Annangi Balasubramanyam

SERENADE Research Chair - Assistant Prof. Sep 2015 -

Institut Mondor de Recherche BiomédicaleInserm U955, INSERM (French Institute of Health and Medical Research)

Research Activities:

I am involved in understanding the cerium oxide nanoparticles induced lung fibrosis in mice and its underlying mechanisms. In particular, implications of autophagy pathway in cerium oxide nanoparticles induced lung fibrosis in mice are studied in detail. For this, conditional knockout mice with mutations in the autophagy gene Atg5 in the myeloid lineage (Atg5fl/fl LysM-Cre+ mice, (atg5-/-) and their wild type (WT) are used. To assess the fibrotic response in exposed mice lungs, wide variety of biological, histological, and molecular techniques are applied. The data obtained had been presented in national (France) and international conferences as selected oral communications. Manuscript in preparation.

Teaching Activities:

At present as an Assistant Professor, I am involved in teaching of Masters in Advanced Biosciences with class size 25 students at L'Institut Supérieur des BioSciences de Paris (ISBS-Paris) of UPEC. I deal with basic as well as advanced subjects of Nanotoxicology: Basic concepts of Nanotechnology and Nanotoxicology, Importance of characterization of NPs in Nanosafety, Characterization tools, Genotoxicity of NPs, Cellular assays for Nanotoxicology, Mechanisms involved in NPs toxicity, In vivo biology for Nanotoxicology. Core subject: Respiratory Nanotoxicology. As a part of teaching activity as SERENDE research chair (Assistant Professor), the applicant contributed for BioHealth Computing: Safer Nano Design intensive one-week summer school program aimed at Master and PhD students as well as early career scientists and engineers seeking a wide-ranging overview of Nanosafety held at Archamps Technopole (France). The applicant taught advanced subject In vivo Nanotoxicology: ADME, Alternative methods for animal free risk assessment, PBTK and QSAR modelling of NPs at Safer Nano Design 2016 held from 13th to 18th June 2016 at ESI, Archamps Technopole (France). Class size 15 to 20 students.

Postdoctoral Fellow Dec 2012 - Dec 2014

Genetics and Microbiology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

During postdoctoral work at UAB Barcelona, the focus was on cobalt and zinc oxide nanoparticles induced oxidative DNA damage and its relevance in in vitro carcinogenesis. The data revealed CoNPs were carcinogenic at environmentally relevant doses (B. Annangi et al. Nanotoxicology, 2015) whereas ZnONPs were not carcinogenic at similar conditions (B. Annangi et al. Archives of toxicology, 2016).

Senior Research Biologist Jul 2011 - Nov 2012

Daiichi Sankyo Research Center in India

I was associated with new drug discovery program at Daiichi Sankyo Life Sciences Research Center in India (DSIN) from July 2011 to November 2012. My research activities included development of toxicity assays using high content image analysis (Cellomics Toxinsight from Invitrogen) and BD FACS based approaches. During my tenure with DSIN, I have developed, validated and prepared guideline for in vitro micronuclues assay on Toxinsight. As  a part of safety pharmacology, a number of new chemical entities (NCEs) were screened for their safety at genetic level during my work at DSIN. My efforts have been appreciated by the Daiichi Sankyo Group, Japan.

Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, India. 2006 - 2010

Field of study: Nanotoxicology,
Degree: PhD in Genetics

I have worked on the topic “Genotoxicity investigations of Aluminium oxide nanomaterials of 30 nm and 40 nm” as my PhD title. The study on genotoxicity of Al2O3 30 nm and Al2O3 40 nm showed the potential relationship between the genotoxic effects of Al2O3 NPs and size, dose and time factors. The characterization of Al2O3 30 nm and Al2O3 40 nm using showed spherical morphologies and mean size distribution <100 nm that correlated with the manufacturer specified sizes 30 nm and 40 nm. However, Al2O3 30 nm and Al2O3 40 nm average diameter in solutions revealed agglomeration. This could be possibly due to physico-chemical interactions between the NPs. The acute genotoxicity study revealed a significant increase in the mean micronuclues (MN) in rats’ bone marrow, peripheral blood and liver cells treated with different doses of Al2O3 30 nm and Al2O3 40 nm indicating size and dose dependent genotoxicity at their respective time intervals in comparison to the Al2O3 bulk and control. Similarly, the total chromosomal aberrations (CA) including and excluding gaps in rats’ bone marrow cells at 18 and 24 h elucidated size and dose dependent genotoxicity. Furthermore, the comet assay data in rats’ peripheral blood, spleen and liver cells at respective sampling times showed size, dose and time dependent DNA damages compared with the Al2O3 bulk and control. With the increase in time of exposure, the DNA damage as % tail DNA in all the tissues were significantly reduced probably due to the action of DNA repair system. Al2O3 30 nm and Al2O3 40 nm significantly accumulated in various rats’ tissues, urine compared to the Al2O3 bulk and control may be due to their nanoscale-size after 14 days of acute dose. Taken together, the present findings suggested that Al2O3 NPs were able to cause genotoxic effects in vivo. Based on this study it could be hypothesized that the size and dose of the Al2O3 NPs may be the cause of the significant genotoxicity. Regardless, the Al2O3 NPs were devoid of mutagenicity evaluated against various S. typhimurium strains. Therefore, considering the ever increasing commercial applications of Al2O3 NPs coupled with the scarcity of knowledge on genotoxicity and mutagenicity of Al2O3 NPs, the data reported would be useful in furthering the investigations for safer and proper utilization of NPs (My PhD work has been published in peer-reviewed journals like Mutagenesis, Mutation research, and Toxicology in vitro).