how subsequent T cell dysfunction affects the immune system responses to HIV-1 infection in and outside of CNS. Identification of such underlying mechanisms will highlight new therapeutic and prophylactic methods to improve the immunity in the setting of drug abuse.

Education, Training & Credentials

Educational Background

  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, 2006
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, Department of Microbiology, Molecular Genetics and Immunology, Kansas University Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, 2004
  • PhD, Microbiology, Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Pondicherry, India, 2001
  • Hospital Administration, CSM Institute of Graduate Studies, Pune, India, 2000
  • Medical Microbiology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, India, 1995

Memberships

  • American Society for Microbiology
  • American Association of Advancement of Science
  • International Society of Neurovirology
  • Society on NeuroImmune Pharmacology
  • Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists
Publications

Digital Bibliography

View PubMed Publications