Faculty Mentors

 * This list is only to show faculty mentors that have taken on McNair scholars under their research. Scholars are NOT limited to these faculty, and are expected to find faculty that fits their own interests.

STEM

Applied Physics & Astronomy

Biochemistry

headshot of Kanneboyina Nagaraju

Kanneboyina Nagaraju

Dean and Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences

School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
PB 403C

Research Interests

  • Immunology
  • Neuromuscular diseases
  • Autoimmune diseases
  • Drug development

Background

Kanneboyina Nagaraju received his bachelor's degree in veterinary medicine from the College of Veterinary Sciences, Tirupati, India; his master's degree in veterinary immunology from the prestigious Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar; and his PhD in immunology from Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India. Immediately after completing his PhD, he came to the United States to do a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md.

After completing this fellowship, he became a tenure-track assistant professor in the Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Md. In 2005, he joined the Research Center of Genetic Medicine, Children's Research Institute of the Children's National Medical Center (CNMC). He was appointed an associate professor of pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences (GWSMHS) in Washington, DC. In 2012, he became a full professor with tenure in the Department of Integrative Systems Biology, GWSMHS, and in 2015, served as the interim chair of the Department of Integrative Systems Biology and director of the Research Center of Genetic Medicine at CNMC before moving to Binghamton, N.Y. At Binghamton, he served as the founding chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and vice dean for the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (SOPPS) before becoming the dean of the SOPPS in May 2022.

Nagaraju is an expert on translational research in autoimmune and genetic muscle diseases. He has authored more than 200-refereed publications, along with several textbook chapters on autoimmune muscle diseases. Apart from identifying pathogenic pathways and drug targets in these neuromuscular disorders, he has also pioneered the generation of novel inducible transgenic and knockout mouse models for muscle and neuromuscular diseases. Early drug screening efforts in his laboratory in collaboration with Eric Hoffman and John McCall led to identifying Vamorolone, a potent anti-inflammatory, membrane-stabilizing dissociated glucocorticoid. His group has demonstrated that these dissociated steroids are highly efficacious in several inflammatory disease models. Vamorolone is currently in clinical trials for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Nagaraju has led international efforts to define reliable and sensitive tests for drug efficacy in mouse models of neuromuscular diseases and directed a state-of-the-art preclinical drug-testing facility dedicated to neuromuscular disorders. He has performed over 175 preclinical drug trials in these mouse models since 2006. In addition, he has mentored several postdoctoral and doctoral fellows and students.

Nagaraju has received several million in grant support under various mechanisms (R01, R21, U54, P50, K26) from the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Defense and several foundations (e.g., MDA, AFM, TMA, PPMD, Arthritis Foundation). He currently serves as a member of foundations' medical and scientific advisory boards and on the editorial boards of several specialty journals. Additionally, he is one of the founding core preclinical experts on the TREAT-NMD Advisory Committee for Therapeutics.

Nagaraju has co-founded two biotech companies, ReveraGen BioPharma, focused on developing Vamorolone as a therapy for inflammatory diseases including muscular dystrophy, and AGADA BioSciences, a preclinical drug screening and phenotyping company to facilitate the development of therapeutics for rare neuromuscular diseases.

Education

  • BVSc&AH (DVM equivalent), College of Veterinary Sciences
  • MVSc, Indian Veterinary Research Institute
  • PhD, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences

Research Interests

  • Immunology
  • Neuromuscular diseases
  • Autoimmune diseases
  • Drug development

Research Profile

Biological Sciences

headshot of D. Andrew Merriwether

D. Andrew Merriwether

Professor; Collegiate Professor for College in the Woods

Anthropology; Residential Life
OA 109

Research Interests

  • Ancient DNA/PaleoGenomics
  • Molecular Anthropology
  • Peopling of the New World and The Pacific
  • Plant and Animal Domestication
  • Population Genetics/Phylogenetics
  • Forensic DNA
  • Molecular Epidemiology
  • Biomedical Anthropology
  • Evolutionary Biology/Molecular Evolution
  • Paleodemography
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Chemistry

No profile found.

No profile found.

Computer

headshot of Madhusudhan Govindaraju

Madhusudhan Govindaraju

Vice Provost for International Education and Global Affairs (IEGA); Professor, Computer Science

International Education and Global Affairs; Academic Affairs, Office of the Executive VP and Provost; Computer Science
EB P15

Research Interests

  • Cloud computing
  • Big Data computing
  • Distributed systems
  • High performance computing
  • Web services
  • Component-based technologies
  • Problem-solving environments
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Environmental Studies

No profile found.

Geography

Geology

Neuroscience

Physics

Psychology

Bioengineering

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Electrical Engineering

Industrial Systems Engineering

Material Science and Engineering

Mechanical Engineering

Systems Science & Industrial Engin.

School of Management: Accounting

School of Management

Social Sciences

Anthropology

Economics

Linguistics

Political Science

Sociology

Humanities

Africana Studies

Art History

Asian and Asian American Studies

Comparative Literature

English

History

Latin American Caribbean Studies

Philosophy

Philosophy, Interpretation and Cul

Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies [WGSS]

Arts

Cinema

CCPA

Human Development

Public Administraton

Education

School of Education ( Philosophy, Politics, Law &  Economics)

School of Education

Student Affairs Administration

TRiO

  •  Melanie Ragin (2017) [unavailable] 

Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences

Nursing

Public Health