Akash Gunjan Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Job Description
Dr. Gunjan is a research scientist and a medical educator. He is involved in teaching various graduate level courses at the medical school that draw upon his expertise in biochemistry, genetics, cell & molecular biology, as well as cancer biology. He serves as the director of the Integrated Clinical Science course that delivers much of the basic sciences curriculum for first year Physician Assistant students. He also serves as the co-course director for the Professional and Career Development for the Biomedical Sciences course that trains graduate students in how to seek employment opportunities in a variety of career paths after graduating with their Ph.D. degrees. In research, Dr. Gunjan is currently leveraging his over three decades of research experience in the field of chromatin structure and function, and over two decades in DNA repair and genome stability to develop therapies for hard-to-treat human health conditions. Scholars at all academic levels, including high school students, perform basic research using yeast, cultured patient derived human cells and organoids, fruit flies and mice in his laboratory to generate data that is then used to develop and test novel treatments for fatal childhood brain tumors and difficult to treat adult cancers in pre-clinical mouse models before translating the most promising therapies to the clinic to benefit human patients. Additionally, in recent years, Dr. Gunjan has been developing new therapies using new combinations of pre-existing drugs for fibrotic diseases, such as non-cancerous skin tumors called keloids, and lung fibrosis. Based on his research, Dr. Gunjan has multiple clinically relevant patent applications that can potentially be developed into effective therapies for several of these difficult to treat diseases.
Biosketch
After finishing college in India, Dr. Gunjan moved to the United States to obtain his Ph.D. degree in biochemistry at the University of Mississippi Medical Center where he specialized in the study of chromatin structure and function using cultured mammalian cells. He then moved to London, England, to carry out his post-doctoral research work at Cancer Research UK where he gained expertise in the field of DNA damage and repair using the budding yeast as a genetic model system. He joined the faculty of the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the Florida State University College of Medicine as an Assistant Professor in March 2005. He was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in August 2013.
Dr. Gunjan’s first major scientific contribution stemmed from his Ph.D. research and included the first ever live cell microscopy-based measurements of the mobility of histone proteins that package our DNA and were published in Nature . This research showed that contrary to popular belief, histone H1 did not stay bound tightly to DNA for long but cycled on and off DNA every few minutes, thereby allowing opportunities for the sequence information in the DNA to be read by vital cellular processes, such as transcription.
Dr. Gunjan’s post-doctoral work demonstrated that histone proteins, which were believed to be stable for many months to many years, can have very short half-lives of ~30 minutes when not bound to DNA, with major ramifications for genome stability. These findings were published in Cell , and were awarded the Kirsten-Hardiman Redon Prize , and led to him being listed as one of the 12 finalists for the European Cell Signaler Award in 2004.
After moving to Florida State University (FSU) to pursue his independent research career, Dr. Gunjan tackled the question of how histones were regulated at the protein level, which had remained unresolved for over half a century. His laboratory determined the entire pathway and the major factors involved in the posttranslational regulation of histone proteins in a phosphorylation and ubiquitylation dependent manner. This work was published in Nature Cell Biology and was selected for the Faculty of 1000 .
After attaining tenure at FSU, Dr. Gunjan switched to performing clinically relevant translational research that will help patients within the foreseeable future. He started studying fatal childhood brain cancers associated with mutations in histone H3. After over a decade of painstaking work, his laboratory is now testing very promising targeted therapeutics primarily using repurposed drugs for these and other types of cancers using mouse models. He is also developing therapies for difficult-to-treat fibrotic skin tumors called keloids. His laboratory has already developed a therapeutic strategy involving a single low dose of skin-deep radiation that blocks keloid recurrence after surgery and this study was published in the Journal of American Academy of Dermatology . He is now expanding his research to seek therapies for additional fibrotic diseases such as lung fibrosis. Dr. Gunjan’s recent research focus has resulted in multiple patent applications .
Dr. Gunjan is also passionate about mentoring students at different academic levels in performing research in my lab. By the summer of 2026, he had mentored 28 high school students, 44 undergraduates, 10 medical students, 8 Ph.D. students and 3 postdoctoral fellows in his lab, all of whom are engaged in science related professions or pursuing advanced degrees in science. He was one of the finalists for the Community Engaged Teaching Award at Florida State University for the year 2025. Dr. Gunjan has served on 70 Ph.D. thesis committees (32 as the "university" or “external” representative), 4 master’s thesis and 11 bachelor’s thesis committees. Additionally, he serves as a course director for 2 graduate courses, and lectures in 3 other graduate courses. Finally, Dr. Gunjan’s service to the scientific community includes peer-reviewing for over two dozen scientific journals and 8 national and international funding agencies.
