Division Faculty

Contact Information:
Email:  sbhattachary@uthsc.edu
Office:  (901) 448-5676

Clinical/Research Interest:
Molecular pathogenesis and therapeutic strategies in membrane-mediated cellular degeneration in cardiovascular/neuromuscular diseases, with a special emphasis on excessive intracellular calcium accumulation, mitochondrial pathophysiology, cellular energetics and cell death. Regulation of calcium dyshomeostasis and oxidative stress by calcium channel blockers, calciotropic hormones and antioxidants.  Application of atomic spectroscopy in medicine.  Macro- and micronutrients in congestive heart failure, metabolic disorders, morbid obesity, organ transplantation, thermal injuries and trauma.  Trace mineral toxicities and deficiencies in human health and diseases.

Joined UT: 1979

Biographical Information:
Dr. Bhattacharya is a tenured Professor of Surgery, holds joint appointments as a Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular), Professor of Neurology (Neuromuscular), and Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and has been the Founding Director of the Chemistry and Nutrient Data Output (CAN-DO) Laboratory since 1982, and Director of the Surgical Research Laboratories (1982-2003), at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC).  Dr. Bhattacharya provided extensive patient care service to 16 local, regional and national hospitals and clinical laboratories (1982-2003) as an exclusive consultant in special chemistry (trace minerals/vitamins) and surgical pathology.  He is also an Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Memphis, and served as an Adjunct Professor of Surgery (1988-98) at New York Medical College, Associate Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology (1988-97) at the UTHSC, and R & D Chemist in Bombay (1970-74).  Dr. Bhattacharya received his B.Sc. Honors degree in chemistry from the University of Calcutta, M.S. in physical chemistry from Murray State University, A.M. in nuclear chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis, and Ph.D. in bioanalytical chemistry from the University of Memphis, with a focus on atomic spectroscopy.  He was a recipient of Indian National Merit Scholarship, and National Research Service Award from the NIH for his work in neuromuscular diseases.  Dr. Bhattacharya spent sabbaticals as a Visiting Scholar in Neonatology at Washington University School of Medicine (1976-77), Visiting Scholar in Cardiothoracic Surgery at Yale in 1985, Visiting Professor of Physiology at UCLA in 1986, Visiting Professor of Pediatric Surgery at the Johns Hopkins in 1987, and Visiting Professor of Microbiology at the Bose Institute, Calcutta, in 1999 and 2001.  Dr. Bhattacharya served as a member on the Board of Directors and later as a Commissioner on the National Certification Commission in Chemistry & Chemical Engineering (1983-95), and on the Board of Directors and later as the Vice-President and President of the National Registry in Clinical Chemistry (1991-2000), both are credentialing bodies in the USA and Canada; and on the Pathology-A Study Section (1993-96) at the NIH.  Since 1979, Dr. Bhattacharya’s research has been supported by numerous funding agencies, including NIH, MDA, AHA and Varian Techtron Ltd, Melbourne, Australia.  He has trained and mentored more than 70 graduate and medical students, pre- and post-doctoral research fellows, and junior faculty members; many of his trainees have distinguished themselves being outstanding physicians/scientists and by attaining full professorship.

Recent Publications:

