Projects per year
Personal profile
Personal profile
Dr. Hegde earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Neurosciences from the University of Mysore, India in 2006. He performed his graduate research at the Max-Planck Institute of Biophysical Chemistry, Gottingen, Germany as a DST-DAAD visiting fellow, and at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India. He held an Assistant Professor appointment at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Texas, USA before becoming a member of the Houston Methodist Research Institute in 2013. As a member of the Research Institute cancer and neuroscience research programs, he directs a research program focusing on understanding the role of genome damage repair in cell death (neurodegenerative diseases) and cell proliferation (cancer) and its potential exploitation in therapeutics. Dr. Hegde has also been a member of grant review boards for the Alzheimer’s Association, USA, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, French Scientific Grants (FMRM) and the Motor Neuron Disease Association, UK, in addition to NIH and DOD-CDMRP study sections. He is a Deputy Chief Editor for the Springer Journal Metabolic Brain Disease and Associate Editor for the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Jacobs Journal of Radiation Oncology and Research, Journal Neuroscience Research and Therapeutics, the Chinese Journal of Biology, and a peer-reviewer for more than 30 international journals.
Dr. Hegde has published over 90 peer-reviewed publications including more than a dozen as senior author. He has also published five book chapters, edited a book on ALS and four journal special issue collections. These articles have received nearly 3000 citations. He has received several awards including gold medals in Masters, New Investigator awards from the Alzheimer’s Association, the Environmental Mutagenesis Society, Researcher of the Month (May 2011) at UTMB and prestigious Gopal Krishna Memorial Young Scientist award from ASIOA. He has recently been awarded the Career Cornerstone award from Houston Methodist for outstanding contribution to translational research.
Research interests
Dr. Hegde’s research program focuses on delineating the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases with a primary emphasis on genome damage and their repair inhibitions/deficiencies in neurons. His laboratory is interested in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and Stroke. He showed that DNA repair inhibitions/deficiencies play a key role in the etiology of neurodegenerative diseases. He demonstrated that transition metals, iron and copper, act as a ‘double whammy’ by both inducing DNA damage and by inhibiting their repair via direct binding and oxidation of NEIL enzymes involved in oxidized DNA base repair. These studies were funded by American Parkinson’s Disease Association. His current studies focus on characterizing the role of ALS-linked RNA binding protein TDP-43 in DNA double-strand break repair and testing the hypothesis that TDP-43’s nuclear clearance and aggregation in ALS (and other neurodegenerative diseases) cause deficient DNA double-strand repair and contributes significantly to cell death. In another project funded by Alzheimer’s Association’s New Investigator grant, he is delineating the mechanism of genotoxicity of amyloid proteins and exploring its prevention by natural compounds. In collaboration with Dr. Sankar Mitra, he is also exploring the potential of genome repair inhibitions in cancer therapeutics. Dr. Hegde’s research program is supported by NIH/NINDS R01, Muscular Dystrophy Association, ALS Association, Alzheimer’s Association and Melo Foundation.
Education/Academic qualification
Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
Biochemistry, MS, Karnataka University
Biochemistry/Neurochemistry , PhD, University of Mysore, Karnataka
External positions
Texas A&M University
Jan 1 2016 → …
Research Area Keywords
- Cancer
- Molecular Medicine
- Neurosciences
Free-text keywords
- Genome damage response
- DNA repair
- Neurodegenerative diseases
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Parkinson’s disease
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS
- Stroke
Fingerprint
- 1 Similar Profiles
Network
-
Defining the altered FUS-PARP-1-DNA Ligase III axis and its implications to nuclear and mitochondrial genome damage response in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD)
Hegde, M., Hamilton, D. J., Horner, P. J. & Mitra, J.
4/15/20 → 3/31/25
Project: Federal Funding Agencies
-
Novel carbon nanozyme mechanisms for traumatic brain injury therapy
4/1/20 → 3/31/25
Project: Federal Funding Agencies
-
A new conditional TDP¿NLS knock-in mouse model generated using CRISPR/Cas9 technology to study the linkage of TDP-43 pathology to motor and cognitive defects in ALS, FTD and ADRD
4/15/20 → 2/28/23
Project: Federal Funding Agencies
-
Etiological Linkage of DNA Damage/Repair Deficiency in Neurodegenerative Diseases R01 NS088645
Natl Inst of Neuro Disorders and Stroke
7/1/15 → 6/30/22
Project: Federal Funding Agencies
-
TDP-43 pathology â?? mediated DNA Repair Deficiency in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
8/1/14 → 7/31/15
Project: Non Profit
-
CRISPR/Cas9 screen in human iPSC-derived cortical neurons identifies NEK6 as a novel disease modifier of C9orf72 poly(PR) toxicity
Guo, W., Wang, H., Kumar Tharkeshwar, A., Couthouis, J., Braems, E., Masrori, P., Van Schoor, E., Fan, Y., Ahuja, K., Moisse, M., Jacquemyn, M., Furtado Madeiro da Costa, R., Gajjar, M., Balusu, S., Tricot, T., Fumagalli, L., Hersmus, N., Janky, R., Impens, F., Vanden Berghe, P., & 10 others , Apr 2023, In: Alzheimer's and Dementia. 19, 4, p. 1245-1259 15 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access4 Scopus citations -
Human DNA polymerase η promotes RNA-templated error-free repair of DNA double-strand breaks
Chakraborty, A., Tapryal, N., Islam, A., Sarker, A. H., Manohar, K., Mitra, J., Hegde, M. L. & Hazra, T., Mar 2023, In: Journal of Biological Chemistry. 299, 3, 102991.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access1 Scopus citations -
DNA Double-Strand Breaks as Pathogenic Lesions in Neurological Disorders
Provasek, V. E., Mitra, J., Malojirao, V. H. & Hegde, M. L., May 1 2022, In: International journal of molecular sciences. 23, 9, 4653.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
Open Access2 Scopus citations -
Editorial: The self-renewal and reprogramming of cancer stem cells and their crosstalk with the immune microenvironment
Li, C., Rao, J. K., Emani, L. S., Kosagisharaf, R. J. & Hegde, M. L., Nov 11 2022, In: Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. 10, p. 1024761 1024761.Research output: Contribution to journal › Editorial › peer-review
Open Access -
Pouteria sapota (Red Mamey Fruit): Chemistry and Biological Activity of Carotenoids
Lakey-Beitia, J., Vasquez, V., Mojica-Flores, R., Fuentes C., A. L., Murillo, E., Hegde, M. L. & Rao, K. S., Jul 2022, In: Combinatorial Chemistry and High Throughput Screening. 25, 7, p. 1134-1147 14 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Short survey › peer-review
1 Scopus citations
Prizes
-
ABAP Senior Scientist Award and Gold Medals
Hegde, Muralidhar (Recipient), Dec 21 2019
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
-
Award for Excellence in Peer-Reviewed Publication
Hegde, Muralidhar (Recipient), Oct 31 2018
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
-
Career Cornerstone Award
Hegde, Muralidhar (Recipient), 2015
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
-
-
Distinguished Visiting Scientist award
Hegde, Muralidhar (Recipient), 2016
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)