Subhash Chand
University of Nebraska Medical Center, NE·Pharmacology
Thanks to effective antiretroviral therapy, more people are living with HIV in the United States. Many also use drugs such as methamphetamine (METH).
- Fields
Pharmacology
Microbiology & Immunology
Neuroscience
- Topics
methamphetamine
substance use disorder
cannabidiol
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Mar 2027
What they work on
- Test whether cannabidiol (CBD) reduces NLRP3 inflammasome activation, a key inflammation switch, in human monocyte-derived microglia exposed to HIV and methamphetamine, measuring gene expression from RNA and protein.
- Determine how CBD changes the cargo of extracellular vesicles, tiny packets cells release to signal each other, from treated microglia, by analyzing the cytokines they carry.
- Evaluate CBD's effect on neuroinflammation and extracellular vesicle cargo in humanized mice infected with HIV and given methamphetamine, to identify neuroinflammation genes that CBD may downregulate.
More about the research
Both HIV and METH keep the immune system activated and cause neuroinflammation, or inflammation in the brain. This raises the risk of neurocognitive disorders, problems with memory and thinking. Cannabidiol (CBD), a non-intoxicating component of cannabis, is known to reduce inflammation, but its effect on brain inflammation with HIV and METH together is unknown. This project asks whether CBD can calm that inflammation and how.
Why it matters
People living with HIV who also use methamphetamine face a higher risk of neurocognitive disorders driven by brain inflammation. By identifying the inflammation genes involved and testing whether cannabidiol lowers them, this work could inform future strategies to protect brain function and improve quality of life for this population.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Sowmya Yelamanchili
University of Nebraska Medical Center, NE·Neuroscience
Examine neuron function and damage to synapses and mitochondria caused by combined HIV infection and methamphetamine exposure in 3D cerebral organoids containing microglia, the brain's immune cells.
Taisuke Izumi
American University, DC·Microbiology & Immunology
Test in cell culture whether combining PARP inhibitors with HDAC inhibitors reverses HIV latency more effectively in microglia, using human C20 and HMC3-CD4, rat CHME-5 and mouse BV2 microglial lines plus primary monocyte-derived microglia-like cells.
Ashok Shetty
Texas A&M University-College Station, TX·Neuroscience
Test whether nasal delivery of extracellular vesicles from human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neural stem cells in early or late middle age preserves memory and cognition into old age in mice.
The school
University of Nebraska Medical Center: 20 labs on PI Pages, $657M a year on research, 82 research doctorates a year.
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