Rama Natarajan, Ph.D.
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 and chair of the Women’s Leadership Committee for the Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology Council of the American Heart Association, Natarajan continues to promote the advancement of junior researchers and women in vascular sciences.
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
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
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
- Kato M*, Abdollahi M*, Tunduguru R, Tsark W, Chen Z, Wu X, Wang J, Chen ZB, Lin F-M, Lanting L, Wang M, Huss J, Fueger P, Chan D, and Natarajan R (* equal contribution) (2021). miR-379 deletion ameliorates features of diabetic kidney disease by enhancing adaptive mitophagy via FIS1. Commun Biol 4, 30 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01516-w
- Zhuo Chen, Feng Miao, Barbara H Braffett, John M Lachin, Lingxiao Zhang, Xiwei Wu, Melanie Carless, Xuejun Arthur Li, Joshua D Tompkins, John Kaddis, Arthur D Riggs, Andrew D Paterson, DCCT/EDIC Study Group, Rama Natarajan. (2020). DNA methylation mediates HbA1c-associated complication development in Type1 diabetes. (Nature Metabolism. 2020 https://rdcu.be/b5JCK)
- Stapleton K, Das S, Reddy MA, Leung A, Amaram V, Lanting L, Chen Z, Zhang L, Rengasamy P, Deiuliis JA, and Natarajan R. (2020). A novel long non-coding RNA, MIST, regulates macrophage activation during obesity (In Press) Atheroscler Thromb Vasc Biol 2020 Feb 13:ATVBAHA119313359. doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.119.313359. [Epub ahead of print]. Paper chosen by ATVB for Twitter chat on March 5th 2020
- Delnaz Roshandel, Zhuo Chen, Angelo J. Canty, Shelley B. Bull, Rama Natarajan, Andrew D. Paterson and DCCT/EDIC Research Group. DNA methylation age calculators reveal association with diabetic neuropathy in type 1 diabetes. Clinical Epigenetics. 2020 Apr 5;12(1):52. doi: 10.1186/s13148-020-00840-6. PubMed PMID: 32248841; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7132894.
- Calandrelli R, Xu L, Luo Y, Wu W, Fan X, Nguyen T, Chen CJ, Sriram K, Tang X, Burns AB, Natarajan R, Chen ZB, Zhong S. (2020) Stress-induced RNA-chromatin interactions promote endothelial dysfunction. Nat Commun. 2020 Oct 15;11(1):5211. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-18957-w. PMID: 33060583
- 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
- Bansal A, Balasubramanian S, Dhawan S, Leung A, Chen ZB, and Natarajan R. (2020) Integrative Omics analyses reveal epigenetic memory in diabetic cells regulating genes associated with kidney dysfunction. Diabetes: Nov;69(11):2490-2502. doi: 10.2337/db20-0382. PMID: 32747424
- Kato M*, Abdollahi M*, Tunduguru R, Tsark W, Chen Z, Wu X, Wang J, Chen ZB, Lin F-M, Lanting L, Wang M, Huss J, Fueger P, Chan D, and Natarajan R (* equal contribution) (2021). miR-379 deletion ameliorates features of diabetic kidney disease by enhancing adaptive mitophagy via FIS1. Commun Biol Jan 4;4(1):30. doi: 10.1038/s42003-020-01516-w.
- Natarajan R. (2021). Epigenetics in Diabetic Vascular Complications and Metabolic Memory. The 2020 Edwin Bierman award Lecture. Diabetes. Feb;70(2):328-337. doi: 10.2337/dbi20-0030.
- Tanwar VS, Reddy MA, Natarajan R. (2021) Emerging role of lncRNAs in diabetic complications. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2021 Jun 21;12:665811. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2021.665811. eCollection 2021. PMID: 34234740
- Samara VA, Das S, Reddy MA, Tanwar VS, Stapleton K, Leung A, Abdollahi M, Ganguly R, Lanting L and Natarajan R. (2021). Angiotensin II-induced long non-coding RNA Alivec regulates chondrogenesis in vascular smooth muscle cells. Cells 2021 Oct 9;10(10):2696. doi: 10.3390/cells10102696. PMCID: PMC8535098
- 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
- Jia Y, Reddy MA, Das S, Oh HJ, Abdollahi M, Yuan H, Zhang E, Lanting L, Wang M, Natarajan R. Dysregulation of histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation in transforming growth factor-β1-induced gene expression in mesangial cells and diabetic kidney. J Biol Chem. 2019 Aug 23;294(34):12695-12707. doi: 10.1074/jbc.RA119.007575. Epub 2019 Jul 2. PubMed PMID: 31266808; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6709639.
- Das S, Zhang E, Senapati P, Amaram V, Reddy MA, Stapleton K, Leung A, Lanting L, Wang M, Chen Z, Kato M, Oh HJ, Guo Q, Zhang X, Zhang B, Zhang H, Zhao Q, Wang W, Wu Y, Natarajan R. A Novel Angiotensin II-Induced Long Noncoding RNA Giver Regulates Oxidative Stress, Inflammation, and Proliferation in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells. Circ Res. 2018 Dec 7;123(12):1298-1312. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.118.313207. PubMed PMID: 30566058; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6309807.
- Das S, Reddy MA, Senapati P, Stapleton K, Lanting L, Wang M, Amaram V, Ganguly R, Zhang L, Devaraj S, Schones DE, Natarajan R. Diabetes Mellitus-Induced Long Noncoding RNA Dnm3os Regulates Macrophage Functions and Inflammation via Nuclear Mechanisms. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2018 Aug;38(8):1806-1820. doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.117.310663. PubMed PMID: 29930005; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6202204.