Education
1991 – 1994 B.Sc. Nizam College, Hyderabad, India. Triple major – Genetics, Chemistry and Zoology
1994 – 1999 Ph.D. Department of Biochemistry, University of Mississippi Medical Center, USA
2000 – 2004 Post-doctoral Fellow, Cancer Research UK, United Kingdom
Service
Departmental service
1.) Departmental Graduate Program Committee (GPC; 2006 – 2010; 2018 - present)
2.) Departmental Equipment Committee (2006 – 2010; 2013 – present; Chair 2024 - present)
3.) Mentoring Committee for Junior Faculty (2019 – present; serves on committees of 2 junior faculty)
4.) Departmental Faculty Development Committee (2019 – 2020)
5.) Departmental Faculty Recruitment Committee (2006 – 2010; 2018 - 2019)
6.) Departmental Seminar Committee (Spring 2007; 2013 – 2014)
7.) Departmental Space Committee (2010 – 2012)
8.) Departmental Executive Committee (2007 – 2009)
9.) Departmental Promotion and Tenure Committee (2006 – 2009)
10.) Search Committee for the Rodger’s chair (2006 – 2009)
11.) Departmental Graduate Admissions Committee (2006 - 2007)
12.) Departmental Graduate Student Recruitment Committee (2006 - 2007)
College of Medicine service
1.) College of Medicine Medical Student Admissions Committee (2006 – 2009; 2013 - present)
2.) Faculty Advisor for medical students (2006 – present; advises 4-6 students per year)
3.) Faculty Council Executive Committee (FCEC; 2024 - present)
4.) College of Medicine Summer Research Fellowship (SRF) Committee (2016 – present)
5.) Interviewer for applicants for the Physician Assistant program (2017–2018)
6.) Biomedical Sciences Chair Search Committee (2008 – 2009)
7.) Appeals committee to evaluate the decisions of the College of Medicine Student Evaluation & Promotion Committee (2008)
Florida State University service
1.) Reviewer for FSU CRC grants (2024 – present)
2.) FSU mock study section for grant writing (2023 - present)
3.) FSU Faculty Senate (2020 - 2024)
4.) Faculty Senate Standing Committee on Sustainability (2020-2023)
5.) Postdoctoral Travel Grant Review Panel (2016 - 2020)
Community service
1.) Mentors 2-3 rising twelfth graders from all over Florida in his lab most summers through the FSU Young Scholars Program (YSP; https://ysp.osta.fsu.edu/)
2.) Mentors 2-4 local high school students in his lab each year, especially during the summer
3.) Reviews manuscripts for over two dozen scientific journals including the Nature family of journals
4.) Reviews grants for eight national and international funding agencies, including NIH, NSF, and DoD.
Honors/Awards
Nominated to Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, USA, 1996.
National Dean’s List student, USA, 1996-1997.
Awarded the Dean's Award for the Most Outstanding Ph.D. Student, University of Mississippi Medical Center, USA, May 2000.
Awarded the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (UK) post-doctoral fellowship (March 2000 - March 2003).
First Indian citizen to be awarded the prestigious European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) long-term post-doctoral fellowship (January 2001 - December 2002).
Awarded the Cancer Research UK post-doctoral fellowship (January 2003 - March 2005).
Awarded the 2004 Kirsten-Hardiman Redon Prize for his paper in Cell (Vol.115, pages 537-549) which "shows outstanding research novelty and contributes to advancing our knowledge of the causes and treatment of cancer".
Ranked among the top 12 candidates for the 2004 European Cell Signaler of the Year Award.
Awarded the prestigious 5-year David Phillips Career Development Fellowship from BBSRC, UK, which he had to turn down due to his move to Florida State University (June 2004-2009).
Received the award for Outstanding Junior Faculty Researcher 2009-2010, Florida State University College of Medicine.
Finalist for the Community Engaged Teaching Award at Florida State University, 2025.
