Rama Natarajan, Ph.D.

- Diabetes
- Diabetic Complications
- Professor and Chair, Department of Diabetes Complications & Metabolism
- National Business Products Industry Endowed Chair in Diabetes Research
Natarajan is a faculty member of the Irell & Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences and active in teaching, mentoring and training graduate students, fellows and faculty. Currently, Natarajan is professor and chair of the Department of Diabetes Complications and Metabolism within the Arthur Riggs Diabetes and Metabolism Research Institute and Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope National Medical Center. She also holds the National Business Products Industry Endowed Chair in Diabetes Research.
As a member of the leadership Committee for the Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology Council of the American Heart Association, Natarajan has supported and continues to promote the advancement of junior researchers in vascular sciences. She is also very active in leadership committees with the American Diabetes Association.
Location
Duarte Cancer Center
Duarte, CA 91010
Education & Experience
1973-1977, Ph.D. in biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, India
1980-1986, NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Medicine, University of Southern California Medical School, Los Angeles, CA
1979-1980, Scientific Research Council Post Doctoral Fellow, Department of Applied Chemistry, Salford University, England, U.K.
1977-1979, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Science and Technology Fellowship, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
2014-present, Professor and Chair, Department of Diabetes Complications and Metabolism, Diabetes and Metabolism Research Institute at City of Hope
2011-present, National Business Products Industry Endowed Chair in Diabetes Research, Department of Diabetes Complications and Metabolism, Diabetes and Metabolism Research Institute at City of Hope
2002-present, Professor, Department of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases Research, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope
2011-2014, Associate Chair, Department of Diabetes, Director, Division of Molecular Diabetes Research, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope
1996-2001, Associate Professor, Dept of Diabetes, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Duarte, CA
1990-1996, Assistant Research Scientist, Department of Diabetes, City of Hope
1987-1990, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Southern California Medical School
Awards & Memberships
Awards (Partial List)
2022, Arti Hurria Research Mentor of the Year Award, City of Hope
2021, American Heart Association ATVB Council 2021 Distinguished Achievement Award
2021, Distinguished Scientist Award, American Heart Association ATVB Council
2020, Edwin Bierman Award, from the American Diabetes Association
2020, AAAS Fellow, Elected by Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2016, Values in Action Award, City of Hope
2014, Distinguished Top Reviewer, DIABETES (journal)
2013, Distinguished Top Reviewer, DIABETES (journal)
2013, ATVB (Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis, Vascular Biol) Journal Award for Top 10 reviewers
2012, 20th Robert R. Kohn Memorial Lecture, Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine, Cleveland Ohio
2012, Kroc Lectureship, Baylor College of Medicine, Department of Endocrinology and Medicine
2012, Lead organizer, Keystone Meeting on Diabetic Complications, Boston, MA
2012, Star Reviewer, American Physiological Society Journals Publications
2011, Mentor of Women Award, ATVB Council of The American Heart Association, Chicago
2011, National Business Products Industries Endowed Professor, Beckman Research Institut, City of Hope
2011, Plenary Speaker, Korean Society of Nephrology 31st Annual Meeting, Seoul, Korea
2011, City of Hope Leadership Academy
2010, Barry M Brenner Endowed Lecture, American Society of Nephrology, Denver Co
2011, Inducted to the Scientific Research Achievements Gallery of Portraits, City of Hope
2010, Annual Henry Turner Memorial Lecture and Distinguished Professor, University of Oklahoma, Dept of Internal Medicine, Oklahoma City
Memberships
