CADRC REC Scholar Dr. Nikhil Panicker Receives $2.1M NIH Grant to Study Brain Inflammation
CADRC REC Scholar Nikhil Panicker, PhD, has been awarded a $2,158,750 National Institutes of Health (NIH) R35 grant. Running from April 2026 through January 2031, the project investigates how immune cells spread inflammatory signals to neighboring tissue.
The Research
Cells regularly share internal components, including mitochondria (the cell's energy powerhouses), with one another. While passing healthy mitochondria can help neighboring cells survive, Dr. Panicker’s team is studying what happens when damaged mitochondria are transferred instead.
The project focuses on a protein called Gasdermin-D. When this protein tags damaged mitochondria, they are exported to surrounding cells, acting as mobile triggers that amplify and spread inflammation.
Nikhil Panicker, PhD
Why It Matters
Unchecked inflammation is a core feature of many chronic illnesses and brain disorders. Dr. Panicker will study this transfer process in general immune cells (macrophages) and brain-resident immune cells (microglia). Mapping this pathway could reveal new therapeutic targets to halt runaway inflammation in the body and the brain.