Memberships
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyRadiation Research Society
Courses
TEACHING IN GRADUATE COURSES: Bioregulation; Introduction to Biomedical Sciences Research; Special Topics in Biomedical Sciences; Professional and Career Development for the Biomedical Sciences (Co-Course Director)
TEACHING IN PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT PROGRAM: Integrated Clinical Science (Course Director)
Research Focus
Over the past decade, Dr. Gunjan’s research has pivoted from carrying out basic research to pre-clinical and translational research aimed at developing and testing therapies for hard-to-treat human diseases primarily using novel combinations of repurposed approved drugs. Much of our recent work is unpublished as we are actively seeking patents for our translational findings (please see published patent details at https://patents.justia.com/inventor/akash-gunjan ). One of our main interests right now is to explore how histone variants and epigenetic modifications contribute to DNA repair and cancer. We are studying how specific histone mutations result in childhood tumors such as pediatric high-grade gliomas (pHGG) and to test potential therapeutic strategies for such tumors in a mouse xenograft model ( https://med.fsu.edu/iprd/pediatric-high-grade-glioma ). We are also working on developing therapeutics for breast, ovarian, prostate, and pancreatic cancers that are Homologous Recombination Deficient (HRD). Additionally, we are also studying the roles of frequent mutations in N-Methyl D-Aspartate (NMDA) receptor subunits (that are believed to be found mainly in the brain) in skin cancer called melanomas. Apart from developing cancer therapeutics, we are doing collaborative work with engineers ( https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40827470/ ) and clinicians to develop better therapeutic strategies such as superficial radiation for non-cancerous skin tumors called keloids using patient samples ( https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32540415/ ) and applying machine learning to clinical datasets ( https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.05.25326913v1 ). Additionally, we are performing large scale genomic sequencing studies on these samples to understand the molecular basis of keloids and their response to therapy. More recently, we have expanded our expertise in treating fibrotic keloids to develop therapies for additional fibrotic diseases such as lung fibrosis. We use budding yeast, fruit flies, cultured mammalian cells and organoids, as well as mice as model systems to study aspects of chromatin, epigenetics, DNA repair, and cancer biology. We employ biochemical, cell and molecular biological, computational, genetic and genomic tools in our research and push the boundaries of what can be done with cutting edge live cell microscopy ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgqo_2zGo7k ) and high-end mass spectrometry.
Publications
Zamani, N., Tirgan M.H., and Gunjan, A. Are we using too much Triamcinolone Acetonide for intralesional keloid therapy? Correlation between in vitro and in vivo data. Journal of American Academy of Dermatology. UNDER REVISION
*Zamani, N., *Akbari, P., Zamani, M., Rodriguez, C.A., Tirgan M.H., and Gunjan, A. Leveraging machine learning and clinical data to predict response to intralesional corticosteroids in keloid patients. Journal of American Academy of Dermatology. UNDER REVISION. ( Medrxiv: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.05.25326913 ) *Equal contribution.
*Phillips, E., *Menz, S.L., *Giovinazzi, S., Hagemeyer, C., Kanga, K.J.W., Zamani, N., Muti, S., Singh, R.K., Canzani, D., Kabbaj, Marie-Helene M., Davidson, M.W., and Gunjan, A.Histone variant H3.3 plays an evolutionarily conserved role in DNA repair that can be targeted for cancer therapy. The EMBO Journal. UNDER REVISON. *Equal contribution.
Boykin, J., Zamani, N., *Gunjan, A.,& *Chung, H. (2025). Multifunctional bio-inspired biomedical adhesive featuring instant adhesion for topical drug delivery. Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 3: 11032-11045. * Co-corresponding authors.
Beesley, S., Gunjan, A., and Kumar, S.S. (2023). Visualizing the triheteromeric N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor subunit composition . Frontiers in Synaptic Neuroscience, 15: 1156777.
Phillips, E. O. N., & Gunjan, A.(2022). Histone variants: The unsung guardians of the genome. DNA Repair , 112: 103301.
*Phillips, E., *Giovinazzi, S., *Menz, S. L., Son, Y., and Gunjan, A.(2021). Preparation of cell extracts by cryogrinding in an automated freezer mill. Journal of Visual Experiments , 167. *Equal contribution.
*Son, Y., *Phillips, E., Magrini, K., Rosenberg, L., Stefanovic, B.,Wolfe, C. Shaath, T., Om, A., Cohen, G., and Gunjan, A.(2020). Treatment of keloids with a single dose of low energy superficial X-ray radiation to prevent recurrence after surgical excision: an in vitro and in vivo study. Journal of American Academy of Dermatology , 83: 1304-1314. *Equal contribution.
Beesley, S., Sullenberger, T., Pilli, J., Abbasi, S., Gunjan, A.and Kumar, S.S. (2019). Co-localization of distinct NMDA receptor subtypes at excitatory synapses in the entorhinal cortex. Journal of Neurophysiology ,121: 238-254.
