Nirmala Parajuli

Dr. Nirmala Parajuli is an Associate Professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Her research focuses on improving kidney transplant outcomes by investigating mechanisms of cold storage (CS)-mediated injury.

• D.V.M., Tribhuvan University, Nepal (2001)
• M.V.Sc., Seoul National University, South Korea (2005)
• Ph.D., Innsbruck Medical University, Austria (2009)

Her laboratory specializes in proteasome function, heat shock proteins, and the complement pathway during cold storage and renal transplantation. Current research explores how prolonged cold storage leads to proteasome dysfunction, mitochondrial damage, and inflammation, aiming to identify therapeutic targets to reduce graft injury.

Dr. Parajuli's recent publications highlight proteasome-mitochondria crosstalk, p38MAPK signaling, and complement pathway activation in cold storage injury. She has pioneered a rat kidney transplantation model to study these mechanisms.

• NIH R01 (DK123264): Targeting HSP72 to Improve Renal Transplantation (2021-2026)
• AHA Transformational Project Award (19TPA34850057): Targeting Renal Immunoproteasome (2019-2022)
• UAMS Barton Pilot Award: HSP72 Chaperone in Macrophage Activation (2021)
• NIH COBRE CTPR (P20GM121293): Complement-Heat Shock-Proteasome Interaction (2018-2020)
• AHA Scientist Development Grant (SDG-16SDG27600026): Ubiquitin Proteasome System in Renal Injury (2016-2019)

Her team has demonstrated that cold storage impairs mitochondrial protein homeostasis, proteasome activity, and fission/fusion dynamics, with recent work exploring novel therapies like p38MAPK inhibition, epoxyeicosanoids, and complement 5 knockout to mitigate these effects.