1. Thomas M, Vidal A, Bhattacharya SK, Ahokas RA, Sun Y, Gerling IC, Weber KT. Zinc dyshomeostasis in rats with aldosteronism. Response to spironolactone. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2007;293:H2361-H2366.
2. Newman KP, Bhattacharya SK, Munir A, Davis RC, Soberman JE, Ramanathan KB. Macro- and micronutrients in patients with congestive heart failure, particularly African-Americans. Vasc Health Risk Manag. 2007;3:743-7.
3. Newman KP, Neal MT, Roberts M, Goodwin KD, Hatcher EA, Bhattacharya SK. The importance of lost minerals in heart failure. Cardiovasc Hematol Agents Med Chem. 2007;5:295-9.
4. Arroyo M, Laguardia SP, Bhattacharya SK, Nelson MD, Johnson PL, Carbone LD, Newman KP, Weber KT. Micronutrients in African-Americans with decompensated and compensated heart failure. Transl Res. 2006;148:301-8.
5. Laguardia SP, Dockery BK, Bhattacharya SK, Nelson MD, Carbone LD, Weber KT. Secondary hyperparathyroidism and hypovitaminosis D in African-Americans with decompensated heart failure. Am J Med Sci. 2006;332:112-8.
6. Goodwin KD, Ahokas RA, Bhattacharya SK, Sun Y, Gerling IC, Weber KT. Preventing oxidative stress in rats with aldosteronism by calcitriol and dietary calcium and magnesium supplements. Am J Med Sci. 2006;332:73-8.
7. Myers LK, Bhattacharya SD, Herring PA, Xing Z, Goorha S, Smith RA, Bhattacharya SK, Carbone L, Faccio R, Kang AH, Ballou LR. The isozyme-specific effects of cyclooxygenase-deficiency on bone in mice. Bone. 2006;39:1048-52.
8. Bhattacharya SK, Ahokas RA, Carbone LD, Newman KP, Gerling IC, Sun Y, Weber KT. Macro- and micronutrients in African-Americans with heart failure. Heart Fail Rev. 2006;11:45-55.
9. Sun Y, Ahokas RA, Bhattacharya SK, Gerling IC, Carbone LD, Weber KT. Oxidative stress in aldosteronism. Cardiovasc Res. 2006;71:300-9.
10. Vidal A, Sun Y, Bhattacharya SK, Ahokas RA, Gerling IC, Weber KT. Calcium paradox of aldosteronism and the role of the parathyroid glands. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2006;290:H286-H294.
11. Runyan AL, Sun Y, Bhattacharya SK, Ahokas RA, Chhokar VS, Gerling IC, Weber KT. Responses in extracellular and intracellular calcium and magnesium in aldosteronism. J Lab Clin Med. 2005;146:76-84.
12. Chhokar VS, Sun Y, Bhattacharya SK, Ahokas RA, Myers LK, Xing Z, Smith RA, Gerling IC, Weber KT. Hyperparathyroidism and the calcium paradox of aldosteronism. Circulation. 2005;111:871-8.
13. Law PH, Sun Y, Bhattacharya SK, Chhokar VS, Weber KT. Diuretics and bone loss in rats with aldosteronism. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2005;46:142-6.
14. Runyan AL, Chhokar VS, Sun Y, Bhattacharya SK, Runyan JW, Weber KT. Bone loss in rats with aldosteronism. Am J Med Sci. 2005;330:1-7.
15. Ahokas RA, Sun Y, Bhattacharya SK, Gerling IC, Weber KT. Aldosteronism and a proinflammatory vascular phenotype: role of Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺ and H₂O₂ in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Circulation. 2005;111:51-7.
16. Chhokar VS, Sun Y, Bhattacharya SK, Ahokas RA, Myers LK, Xing Z, Smith RA, Gerling IC, Weber KT. Loss of bone minerals and strength in rats with aldosteronism. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2004;287:H2023-H2026.
17. Gerling IC, Sun Y, Ahokas RA, Wodi LA, Bhattacharya SK, Warrington KJ, Postlethwaite AE, Weber KT. Aldosteronism: an immunostimulatory state precedes proinflammatory/fibrogenic cardiac phenotype. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2003;285:H813-H821.
18. Ahokas RA, Warrington KJ, Gerling IC, Sun Y, Wodi LA, Herring PA, Lu L, Bhattacharya SK, Postlethwaite AE, Weber KT. Aldosteronism and peripheral blood mononuclear cell activation: a neuroendocrine-immune interface. Circ Res. 2003;93:e124-e35.
19. Kuo TH, Zhu L, Golden K, Marsh JD, Bhattacharya SK, Liu BF. Altered Ca²⁺ homeostasis and impaired mitochondrial function in cardiomyopathy. Mol Cell Biochem. 2002;238:119-27.
20. Bhattacharya S, Ghosh S, Johnson PL, Bhattacharya SK, Majumdar S. Immunomodulatory role of interleukin-10 in Visceral Leishmaniasis: Defective activation of protein kinase C-mediated signal transduction events. Infect Immun. 2001;69:1499-1507.

Recent/Relevant Book Chapters:

1. Weber KT, Sun Y, Bhattacharya SK, Ahokas RA, Gerling IC. Remodeling of the cardiac interstitium in heart failure. In: Greenberg BH, Hosenpud JD, eds. Congestive Heart Failure. 3rd ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, 2006:147-166.
2. Lu Y, Beheshti B, Zhang J, Squire JA, Yang XJj, Gu W, Bhattacharya SK, Jennings LK. Characterization of a novel apoptosis-inducing gene in prostate cancer. In: Lucas JN, ed. Progress in Prostate Cancer Research. New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2004;23-50.
3. Bhattacharya SK, Crawford AJ, Thakar JH, Johnson PL. Pathogenetic roles of intracellular calcium and magnesium in membrane-mediated progressive muscle degeneration in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. In: Fiskum G, ed. Proceedings of the VII International Symposium on Cell Calcium Metabolism 1987 - Physiology, Biochemistry, Pharmacology & Clinical Implications. New York: Plenum Press, 1989:513-525.
4. Palmieri GMA, Hinton AB, Bertorini TE, Bhattacharya SK, Nutting DF. Muscle calcium accumulation in muscular dystrophy. In: Bader H, Gietzen K, Rosenthal J, Rudel R, Wolf HU, eds. Intracellular Calcium Regulation. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1989:335-347.