Hammack, C., Ogden, S., Madden, J., Medina, A., Xu, C., Phillips, E., Son, Y., Cone, A., Giovinazzi, S., Didier, R., Gilbert, D., Song, H., Ming, G., Wen, Z., Brinton, M., Gunjan, A.& Tang, H. (2019). Zika virus induces DNA damage response in human neural progenitors that enhances viral replication. Journal of Virology ,93: e00638-19.
Paik, J., Giovinazzi, S., & Gunjan, A.(2016). Coupling of DNA replication and histone synthesis. Book chapter in Initiation of DNA replication . Springer.
Liang, D., Burkhart, S., Kabbaj, M-H., & Gunjan, A. (2012). Histone dosage regulates DNA damage sensitivity in a checkpoint independent manner via the homologous recombination pathway. Nucleic Acids Research , 40: 9604-9620.
Singh, R., Gonzalez, M., Kabbaj, M-H., & Gunjan, A. (2012). Novel E3 ubiquitin ligases that regulate histone protein levels in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. PLOS One , 7: e36295.
Hollis, F., Duclot, F., Gunjan, A., & Kabbaj, M. (2011). Individual differences in the effect of social defeat on anhedonia and histone acetylation in the rat hippocampus. Hormones & Behavior , 59: 331-7.
Singh, R. K., & Gunjan, A. (2011). Histone tyrosine phosphorylation comes of age. Epigenetics , 6: 153-60.
Hollis, F., Wang, H., Dietz, D., Gunjan, A., & Kabbaj, M. (2010). The effects of repeated social defeat on long-term depressive-like behavior and short-term histone modifications in the hippocampus in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Psychopharmacology(Berl) , 211: 69-77.
Gunjan, A., & Singh, R. K. (2010). Epigenetic therapy: targeting histones and their modifications in human disease. Future Medicinal Chemistry , 2: 543-8.
Singh, R. K., Liang, D., Gajjalaiahvari, U. R., Kabbaj, M. H., Paik, J., & Gunjan, A.(2010). Excess histone levels mediate cytotoxicity via multiple mechanisms. Cell Cycle , 9: 4236-44.
Morillo-Huesca. M., Muñoz-Centeno, M.C., Singh, R.K., Reddy, G.U., Oreal, V., Liang, D., Maya, D., Gunjan, A., Géli, V., and Chávez, S. (2010). Accumulation of transcription-evicted histones induces a CLN3-dependent cell cycle delay in G1. PLOS Genetics , 6: e1000964.
Singh, R.K., Kabbaj, M.M., Paik, J., and Gunjan, A.(2009). Histone levels are regulated by phosphorylation and ubiquitylation dependent proteolysis. Nature Cell Biology , 11: 925-33.
Singh, R.K., Paik, J., and Gunjan, A.(2009). Generation and management of excess histones during the cell cycle. Frontiers in Bioscience , 14: 3145-58.
Gunjan, A., Paik J., and Verreault, A. (2006). The emergence of regulated histone proteolysis. Current Opinion in Genetics and Development . 16: 112-118.
Gunjan, A.,Paik, J. and Verreault, A. (2005). Regulation of histone synthesis and nucleosome assembly. Biochimie , 87: 625-635.
Gunjan, A.,and Verreault, A. (2003). A Rad53 kinase-dependent surveillance mechanism that regulates histone protein levels in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Cell , 115: 537-549.
Gunjan, A.,and Brown, D. T. (2001). Modulation of core histone acetylation by linker histone stoichiometry in vivo. Journal of Biological Chemistry , 276(5): 3635-3640.
Misteli, T., Gunjan, A.,Hock, R., Bustin, M., and Brown, D. T. (2000). Dynamic binding of histone H1 to chromatin in living cells. Nature , 408: 877-881.
Gunjan, A.,and Brown, D. T. (1999). Overproduction of H1 histone variants in vivo increases basal and hormone-induced activity of the mouse mammary tumor virus promoter. Nucleic Acids Research , 27(16): 3355-3363.
Gunjan, A.,Alexander, B. T., Sittman, D. B., and Brown, D. T. (1999). Effects of H1 histone variant overexpression on chromatin structure. Journal of Biological Chemistry , 274(53): 37950-37956.
Brown, D. T., Gunjan, A.,Alexander, B. T., and Sittman, D. B. (1997). Differential effect of H1 variant overproduction on gene expression is due to differences in the central globular domain. Nucleic Acids Research , 25(24): 5003-5009.
