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Nitin A. Das

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Nitin A. Das, M.D.

Instructor/Research

Nitin received his medical degree from Christian Medical College, Ludhiana in India following which he completed two years of rural service at Jalna Mission Hospital in Maharashtra, India. Thereafter, he joined St. Stephen’s Hospital, Delhi, India as a General surgery resident for two years prior to emigrating to the United States. He completed two years at the General Residency program at St. Louis University Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri followed by Post-doctoral research fellowship at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO. During his post-doctoral fellowship, Nitin learned the technique of performing orthotopic lung transplants in rats and became well proficient to be able to teach that technique.

Since joining the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery in June of 2010, Nitin has continued to work on the rat lung transplant under guidance from Dr. Johnson and Dr. DeArmond. He has obtained some grants over the years which have resulted in publications that promote his overall goal to find a non-invasive means to differentiate infection and rejection in lung transplant recipients. Alongside this pursuit, he also teamed up with Dr. DeArmond to expand on feasibility of using bioimpedance in early and real-time detection of lung pathologies and is part owner of a patent. Nitin also collaborates with other researchers and has been coordinating the departmental research activity over the years. He hosts the weekly departmental research meeting that helps forge new collaborations, advance on-going research and integrate medical student activities.

Nitin played an integral in re-initiating the Department’s participation in the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) database and was instrumental in establishing a new vendor software and getting the process going. Since then, we have used our STS data to identify areas to  improve the operative outcomes for our patients. He continues to manage the General Thoracic Surgery database. Because of his self-taught knowledge about computers, Nitin also helps the department with technical problems in his role as the department’s IT Partner.

  • Professional Background

    Education

    • 2004 - Internship - General Surgery - St Louis University Hospital, Saint Louis, MO
    • 2000 - Residency - General Surgery - St Stephen`s Hospital, Delhi, India
    • 1997 - BM BS - Medicine and Surgery - Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, Ludhiana, India
    • 1996 - General Surgery - Christian Medical College, Ludhiana

    Appointments

    • 2012-Current - Instructor/Research - University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Cardiothoracic Surgery, San Antonio
    • 2008 - Post-Doc Research Fellow (Urology) - Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Department of Division of Urologic Surgery, Dept of Surgery, Saint Louis, MO
    • 2007 - Post-Doc Research Fellow (Cardiothoracic Surgery) - Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Department of Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Dept of Surgery, Saint Louis, MO
    • 2005 - General Surgery Resident and PGY - 2 Resident - Saint Louis University Hospital, Department of Department of Surgery, Saint Louis, MO
    • 2004 - General Surgery Resident and PGY-1 Resident - Saint Louis University Hospital, Department of Surgery, Saint Louis, MO
    • 2001 - General Surgery Resident and Resident - St Stephen‘s Hospital, Department of Dept of Surgery, Delhi, India

  • Research & Grants

    Grants

    Private

    Funding Agency Morrison Trust Foundation Title Morrison Trust (2017 - 2019): Biochemical changes in lung after reperfusion injury and its attenuation with tacrolimus Status Active Period 10/2017 - 9/2019 Role Principal Investigator Grant Detail Biochemical changes in lung after reperfusion injury and its attenuation with tacrolimus Ischemia ?reperfusion (I-R) injury is unavoidable event during a solid organ transplant and it increases the risk of rejection by upregulation of surface antigens in the donor organ. In a recently published study, our lab demonstrated attenuation of I-R injury in lung transplants using nanoparticle tacrolimus (nTac) when administered by inhalation to the donor lung prior to procurement(1). It was noted that this benefit was reduced when the tissue level of nTac was lower in the isograft and a possible dose-response effect was postulated which needs further evaluation.
    Objective: To define the optimal dose of tacrolimus to the donor lung prior to harvest that would reduce I-R injury by evaluating the biochemical changes in the lung and blood with varying doses.
    Preliminary data: Bayer, Das, et al. demonstrated attenuation of I-R injury, with functional improvement (better oxygenation) and lower pro-inflammatory cytokine and cellular infiltrate in the isograft when pre-treated with nTac by inhalation prior to procurement(1).
    Study Design: This study will evaluate the release of cytokines and chemokines in the transplanted lungs and systemic circulation after period of ischemia and reperfusion. We will correlate these levels with the level of tacrolimus and reduction of I-R injury in the lungs.

