Dr. Sharmila Venugopal
Assistant Professor
Courses Taught at CSULB
- CHEM 441A: Biological Chemistry
- CHEM 443: Biochemistry Lab
- CHEM 542: Selected Topics in Biochemistry
- CHEM 595A: Colloquium in Biochemistry
Research Interests
- Dynamics and mechanisms of chronic neurodegeneration
- Application of network graph theories and artificial intelligence to multiscale modeling of brain networks
- Biochemistry and biophysics of brain metalloproteins
Dr. Venugopal earned a bachelor's degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering with distinction from Bangalore University, India in 1999. In her senior year, she conducted research in the Aerospace Engineering department at the Indian Institute of Science where she co-designed a non-invasive eddy current sensor for testing aircraft metal surface anomalies. Following her Bachelor's degree, she worked as a software engineer at Cognizant Technology Solutions, India for 2 years.
Her passion for research led her to move to the United States where she earned a Master's degree in Electrical Engineer at The Ohio State University, USA, in 2004. Her thesis focused on designing a real-time 3D image preprocessor using field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) for biomedical image analysis. Her career took a unique turn during this time and she developed a passion for the study of the brain. Subsequently, she obtained a Ph.D. in Neuroscience in 2008 and became the first graduate student to merge computational and experimental neuroscience at Ohio State. Her doctoral work made discoveries and models of the intrinsic and synaptic biophysical properties of reticular formation neurons in the brainstem, that form a putative central pattern generator for taste-driven oromotor functions. She used mathematical modeling, dynamical systems methods, whole cell patch-clamp electrophysiology in those studies.
During her postdoctoral years (2008-2014) in the Center for Adaptive Neural Systems at Arizona State University and subsequently in the department of Integrative Biology and Physiology at University of California Los Angeles, she applied her experimental and computational skillsets to study neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. During this time, she also had an opportunity to develop an image analysis software for rich astrocyte Ca2+ signals in the Physiology department, David Geffen Medical School at UCLA. Subsequently, during 2014-2015, she served as a lecturer (part-time) in the College of Engineering at Long Beach State, CA.
In July 2015, Dr. Venugopal joined the Division of Life Sciences at UCLA as an Assistant Adjunct Professor. As a faculty member in the department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, she co-directed research on the neurodegenerative motor neuron disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). As the P.I. on a NIH/NINDS grant, she led the research on understanding early neuropathies in the SOD1G93A mouse model for ALS. This work led to novel insights regarding neural circuit-specific sensory abnormalities that can lead to imminent dysfunctional sensorimotor reflexes as observed in patients. During this time, she spent significant time and effort in teaching novel and transformative Mathematics and Statistics courses for first-year life sciences majors as part of their core curriculum. She also developed and taught new computational and experimental courses for the Undergraduate Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program at UCLA. She subsequently held appointment in the Department of Neurology in Geffen medical school and was promoted as an Associate Adjunct Professor in 2024.
In August 2024, she joined as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at CSULB. Her research addresses exciting frontier topics in neuroscience using a variety of experimental and computational tools, techniques and model systems. She is passionate about mentoring students and preparing them for industry careers and for graduate school and medical degree programs. Her lab attracts undergraduate and graduate students from a variety of majors and degree programs ranging from biochemistry and biological sciences to applied math, stats and engineering.
Key: # Corresponding Senior Author, *Undergraduate Trainee, **Postdoctoral Trainee
- #Sharmila Venugopal, *Zohal Ghulam-Jelani, In Sook Ahn, Xia Yang, Martina Wiedau, Dwayne Simmons, #Scott H Chandler, "Early deficits in GABA inhibition parallels an increase in L-type Ca2+ currents in the jaw motor neurons of SOD1G93A mouse model for ALS", Neurobiology of Disease, February 2023; 177:105992. PMID: 36623607.
- Wenting Liu, Sharmila Venugopal, Sana Majid, In Sook Ahn, Graciel Diamante, Jason Hong, Xia Yang, Scott H Chandler, "Single-cell RNA-seq Analysis of the Brainstem of Mutant SOD1 mice Reveals Perturbed Cell Types and Pathways of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis", Neurobiology of Disease, April 2020; 104877. PMID: 32360664.
- **Soju Seki, Toru Yamamoto, *Kiara Quinn, Igor Spigelman, Antonios Pantazis, Riccardo Olcese, Martina Wiedau-Pazos, #Scott H Chandler, #Sharmila Venugopal, "Circuit-specific early impairment of proprioceptive sensory neurons in the SOD1G93A mouse model for ALS", Journal of Neuroscience, October 2019, 39 (44) 8798-8815; PMID: 31530644.
- #Sharmila Venugopal, **Soju Seki, David H Terman, Antonios Pantazis, Riccardo Olcese, Martina Wiedau-Pazos, Scott H Chandler, "Resurgent Na+ current offers noise modulation in bursting neurons", PLOS Computational Biology, June 2019, 15(6): e1007154; PMID: 31226124.
- Rahul Srinivasan, Ben S Huang, Sharmila Venugopal, April D Johnston, Hua Chai, Hongkui Zeng, Peyman Golshani & Baljit S Khakh, "Physiological Ca2+ signaling in astrocytes from IP3R2-/- mice in brain slices and during startle responses in vivo", Nature Neuroscience, May 2015, 18(5):708-17; PMID: 25894291.
- Sharmila Venugopal, Chie-Fang Hsiao, *Takuma Sonoda, Martina Wiedau-Pazos & Scott H Chandler, "Homeostatic dysregulation in membrane properties of masticatory motoneurons compared to oculomotor neurons in a mouse model for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis", Journal of Neuroscience, January 2015, 35(2): 707-720; PMID: 25589764.
- Sharmila Venugopal, Thomas M Hamm, Sharon M Crook & Ranu Jung, "Modulation of inhibitory strength and kinetics facilitates regulation of persistent inward currents and motoneuron excitability following spinal cord injury", Journal of Neurophysiology, July 2011, 106:2167-2179; PMID: 21775715.
- Sharmila Venugopal, Jack A Boulant, Zhexiong Chen & Joseph B Travers, "Intrinsic membrane properties of pre-oromotor neurons in the intermediate zone of the medullary reticular formation", Neuroscience, June 2010, 168(1):31-47; PMID: 20338224.
- Sharmila Venugopal, Joseph B Travers, David H Terman, "A computational model for motor pattern switching of taste-induced ingestion and rejection oromotor behaviors", Journal of Computational Neuroscience, April 2007, 22(2):223-38; PMID: 17072755.