Dr. Gunjan is a research scientist and a medical educator. He is involved in teaching various graduate level courses at the medical school that draw upon his expertise in biochemistry, genetics, cell & molecular biology, as well as cancer biology. He serves as the director of the Integrated Clinical Science course that delivers much of the basic sciences curriculum for first year Physician Assistant students. He also serves as the co-course director for the Professional and Career Development for the Biomedical Sciences course that trains graduate students in how to seek employment opportunities in a variety of career paths after graduating with their Ph.D. degrees. In research, Dr. Gunjan is currently leveraging his over three decades of research experience in the field of chromatin structure and function, and over two decades in DNA repair and genome stability to develop therapies for hard-to-treat human health conditions. Scholars at all academic levels, including high school students, perform basic research using yeast, cultured patient derived human cells and organoids, fruit flies and mice in his laboratory to generate data that is then used to develop and test novel treatments for fatal childhood brain tumors and difficult to treat adult cancers in pre-clinical mouse models before translating the most promising therapies to the clinic to benefit human patients. Additionally, in recent years, Dr. Gunjan has been developing new therapies using new combinations of pre-existing drugs for fibrotic diseases, such as non-cancerous skin tumors called keloids, and lung fibrosis. Based on his research, Dr. Gunjan has multiple clinically relevant patent applications that can potentially be developed into effective therapies for several of these difficult to treat diseases.
After finishing college in India, Dr. Gunjan moved to the United States to obtain his Ph.D. degree in biochemistry at the University of Mississippi Medical Center where he specialized in the study of chromatin structure and function using cultured mammalian cells. He then moved to London, England, to carry out his post-doctoral research work at Cancer Research UK where he gained expertise in the field of DNA damage and repair using the budding yeast as a genetic model system. He joined the faculty of the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the Florida State University College of Medicine as an Assistant Professor in March 2005. He was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in August 2013.
Dr. Gunjan’s first major scientific contribution stemmed from his Ph.D. research and included the first ever live cell microscopy-based measurements of the mobility of histone proteins that package our DNA and were published in Nature . This research showed that contrary to popular belief, histone H1 did not stay bound tightly to DNA for long but cycled on and off DNA every few minutes, thereby allowing opportunities for the sequence information in the DNA to be read by vital cellular processes, such as transcription.
Dr. Gunjan’s post-doctoral work demonstrated that histone proteins, which were believed to be stable for many months to many years, can have very short half-lives of ~30 minutes when not bound to DNA, with major ramifications for genome stability. These findings were published in Cell , and were awarded the Kirsten-Hardiman Redon Prize , and led to him being listed as one of the 12 finalists for the European Cell Signaler Award in 2004.
After moving to Florida State University (FSU) to pursue his independent research career, Dr. Gunjan tackled the question of how histones were regulated at the protein level, which had remained unresolved for over half a century. His laboratory determined the entire pathway and the major factors involved in the posttranslational regulation of histone proteins in a phosphorylation and ubiquitylation dependent manner. This work was published in Nature Cell Biology and was selected for the Faculty of 1000 .
After attaining tenure at FSU, Dr. Gunjan switched to performing clinically relevant translational research that will help patients within the foreseeable future. He started studying fatal childhood brain cancers associated with mutations in histone H3. After over a decade of painstaking work, his laboratory is now testing very promising targeted therapeutics primarily using repurposed drugs for these and other types of cancers using mouse models. He is also developing therapies for difficult-to-treat fibrotic skin tumors called keloids. His laboratory has already developed a therapeutic strategy involving a single low dose of skin-deep radiation that blocks keloid recurrence after surgery and this study was published in the Journal of American Academy of Dermatology . He is now expanding his research to seek therapies for additional fibrotic diseases such as lung fibrosis. Dr. Gunjan’s recent research focus has resulted in multiple patent applications .
Dr. Gunjan is also passionate about mentoring students at different academic levels in performing research in my lab. By the summer of 2026, he had mentored 28 high school students, 44 undergraduates, 10 medical students, 8 Ph.D. students and 3 postdoctoral fellows in his lab, all of whom are engaged in science related professions or pursuing advanced degrees in science. He was one of the finalists for the Community Engaged Teaching Award at Florida State University for the year 2025. Dr. Gunjan has served on 70 Ph.D. thesis committees (32 as the "university" or “external” representative), 4 master’s thesis and 11 bachelor’s thesis committees. Additionally, he serves as a course director for 2 graduate courses, and lectures in 3 other graduate courses. Finally, Dr. Gunjan’s service to the scientific community includes peer-reviewing for over two dozen scientific journals and 8 national and international funding agencies.
