Education Publications Contact Information

Praveen Thumbikat, PhD
Research Assistant Professor

Dr. Praveen Thumbikat completed his DVM and MVSc in Veterinary Medicine in India at Kerala Agricultural University and G.B. Pant University, respectively. He received his PhD at The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in Comparative Medicine and Molecular Biosciences in 2004, where his thesis work in Dr. Samuel Maheswaran’s lab entailed characterizing the actions of LktA of M. haemolytica in subverting the innate immune response. Dr. Thumbikat moved to Northwestern University in 2004 to perform postdoctoral work in Dr. Anthony Schaeffer and Dr. David Klumpp’s laboratory.

In 2006, Dr. Thumbikat was appointed to Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Urology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. His continuing work with Dr. Schaeffer is focused on studying the disease processes underlying chronic prostatitis/ chronic pelvic pain syndrome as well as inflammation in the human prostate.

Education

Undergraduate: Kerala Agricultural University and G.B. Pant University, India
Graduate: PhD, Comparative Medicine and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Post-graduate: Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL

Selected Publications
The following publications are selected from a complete CV. For more information on Dr. Thumbikat's scholarly productivity, please contact his office.

Journal Articles

1. Jeyaseelan, S., Kannan, M. S., Briggs, R. E., Thumbikat, P., Maheswaran, S. K. Mannheimia haemolytica leukotoxin activates a nonreceptor tyrosine kinase signaling cascade in bovine leukocytes, which induces biological effects. Infect Immun. 2001 Oct; 69(10):6131-9.
   

2. Thumbikat, P., Briggs, R. E., Kannan, M. S., and Maheswaran, S. K. Biological effects of two genetically defined leukotoxin mutants of Mannheimia haemolytica. Microb Pathog 2003 May; 34: 217-226
   

3. Malazdrewich, C., Thumbikat, P., and Maheswaran, S. K. Pharmacological inhibition of Mannheimia haemolytica lipopolysaccharide and leukotoxin-induced cytokine expression in bovine alveolar macrophages. Microb Pathog. 2004 Mar; 36(3): 159-69
   

4. Malazdrewich, C., Thumbikat, P., and Maheswaran, S. K. Protective effect of dexamethasone in experimental bovine pneumonic mannheimiosis. Microb Pathog. 2004 Apr;36(4):227-36.
   

5. Thumbikat, P., Dileepan, T., Kannan, M. S., and Maheswaran, S. K. Mechanisms underlying Mannheimia haemolytica leukotoxin-induced oncosis and apoptosis of bovine alveolar macrophages. Microb Pathog. 2005 Apr; 38(4):161-72.
   

6. Dileepan, T., Thumbikat, P., Walcheck, B., Kannan, M. S., and Maheswaran, S. K., Recombinant expression of bovine LFA-1 and characterization of its role as a receptor for Mannheimia haemolytica leukotoxin. Microb Pathog 2005 May-Jun; 38(5-6):249-57
   

7. Dileepan, T., Kannan, M.S., Walcheck, B., Thumbikat, P., Maheswaran S.K.. Mapping of the binding site for Mannheimia haemolytica leukotoxin within bovine CD18. Infect Immun. 2005 Aug; 73(8):5233-7.
   

8. Thumbikat, P., Dileepan, T., Kannan, M. S., and Maheswaran, S. K.. Characterization of Mannheimia (Pasteurella) haemolytica leukotoxin interaction with bovine alveolar macrophage beta2 integrins. Vet Res. 2005 Sep-Dec; 36(5-6):771-86.
   

9. Thumbikat, P., Waltenbaugh, C., Schaeffer, A. J., and Klumpp, D. J. Antigen-specific responses accelerate bacterial clearance in the bladder. J Immunol. 2006 Mar 1; 176(5):3080-6.
   

10. Klumpp, D.J., Rycyk, M.T., Chen, M. C., Thumbikat, P., Sengupta, S., and Schaeffer, A. J. Uropathogenic E.coli induce extrinsic and intrinsic cascades to initiate urothelial apoptosis. Infect Immun. 2006 Sep; 74(9):5106-13
    

11. Veliceasa, D., Ivanovic, M., Hoepfner, F.T., Thumbikat, P., Volpert, O.V., and Smith, N.D. Transient potential receptor channel 4 controls thrombospondin-1 secretion and angiogenesis in renal cell carcinoma.FEBS J. 2007 Nov 15;
    

12. Kundu, S.D., Lee, C., Billips, B.K., Habermacher, G.M., Zhang, Q., Liu, V., Wong, L.Y., Klumpp, D. J., and Thumbikat, P. The Toll Like Receptor Pathway: A Novel Mechanism of Infection-Induced Carcinogenesis of Prostate Epithelial Cells. Prostate. 2008 Feb 1;68(2):223-9.
    

13. Rudick, C.N., Schaeffer, A.J., and Thumbikat, P. Experimental Autoimmune Prostatitis induces chronic pelvic pain. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2008 Apr;294(4):R1268-75.
    

14. Desireddi, V.N, Campbell, P.L., Stern, J.A., Sobkoviak, R., Chuai, S., Shahrara, S., Thumbikat, P., Pope, R.J., Landis, R.J., Koch, A.E., and Schaeffer, A.J. Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP) and macrophage inflammatory protein-1α (MIP) as novel biomarkers for the chronic pelvic pain syndrome. J Urol. 2008 May;179(5):1857-61.
    

15. Thumbikat, P., Berry, R.E., Schaeffer, A.J., and Klumpp, D. J. Differentiation-Induced Uroplakin III expression promotes urothelial cell death in response to uropathogenic E. coli. Microb. Infect. 2008 (in press).
    
    

Contact Information

Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine
Department of Urology
303 East Chicago Avenue, Tarry 16-703
Chicago, IL 60611-3008
(312) 503-1050
Fax (312) 908-7275
thumbikat@northwestern.edu