My research focuses on understanding how metabolic stress disrupts pancreatic function and contributes to diabetes and alcohol-associated diseases. My work centers on the complex crosstalk between pancreatic exocrine and endocrine compartments and how its dysregulation influences β-cell dysfunction, diabetes of the exocrine pancreas (DEP), and type 2 diabetes. By integrating in vitro cell models, in vivo animal studies, human tissues, and advanced spatial transcriptomic approaches, our laboratory aims to define the signaling pathways and cellular interactions that govern exocrine–endocrine communication.

A second major area of my research investigates the metabolic basis of alcohol-induced injury in the pancreas, liver, and lungs. Our work has demonstrated that non-oxidative ethanol metabolites—particularly fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs)—are key drivers of ER and oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and suppression of AMPKα signaling, thereby linking alcohol metabolism to chronic pancreatitis, alcohol-associated liver disease, and chronic lung disease.

Additionally, I have a longstanding interest in metabolic and inflammatory pathways underlying type 2 diabetes and its vascular complications. My prior clinical and translational research includes identifying determinants of complex coronary artery disease in diabetes, developing a coronary severity score (MD-CASS), and studying the molecular basis of diabetic retinopathy.

Together, these research programs aim to uncover mechanistic pathways that can be targeted to prevent or treat metabolic, pancreatic, and alcohol-associated diseases.

Honors

• UTMB Early Faculty Research Award (EFRA), 2025
• Young Investigator Travel Grant, American Pancreatic Association (APA), 2025
• Robert L. Harrison Award, Department of Pathology, UTMB, 2019
• Dr. TMA Pai Gold Medal for Excellence in Research, Manipal University, India, 2018
• Travel Grant, World Congress on Insulin Resistance, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Diseases, 2016
• Merit-cum-means Research Scholarship, Manipal University, 2014–15
• Travel Award, International Conference on Diabetic Biomarkers (ICDB), 2015

1. Srinivasan M and Kaphalia BS. Lipid Metabolic Changes and Mitochondrial Stress in Ethanol-Treated Alveolar Type II Epithelial Cells: Initial Events Leading to Alcoholic Chronic Lung Disease. Cells 2025; 14(22):1817.
2. Srinivasan MP, Kota S, Bhopale K, Caracheo A, Kaphalia L, Linares J, Romsdahl T, Russell W, Popov V, Boor P, Kaphalia B. Dysregulated hepatic alcohol metabolism: a key factor involved in the pathogenesis of alcohol-associated liver disease. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2025 Feb 5.
3. Kaphalia L, Srinivasan MP, Kaphalia BS, Calhoun WJ. Alcohol and its metabolites dysregulate cellular bioenergetics and induce oxidative and endoplasmic reticulum stress in primary human bronchial epithelial cells. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2024 Apr;48(4):596-611.
4. Boor PJ, Srinivasan M, Stevenson HL, Gong B, Nyong E, Dong J, Popov V, Sherman M, Bopp N, Felicella MM, Zhao B, Buja M, Nickels J, Aronson JF. Necrotizing plasma cell-rich aortitis and sudden cardiac death: Late sequelae of COVID-19? Cardiovasc Pathol. 2023 Sep-Oct; 66:107558.
5. Srinivasan MP, Bhopale KK, Caracheo AA, Kaphalia L, Popov VL, Boor PJ, Kaphalia BS. Chronic ethanol induced dysregulated pancreatic lipid phenotype and injury in hepatic alcohol dehydrogenase deficient deer mouse model. Life Sci. 2023 Jun 1; 322:121670.
6. Srinivasan MP, Bhopale KK, Caracheo AA, Kaphalia L, Gong B, Popov VL, Boor PJ, Shakeel Ansari GA, Kaphalia BS. Exposure to binge ethanol and fatty acid ethyl esters exacerbates chronic ethanol-induced pancreatic injury in hepatic alcohol dehydrogenase deficient deer mice. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2022 Mar 1;322(3): G327-G345.
7. Srinivasan MP, Bhopale KK, Caracheo AA, Kaphalia L, Loganathan G, Balamurugan AN, Rastellini C, Kaphalia BS. Differential cytotoxicity, ER/oxidative stress, dysregulated AMPKα signaling, and mitochondrial stress by ethanol and its metabolites in human pancreatic acinar cells. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2021 May;45(5):961-978.  
8. Srinivasan MP, Bhopale KK, Caracheo AA, Amer SM, Khan S, Kaphalia L, Loganathan G, Balamurugan AN, Kaphalia BS. Activation of AMP-activated protein kinase attenuates ethanol-induced ER/oxidative stress and lipid phenotype in human pancreatic acinar cells. Biochem Pharmacol. 2020 Oct; 180:114174.  
9. Robinson R, Srinivasan M, Shanmugam A, Ward A, Ganapathy V, Bloom J, Sharma A, Sharma S. Interleukin-6 Trans-Signaling Inhibition Prevents Oxidative Stress in a Mouse Model of Early Diabetic Retinopathy. Redox Biol. 2020 Jul; 34:101574.  
10. Srinivasan MP, Bhopale KK, Amer SM, Wan J, Kaphalia L, Ansari GS, Kaphalia BS. Linking Dysregulated AMPK signaling and ER stress in Ethanol induced Liver injury in Hepatic Alcohol dehydrogenase deficient deer mice. Biomolecules.2019 Oct 2;9(10):560.  
11. Srinivasan MP, Shawky NM, Kaphalia BS, Thangaraju M, Segar L.  Alcohol-induced ketonemia is associated with lowering of blood glucose, downregulation of gluconeogenic genes, and depletion of hepatic glycogen in type 2 diabetic db/db mice. Biochem Pharmacol. 2019 Feb; 160:46-61.   
12. Srinivasan M, Kamath PK, Bhat N, Pai N, Bhat R, Shah T, Manjrekar P, Mahabala C. Basal hyperinsulinemia beyond a threshold predicts major adverse cardiac events at 1 year after coronary angiogram in type 2 diabetes mellitus: a retrospective cohort study. Diabetol Metab Syndr. 2017 May 19; 9:38.     
13. Srinivasan MP, Kamath PK, Bhat NM, Pai ND, Bhat RU, Manjrekar PA, Mahabala C. The Manipal Diabetes Coronary Artery Severity Score. Diabetes Metab Syndr. 2017 Nov;11 Suppl 1: S33-S37.  
14. Srinivasan MP, Kamath P, Bhat NM, Pai ND, Mahabala C. Risk factors for Complex and Severe Coronary Artery Disease in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. J Cardiovasc Disease Res. 2017; 8(1): 19-23.   
15. Srinivasan MP, Kamath PK, Bhat MN, Pai ND, Manjrekar PA, Mahabala C. Factors associated with no apparent coronary artery disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus for more than 10 years of duration: a case control study. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2015 Oct 31; 14 (1):146.  

Complete list full publication can be found at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1LCh52uq88eQxy/bibliography/public/