1991 – 1994 B.Sc. Nizam College, Hyderabad, India. Triple major – Genetics, Chemistry and Zoology
1994 – 1999 Ph.D. Department of Biochemistry, University of Mississippi Medical Center, USA
2000 – 2004 Post-doctoral Fellow, Cancer Research UK, United Kingdom
Departmental service
1.) Departmental Graduate Program Committee (GPC; 2006 – 2010; 2018 - present)
2.) Departmental Equipment Committee (2006 – 2010; 2013 – present; Chair 2024 - present)
3.) Mentoring Committee for Junior Faculty (2019 – present; serves on committees of 2 junior faculty)
4.) Departmental Faculty Development Committee (2019 – 2020)
5.) Departmental Faculty Recruitment Committee (2006 – 2010; 2018 - 2019)
6.) Departmental Seminar Committee (Spring 2007; 2013 – 2014)
7.) Departmental Space Committee (2010 – 2012)
8.) Departmental Executive Committee (2007 – 2009)
9.) Departmental Promotion and Tenure Committee (2006 – 2009)
10.) Search Committee for the Rodger’s chair (2006 – 2009)
11.) Departmental Graduate Admissions Committee (2006 - 2007)
12.) Departmental Graduate Student Recruitment Committee (2006 - 2007)
College of Medicine service
1.) College of Medicine Medical Student Admissions Committee (2006 – 2009; 2013 - present)
2.) Faculty Advisor for medical students (2006 – present; advises 4-6 students per year)
3.) Faculty Council Executive Committee (FCEC; 2024 - present)
4.) College of Medicine Summer Research Fellowship (SRF) Committee (2016 – present)
5.) Interviewer for applicants for the Physician Assistant program (2017–2018)
6.) Biomedical Sciences Chair Search Committee (2008 – 2009)
7.) Appeals committee to evaluate the decisions of the College of Medicine Student Evaluation & Promotion Committee (2008)
Florida State University service
1.) Reviewer for FSU CRC grants (2024 – present)
2.) FSU mock study section for grant writing (2023 - present)
3.) FSU Faculty Senate (2020 - 2024)
4.) Faculty Senate Standing Committee on Sustainability (2020-2023)
5.) Postdoctoral Travel Grant Review Panel (2016 - 2020)
Community service
1.) Mentors 2-3 rising twelfth graders from all over Florida in his lab most summers through the FSU Young Scholars Program (YSP; https://ysp.osta.fsu.edu/)
2.) Mentors 2-4 local high school students in his lab each year, especially during the summer
3.) Reviews manuscripts for over two dozen scientific journals including the Nature family of journals
4.) Reviews grants for eight national and international funding agencies, including NIH, NSF, and DoD.
Nominated to Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, USA, 1996.
National Dean’s List student, USA, 1996-1997.
Awarded the Dean's Award for the Most Outstanding Ph.D. Student, University of Mississippi Medical Center, USA, May 2000.
Awarded the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (UK) post-doctoral fellowship (March 2000 - March 2003).
First Indian citizen to be awarded the prestigious European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) long-term post-doctoral fellowship (January 2001 - December 2002).
Awarded the Cancer Research UK post-doctoral fellowship (January 2003 - March 2005).
Awarded the 2004 Kirsten-Hardiman Redon Prize for his paper in Cell (Vol.115, pages 537-549) which "shows outstanding research novelty and contributes to advancing our knowledge of the causes and treatment of cancer".
Ranked among the top 12 candidates for the 2004 European Cell Signaler of the Year Award.
Awarded the prestigious 5-year David Phillips Career Development Fellowship from BBSRC, UK, which he had to turn down due to his move to Florida State University (June 2004-2009).
Received the award for Outstanding Junior Faculty Researcher 2009-2010, Florida State University College of Medicine.
Finalist for the Community Engaged Teaching Award at Florida State University, 2025.
