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Prof. Pragya Komal

Associate Professor
Department of Biological Sciences

Homeostatic synaptic plasticity, Ligand-gated ion channels (mainly nicotinic acetylcholine receptors) function in health and neurological disorders, Neuro-nanoscience, Vitamin D3 and Brain health, Vitamin D3 and nicotine addiction
Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani
Hyderabad Campus
Jawahar Nagar, Kapra Mandal
Dist.-Medchal-500 078
Telangana, India

Brief-biography: Pragya Komal

I am an experienced neurobiologist/electrophysiologist with more than a decade of experience in the field of neuroscience. I have established a track record in the areas of neurobiology, nicotine addiction, electrophysiology, and cell culture techniques. In my Ph.D. at the University of Victoria, Canada, I deciphered the functions of brain resident immune proteins mediated regulation via protein kinases on the expression and function of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the mouse cortex. During my postdoctoral research at the Hospital of Sick Children, Toronto, Canada, I successfully showed the role of NMDA receptors in the pathophysiology of Schizophrenia in mouse models. Also, I worked on the YAC128 mouse model of Huntington’s disease (HD) at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. During my Ph.D. and postdoctoral training, I mentored 5 undergraduate students, 2 master’s students, and 3 PhD students. I joined BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad campus in the year 2017. The broad area of research includes synaptic homeostasis maintenance by Vitamin D3 in health and diseased conditions. Synaptic impairment underlies a common detrimental effect observed under most neurotoxic conditions, where my research group has shown an antioxidant and neuroprotective property of nutraceutical, Vitamin D3 in a mouse model of HD. My specific research interests include ionotropic receptor modulation in mental disorders like as schizophrenia, Huntington’s disease, and nicotine addiction so that better drug therapies can be devised to help patients with their debilitating conditions.

In the last 6 years in BITS (2018-2024), I have produced 1 PhD student, mentored 2 post-doctorate students, 2 summer trainees, 5 M.E students, 15 B.E (undergraduate) students, and 1 JRF. Currently, I am supervising 2 PhD students and mentoring 1 post-doctorate research fellow in my lab in BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus.

 

We have excellent neuronal cell-culture, behaviour and electrophysiology (EPHYS) facility at BITS-Pilani Hyderabad campus, Telangana, India. Presently Sharon and Eshwari are working on different aspects of neuromodulatory effects of neutraceutical, Vitamin D3 in schizophrenia and nicotine addiction. Dr. Kishore (post-doc) is at verge of patching neurons/cells for functional analysis of ionotropic receptors using EPHYS facility at BITS.