About

Arul Jayaraman is an Executive Associate Dean of the Texas A&M University College of Engineering, a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, and holds the Ray B. Nesbitt Endowed Chair. He is also an affiliated faculty member in Biomedical Engineering. His educational background includes a Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine, obtained in 1998, an M.S. from Tufts University in 1994, and a B.S. from Birla Institute of Technology & Science in 1987. His research interests focus on molecular systems biotechnology, particularly on using integrated experimental and modeling approaches to investigate problems related to human health and medicine. His work encompasses systems biology of cytokine signaling in inflammatory diseases, inter-kingdom signaling interactions between bacteria and human cells in gastrointestinal tract infections, and the development of microfluidic model systems for combinatorial drug screening and vascular tissue engineering. Dr. Jayaraman has received numerous awards and honors, including being named a Texas A&M Presidential Impact Fellow in 2017, holding the Ray Nesbitt Chair since 2016, and being recognized as a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering in 2015. His contributions to the field are reflected in his leadership roles, research achievements, and recognition for teaching excellence.

Research topics

• Biochemistry
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Pharmacology
• Cell biology
• Medicine
• Cancer research
• Psychiatry
• Bioinformatics
• Endocrinology
• Computational biology
• Microbiology
• Internal medicine

Selected publications

• Interplay between dietary fiber, macrophages and colonocytes in a microfluidic model of host-microbiota interactions in colorectal cancer

  Lab on a Chip · 2025-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  models to study the role of microbial metabolism of dietary molecules on colorectal cancer colonocyte viability in the presence of macrophages.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• 3,3′-Diindolylmethane and 1,4-dihydroxy-2-naphthoic acid prevent chronic mild stress induced depressive-like behaviors in female mice

  Journal of Affective Disorders · 2022 · 17 citations

  • Pharmacology
  • Internal medicine
  • Chemistry
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Flavonoids: structure–function and mechanisms of action and opportunities for drug development

  Toxicological Research · 2021 · 162 citations

  • Pharmacology
  • Computational biology
  • Medicine
  DOI

• Loss of aryl hydrocarbon receptor potentiates FoxM1 signaling to enhance self‐renewal of colonic stem and progenitor cells

  The EMBO Journal · 2020 · 43 citations

  • Biology
  • Cell biology
  • Cancer research
  DOI

• Biphasic chemotaxis of <i>Escherichia coli</i> to the microbiota metabolite indole

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2020 · 68 citations

  • Microbiology
  • Chemistry
  • Biology

  to a range of indole concentrations and measured the dynamic responses of individual flagellar motors to determine the chemotaxis response. Below 1 mM indole, a repellent-only response was observed. At 1 mM indole and higher, a time-dependent inversion from a repellent to an attractant response was observed. The repellent and attractant responses were mediated by the Tsr and Tar chemoreceptors, respectively. Also, the flagellar motor itself mediated a repellent response independent of the receptors. Chemotaxis assays revealed that receptor-mediated adaptation to indole caused a bipartite response-wild-type cells were attracted to regions of high indole concentration if they had previously adapted to indole but were otherwise repelled. We propose that indole spatially segregates cells based on their state of adaptation to repel invaders while recruiting beneficial resident bacteria to growing microbial communities within the GI tract.

  DOI

• Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor (AHR) Ligands as Selective AHR Modulators (SAhRMs)

  International Journal of Molecular Sciences · 2020 · 127 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Chemistry
  • Biochemistry
  • Pharmacology

  The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) was first identified as the intracellular protein that bound and mediated the toxic effects of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD, dioxin) and dioxin-like compounds (DLCs). Subsequent studies show that the AhR plays an important role in maintaining cellular homeostasis and in pathophysiology, and there is increasing evidence that the AhR is an important drug target. The AhR binds structurally diverse compounds, including pharmaceuticals, phytochemicals and endogenous biochemicals, some of which may serve as endogenous ligands. Classification of DLCs and non-DLCs based on their persistence (metabolism), toxicities, binding to wild-type/mutant AhR and structural similarities have been reported. This review provides data suggesting that ligands for the AhR are selective AhR modulators (SAhRMs) that exhibit tissue/cell-specific AhR agonist and antagonist activities, and that their functional diversity is similar to selective receptor modulators that target steroid hormone and other nuclear receptors.

  DOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R21AI095788

  NIH · $380k · 2015

• CDI-Type II: Extracting Population and Stochastic Effects on Signaling Activity from Transcription Factor Profiles

  NSF · $1.1M · 2009–2013

• Dietary Flavonoids-Microbiota-Ah Receptor Interactions in the Gut

  NIH · $1.9M · 2018–2023

• Diet induced modifications of microbiota metabolites in colon tumorigenesis

  NIH · $2.0M · 2016–2021

• CAREER: Inter-kingdom Signaling as a Paradigm for Molecular Systems Biology

  NSF · $400k · 2009–2014

Frequent coauthors

• Robert C. Alaniz

  Texas A&M Health Science Center

  116 shared

• Kyongbum Lee

  Tufts University

  104 shared

• Martin L. Yarmush

  Shriners Hospitals for Children - Boston

  98 shared

• Rani Menon

  Texas A&M University

  75 shared

• Robert S. Chapkin

  Texas A&M University

  66 shared

• Stephen Safe

  Texas A&M University

  65 shared

• Evelyn Callaway

  Texas A&M University

  56 shared

• Yufang Ding

  Texas A&M University

  52 shared

Education

• PhD, Chemical Engineering

  University of California, Irvine

  1998

• MS, Chemical and Biological Engineering

  Tufts University

  1994

• B.E (Hons), Chemical Engineering

  Birla Institute of Technology and Science

  1992

• M.Sc (Hons), Physics

  Birla Institute of Technology and Science

  1992

Awards & honors

• Texas A&M Presidential Impact Fellow (2017)
• Texas Engineering Experiment Station Select Fellow (2017)
• Holder of the Ray Nesbitt Chair (2016)
• Fellow, American Institute of Medical and Biological Enginee…
• Engineering Genesis Award, Texas A&M Engineering Experiment…