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Hemalata Deshmukh, PhD Research Associate

Dr. Deshmukh has a unique profile; she is an Indian traditional medicine doctor; she completed her Medical education as a Bachelors of Ayurveda Medicine and Surgery from India. Later, Dr. Deshmukh completed Master of Science in Molecular Biology from University of Skövde, Sweden. Before joining PhD, Dr. Deshmukh gained some research experience at the University of Pittsburgh’s Hillman cancer center, Pittsburgh, PA. Later, she finished her PhD from Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria. Her PhD project was mainly focused on finding the relevance of platelet and complement for the pathogenesis of invasive fungal infections. During her graduate studies, she was able to identify a mechanism how Aspergillus derived secretory products trigger platelet activation and complement deposition on platelet surface and compared them with mucormycetes species. She was able to find the new molecule polysaccharide galactosaminogalactan (GAG) playing important role in this process.

After completion of PhD, Dr. Deshmukh found a perfect research lab where she can use her knowledge of Indian traditional medicine in clinical/basic research.  She started working as a Research Associate in Dr. Prabhakar Sharma’s lab at the department of Internal Medicine at Texas Tech University of Health Sciences Center, Lubbock from 2019. Her current work is mainly focused on diabetic nephropathy and hypertension related research. The ZSF rat model is used for different ongoing projects, where’s ZSF rat is developed by crossing lean female Zucker Diabetic Fatty and lean male Spontaneously Hypertensive Heart Failure rats. Dr. Deshmukh wrote two book chapters titled as a Role of natural remedies in the management of solid organ malignancies and hematological cancer. Currently she is investigating if Nephrology in Experimental Diabetic Nephropathy is Associated with Increased Expression of Inflammatory Proteins in the Kidney. Her work also includes the areas of nitric oxide and diabetic nephropathy research.

Personal Interest:
She likes to explore the nature during her spare time especially by biking at countryside, hiking, skiing and when at home, she loves gardening.