  • Publications

      Abstract

      Katona M, Walker J, Miller S, Das NA, Sako EY. Improvement Initiative to reduce acute kidney injury during on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting; 2019 Feb. (American Academy of Cardiovascular Perfusion Annual Meeting).

      Aroor AR, Das NA, Carpenter AJ, Habibi J, Jia G, Ramirez-Perez FI, Martinez-Lemus L, Manrique-Acevedo CM, Hayden MR, Duta C, Nistala R, Mayoux E, Padilla J, Chandrasekar B, DeMarco VG. Glycemic control by the SGLT2 inhibitor empagliflozin decreases aortic stiffness, renal resistivity index and kidney injury: Springer; 2018 Jul. (Cardiovascular Diabetology; vol. 17, no. 1).

      Jin Wen Sui, Das NA, Charles Huynh, Makey IA, Levine DJ, DeArmond DT, Johnson SB. Re-do Bilateral Lung Transplants: Triumph of Technique Over Judgment?; 2018 Jan. (STS 54th Annual Meeting).

      Das NA. Efficacy of Inhaled Nanoparticle Tacrolimus in Preventing Rejection in Rat Lung Transplant Model Orlando, FL: STS 50th Annual Meeting; 2014 Jan. (STS 50th Annual Meeting).

      Ramakrishna Venkatesh, Nitin A Das, Steven LaBarbera, Geneva Baca, Ahmed Tawfik, Robert S. Figenshau. Acute Effects of Ureteral Stone Obstruction in a Solitary Kidney or in the Presence of a Normal Contralateral Kidney: Changes in the Renal Resistive Index and Ureteral Dynamics in an in vivo Porcine Model; 2010 Apr. (The Journal of Urology; vol. 183, no. 4).

      Journal Article

      Srinivas Mummidi, Das NA, Carpenter AJ, Tadashi Yoshida, Manjunath Yariswamy, Ricardo Mostany, Reza Izadpanah, Yusuke Higashi, Sergiy Sukhanov, Makoto Noda, Ulrich Siebenlist, Randy S. Rector, Bysani Chandrasekar. RECK suppresses interleukin-17/TRAF3IP2-mediated MMP-13 activation and human aortic smooth muscle cell migration and proliferation Journal of Cellular Physiology 2019 May.

      Javad Habibi, PhD, Annayya R Aroor, MD, PhD, Das NA, Camila M Manrique-Acevedo, MD, Megan S Johnson, MD, PhD, Melvin R Hayden, MD, Ravi Nistala, MD, Charles Wiedmeyer, PhD, Bysani Chandrasekar, PhD, DVM, Vincent G Demarco, PhD. The combination of a neprilysin inhibitor (sacubitril) and angiotensin-II receptor blocker (valsartan) attenuates glomerular and tubular injury in the Zucker Obese rat Cardiovascular Diabetology 2019 Mar;.

      DeArmond DT, Das NA, Restrepo CS, Johnson SB, Michalek JE, Hernandez, Brian. S. Pleural electrical impedance is a sensitive, real-time indicator of pneumothorax Journal of Surgical Research 2018 Nov;231:15-23.

      Das NA, Carpenter AJ, Yoshida T, Kumar SA, Gautam S, Mostany R., Isadpanah R, Kumar A, Mummidi S, Siebenlist U, Chandrasekar B. TRAF3IP2 mediates TWEAK/TWEAKR-induced pro-fibrotic responses in cultured cardiac fibroblasts and the heart Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology 2018 Aug;121:107-123.

      Makey IA, Sui JW, Huynh C, Das NA, Thomas M, Johnson SB. Lung transplant patients with coronary artery disease rarely die of cardiac causes Clinical Transplantation 2018 Jul;.

      Padilla, Jaume, Carpenter AJ, Das NA, Kandikattu, Hemanth, Lopez-Ongil, Susana, Martinez-Lemus, Luis A, Siebenlist, Ulrich, DeMarco, Vincent G, Chandrasekar, Bysani. TRAF3IP2 mediates high glucose-induced endothelin-1 production as well as endothelin-1-induced inflammation in endothelial cells American Journal of Physiology. Heart and Circulatory Physiology 2018 Jan;314(1):52-64.

