Dr Vikram Tallapragada

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Dr Vikram Tallapragada is an integrative physiologist and pharmacologist by training, with expertise in in-vivo and in-vitro electrophysiology. He completed his PhD in cardiovascular and respiratory neuroscience at Macquarie University, Australia in 2012.

Dr Tallapragada is accomplished in several techniques, including, animal handling (mice, rats and frogs), in-vivo and in-vitro electrophysiology, and in-vivo tract tracing using lentiviral vectors.

As a research fellow with Professor Jane Hanrahan in the Faculty of Pharmacy (University of Sydney), Dr Tallapragada’s focus was on in-vitro patch clamp electrophysiology. This project combined reactive cysteine labelling whilst using genetic manipulations to create various cysteine mutants (PCR, DNA/RNA extraction and cell transfection, gene cloning, manipulation and expression). He also investigated the structural relationships of ligands at the anaesthetic binding site (benzodiazepine sites) on GABA_A receptors expressed in xenopus laevis eggs.

Dr Tallapragada moved back to cardiovascular physiology by studying how cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure would induce neurodegenerative diseases. He worked with Professor David Celermajer (Heart Research Institute) and Professor Jonathan Stone (University of Sydney) before joining the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in 2018. Working with Professor Richard Harvey, Dr Tallapragada focusses on delicate microsurgical techniques that help in understanding the plasticity of adult cardiac stem cells, and cardiac regeneration.