Dr. Rama Gullapalli of the UNM School of Medicine

About the Speaker

Rama Gullapalli, MD, PhD is an associate professor and a physician-scientist in the departments of Pathology, Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of New Mexico (UNM).

The Gullapalli research lab is focused on understanding the role of environmental pollutants (e.g., cadmium, microplastics, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) as risk factors for hepatobiliary diseases with a focus on metabolic diseases of the liver.

On the clinical side, Dr. Gullapalli is interested in the convergence of emerging technologies with traditional pathology clinical practice, with a focus on next generation sequencing, digital pathology, clinical informatics and personalized medicine.

Abstract

The global burden of metabolic disease has reached epidemic proportions. In the United States (USA), nearly 40% of adults are pre-diabetic emphasizing the growing healthcare burdens of metabolic diseases.

Obesity, insulin resistance, and chronic inflammation are well-established drivers of metabolic (dysfunction) associated liver disease (MASLD). New Mexico is ranked # 1 for chronic liver disease burden in the US.

Environmental pollutants are a key risk factor of increasing human metabolic disease burdens including MASLD. Chronic exposures to heavy metal pollutants are an important, yet underrecognized contributor to metabolic diseases.

Cadmium (Cd), a non-essential heavy metal, is a ubiquitous environmental pollutant that represents a significant public health concern. Cd progressively accumulates throughout life, particularly in metabolically active organs such as the liver and kidneys.

Research in the Gullapalli lab has focused on understanding the role of multiple environmental pollutants (i.e., cadmium, nano- and microplastics and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) as a driver of human liver metabolic diseases.

The Gullapalli lab has established multiple toxicological assays to understand environmentally driven MASLD. Optical imaging is a key experimental paradigm used by the lab to understand the toxicological effects of pollutants on molecular hepatocellular function.

This talk will focus on our efforts to understand pollution driven hepatocellular molecular changes (e.g., insulin resistance, mitochondrial dysfunction and altered lipid metabolism) as key drivers of human metabolic liver diseases.