      Das NA, Peters JI, Jeremy D. Simmons, Yibo Wang, Kevin P. O`Donnell, DeArmond DT, Coalson JJ, Brooks EG, Johnson SB. The efficacy of inhaled nanoparticle tacrolimus in preventing rejection in an orthotopic rat lung transplant model The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 2017 Dec;154(6):2144-2151.

      Mummidi S., Das NA, Carpenter AJ, Kandikattu H, Krenz M, Siebenlist U, Valente AJ, Chandrasekar B. Metformin inhibits aldosterone-induced cardiac fibroblast activation, migration and proliferation in vitro, and reverses aldosterone salt-induced cardiac fibrosis in vivo Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology 2017 Sep;98:95-102.

      DeArmond DT, Carswell AP, Louden CL, Simmons JD, Bayer J, Das NA, Johnson SB. Diagnosis of anastomotic leak: electrolyte detection versus barium fluoroscopy Journal of Surgical Research 2013 Jun;182(2):192-197.

      Gierada DS, Woods JC, Jacob RE, Bierhals AJ, Choong CK, Bartel ST, Chang YV, Das NA, Hong C, Lutey BA, Ritter JH, Pilgram TK, Cooper JD, Patterson GA, Battafarano RJ, Meyers BF, Yablonskiy DA, Conradi MS. Emphysema quantification in inflation-fixed lungs using low-dose computed tomography and 3He magnetic resonance imaging Journal of Computer Assisted Tomography 2010 Sep;34(5):773-779.

      Gierada DS, Bierhals AJ, Choong CK, Bartel ST, Ritter JH, Das NA, Hong C, Pilgram TK, Bae KT, Whiting BR, Woods JC, Hogg JC, Lutey BA, Battafarano RJ, Cooper JD, Meyers BF, Patterson GA. Effects of CT section thickness and reconstruction kernel on emphysema quantification relationship to the magnitude of the CT emphysema index Academic Radiology 2010 Feb;17(2):146-156.

      Gierada DS, Woods JC, Bierhals AJ, Bartel ST, Ritter JH, Choong CK, Das NA, Hong C, Pilgram TK, Chang YV, Jacob RE, Hogg JC, Battafarano RJ, Cooper JD, Meyers BF, Patterson GA, Yablonskiy DA, Conradi MS. Effects of diffusion time on short-range hyperpolarized (3)He diffusivity measurements in emphysema Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging 2009 Oct;30(4):801-808.

      Sugimoto S, Lin X, Lai J, Okazaki M, Das NA, Li W, Krupnick AS, Chen R, Jeong SS, Patterson GA, Kreisel D, Gelman AE. Apyrase treatment prevents ischemia-reperfusion injury in rat lung isografts The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 2009 Sep;138(3):752-759.

      Benway BM, Baca G, Bhayani SB, Das NA, Katz MD, Diaz DL, Maxwell KL, Badwan KH, Talcott MR, Liapis H, Cabello JM, Venkatesh R, Figenshau RS. Selective versus nonselective arterial clamping during laparoscopic partial nephrectomy: impact upon renal function in the setting of a solitary kidney in a porcine model Journal of Endourology 2009 Jul;23(7):1127-1133.

      Choong CK, Macklem PT, Pierce JA, Das NA, Lutey BA, Martinez CO, Cooper JD. Airway bypass improves the mechanical properties of explanted emphysematous lungs Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2008 Nov;178(9):902-905.

      Bhayani SB, Das NA. Robotic assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy for suspected renal cell carcinoma: retrospective review of surgical outcomes of 35 cases BMC Surg 2008 Sep;8:16-16.

      Krupnick AS, Gelman AE, Okazaki M, Lai J, Das N, Sugimoto S, Tung TH, Richardson SB, Patterson GA, Kreisel D, Das NA. The feasibility of diaphragmatic transplantation as potential therapy for treatment of respiratory failure associated with Duchenne muscular dystrophy: acute canine model Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 2008 Jun;135(6):1398-1399.

      Other

      Bayer, J, Das NA, Baisden CE, Rani M, Schwacha MG, Sako EY, Williams, RO, Peters JI, Johnson SB. Effect of inhaled tacrolimus on ischemia reperfusion injury in rat lung transplant model 93rd Annual Meeting of The American Association for Thoracic Surgery 2013 May;146(5).