Dr. Binu R
Assistant Professor

Department of Zoology, University of Calicut,
Calicut University PO, Malappuram District, Kerala 673635 India
Phone (Office): 0494-2407419
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Residence: Krishnendu, Adinadu South, Kattilkadavu P O, Karunagappally, Kollam, Kerala-690542

 

EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

• Ph.D.in Neurobiology from the Department of Neurophysiology, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Otto-Von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany in 2010, Thesis on Late-LTP in the apical CA1 dendrites hippocampal slices in vitro under the Guidance of Prof. Dr. Julietta Uta Frey.
• Bachelor of Education in Natural Science, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India in 2002
• M.Sc. in Zoology, University of Kerala, Kerala, India in 2001.

 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• Assistant Professor, August 2017- June 2021, Department of Zoology, Christ College (Autonomous), University of Calicut, Irinjalakuda, Thrissur, Kerala-680125.
• Research Scientist, May 2012-August 2017, Trans-Synaptic Signaling Group, European Neuroscience Institute, Goettingen, Germany.
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Aug 2011- Dec 2011, Department of Neurophysiology, Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich/ETH, Switzerland.
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Jun 2010- May 2011, Department of Neuropathology, University Hospital of Zurich/ETH, Switzerland

 

AREAS OF RESEARCH

1. Molecular mechanism of memory formation at the synaptic level
2. Behavioral plasticity and neuropharmacology
3. The Gut-Brain Axis and the role of gut microbiota in Autism
4. Neurotoxicity and the generation of neurodegenerative diseases

 

RESEARCH FUNDING

DST-SERB – The Role of gut microbiota in the behavioural plasticity of Zebrafish Model-Amount-Rs. 35,94 800 (2019-2022).

 

PROFESSIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS

• Member Board of studies in Genetics (Single Board), University of Calicut (2020-)
• Member Board of studies in Zoology, Mar Athanasius College (Autonomous) Kothamangalam, MG University (2020-)
• Member, expert panel of new generation courses -Govt/Aided Colleges, Kannur University (2020).

 

REVIEWER OF THE FOLLOWING JOURNALS

• Neuroscience Letters, Neuroscience, Neurochemistry, Molecular Neurobiology, Ecological Indicators, Molecular vision, Inflammation Research, Cell Biochemistry & Function, Microscopy Research and Technique. Journal of Environmental Pathology, Toxicology and Oncology, Hippocampus, Andrologia, Archives in Medical Research, Experimental Brain Research.

 

HONOURS & AWARDS

• DST-SERB-TARE Fellowship, Govt. of India-2018-2021-for Research Excellence (In collaboration with Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India).
• DST-SERB-ECRA (Young Scientist Award) Govt. of India-2019-2022
• Visiting Professor, German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases and Charite Medical University, Berlin, Germany

 

RESEARCH GUIDANCE

• PhD ongoing: 4

 

INVITED TALKS

• Invited talk on Synaptic plasticity in hippocampal Slices: Methods and Techniques, International Conference on 33^rd Annual meeting of Society for Neurochemistry, India, 10 to 12^th October 2019, Hamdard University, New Delhi, India.
• Talk on “Zebrafish as an emerging model for studying complex brain disorders”, 25^th May 2018, Trans synaptic signaling Group, European Neuroscience Institute, Göttingen, Germany.

• Invited talk on Synaptic tagging mechanism and the role of Synaptotagmin 3 on learning and memory, December 21, 2015, Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.

• Invited talk on Synaptic tagging mechanism and the role of Synaptotagmin 3 on learning and memory December 18, 2015, Neuroscience Unit JNCASR, Bangalore, India.

• Invited talk on Synaptic tagging on hippocampal neurons In vitro February 16, 2012, Bioscience Centre, University of Helsinki, Finland.

• Invited talk on Synaptic tagging a mechanism of protein targeting in neurons February 1, 2012, University Kilinik Hamburg, Germany.

• Invited talk on Synaptic tagging on hippocampal neurons in vitro September 29, 2011, European Neuroscience Institute Göttingen, Germany

• Invited talk on new properties of synaptic plasticity at basal CA1 dendrites: the role of neuromodulators in XI.IFN Symposium October 5-7, 2009, Freyburg, Germany.

• Invited talk on the role of actin network in long-term potentiation and synaptic tagging in hippocampal CA1 neurons in X.IFN Symposium October 8-10, 2007, Meisdorf, Germany.
• The actin network in hippocampal CA1 neurons: its role in long-term potentiation and synaptic tagging. Selected for oral presentation in Young Researchers session on the 2nd International meeting of the Haifa forum for Brain and Behavior on “Cellular, Synaptic and System plasticity” organized by University of Haifa, Israel. April 17-19 (2007).

