Abha Chauhan, Ph.D.

New York State Institute for Basic Research in
Developmental Disabilities (IBR)
Staten Island, New York

Dr. Abha Chauhan is Head of the Developmental Neuroscience Laboratory at the New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities (IBR), Staten Island, New York. She is also an Adjunct Professor in the Neuroscience doctoral subprogram at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Dr. Chauhan received her M.S. (Biochemistry) and Ph.D. from the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, India. From 1983 to 1984, she worked as a research associate at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York. Dr. Chauhan then joined IBR, where she has authored over 90 publications in the fields of oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, membrane biochemistry, signal transduction, environmental risk factors, Alzheimer's disease, and autism. She is the editor of the book Autism: Oxidative Stress, Inflammation and Immune Abnormalities and of three Special Issues on Oxidative Stress, Mitochondrial Dysfunction, and Inflammation in Autism and in Alzheimer's Disease. Dr. Chauhan has also organized and chaired symposiums on "Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in Autism Spectrum Disorders." She has served as a member of the National Scientific Advisory Council (NSAC) of the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR). Dr. Chauhan has been awarded research grants as a principal investigator from the Department of Defense, Autism Speaks, Autism Research Institute, and the California Walnut Commission, and as a co-principal investigator from the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Chauhan's publications include reports on oxidative stress; mitochondrial dysfunction; immune response; signal transduction and membrane abnormalities in autism; the beneficial effects of a diet with walnuts on memory and learning skills in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease; the protective effects of walnuts against Alzheimer's amyloid beta protein-induced cell death and oxidative stress; identification of factors influencing aggregation and fibrillization of amyloid beta protein; the anti-amyloidogenic, anti-oxidant, and anti-apoptotic roles of gelsolin; the action of amyloid beta protein on protein kinases; and the effects of environmental agents such as bisphenol A and methylmercury on development, behavior, and oxidative stress in Drosophila and in cell cultures.