Anuradha Karunanidhi, BPharm, MS

  • Senior Lab Manager
  • Research Specialist V

Karunanidhi is a Senior Lab Manager and Research V staff with a background in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Chemical Engineering with 15 years of research experience. She has been part of the Vockley lab for past 10 years. She plays a major role in the ongoing projects involving mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation disorders including ACAD9, CPT II, MCAD, VLCAD, LCAHD, and TFP deficiencies by using her expertise and techniques in designing, developing, screening and optimizing in vitro patients cell culture models to evaluate efficacy of pharmaceutical compounds to remedy the underlying biochemical abnormalities using an array of biomarkers including the effect on production of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), immune-imaging on cells and tissues using confocal microscopy, and ATP production levels by high-throughput 96 well plate luminescence assay. Additionally, she has independently trained, identified and custom developed the assays needed for studying key cellular functions, glycolysis, mitochondrial respiration, and the bioenergetic profiling of live patient cells in real time using state-of-art Agilent Seahorse Bioanalyzer instrument. She has trained postdocs, visiting scholars, medical fellows, graduate, and undergraduate students. Her experimental results, and those from other lab members she has taught, have been integrated into multiple published manuscripts and two funded NIH R01 grants. She organizes shared activities among the research group members and has experience in assigned administrative roles including personnel performance evaluation, grant budgetary plans, and equipment purchase suggestions. 

Education & Training

  • BPharm, The Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University, India, 1998
  • MS, Research in Biochemical Engineering & Biotechnolog, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India, 2001

Selected Publications

Karunanidhi A, Basu S, Zhao XJ, D'Annibale O, Van't Land C, Vockley J, Mohsen AW. Heptanoic and medium branched-chain fatty acids as anaplerotic treatment for medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency. Mol Genet Metab. 2023 Aug 25;140(3):107689. doi: 10.1016/j.ymgme.2023.107689. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37660571.

Zhao XJ, Mohsen AW, Mihalik S, Solo K, Basu S, Aliu E, Shi H, Kochersberger C, Karunanidhi A, Van't Land C, Coughlan KA, Siddiqui S, Rice LM, Hillier S, Guadagnin E, DeAntonis C, Giangrande PH, Martini PGV, Vockley J. Messenger RNA rescues medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency in fibroblasts from patients and a murine model. Hum Mol Genet. 2023 Jul 4;32(14):2347-2356. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddad076. Erratum in: Hum Mol Genet. 2023 Aug 7;32(16):2679. PMID: 37162351; PMCID: PMC10321387.

Zhao XJ, Mohsen AW, Mihalik S, Solo K, Aliu E, Shi H, Basu S, Kochersperger C, Van't Land C, Karunanidhi A, Coughlan KA, Siddiqui S, Rice LM, Hillier S, Guadagnin E, Giangrande PH, Martini PGV, Vockley J. Synthetic mRNA rescues very long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency in patient fibroblasts and a murine model. Mol Genet Metab. 2023 Jan;138(1):106982. doi: 10.1016/j.ymgme.2022.106982. Epub 2022 Dec 23. PMID: 36580829; PMCID: PMC9877169.

Phua YL, D'Annibale OM, Karunanidhi A, Mohsen AW, Kirmse B, Dobrowolski SF, Vockley J. A multiomics approach to understanding pathology of Combined D,L-2- Hydroxyglutaric Aciduria and phenylbutyrate as potential treatment. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2023 Feb 3:2023.02.02.526527. doi: 10.1101/2023.02.02.526527. PMID: 36778323; PMCID: PMC9915603.

Karunanidhi A, Van't Land C, Rajasundaram D, Grings M, Vockley J, Mohsen AW. Medium branched chain fatty acids improve the profile of tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates in mitochondrial fatty acid β-oxidation deficient cells: A comparative study. J Inherit Metab Dis. 2022 May;45(3):541-556. doi: 10.1002/jimd.12480. Epub 2022 Feb 2. PMID: 35076099; PMCID: PMC9090965.

Heiman P, Mohsen AW, Karunanidhi A, St Croix C, Watkins S, Koppes E, Haas R, Vockley J, Ghaloul-Gonzalez L. Mitochondrial dysfunction associated with TANGO2 deficiency. Sci Rep. 2022 Feb 23;12(1):3045. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-07076-9.

Wolfe R, Heiman P, D'Annibale O, Karunanidhi A, Powers A, Mcguire M, Seminotti B, Dobrowolski SF, Reyes-Múgica M, Torok KS, Mohsen AW, Vockley J, Ghaloul-Gonzalez L. ITCH deficiency clinical phenotype expansion and mitochondrial dysfunction. Mol Genet Metab Rep. 2022 Oct 29;33:100932. doi: 10.1016/j.ymgmr.2022.100932. PMID: 36338154; PMCID: PMC9634006.

D'Annibale OM, Phua YL, Van't Land C, Karunanidhi A, Dorenbaum A, Mohsen AW, Vockley J. Treatment of VLCAD-Deficient Patient Fibroblasts with Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor δ Agonist Improves Cellular Bioenergetics. Cells. 2022 Aug 24;11(17):2635. doi: 10.3390/cells11172635. PMID: 36078043; PMCID: PMC9454759.

D'Annibale OM, Koppes EA, Alodaib AN, Kochersperger C, Karunanidhi A, Mohsen AW, Vockley J. Characterization of variants of uncertain significance in isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase identified through newborn screening: An approach for faster analysis. Mol Genet Metab. 2021 Sep-Oct;134(1-2):29-36. doi: 10.1016/j.ymgme.2021.08.012. Epub 2021 Aug 30. PMID: 34535384; PMCID: PMC8578405.

Sinsheimer A, Mohsen AW, Bloom K, Karunanidhi A, Bharathi S, Wu YL, Schiff M, Wang Y, Goetzman ES, Ghaloul-Gonzalez L, Vockley J. Development and characterization of a mouse model for Acad9 deficiency. Mol Genet Metab. 2021 Sep-Oct;134(1-2):156-163. doi: 10.1016/j.ymgme.2021.09.002. Epub 2021 Sep 14. PMID: 34556413; PMCID: PMC8588265

Full Publication List via NIH PubMed »

Academic and Research Interests

  • Medium Brached chain fatty acids
  • FAOD
  • Metabolic disorders

CV