Rajkumar Verma

My lab investigates the cause-effect-relationships of stroke outcome. we focus on following three specific areas of stroke research. Project 1: Stroke remains a leading cause of disability in the United States. Despite recent advances, interventions to reduce damage and enhance recovery after stroke are absent. In this project we will investigate a novel drug target “Purinergic receptor P2X4” for therapeutic exploitation in stroke. We will determine how the inhibition of P2X4R signaling influences these excessive immune during stroke using mice genetically engineered for global or selective deletion of P2X4R in total myeloid or infiltrating myeloid population and also by using pharmacological modulation. The overall goal of this project is to determine if modulation of P2X4R signaling in myeloid cells is a viable therapy for stroke, working towards our long-term goal of developing and identifying target-based therapies for stroke. Project 2: Encephalomyosynangiosis (EMS) is a neurosurgical procedure with low morbidity that is applied to promote collateral vascular formation in patients with moyamoya disease, a condition with progressive narrowing of cranial arteries and consequent low blood flow that increases risk for ischemic stroke. The procedure involves placement of a temporalis muscle flap on ischemic brain tissue. Human data suggest that extensive collateral formation occurs within a few months after EMS in patients with moyamoya disease. Therefore, it was hypothesized that EMS, which provides a local and robust tissue as a source of vascular endothelium and angiogenic growth factors, will supply growth factors for angiogenesis that could promote neuronal survival following ischemic stroke. As a proof of concept, We have established EMS surgery for the first time in mice after ischemic stroke. Preliminary data from this model show that EMS surgery temporalis muscle graft was bonded to the cortical surface after 21 days. Additionally, mice receiving EMS after stroke show increased lectin-positive blood vessel formation at 21 days and showed behavioral recovery compared to stroke mice that did not receive EMS. These data indicate that EMS may be a safe and feasible treatment to restore blood supply to ischemic tissue; however, more in-depth, longer-term studies are needed. Therefore, this model will be used to further investigate EMS for treating ischemic stroke fot the following overall goal to determine if EMS promotes angiogenesis after non-moyamoya ischemic stroke, and to determine if EMS promotes long-term functional recovery after non-moyamoya ischemic stroke. Project 3: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNAs and have emerged as a powerful intervention tool for many diseases including stroke. They regulate a broad spectrum of biological pathways through fine-tuning of protein expression levels and altering gene expression levels. miRNA can concurrently target multiple effectors of pathways involved in stroke pathology. In this project we focus on the differential expression of miRNA expressed in mice after stroke and determine if blocking (with genetic deletion or antagomirs) or enhancing (mimics) these target miRNA modulates their effects. The overall goal our lab is to determine if manipulation of target miRNAs can improve functional recovery after stroke.

Effect of encephalomyosynangiosis procedure on post stroke recovery in a permanent model of ischemic stroke. Diaz, Anthony; Gamiotea-Turro, Daylin; Yadav, Sanjeev Kumar; Bulsara, Ketan R; Verma, Rajkumar Experimental neurology 2026 Feb;396:115559 Validation and Optimization of Breeding Strategy for miR-141/200c Knockout Mice to Eliminate Off-Target Gene Silencing using FLPo Deleter. Srivastava, Rashmi; Yadav, Sanjeev Kumar; Cormier, Mary-Catherine; Lowther, Katie; Yee, Siu-Pok; Verma, Rajkumar bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology 2025 Oct; TRPM2 overactivation drives hyperlipidemia-induced dysfunction of myeloid cells and neurovascular units. Zong, Pengyu; Li, Cindy; Feng, Jianlin; Yue, Zhichao; Legere, Nicholas; Yu, Albert S; Shah, Fahad; Perez, Adrianna; Li, Zhu; Jellison, Evan; Mor