Dr. Rayalam is the recipient of the first ‘Virbac Animal Health - Soloxine Award’ for her work on feline thyrotropin during her doctoral program and is a Morris Animal Foundation Fellow. Before joining PCOM, Dr. Rayalam worked as a research faculty in the Dept. of Animal and Dairy Science at the University of Georgia. Her major research interests are in the fields of obesity, post-menopausal osteoporosis and phytochemicals. Dr. Rayalam has authored/co-authored over 30 articles published in peer-reviewed journals and contributed several chapters to the text/reference books for DVM and graduate students. Her work on phytochemicals and obesity is patented and has been cited in several magazines including Women’s World.
Teaching has always been a passion for Dr. Rayalam. She primarily teaches physiology and pathophysiology to first-year PharmD students and is also involved in teaching multiple courses across the PharmD curriculum.
Dr. Rayalam has worked in the areas of obesity, body weight regulation, phytochemicals and adipocyte biochemistry for over 8 years. Her research interests include:
1) to study the adipocyte life cycle and to understand the interaction of adipocytes with other cell types as an approach to address several problems associated with obesity;
2) to develop novel treatment strategies for obesity by inducing transdifferentiation of white to beige adipocytes and to inhibit lipid accumulation in white adipocytes; and
3) to identify combinations of phytochemicals and vitamins that have synergistic anti-adipogenic effects with an ultimate goal of developing pharmaceuticals or nutraceuticals for prevention and treatment of obesity and associated disorders. Aging is accompanied by an accumulation of adipocytes in bone marrow and Dr. Rayalam's other interest is to understand the fat-bone interaction and to identify molecular targets for the prevention of weight gain and bone loss associated with aging. Dr. Rayalam collaborates with UGA to develop novel therapies for obesity and osteoporosis.
Title: Vitamin D and Phytochemicals for Prevention of Obesity and Osteoporosis (2012)
Funding source: PCOM Center for Chronic Disorders of Aging (CCDA)
Role: Principal Investigator
Funding Amount: $9,600
Status: complete
Title: Phytochemicals induce transdifferentiation of white to brown like adipocytes
(2012)
Funding source: Chief Science Officer Internal Funding, PCOM
Role: Principal Investigator
Funding Amount: $16,500
Status: complete
Title: Anti-obesity, anti-inflammatory and pro-osteogenic effects of phytochemicals
plus vitamin D in post-menopausal rat model (2014)
Funding source: Chief Science Officer Internal Funding, PCOM
Role: Principal Investigator
Funding Amount: $9,600
Status: complete
Title: The search for compounds that stimulate thermogenesis and induce transdifferentiation
of white to beige adipocytes (2014)
Funding source: Chief Science Officer Internal Funding, PCOM
Role: Principal Investigator
Funding Amount: $8,600
Status: complete
Title: Synergistic effects of phytochemicals and immunomodulatory glycans LNFPIII
on the beiging of adipocytes: a novel therapeutic approach for obesity (2016)
Funding source: PCOM Center for Chronic Disorders of Aging (CCDA)
Role: Principal Investigator
Funding Amount: $9,600
Status: complete
Title: Role of AMPK pathway in xanthohumol induced anti-obesity effects (2016)
Funding source: CSRO internal funding
Role: Principal Investigator
Funding Amount: $13,000
Status: complete
Title: Synergistic anti-obesity effects of immunomodulatory glycans and phytochemicals
(2017)
Funding source: CSRO internal funding
Role: Principal Investigator
Funding Amount: $10,000
Status: On going