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyRadiation Research Society
TEACHING IN GRADUATE COURSES: Bioregulation; Introduction to Biomedical Sciences Research; Special Topics in Biomedical Sciences; Professional and Career Development for the Biomedical Sciences (Co-Course Director)
TEACHING IN PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT PROGRAM: Integrated Clinical Science (Course Director)
Over the past decade, Dr. Gunjan’s research has pivoted from carrying out basic research to pre-clinical and translational research aimed at developing and testing therapies for hard-to-treat human diseases primarily using novel combinations of repurposed approved drugs. Much of our recent work is unpublished as we are actively seeking patents for our translational findings (please see published patent details at https://patents.justia.com/inventor/akash-gunjan ). One of our main interests right now is to explore how histone variants and epigenetic modifications contribute to DNA repair and cancer. We are studying how specific histone mutations result in childhood tumors such as pediatric high-grade gliomas (pHGG) and to test potential therapeutic strategies for such tumors in a mouse xenograft model ( https://med.fsu.edu/iprd/pediatric-high-grade-glioma ). We are also working on developing therapeutics for breast, ovarian, prostate, and pancreatic cancers that are Homologous Recombination Deficient (HRD). Additionally, we are also studying the roles of frequent mutations in N-Methyl D-Aspartate (NMDA) receptor subunits (that are believed to be found mainly in the brain) in skin cancer called melanomas. Apart from developing cancer therapeutics, we are doing collaborative work with engineers ( https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40827470/ ) and clinicians to develop better therapeutic strategies such as superficial radiation for non-cancerous skin tumors called keloids using patient samples ( https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32540415/ ) and applying machine learning to clinical datasets ( https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.05.25326913v1 ). Additionally, we are performing large scale genomic sequencing studies on these samples to understand the molecular basis of keloids and their response to therapy. More recently, we have expanded our expertise in treating fibrotic keloids to develop therapies for additional fibrotic diseases such as lung fibrosis. We use budding yeast, fruit flies, cultured mammalian cells and organoids, as well as mice as model systems to study aspects of chromatin, epigenetics, DNA repair, and cancer biology. We employ biochemical, cell and molecular biological, computational, genetic and genomic tools in our research and push the boundaries of what can be done with cutting edge live cell microscopy ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgqo_2zGo7k ) and high-end mass spectrometry.
Zamani, N., Tirgan M.H., and Gunjan, A. Are we using too much Triamcinolone Acetonide for intralesional keloid therapy? Correlation between in vitro and in vivo data. Journal of American Academy of Dermatology. UNDER REVISION
*Zamani, N., *Akbari, P., Zamani, M., Rodriguez, C.A., Tirgan M.H., and Gunjan, A. Leveraging machine learning and clinical data to predict response to intralesional corticosteroids in keloid patients. Journal of American Academy of Dermatology. UNDER REVISION. ( Medrxiv: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.05.25326913 ) *Equal contribution.
*Phillips, E., *Menz, S.L., *Giovinazzi, S., Hagemeyer, C., Kanga, K.J.W., Zamani, N., Muti, S., Singh, R.K., Canzani, D., Kabbaj, Marie-Helene M., Davidson, M.W., and Gunjan, A.Histone variant H3.3 plays an evolutionarily conserved role in DNA repair that can be targeted for cancer therapy. The EMBO Journal. UNDER REVISON. *Equal contribution.
Boykin, J., Zamani, N., *Gunjan, A.,& *Chung, H. (2025). Multifunctional bio-inspired biomedical adhesive featuring instant adhesion for topical drug delivery. Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 3: 11032-11045. * Co-corresponding authors.
Beesley, S., Gunjan, A., and Kumar, S.S. (2023). Visualizing the triheteromeric N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor subunit composition . Frontiers in Synaptic Neuroscience, 15: 1156777.
Phillips, E. O. N., & Gunjan, A.(2022). Histone variants: The unsung guardians of the genome. DNA Repair , 112: 103301.
*Phillips, E., *Giovinazzi, S., *Menz, S. L., Son, Y., and Gunjan, A.(2021). Preparation of cell extracts by cryogrinding in an automated freezer mill. Journal of Visual Experiments , 167. *Equal contribution.
*Son, Y., *Phillips, E., Magrini, K., Rosenberg, L., Stefanovic, B.,Wolfe, C. Shaath, T., Om, A., Cohen, G., and Gunjan, A.(2020). Treatment of keloids with a single dose of low energy superficial X-ray radiation to prevent recurrence after surgical excision: an in vitro and in vivo study. Journal of American Academy of Dermatology , 83: 1304-1314. *Equal contribution.
Beesley, S., Sullenberger, T., Pilli, J., Abbasi, S., Gunjan, A.and Kumar, S.S. (2019). Co-localization of distinct NMDA receptor subtypes at excitatory synapses in the entorhinal cortex. Journal of Neurophysiology ,121: 238-254.
