Laboratory of Aditya Bade, PhD

Research Interests

1) Drug-induced neurodevelopmental deficits

2) HIV-1/AIDS

3) Neurodegenerative disorders

4) Long-acting nanoformulations

5) Non-invasive bioimaging tool development

Dr. Bade’s research primarily focuses on neurodevelopmental pharmacology and toxicology. His current work is focused on identifying underlying mechanisms of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs)- and co-morbidities-associated adverse pregnancy outcomes and developing intervention strategies through novel delivery schemes to improve drug safety during pregnancy. Dr. Bade, also, has had a profound interest in developing new non-invasive bioimaging modalities to identify early-stage biomarkers of developmental impairments. Furthermore, studying the influence of genetic susceptibility and placenta deficits on neurodevelopmental outcomes as well as developing novel 3D organoids and animal models remain ongoing interests. Overall, Dr. Bade’s overreaching goal is to improve health outcomes of HIV-1+ mothers and their fetuses.

Ongoing Projects

Project 1

• Determine effects of dolutegravir and other integrase inhibitors on matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) activity and/or expression in the central nervous system of mice embryos and early age postnatal pups and identify impact of such inhibitions of MMPs activity on neuronal development.
• Investigate postnatal neurobehavioral impairments that occur across mouse development from adolescence to young adult age following gestational exposure to integrase inhibitors.
• Develop a library of long-acting nanoformulations to attenuate dolutegravir-associated developmental neurotoxicity and improve therapeutic benefits in pregnancy.

Project 2

• Develop new non-invasive bio-imaging methods with high sensitivity and specificity to identify early-stage biomarkers (metabolites and proteins) as the underlying mechanisms of ARV and co-morbidity-associated neurodevelopmental toxicity, and to aid the development of therapeutic intervention strategies for mitigating such drug-induced developmental deficits.

Project 3

• Uncover the adverse effects of ARVs and co-morbidities on placental development and identify underlying mechanisms.
• Establish a correlation between placental deficits and fetal neurotoxicity.

Project 4

• Discover genetic susceptibility to ARVs and co-morbidities-linked developmental impairments.
• Develop genetically modified rodent models and relevant 3D organoids to establish the underlying susceptibility and develop therapeutic intervention strategies.