Savita Khanna, PhD, MSC, MPHIL, BSC

Bio

Dr. Savita Khanna currently serves as Associate Professor of Surgery at the Indiana University School of Medicine. She is also adjunct faculty at the Indiana Center for Regenerative Medicine and Engineering (ICRME) and Department of Cellular & Integrative Physiology. Dr. Khanna completed her post-doctoral training from University of California, Berkeley. She received her PhD degree from University of Eastern Finland, Finland. Prior to joining Indiana University in 2019, Dr. Khanna held various positions ranging from Research Associate to Associate Professor at The Ohio State University (2000-2018). She has 21 first author and 10 senior author publications, and has contributed to more than 138 peer-reviewed publications.

Key Publications

Khanna S, Heigel M, Weist J, Gnyawali S, Teplitsky S, Roy S, Sen CK, Rink C. Excessive α-tocopherol exacerbates microglial activation and brain injury caused by acute ischemic stroke. FASEB J. 2015 Mar;29(3):828-36. PMCID: PMC4763884

Khanna S, Rink C, Ghoorkhanian R, Gnyawali S, Heigel M, Wijesinghe DS, Chalfant CE, Chan YC, Banerjee J, Huang Y, Roy S, Sen CK. Loss of miR-29b following acute ischemic stroke contributes to neural cell death and infarct size. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2013 Aug;33(8):1197-206. PMCID: PMC3734770

Gallego-Perez D, Pal D, Ghatak S, Malkoc V, Higuita-Castro N, Gnyawali S, Chang L, Liao WC, Shi J, Sinha M, Singh K, Steen E, Sunyecz A, Stewart R, Moore J, Ziebro T, Northcutt RG, Homsy M, Bertani P, Lu W, Roy S, Khanna S, Rink C, Sundaresan VB, Otero JJ, Lee LJ, Sen CK. Topical tissue nano-transfection mediates non-viral stroma reprogramming and rescue. Nat Nanotechnol. 2017 Oct;12(10):974-979. PMCID: PMC5814120

Roy S, Sen CK, Ghatak S, Higuita-Castro N, Palakurti R, Nalluri N, Clark A, Stewart R, Gallego-Perez D, Prater DN, Khanna S. Neurogenic tissue Nanotransfection in the Management of Cutaneous Diabetic Polyneuropathy. Nanomedicine. 2020 Aug;28:102220. PMCID: PMC7802084

Lemmerman LR, Balch MHH, Moore JT, Alzate-Correa D, Rincon-Benavides MA, Salazar-Puerta A, Gnyawali S, Harris HN, Lawrence W, Ortega-Pineda L, Wilch L, Risser IB, Maxwell AJ, Duarte-Sanmiguel S, Dodd D, Guio-Vega GP, McTigue DM, Arnold WD, Nimjee SM, Sen CK, Khanna S, Rink C, Higuita-Castro N, Gallego-Perez D. Nanotransfection-based vasculogenic cell reprogramming drives functional recovery in a mouse model of ischemic stroke. Sci Adv. 2021 Mar 19;7(12). PMCID: PMC7978431

Titles & Appointments

Associate Professor of Surgery
Adjunct Associate Professor of Anatomy, Cell Biology & Physiology

Education

2000 PhD University of Eastern Finland

1988 MPHIL Meerut University

1986 MSC Meerut University

1984 BSC Meerut University
Research

Dr. Khanna’s laboratory at the Indiana Center for Regenerative Medicine and Engineering (ICRME) focuses on neurobiology of ischemic stroke and diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

Brain injury: Dr. Savita Khanna’s lab has long-standing experience in conducting and leading in vitro (cell lines and primary cells culture) and in vivo (rodent) studies related to mechanisms of ischemic stroke and interventional rescue. A recent and growing body of research has shown that members of this vitamin E family possess unique biologic functions. During the last 15 years Dr. Khanna’s work has addressed mechanisms by which a lesser-known form of natural vitamin E, tocotrienol (TCT), protects against stroke. We reported that oral TCT is bioavailable to all major organs studied and that the levels in brain were far more than that required for neuroprotection. In the stroke community it is widely recognized that neuroprotection alone is not sufficient to confer substantial protection against stroke. Recent study from our lab has shown tocotrienol supplementation has clear effect on improving perfusion of the stroke affected site of the brain. Currently, her laboratory is investigating underlying tocotrienol-sensitive mechanisms involve in improving perfusion of the stroke affected site of the brain. The research is funded through NIH/NINDS.

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy: Another major project in her lab focuses on diabetic peripheral neuropathy and modes of rescuing the condition. Diabetic neuropathy (DN) is a common and serious complication of diabetes. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is one of the more common forms of DN. Her team focuses on neurogenic stroma reprogramming to rescue diabetic neuropathy. Our solution focuses on the rescue of neurosensory damage and distal end-organ interface in diabetic peripheral neuropathy leveraging a recently reported point-of-care technology called “Tissue Nanotransfection” (TNT). This research is funded through Department of Defense (DoD).

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Professional Organizations

American Heart Association (AHA)

Society of Neuroscience

Wound Healing Society

Research Labs

Faculty research at IU School of Medicine is transforming health. Details about the medical research being conducted in faculty labs throughout IU School of Medicine are available in the Research section of this site.

Faculty Labs