Saraswathy Nair

Saraswathy Nair, Ph.D
Assistant Professor
Genetic and Molecular Basis
of Chronic Diseases

Degrees:

Ph.D., State University of New York at Buffalo, 1992
Cell and Molecular Biology
M.A., State University of New York at Buffalo, 1987
Cell and Molecular Biology
M. Sc., Annamalai University (India), 1985
Marine Biology
B. Sc., Kerala University (India), 1983
Major: Zoology; Minors: Botany, Chemistry

CV/VITAE: nair.pdf

Classes Taught:

Cell and Molecular Biology, Genetics.

Joined UTB/TSC:

2006

Previous Experience:

Assistant Professor Department of Biological Sciences and Center for Biomedical Studies, University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College, Brownsville, TX, 2006-present
Research fellow, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Phoenix, AZ, 2001-2006
Adjunct faculty, Glendale Community College, AZ, 2001
Director R & D, Verigen, Inc., Scottsdale, AZ, 1996 – 1998
Research Associate, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, N.Y, 1992 – 1996
Research and teaching assistant, S.U.N.Y at Buffalo, N.Y, 1986-1992

Research:

Saraswathy Nair has been participating in active research at premier academic institutes such as Albert Einstein College of Medicine and NIDDK, NIH since obtaining her Ph.D in Cell and Molecular Biology at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1992. She focused her earlier research on mammalian and protozoan proteins involved in protein sorting and vesicular trafficking. She then became director of R & D at a startup biotech firm in Arizona, responsible for research on therapeutic antibodies for rheumatoid arthritis. After a sabbatical from her career to raise her son for three years (1998-2001), she joined the scientific team at NIDDK, Phoenix investigating the genetic basis of obesity and diabetes in Pima Indians of Arizona. Since 2006, as an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Brownsville, Texas, she has been investigating pathways that connect inflammation and glucocorticoid regulation in obesity and diabetes in cell culture models as well as in the Mexican-American population. Throughout her career, she has mentored undergraduate and graduate students in research and through teaching. Currently she has several Mexican-American graduate and undergraduate students and a post-doctoral fellow whom she is actively mentoring in their research training. Some of the undergraduates she trained are working in clinical research settings or medical labs locally. Some are in MD/MPH programs or science teachers at local schools. She has published in peer-reviewed journals, secured funding for research and established an active laboratory. She has served as an ad hoc reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals such as Obesity, Human Genetics, Clinical Endocrinology and Cell and Molecular Biology Letters.