NAME: Suresh Ambati

POSITION TITLE: Research Scientist EDUCATION/TRAINING

INSTITUTION AND LOCATION	DEGREE (if applicable)	Completion Date MM/YYYY	FIELD OF STUDY
Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, India	B.Sc.	05/1981	Biology and Chemistry
Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur, India	Ph.D.	10/1992	Zoology
Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, India	PGDEM	05/1993	Environmental Management
University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA	Postdoc	05/2002-08/2006	Biotechnology, Obesity
University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA	Research Scientist	09/2006-present	Cell Biology & Epigenetics, Obesity, Targeted delivery of anti-infectives packaged in liposomes

A. Personal Statement

Starting my academic career as a Zoologist, I acquired detailed understanding of animal anatomy and physiology. As a Project Director or key Research Personnel on several university internal projects as well as USDA and NIH-funded grants and Georgia State funded grants, I have been instrumental in designing and executing experimental protocols that led to the successful completion of these research projects and published several peer-reviewed research papers from most of the completed projects. In addition, many of these projects have been collaborative in nature so I am accustomed to working with diverse faculty, postdocs, and students, and often leading a small team within a project. During a hiatus in my academic research career (1994-2001) I worked as a Production Executive in biotech industry. But due to my love of research I returned to academia. I then began as a senior Postdoc with Dr. Clifton A. Baile focused on obesity related projects including studies on adipose tissue, muscle, blood, brain, and liver. In this position I began collaborating with Dr. Meagher and constructing the adiponectin ADNp::RFP tagged preadipocyte cell lines for real-time monitoring of the co- development of clusters of interacting cells during adipogenesis and the MA-INTACT mouse in which mature adipocytes have their nuclei epitope tagged for easy affinity purification. I have been dissecting adipose tissues and other organs for a decade and train scientists in other laboratories at UGA in tissue dissection. Precise dissections ensured accurate comparisons of tissue weight and gene expression, ELISA, and ChIP assays. When Dr. Baile passed away in 2014, I began working full time as a Research Scientist with Dr. Meagher and also managing the day-to-day running of his laboratory. In the Meagher lab I continued these previous collaborative projects and also worked on the fluorescence activated nuclear sorting (FANS) of adipocyte nuclei. Like the MA-INTACT mouse FANS is another method that helps achieve cell-type specificity when examining gene expression. I am first author on one and a secondary author on several recently published obesity-related and neurobiology-related manuscripts from the Meagher laboratory, which are relevant to this proposal. I am a co-author on the first three collaborative papers Dr. Meagher and I have written identifying 17 novel cytokines altered by obstructive sleep apnea and restored to normal levels by airways therapy (Wang et al., in press 2020).

I have published 68 peer-reviewed scientific articles. My Hirsch Index is 25, indicating a sustained and well-respected publication record, equivalent to that of most tenured professors.

For all my publications see:

Google Scholar

Recent Publications- 2019 to 2022

Meagher, R., Lewis, Z., Ambati, S., and Lin, X. (2021). Aiming for a bull’s-eye: Targeting antifungals to fungi with dectin-decorated liposomes. PLoS Pathog 17, 1-7. 10.1371/journal.ppat.1009699. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34293050.

Ambati, S., Ellis, E.C., Lin, J., Lin, X., Lewis, Z.A., and Meagher, R.B. (2019a). Dectin-2-Targeted Antifungal Liposomes Exhibit Enhanced Efficacy. mSphere 4, 1-16. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31666315.

Ambati, S., Ellis, E.C., Pham, T., Lewis, Z.A., Lin, X., and Meagher, R.B. (2021a). Antifungal Liposomes Directed by Dectin-2 Offer a Promising Therapeutic Option for Pulmonary Aspergillosis. mBio 12, 1-8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33622715.

Ambati, S., Ferarro, A.R., Kang, S.E., Lin, J., Lin, X., Momany, M., Lewis, Z.A., and Meagher, R.B. (2019c). Dectin-1-Targeted Antifungal Liposomes Exhibit Enhanced Efficacy. mSphere 4, 1-15. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30760610.

Ambati, S., Pham, T., Lewis, Z.A., Lin, X., and Meagher, R.B. (2021b). DC-SIGN Targets Amphotericin B- Loaded Liposomes to Diverse Pathogenic Fungi. Fungal Biol and Biotech 8, 1-13. https://rdcu.be/cDPZS

Ambati, S., Pham, T., Lewis, Z.A., Lin, X., and Meagher, R.B. (2022). DectiSomes- Glycan Targeting of Liposomal Amphotericin B Improves the Treatment of Disseminated Candidiasis. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 66, 1-13. https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/AAC.01467-21.

Meagher, R., Ambati, S., Lewis, Z., and Lin, X. (2021a). TARGETED NANOPARTICLES AND THEIR USES RELATED TO INFECTIOUS DISEASES. I. University of Georgia Research Foundation.

Meagher, R., Lewis, Z., Ambati, S., and Lin, X. (2021b). Aiming for a bull’s-eye: Targeting antifungals to fungi with dectin-decorated liposomes. PLoS Pathog 17, 1-7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34293050.

Meagher, R.B., Lewis, Z.A., Lin, X., Ambati, S., and Momany, M. (2019). Targeted Nanoparticles and Their Uses Related to Fungal Infections. U.S. Patent. WO/2020/146514. 62/913,489. https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO2020146514&_cid=P11-KHDI99-36314-1.

Phillips, B.G., Wang, Y., Ambati, S., Ma, P., and Meagher, R.B. (2020). Airways therapy of obstructive sleep apnea dramatically improves aberrant levels of soluble cytokines involved in autoimmune disease. Clinical Immunology 221, 1-10. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1521661620307610.

Wang, Y., Meagher, R.B., Ambati, S., Ma, P., and Phillips, B.G. (2020). Patients with obstructive sleep apnea have suppressed levels of soluble cytokine receptors involved in neurodegenerative disease, but normal levels with airways therapy. Sleep Breath April, 1-13. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33037528.

B. Positions, Scientific Appointments, and Honors

Positions and Employment

1993-95           Executive, The Waterbase Limited, Nellore, India

1995-01            Scientist, Mas Aqua Techniks Private Limited, Nellore, India

2001-05           Post-Doctoral Associate, University of Georgia, Athens, GA

2006-2014      Assistant Research Scientist, Animal and Dairy Science Department, UGA Athens, GA

2008-12           Consultant, InsectiGen Inc., Athens, GA

2012-13            Project Director, Aptotec Inc., Athens, GA

2014-2020      Assistant Research Scientist, Genetics Department, UGA Athens, GA

2020-2022      Associate Research Scientist, Genetics Department, UGA Athens, GA

Other Experience and Professional Memberships

2010                 Journal of Medicinal Food, Food and Chemical Toxicology

2004–06         American Association for Advancement of Science

2006–07         Endocrine Society

2005–06         Society of Toxicology

2005–09         Neurotoxicity Society

2004                 National Environmental Science Academy

2003                 Society for Comparative Animal Physiology

2012                 Society of Quality Assurance

Honors

1987                University First Rank in Masters

1989                University Grants Commission Researcher

1992                 Senior Research Fellow – Council of Scientific Industrial Research