Department of Biological Sciences

Sudarshan K. Malhotra

Professor Emeritus

Mailing address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta,
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2E9
Fax address: (780) 492-9234

Academic degrees

• BSc: University College, Hoshiarpur, Panjab, India
• Msc: Panjab University, India
• PhD: Panjab University, India; Oxford University, England
• M.A.: Oxford University, England, by Decree
• D.Sc.: Oxford University, England

Areas of Involvement

TEACHING:

• History and Theory of Biology
• Current Topics in Cell Physiology
• Current Topics in Cellular Organization
• Electron Microscopy
• Monoclonal Antibodies
• Principles of Animal Physiology

ADMINISTRATION:

University

• General Faculty Council (1974-1977); (1989-1992).
• Council of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research (1976-1978).
• Committee on Biotechnology (1987-1989).
• Indo-Canadian Shastri Institute (Assoc. Director) (1988-89).
• General Salaries and Promotion Committee (1990-1992).
• GFC Nominating Committee (1991-92).
• Department Chair Selection Committees (1993-96); Selection for Chairman of Rehabilitation Medicine (1994); Review Committee for Chairman of Department of Anaesthesia (1993) .

Faculty

• Cell Biotechnology Program (1985-1991)
• Biology Seminars Coordinator (1973-1981)
• Tenure Committee (1972-1974), (1991-93)
• McCalla Professorships Selection Committee

Department

• Graduate Students Committee (1977-1979)
• Library Committee (1976-78)
• Scholarship Awards Committee (1979/80)
• Selection Committee for Killam Professorship and Marshall Tory Professorship (1981/82)
• Chairman, NSERC/URF Scholarship Committee (1983/84)
• Seminars (1984/85, Coordinator, 2nd term)
• Salary increments and Promotions (1985/86)
• Selection Committee for AHFMR Scholars (1982-1987, Chairman 1985-1987)
• Library Co-ordinator (1985-1987)
• Budget Committee (1986/87)

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES:

Grant Selection Committees

• Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research

Chairman, Site-Visit Committee to Department of Anatomy, University of Calgary, January 1981.

Site-Visit Committee to Departments of Biochemistry and Medical Bacteriology, University of Alberta, June 1982.

• National Science Foundation, Washington D.C.

External referee for grant application for biological instrumentation.

• The University of Western Ontario

Referee for Academic Development Fund.

• The MRC, Canada and NSERC of Canada

Referee for applications for grants-in-aid and Medical Scientist and Equipment, and operating grants.

External Referee for Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Scientific Meetings (organization)

• Local organizer of the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Cell Biology Society held in June 1969 in Edmonton.
• Sessional Chairman for IV Cell Biology Conference in New Delhi, December 1971.
• Chairman and Program Co-ordinator for section on Cellular Ultrastructure and Function for the Annual Meeting of the Indian Cell Biology Society held in January 1978 in New Delhi.
• Sessional Chairman for the Annual Congress of Cytology and Cytogenetics, Chandigarh, India.
• Organized symposium for Microscopical Society of Canada, at the Annual Meeting June 1982: Cellular Membranes and Gap Junctions.
• Co-chairman of Symposium on Biological Membranes, Canadian Federation of Biological Societies, Annual Meeting June 1983.
• Chairman, Symposium on "Recent Developments in Immunological Techniques, Immunological Society of India, Jan 1985, Hyderabad.
• Organizer and Chairman: Symposium on Fusion of Biological Membranes. Cosponsored by Canadian Society for Cell Biology and Physiology Society of Canada, Federation Meetings, June 1985.
• Director, Canadian Society for Cell Biology, June 1985 - June 1988.
• Councillors at large, Microscopical Society of Canada, 1986 - 1988.
• Chairman, Alberta Section of Microscopical Society of Canada. August 1986 - August 1988.
• Co-chairman & organizer: Minisymposium on Intercellular Junctions.
• Fourth International Congress of Cell Biology. Montreal, August, 1988.
• Chairman and organizer, Minisymposium on Cytoskeleton: Microscopical Society of Canada. Calgary, June, 1991.
• Co-director, Workshop on the isolation and characterization of different cell types in Brain sponsored by Neuroscience Society of India and School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Dec. 7th - 19th, 1992.

Editor

Series on :

• Advances in Structural Biology, Jai Press Inc., Greenwich, Connecticut since 1989.
• Advances in Neural Science, Jai Press Inc., Greenwich, Connecticut since 1990

Editor-in-Chief, North America

• Cytobios

Editorial Boards

• Cytobios
• Microbios
• Microbios Letters (now Biomedical Letters)
• Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry until December 1993

Consultant

• United Nations Development Program/Council of Scientific and Industrial Research - TOKTEN Program: Transfer for Knowledge/Know-how Through Expatriat Nationals November-December 1990 (6 weeks).

Refereed publications for

• Canadian Journal of Microbiology
• Canadian Journal of Biochemistry (J. of Cell Biology and Biochemistry)
• Canadian Journal of Botany
• Canadian Journal of Cytology and Genetics
• Cytobios
• Microbios
• Microbios Letters
• International J. Developmental Neuroscience
• American J. Pathology

Current Research interests

Neural cell biology pertaining to the central nervous system (CNS), particularly the characterization of astrocytes and the regulation of their proliferation and transformation into reactive astrocytes. The latter appear in the CNS following injury or in diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis. The emphasis is on the relationship of the cytoskeleton to changes in cell shape, cytoplasmic organization, differentiation, and extracellular matrix.

Recent Publications

Malhotra, S.K. and T.K. Shnitka. 1994. Adaptive plasticity and diversity among reactive astrocytes in central nervous system. Biomedical Letters, 49: 273-302.

Singh, M.V., K.J. Price, R. Bhatnagar and S.K. Malhotra. 1994. Novel rod-shaped structures identified in glioma cell nuclei by immunolabelling and confocal laser fluorescence microscopy. Biomedical Letters 50: 163-172.

Malhotra, S.K., R. Bhatnagar, T.K. Shnitka, J.J. Herrera, J.R. Koke and M.V. Singh. 1995. Rat glioma cell line as a model for astrogliosis. Cytobios 82: 39-51.

Jeffcoat, S., L. Givens, S. Bolanos, S. Malhotra and J. Koke. A novel intermediate filament-associated protein: further characterization of the G.3.5 antigen. Accepted for publication in Cytobios July 7, 1995.

Malhotra, S.K. and Shnitka, T.K. 1995. The plasma membrane: membrane proteins and their ineractions. In Principles of Medical Biology, vol. 2. Jai Press Inc. 1-18.

Singh, M.V. and S.K. Malhotra. 1996. The gap junction. In Advances in Structural Biology, Vol. 4, Jai Press, Greenwich, Connecticut, 41-74.

Malhotra, S.K., Luong, L.T., Bhatnagar, R., and Shnitka, T.K. 1997. Up-regulation of reactive astrogliosis in the glioma 9L cell line by combined mechanical and chemical injuries. Cytobios, in press.

Singh, V.M., Bhatnagar, R., Price, C.J. and Malhotra, S.K. 1997. Gap Junctions in 9L and C6 glioma cells; correlation with growth characteristics. Cytobios, in press.

Faculty

Biological Sciences Home Page