 

PROFILE LINKS

• ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0443-4741
• Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=lGf-nMQAAAAJ&hl=en
• Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Binu-Ramachandran?ev=hdr_xprf&_sg=ijgRG3bk94SlipKnf XMol6F8vbc5RbNeombXe9Q_gnqtO7wp4yucjFM4DfMfA_tpvkJ1FdL4VqzMYyp2fR4-o6

 

EXPERIENCE

Teaching: 4 years

Research: 15 years

 

MEMBERSHIP

1. Fellow of International association of Zoology Research
2. Life Member: Society for Neurochemistry India (SNCI)
3. International Zebrafish Society (IZFS)

 

RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS

1. Parvez S, Ramachandran B, Kaushik M, Tabassum H, Frey JU.  Long-term depression induction and maintenance across regions of the apical branch of CA1dendrites. Hippocampus. 2023 May 31. doi: 10.1002/hipo.23553. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37254828.

2. Amar A, Ramachandran B. Environmental stressors differentially modulate anxiety-like behaviour in  male and female zebrafish. Behav Brain Res. 2023 May 4;450:114470. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114470. Epub ahead of print. PMID:37148914.

3. Sivarajan D, Ramachandran B. Antibiotics modulate frequency and early generation of epileptic seizures in zebrafish. Exp Brain Res. 2023 Feb;241(2):571-583. doi: 10.1007/s00221-023-06546-4. Epub 2023 Jan 10. PMID:36625966.

4. Sivaraman A, Nandakumar R, Ramachandran B. Conspecific Identity Determines Interactive Space Area in Zebrafish Shoal. ACS Omega. 2022 Oct 17;7(42):37351-37358. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.2c03815. PMID: 36312422; PMCID: PMC9609076.

5. Awasthi A#, Ramachandran B#, Ahmed S, Shinoda Yangtze N, Martens H, Barth J,Burk K, Wang YT, Benito E, Fischer A, Dean C. Synaptotagmin-3 drives AMPA receptor endocytosis, depression of synapse strength and forgetting (# Equal author)  Science, 4,363(6422) (2019)

6. Benito E, Kerimoglu C, Ramachandran B, Zhou Q, Funfschilling U, Capece V, Burkhardt S, Stilling R, Edbaur D, Dean C, Fischer A. RNA-dependent intergenerational inheritance of enhanced synaptic plasticity after environmental enrichment: Cell Reports,23(2) 546-554, (2018)

7. Burk K, Ramachandran B^#, Ahmed S, Hurtado-Zavala JI, Awasthi A, Faram R, Ahmad H, Swaminathan A, Mcllhinney J,Benito, Fischer A, Perestenko P, Dean C Regulation of dendritic spine morphology in hippocampal neurons by copine-6 (equal author) Cerebral Cortex, 28(4): 1087-1104 (2018)

8. Benito E, Ramachandran B, Schroeder H, Schmidt G, Bukhardt, Capece V, Dean C, Fischer A. The BET/ BRD inhibitor JQ1 improves brain Plasticity in WT and APP/PS1-21 mice. Translational Psychiatry, 7 e1239 (2017)

9. Hurtado J, Ramachandran B,Ahmed S, Halder R, Bolleyer C, Awasthi A, Wagener R, Anderson K, Drenan R, Lester H, Miwa J, Staiger JF, Fisher A, Dean C. TRPV1 regulates  excitatory innervation of OLM neurons in the hippocampus. Nature Communications, 19;8:15878 (2017)

10. Eva Benito, Hendrik Urbanke^,#, Binu Ramachandran^#, Jonas Barth, Rashi Halder, Ankit Awasthi, Gaurav Jain, Vincenzo Capece , Susanne Burkhardt, Magdalena Navarro-Sala, Sankari Nagarajan, Anna-Lena Schütz, Stefan Bonn, Steven Johnson , Reinhardt Lührmann, Camin Dean and André Fischer. Reinstating transcriptome plasticity and memory function in mouse models for cognitive decline. (# equal author) J of clinical investigation.125(9):3572-84 (2015).  

11. Ramachandran B, Ahmed S, Dean C. Long-term depression is differentially expressed in distinct lamina of hippocampal CA1 dendrites (Corresponding author). Frontiers in cellular neuroscience.9:23 (2015).

12. Ramachandran B, Ahmed S, Zafar N and Dean C. Ethanol inhibits LTP in hippocampal neurons irrespective of lamina and stimulus strength through neurosteroidogenesis. Hippocampus. 25(1) 106-18 (2015).

13. Shinoda Y, Ahmed S, Ramachandran B, Bharat V, Brockelt D, Altas B and Dean C . BDNF enhances spontaneous and activity dependent neurotransmitter release at excitatory terminals but not at the inhibitory terminals in hippocampal neurons. Frontiers in synaptic neuroscience. 6:27 (2014).

14. Parvez S, Ramachandran B and Frey JU. Properties of subsequent induction of long-term potentiation and/or depression in one synaptic input in apical dendrites of hippocampal CA1 neurons in vitro. Neuroscience. 171(2010) 712–720 (2010).

15. Parvez S, Ramachandran B and Frey JU. Functional differences between and across different regions of the apical branch of CA1 dendrites with respect to LTD induction and synaptic cross-tagging. Journal of Neuroscience. 30(14) 5118-23) (2010).

16. Ramachandran B and Frey JU. Interfering with the actin network and its effect on long-term potentiation and synaptic tagging in hippocampal CA1 neurons in slices in vitro. Journal of Neuroscience. 29(39)12167-12173 (2009).