Tapan Kumar Khan, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute
E-mail: tapan_khan@brni-jhu.org; tkhan@brni.org
Phone: 304-293-0934
FAX: 304-293-7536
Education:
Ph.D.( Biochemistry), Indian Institute of Technology, India
Postdoctoral: (Cell Biology and Medicinal Chemistry), University of North Carolina
Research Interests:
Dr. Khan’s long term research goal is to understand the complex molecular etiology which is affected by age related neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Until recently, no good biomarker or therapeutic processes were available for AD. A complete understanding of complex molecular signaling phenomena would help to develop real diagnostic as well as therapeutic methods for the disease. For the past several years, his research efforts has been directed toward developing a molecular biomarker for AD using peripheral (non-CNS) tissue that is obtained with minimally invasive procedures (i.e. without spinal tap). The recently developed method from our laboratory is an internally controlled ratio of Erk1 to Erk2 (extracellular signal regulated kinases 1 and 2) phosphorylation induced by bradykinin (a nano peptide produced in the brain as well as skin during inflammation) is measured with specific antibodies using a baseline normalization response to growth media for human skin fibroblasts or other peripheral cells such as blood cells.
In collaboration with Stanford University Chemistry department, his laboratory is engaged to develop PKC based therapeutic agents for AD. Those new synthetic molecules are analogs of bryostatin, a natural product isolated from marine bryozoan. Those synthetic analogs (picolog etc.), in parallel to bryostatin were found to reverse amyloid beta-induced abnormalities on cellular systems.
Areas of Expertise:
Biochemistry, Neuroscience
Recent Publications:
Khan*, T. K., Nelson, T. J., Vishal A. Verma, V. A., Wender, P. A., and Alkon, D. L. (2009) A cellular model for Alzheimer’s disease therapeutic efficacy: PKC activator bryostatin and a synthetic analog reverse Ab toxicity on cultured fibroblasts (2009). Neurobiology of Disease 34: 332-339.
Khan, T.K. and Alkon D. L. (2009) Early diagnostic accuracy and pathophysiologic relevance of an Autopsy-confirmed Alzheimer’s disease peripheral biomarker.
(in press Neurobiology of Aging).
Benarjee, A., Mukherjee, S., Verma, R.K., Jana, B., Khan, T.K., Chakroborty, M., Das, R., Biswas, S., Saxena, A., Singh, B., Hallen, R.K., Rajput, R.S., Tewari, P., Kumar, S., Saxena, V., Ghosh, A. K., John, J. and Gupta-Bhaya, P. (2007). Fiber optic sensing of liquid refractive index. Sensors and Actuators B: Chem. 123: 594-605
Khan, T. K. and Alkon D. An internally controlled Alzheimer’s peripheral biomarker: Erk1 and Erk2 responses to the inflammatory signal bradykinin (2006)
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103, 13203-13207.