Neuroimmunology, brain health and environmental toxicology
Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Biobehavioral Health, Penn State
I am a neuroscientist working on neuroinflammation and the blood–brain barrier. For 12 years, I have studied how the immune system shapes disease, from parasites to the brain. Today, I focus on how alcohol, e-cigarettes, microplastics and flame retardants switch on the brain's immune cells through P2X7R signaling and extracellular vesicles, and why males and females respond differently.
At Penn State I am following two questions: how perinatal exposure to microplastics and organophosphate flame retardants changes learning, memory and stress circuits in adult offspring, and how microplastics drive neuroinflammation through the P2X7 receptor and extracellular vesicles.
At Temple University I showed that P2X7 receptor signaling contributes to barrier injury during chronic alcohol and e-cigarette exposure, using vapor models, knockout mice and vesicle analysis. Before that, I worked on tuberculosis under BSL-3 conditions and did my PhD on helminth-derived proteins as therapies for colitis. In total, I have about twelve years of experience in rodent models, behavior, molecular biology, immunology and compliance.
Citations and h-index from Google Scholar, as of October 2026.
From exposure to behavior, I study the biological steps that connect environmental signals with brain health.
Current focus
What reaches the developing brain?
Perinatal exposure to microplastics and organophosphate flame retardants, and what it leaves in adult male and female offspring: learning and memory deficits, altered stress circuits, and sex-biased vulnerability where endocrine disruption meets chronic stress.
Current focus
When does the barrier lose integrity, and how do peripheral signals reach the brain?
How chronic alcohol and e-cigarette exposure injure the barrier. P2X7 receptor signaling and extracellular vesicles link peripheral organs to neuroinflammation, and P2X7 knockout or pharmacologic inhibition protects the barrier and changes behavior.
Earlier work
How does TB evade the immune system, and can a parasite’s immune tricks become a treatment?
Earlier work on Mycobacterium tuberculosis virulence and immune evasion under BSL-3 conditions, and a PhD on helminth-derived proteins as biotherapeutics for ulcerative colitis and on lymphatic filariasis.
Over the next five years, I want to establish how micro- and nanoplastic exposure drives neuroinflammation through the P2X7 receptor on microglia. I plan to follow this question across four levels: in silico modeling of how plastic particles interact with the receptor, in vitro work in microglial and barrier cultures, in vivo rodent studies of behavior and barrier integrity, and brain organoid models that bring the work closer to human tissue. Reading the same question at all four levels should show which steps in the cascade are worth targeting, and which exposures matter most. Because plastic exposure is now lifelong and unavoidable, this work speaks directly to brain health across the lifespan.
Six selected papers are listed here. All 25 are on Google Scholar.
Also two book chapters (2019, 2023).
Department of Biobehavioral Health, Penn State
Perinatal microplastic and OPFR exposure, stress circuits and cognition; the P2X7R–extracellular vesicle axis in microplastic neuroinflammation; setting up a new laboratory.
Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University
Led rodent studies of alcohol and e-cigarette co-exposure. Wrote IACUC protocols and SOPs, kept a P2X7 knockout colony, mentored graduate students, and contributed to cannabinoid vapor and lupus behavior studies.
University of Texas at El Paso
Tuberculosis infection studies under BSL-2, BSL-3 and ABSL-3, with qPCR, confocal microscopy and IVIS imaging of dissemination.
Pathkind Diagnostics, Nagpur
High-throughput qRT-PCR and immunodiagnostic assays under NABL quality standards, with audit-ready documentation.
National Institute of Virology (ICMR), Pune
Cloned IgG heavy chain genes from donor samples for neutralizing antibodies against hepatitis E virus.
Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sevagram
Recombinant filarial proteins as treatments for experimental colitis, and prophylaxis and drug screening for lymphatic filariasis.
Questions about the research, potential collaborations, or an idea worth discussing? I would be glad to hear from you.