Curriculum vitae                                           

 

 

Education

 

Ph.D., Dept. of Neuroscience. Univ. of California, San Diego. 1995.

Laboratory of C.F.Stevens; Salk Institute.

Thesis: Structural basis for the block of NMDA receptor channel by divalent cations.

M.S., Biochemistry. All India Institute of Medical Sciences; New Delhi, India. 1986.

Thesis: Detection of Hepatitis B virus in serum.

B.S., Biochemistry. All India Institute of Medical Sciences; New Delhi, India. 1984.

 

Academic Appointments

 

Instructor. 2002-Present, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, UCD, Denver. 2002 - Present.

Postdoctoral Fellow. Advisor: Dr. S. Vijayaraghavan, UCD, Denver. 1997 – 2002.

Postdoctoral Fellow Advisor: Prof. Nigel Unwin, MRC, Cambridge, England. 1996 – 1997.

 

Awards and Honors

 

1.    American Heart Association; National Scientist Development Grant: Nicotinic Signaling in the Central   Nervous System. 2005 – 2009.

2.      NSF POWRE Grant: Vesicle Trafficking in Hippocampal Astrocytes. 2000-2002.

3.     American Heart Association; Desert Mountain Affiliate Postdoctoral Fellowship: Nicotinic Signaling in Hippocampal Astrocytes. 2000-2002.

4.      NRSA postdoctoral Fellowship, 1998 – 2000

5.      Junior Research Fellowship, Indian Institute of Science, 1986-1987.

6.      Junior Research Fellowship, Indian Council for Agricultural Research, 1984-1986.

 

Teaching

 

1.      Neuromuscular Junction, Cellular Physiology Labs. 2005 - Present.

2.      Summer Enrichment Course in Physiology. School of Pharmacy. UCD. 1999.

3.      Teaching Assistant. Basic Neuroscience. UCSD. 1994.

 

Publications

 

  1. Sharma G., and Vijayaraghavan, S. (2003). Modulation of presynaptic store calcium induces release of glutamate and postsynaptic firing. Neuron, 38, 929-39. Preview: Robert S. Zucker (2003). Can a Synaptic Signal Arise from Noise? Neuron, 38, 845-46).Prespective: Otsu Y., and Murphy T.H. (2003). Miniature Transmitter Release: Accident of Nature or Careful Design? STKE.  www.stke.org/cgi/content/full/sigtrans;2003/211/pe54.
  2. Rizzolli, S., Sharma, G., and Vijayaraghavan, S. (2002). Calcium rise in neurons from medial septum elicits calcium waves in surrounding glial cells. Brain Res., 957, 287-97.
  3. Sharma, G., and Vijayaraghavan, S. (2001). Nicotinic cholinergic signaling in hippocampal              astrocytes involves calcium-induced calcium release from intracellular stores. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 98, 4148-4153.Accompanying Comment: Temburni MK, Jacob MH. (2001). New functions for glia in the brain. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 98, 3631-3632.
  4. Sharma, G., and Stevens C.F.  (1996). Interactions between two divalent ion binding sites in N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor channels.  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 93, 14170-14175.
  5. Sharma, G., and Stevens, C.F. (1996).  A mutation that alters the magnesium block of NMDA receptor channels.  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 93, 9259-9263.
  6. Brose, N., Huntley, G., Stern-bach, Y., Sharma, G., Morrison, H. and Heinemann, S. (1994).  Differential assembly of coexpressed glutamate receptor subunits in neurons of rat cerebral cortex.  J. Biol. Chem., 269, 16780-16784
  7. Bettler, B., Egjeborg, J., Sharma, G., Petch, G. et al. (1992).  Cloning of a putative glutamate receptor: a low affinity kainate binding subunit.  Neuron, 8, 257-265.
  8. Khandekar, P., Munshi, A., Sinha, S., Sharma, G., Kapoor, A., and Talwar, G.P. (1986).  Construction of genomic libraries of mycobacterial origin.  Identification of recombinants encoding mycobacterial specific proteins.  Int. J. Leprosy., 54, 416-422.

 

Review:

  1. Sharma, G. and Vijayaraghavan, S. (2002). Nicotinic Receptor Signaling in Non-Excitable Cells. J.       Neurobiol., 53, 524-34.