Hammack, C., Ogden, S., Madden, J., Medina, A., Xu, C., Phillips, E., Son, Y., Cone, A., Giovinazzi, S., Didier, R., Gilbert, D., Song, H., Ming, G., Wen, Z., Brinton, M., Gunjan, A.& Tang, H. (2019). Zika virus induces DNA damage response in human neural progenitors that enhances viral replication. Journal of Virology ,93: e00638-19.
Paik, J., Giovinazzi, S., & Gunjan, A.(2016). Coupling of DNA replication and histone synthesis. Book chapter in Initiation of DNA replication . Springer.
Liang, D., Burkhart, S., Kabbaj, M-H., & Gunjan, A. (2012). Histone dosage regulates DNA damage sensitivity in a checkpoint independent manner via the homologous recombination pathway. Nucleic Acids Research , 40: 9604-9620.
Singh, R., Gonzalez, M., Kabbaj, M-H., & Gunjan, A. (2012). Novel E3 ubiquitin ligases that regulate histone protein levels in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. PLOS One , 7: e36295.
Hollis, F., Duclot, F., Gunjan, A., & Kabbaj, M. (2011). Individual differences in the effect of social defeat on anhedonia and histone acetylation in the rat hippocampus. Hormones & Behavior , 59: 331-7.
Singh, R. K., & Gunjan, A. (2011). Histone tyrosine phosphorylation comes of age. Epigenetics , 6: 153-60.
Hollis, F., Wang, H., Dietz, D., Gunjan, A., & Kabbaj, M. (2010). The effects of repeated social defeat on long-term depressive-like behavior and short-term histone modifications in the hippocampus in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Psychopharmacology(Berl) , 211: 69-77.
Gunjan, A., & Singh, R. K. (2010). Epigenetic therapy: targeting histones and their modifications in human disease. Future Medicinal Chemistry , 2: 543-8.
Singh, R. K., Liang, D., Gajjalaiahvari, U. R., Kabbaj, M. H., Paik, J., & Gunjan, A.(2010). Excess histone levels mediate cytotoxicity via multiple mechanisms. Cell Cycle , 9: 4236-44.
Morillo-Huesca. M., Muñoz-Centeno, M.C., Singh, R.K., Reddy, G.U., Oreal, V., Liang, D., Maya, D., Gunjan, A., Géli, V., and Chávez, S. (2010). Accumulation of transcription-evicted histones induces a CLN3-dependent cell cycle delay in G1. PLOS Genetics , 6: e1000964.
Singh, R.K., Kabbaj, M.M., Paik, J., and Gunjan, A.(2009). Histone levels are regulated by phosphorylation and ubiquitylation dependent proteolysis. Nature Cell Biology , 11: 925-33.
Singh, R.K., Paik, J., and Gunjan, A.(2009). Generation and management of excess histones during the cell cycle. Frontiers in Bioscience , 14: 3145-58.
Gunjan, A., Paik J., and Verreault, A. (2006). The emergence of regulated histone proteolysis. Current Opinion in Genetics and Development . 16: 112-118.
Gunjan, A.,Paik, J. and Verreault, A. (2005). Regulation of histone synthesis and nucleosome assembly. Biochimie , 87: 625-635.
Gunjan, A.,and Verreault, A. (2003). A Rad53 kinase-dependent surveillance mechanism that regulates histone protein levels in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Cell , 115: 537-549.
Gunjan, A.,and Brown, D. T. (2001). Modulation of core histone acetylation by linker histone stoichiometry in vivo. Journal of Biological Chemistry , 276(5): 3635-3640.
Misteli, T., Gunjan, A.,Hock, R., Bustin, M., and Brown, D. T. (2000). Dynamic binding of histone H1 to chromatin in living cells. Nature , 408: 877-881.
Gunjan, A.,and Brown, D. T. (1999). Overproduction of H1 histone variants in vivo increases basal and hormone-induced activity of the mouse mammary tumor virus promoter. Nucleic Acids Research , 27(16): 3355-3363.
Gunjan, A.,Alexander, B. T., Sittman, D. B., and Brown, D. T. (1999). Effects of H1 histone variant overexpression on chromatin structure. Journal of Biological Chemistry , 274(53): 37950-37956.
Brown, D. T., Gunjan, A.,Alexander, B. T., and Sittman, D. B. (1997). Differential effect of H1 variant overproduction on gene expression is due to differences in the central globular domain. Nucleic Acids Research , 25(24): 5003-5009.