Page 4 - SFRBM dot - April 2015

Radical View • Balaraman Kalyanaraman, Ph.D.

by Sumitra Miriyala, Ph.D., LSU Health Sciences Center

footsteps of my cousin and brother and decided the Department of Biophysics at MCW.

to pursue my Ph.D. in the U.S., and ended up
DOT: Who has been your greatest teacher?
at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. I
What do you think the most important factors
became interested in EPR spectroscopy and
are that have shaped your career?
X-ray crystallography techniques, working

under the guidance of Lowell Kispert (EPR) I learned free radical metabolism of drugs

and Jerry Atwood (crystallography). This was and xenobiotics and biological EPR from Ron

Mason, and EPR applications in photobiology
Balaraman
a great period of my life; all I worried about
from Roger Sealy. I learned about
was research, publishing, and beer drinking.
KALYANARAMAN
grantsmanship from Jim Hyde. With regard
After earning my Ph.D. in chemistry, I decided
to writing grants, one needs to constantly
to pursue postdoctoral training in biological
follow new communication approaches:
EPRattheNationalInstituteofEnvironmental
DOT: Tell us about your background and Just note how Newsweek and USA Today
Health Sciences (NIEHS), in Research Triangle
are periodically changing their style to feed
when did you realize you were interested in Park, NC. My mentor at NIEHS was Ron
the news in a way that is more clear and
science?
Mason. After a rocky start (the usual postdoc/
reader-friendly. The key is to more effectively
I received all my schooling through high school mentor tussle), we hit it off really well, and the
communicate your ideas, engage and enable
in Madras (now Chennai), India. Everything, three years I spent in Ron’s lab became one
the reviewers to easily understand your point.
including science, was taught in Tamil. I think of most productive periods of my life, both

it was in my 8th and 9th grades that I became scientiically and socially. I met my wife in DOT: Briely describe your research interests

fond of science because of the teachers, who Chapel Hill during that time and who, to date, and what is the most notable research

achievement from your lab?
stimulated my interest in science by teaching has been responsible for providing stability

“outside the box”, so to speak. By this, I and sanity in my life (and I hope she feels the I am interested in improving the quality of life

mean they did not just cover what was in the same way). After our marriage, we moved to
in patients suffering from neurodegenerative
textbook, but discussed science and scientiic Milwaukee (I told my wife that this would be
diseases (e.g., Parkinson’s disease) and
discoveries in general. After receiving my B.S. for a couple of years) where I received my
inlammatory diseases (various types of
degree in Chemistry from the Loyola College in second postdoctoral training with Roger Sealy
cancer). This involves discovering or designing
Madras, I earned my M.S. in Chemistry at the at the National Biomedical ESR Center at the
drugs which cross the blood-brain barrier

Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (now Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). Roger and induce neuroprotective signaling related

Mumbai). There, I was particularly impressed was an outstanding free radical chemist. After to eficient use of energy and mitigation of

by my organic chemistry professor.
a few years, when Roger left MCW to pursue
oxidative stress), and which target enzymes
Psychology, I was given the opportunity to take
After working for a year at a pharmaceutical involved in oxidative and mitochondrial/
over his grants. That was many, many years
company (Ciba-Geigy), I followed in the
glycolytic metabolism. We have also been
ago, and now I am Professor and Chairman of

SFRBM Newsletter // April 2015 // Radical View • Dr. Balaraman Kalyanaraman

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