2020, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Elected Fellow
2017-present, Editorial Board, Vascular Pharmacology
2014-present, Editorial Board, Journal of American Society of Nephrology
2011-present, Editorial Board, Physiological Genomics
2009-present, Editorial Board, Journal of Cardiovascular Translational Research
2007-present, Editorial Board, American Journal of Physiology, Renal Physiology
2003-present, Editorial Board, Kidney International
2007-2009, 2012-2014, 2017-present, Editorial Board, DIABETES
2005-2011, Editorial Board, J. Lipid Research
American Heart Association: Elected Fellow of the Council for Atherosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology (ATVB)
American Diabetes Association
American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Society of Nephrology (Elected Fellow)
International Society of Nephrology
North American Vascular Biology Organization (Member of Membership and Awards Committees)
Grant Review Committee Memberships and Other National/International Committees
Publications
Partial list; for full list use link below:
- Chen Z, Satake E, Pezzolesi MG, Dom ZIM, Stucki D, Kobayashi H, Syreeni A, Johnson AT, Wu X, Dahlström EH, King JB, Groop P-H, Sandholm N, Krolewski AS, Natarajan R. (2024) Integrated analysis of blood DNA methylation, genetic variants, circulating proteins, microRNAs and kidney failure in type 1 diabetes. Sci Transl Med. 2024 May 22;16(748):eadj3385. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adj3385. Epub 2024 May 22. PMID: 38776390
- Mitsuo Kato, Maryam Abdollahi, Keiko Omori, Vajir Malek, Linda Lanting, Fouad Kandeel, Jeffrey Rawson, Walter Tsark, Lingxiao Zhang, Mei Wang, Ragadeepthi Tunduguru, and Rama Natarajan. (2024) Lowering an ER-stress-regulated long noncoding RNA protects mice from diabetes and isolated pancreatic islets from cell death. Mol Therapy Nucleic Acids (MTNA) Jun 15;35(3):102252. doi: 10.1016/j.omtn.2024.102252.) PMID: 39071954
- Tanwar VS, Reddy MA, Das S, Samara VA, Abdollahi M, Dey S, Ganguly R, Stapleton K, Lanting L, Pirrotte P and Natarajan R*. (2023) Palmitic acid induced lncRNA PARAIL regulates inflammation resolution via interaction with Human Antigen R protein in monocytes and macrophages. ATVB 2023 Jul;43(7):1157-1175. doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.122.318536. Epub 2023 Apr 27PMID: 37128912. Accompanied by an editorial PMCID: PMC10287039
- Mitsuo Kato, Zhuo Chen, Sadhan Das, Xiwei Wu, Jinhui Wang, Arthur Li, Wei Chen, Walter Tsark, Ragadeepthi Tunduguru, Linda Lanting, Mei Wang, Roger Moore, Markus Kalkum, Maryam Abdollahi, and Rama Natarajan. (2023) Long noncoding RNA lncMGC mediates the expression of TGF-β-induced genes in renal cells via nucleosome remodelers. Front Mol Biosci. 2023 May 30;10:1204124. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2023.1204124. eCollection 2023. PMID: 37325470
- Eryun Zhang, Lihua Jin, Yangmeng Wang, Jui Tu, Ruirong Zheng, Lili Ding, Zhipeng Fang, Mingjie Fan, Is-mail Al-Abdullah, Rama Natarajan, Ke Ma, Zhengtao Wang, Arthur Riggs, Sarah Shuck, Li Yang*, Wendong Huang*. (2022) Intestinal AMPK modulation of microbiota mediates cross-talk with brown fat to control thermogenesis. Nature Communications 2022;13(1):1135. PMID: 35241650; PMCID: PMC8894485.
- Maryam Abdollahi, Mitsuo Kato, Lanting L, Mei Wang, Ragadeepthi Tunduguru, Qiong Wang, Yangmeng Wang, Wendong Huang and Natarajan R. (2022) miR-379 mediates insulin resistance and obesity through impaired angiogenesis and adipogenesis regulated by ER stressMTNA (Molecular Therapy, Nucleic Acids ) 2022;30:115-30. PMID: 36250205 PMCID: PMC9535382
- Reddy MA, Amaram V, Das S, Tanwar VS, Ganguly R, Wang M, Lanting L, Zhang L, Abdollahi M, Chen Z, Wu X, Devaraj S and Natarajan R. (2021) LncRNA DRAIR is downregulated in diabetic monocytes and modulates inflammatory phenotype via epigenetic mechanisms. JCI Insight, doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.143289. 2021 Jun 8;6(11):e143289. PMID: 33945509
- Chen Z, Miao F, Braffett BH, Lachin JM, Zhang L, Wu X, Carless M, Li XA, Tompkins JD, Kaddis J, Riggs AD, Paterson AD, DCCT/EDIC Study Group, Natarajan R. (2020). DNA methylation mediates HbA1c-associated complication development in Type1 diabetes. Nature Metabolism. 2020 Aug;2(8):744-762. doi: 10.1038/s42255-020-0231-8. PMID: 32694834