Hemanth Madhu Cherukury is a recent graduate of the UC Irvine School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences’ PhD in Pharmacological Sciences program, who presented his dissertation defense, “Understanding the mechanisms underlying the anti-hyperalgesic action of cannabidiol (CBD) in sickle mice,” on May 22nd.
Cherukury earned his Master of Science degree in Biotechnology from UCI and completed his undergraduate studies at CSU Fullerton. Before entering the PhD program, Cherukury was a researcher in the Zhao Lab, where he focused on “developing an under-one-hour ddPCR diagnostic test to detect multiple antibiotic resistant microorganisms for sepsis.”
As a PhD student, Cherukury joined the lab of Dr. Kalpna Gupta of the UCI School of Medicine. Dr. Gupta’s research is centered on cancer and sickle cell disease (SCD) pain, the side effects of using opioids to treat pain, and the development of safer pain treatments, including cannabinoids.
“In Dr. Gupta’s lab, I worked to investigate the therapeutic potential of cannabidiol (CBD) to treat pain and inflammation in people with sickle cell disease,” said Cherukury.
His work with Dr. Gupta led to the development of his dissertation defense, which explores the merits of CBD as a non-opioid analgesic treatment for sickle cell disease (SCD) pain. Using a mouse model, Cherukury and the research team demonstrated the ways in which CBD treatment can benefit people with SCD, providing a safer pain relief alternative.
“We found that treating both male and female sickle mice with CBD led to significant reduction in chronic pain-like behaviors, oxidative stress, and inflammation, which was sustained for more than a week after the discontinuation of CBD, suggesting a disease-modifying effect in the treatment of SCD,” Cherukury explained. “Furthermore, long-term CBD use did not result in motor coordination or memory impairment, providing evidence that long-term CBD use may be without major side effects. While more investigation is required, our data provide support for considering the use of CBD as an analgesic for sickle cell pain and to treat other painful conditions such as cancer.”
Working toward solutions that ultimately improve patient care — as was the goal of this research — is something that Cherukury will bring into his career as he graduates from the UCI School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences.
“I’m planning to work in the pharmaceutical and/or biotech industry, though I’m also keeping my options open to government opportunities such as at the FDA, CDC, or EPA, where I want to work with the country’s best on important problems that affect people in their day to day lives,” he shared. “It’s been very challenging — but highly rewarding — to be in the PhD program. I met a lot of great, talented researchers who I learned a lot from, and I hope I’ve been able to positively impact each of them as well.”