- Das S, Senapati P, Chen Z, Reddy MA, Ganguly R, Lanting L, Mandi V, Bansal A, Leung A, Zhang S, Jia Y, Wu X, Schones DE, Natarajan R. Regulation of angiotensin II actions by enhancers and super-enhancers in vascular smooth muscle cells. Nat Commun. 2017 Nov 13;8(1):1467. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-01629-7. PubMed PMID: 29133788; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5684340.
- Kato M, Wang M, Chen Z, Bhatt K, Oh HJ, Lanting L, Deshpande S, Jia Y, Lai JY, O'Connor CL, Wu Y, Hodgin JB, Nelson RG, Bitzer M, Natarajan R. An endoplasmic reticulum stress-regulated lncRNA hosting a microRNA megacluster induces early features of diabetic nephropathy. Nat Commun. 2016 Sep 30;7:12864. doi: 10.1038/ncomms12864. PubMed PMID: 27686049; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5553130.
- Chen Z, Miao F, Paterson AD, Lachin JM, Zhang L, Schones DE, Wu X, Wang J, Tompkins JD, Genuth S, Braffett BH, Riggs AD, Natarajan R. Epigenomic profiling reveals an association between persistence of DNA methylation and metabolic memory in the DCCT/EDIC type 1 diabetes cohort. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 May 24;113(21):E3002-11. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1603712113. Epub 2016 May 9. PubMed PMID: 27162351; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4890596.
- Reddy MA, Das S, Zhuo C, Jin W, Wang M, Lanting L, Natarajan R. Regulation of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Dysfunction Under Diabetic Conditions by miR-504. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2016 May;36(5):864-73. doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.115.306770. Epub 2016 Mar 3. PubMed PMID: 26941017; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4850084.
- Reddy MA, Chen Z, Park JT, Wang M, Lanting L, Zhang Q, Bhatt K, Leung A, Wu X, Putta S, Sætrom P, Devaraj S, Natarajan R. Regulation of inflammatory phenotype in macrophages by a diabetes-induced long noncoding RNA. Diabetes. 2014 Dec;63(12):4249-61. doi: 10.2337/db14-0298. Epub 2014 Jul 9. PubMed PMID: 25008173; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4238007.
- Miao F, Chen Z, Genuth S, Paterson A, Zhang L, Wu X, Li SM, Cleary P, Riggs A, Harlan DM, Lorenzi G, Kolterman O, Sun W, Lachin JM, Natarajan R. Evaluating the role of epigenetic histone modifications in the metabolic memory of type 1 diabetes. Diabetes. 2014 May;63(5):1748-62. doi: 10.2337/db13-1251. Epub 2014 Jan 23. PubMed PMID: 24458354; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3994951.
- Deshpande SD, Putta S, Wang M, Lai JY, Bitzer M, Nelson RG, Lanting LL, Kato M, Natarajan R. Transforming growth factor-β-induced cross talk between p53 and a microRNA in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy. Diabetes. 2013 Sep;62(9):3151-62. doi: 10.2337/db13-0305. Epub 2013 May 6. PubMed PMID: 23649518; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3749352.
- Leung A, Trac C, Jin W, Lanting L, Akbany A, Sætrom P, Schones DE, Natarajan R. Novel long noncoding RNAs are regulated by angiotensin II in vascular smooth muscle cells. Circ Res. 2013 Jul 19;113(3):266-78. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.112.300849. Epub 2013 May 22. PubMed PMID: 23697773; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3763837.
- Kato M, Dang V, Wang M, Park JT, Deshpande S, Kadam S, Mardiros A, Zhan Y, Oettgen P, Putta S, Yuan H, Lanting L, Natarajan R. TGF-β induces acetylation of chromatin and of Ets-1 to alleviate repression of miR-192 in diabetic nephropathy. Sci Signal. 2013 Jun 4;6(278):ra43. doi: 10.1126/scisignal.2003389. PubMed PMID: 23737551; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3723389.
- Jin F, Li Y, Ren B, Natarajan R. PU.1 and C/EBP(alpha) synergistically program distinct response to NF-kappaB activation through establishing monocyte specific enhancers. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Mar 29;108(13):5290-5. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1017214108. Epub 2011 Mar 14. PubMed PMID: 21402921; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3069155.
- Kato M, Putta S, Wang M, Yuan H, Lanting L, Nair I, Gunn A, Nakagawa Y, Shimano H, Todorov I, Rossi JJ, Natarajan R. TGF-beta activates Akt kinase through a microRNA-dependent amplifying circuit targeting PTEN. Nat Cell Biol. 2009 Jul;11(7):881-9. doi: 10.1038/ncb1897. Epub 2009 Jun 21. PubMed PMID: 19543271; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2744130.
- Villeneuve LM, Reddy MA, Lanting LL, Wang M, Meng L, Natarajan R. Epigenetic histone H3 lysine 9 methylation in metabolic memory and inflammatory phenotype of vascular smooth muscle cells in diabetes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Jul 1;105(26):9047-52. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0803623105. Epub 2008 Jun 25. PubMed PMID: 18579779; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2449362.
- Kato M, Zhang J, Wang M, Lanting L, Yuan H, Rossi JJ, Natarajan R. MicroRNA-192 in diabetic kidney glomeruli and its function in TGF-beta-induced collagen expression via inhibition of E-box repressors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Feb 27;104(9):3432-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0611192104. Epub 2007 Feb 20. PubMed PMID: 17360662; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1805579.