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Natasha Jaiswal headshot photo

Pronouns: She/her

Phone: 765-496-0569

Office:

Lambert Fieldhouse, Room 306C
800 W. Stadium Ave.
West Lafayette, IN 47907

Curriculum Vitae Back to Directory

Natasha Jaiswal

Assistant Professor, Department of Health and Kinesiology

Areas of Expertise

  • Skeletal Muscle
  • Obesity
  • Type-2-Diabetes
  • Adipose Tissue
  • Neuromuscular Junction
  • Insulin Signaling

HHS Signature Research Area(s)

  • Healthy Lifestyles and Vital Longevity

Department of Health and Kinesiology Research Area(s)

  • Exercise Physiology

Biography

Natasha Jaiswal is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health and Kinesiology, College of Health and Human Sciences. She completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania. Before joining Purdue University, she was a Senior Research investigator at the University of Pennsylvania where she made a surprising discovery that AKT, a kinase central to the insulin signaling pathway, is not an obligate intermediate for regulating glucose uptake in skeletal muscle. This surprising finding supports a novel hypothesis suggesting the existence of a pathway, in addition to AKT, required for insulin’s action in skeletal muscles for glucose uptake. She has broad expertise in skeletal muscle physiology, metabolism, and omics analysis, including genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, and proteomics. Her research program explores two crucial facets of skeletal muscle physiology i.e. glucose homeostasis and muscle performance in physiology and diseased condition. The research projects are distinctly focused on two interesting themes:

  1. Role of metabolic signaling, specifically AKT, in the maintenance of skeletal muscle and neuromuscular junction (NMJ) plasticity.
  2. Exploring the molecular mechanisms underlying changes in body composition during obesity and sarcopenia through the utilization of genetic mouse models and human subjects.

Education

  • Ph.D (Biochemistry)

Social Media Accounts

Selected Publications

  • W. D. Lee, D. R. Weilandt, L. Liang, M. R. MacArthur, N. Jaiswal, C. G. Mann, Q. C. Craig J. Hunter, R-P Ryseck, W. Lu, A. M. Oschmann, A. J. Cowan, T. A. TeSlaa, C. R. Bartman, C. Jang, J. A. Baur, P. M. Titchenell, and J. D. Rabinowitz. Lactate-glucose-fat regulatory circuitry mediating lactate homeostasis. Accepted in Cell Metabolism (2024). Impact 27.7
  • N Jaiswal, M Gavin, E Loro, J Sostre-Colón, PA Roberson, K Uehara, N R Fuentes, M Neinast, Z Arany, S R Kimball, T S Khurana, P M Titchenell. AKT controls protein synthesis and oxidative metabolism via combined mTORC1 and FOXO1 signaling to govern muscle physiology. Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle (2021). Impact 12.9
  • E Nunn, N Jaiswal, M Gavin, K Uehara, M Stefkovich, K Drareni, R Calhoun, M Lee, C Holman, J Baur, S Patrick, P. Titchenell. Antibody Blockade of Activin Type II Receptors Preserves Skeletal Muscle Mass and Enhances Fat Loss During GLP-1 Receptor Agonism. Molecular metabolism (Accepted, January, 2024). Impact 7.4
  • N Jaiswal, MG Gavin, WJ Quinn III, TS Luongo, RG Gelfer, JA Baur, PM Titchenell. The role of skeletal muscle Akt in the regulation of muscle mass and glucose homeostasis. Molecular metabolism 28, 1-13 (2019). Impact 7.4
  • N Jaiswal, S Agrawal, A Agrawal. High fructose-induced metabolic changes enhance inflammation in human dendritic cells. Clinical & Experimental Immunology 197 (2), 237-249 (2019). Impact 4.1
  • B Ahn, S Wan, N Jaiswal, RB Vega, DE Ayer, PM Titchenell, X Han, KJ Won, DP Kelly. MondoA drives muscle lipid accumulation and insulin resistance. JCI insight 4 (15) (2019). Impact 9.2
  • F Rahmatpanah*, S Agrawal*, N Jaiswal*, H M Ngyuen, M McClelland, A Agrawal. Airway epithelial cells prime plasmacytoid dendritic cells to respond to pathogens via secretion of growth factors. Mucosal Immunology 12 (1), 77-84 (2019). (*equal first author). Impact 7.2

Selected Honors/Awards

  • Faculty Research Development grant Centre on Aging and the Life course - 2024
  • NIA P30 mentorship award, Oklahoma Nathan Shock Center - 2023
  • Scholarship to attend the 15th annual course Isotope Tracers in Metabolic Research: Principles and Practice of Kinetic Analysis, Vanderbilt University - 2023
  • Best scientific image award at physiology retreat, University of Pennsylvania - 2022
  • Biomedical Postdoctoral travel grant, University of Pennsylvania - 2020
  • Art in Science award Biomedical Postdoctoral association, University of Pennsylvania - 2020

Selected Grants

  • Faculty Research Development grant Centre on Aging and the Life course - 2024
  • Health of the Forces Pilot Funding Grant Department of Defense - 2024
  • The Pilot and Feasibility (P&F) Grant Program Indiana Center for Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases - 2024
  • Project Development Teams (PDTs) grant Indiana clinical and translational science institute - 2024
  • P30-Pilot career development grant (NIA) - 2021
  • D.S. Kothari grant , Indian Institute of Science, India - 2015

Professional Affiliations

  • Guest Editor of ‘Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology
  • Member of the Board of Reviewers of ‘The Reviews of Diabetes Journal’
  • Member of the peer-review program of the scientific Research Publishing Reviewer for Journals: 1. Journal of Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism 2. Mediator of Inflammation 3. Journal of Diabetes