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Avik Roy

  • Member, Milwaukee Institute for Drug Discovery (MIDD)

Avik Roy received his PhD in Neuroscience from Rush University Medical Center, Chicago. His primary research interest is identifying molecular targets and designing small molecular drugs against neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. He has demonstrated that the loss of function in the bpoz2 gene plays a crucial role in the development of Lewy body pathology causing the death of DA neurons. His pioneering work in deciphering the role of an ankyrin repeat-rich protein BPOZ2 in the amelioration of alpha-synuclein pathology was awarded Rapid Response Innovation Award by the Michael J Fox Foundation of Parkinson's disease. His quest to decode the biological role of the bpoz2 gene eventually achieved a new dimension when a 9-year-old boy with a homozygous point mutation in the bpoz2 gene was reported to have abnormal gait with severe movement deficit.  He is working on this clinical case with multiple funding from different sources. As an assistant professor at Rush Medical College, Dr. Roy published more than 65 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Nature Chemical Biology, Cell Metabolism, Cell Reports, PNAS, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Science Signaling, Journal of Neuroscience, Journal of Immunology, and Journal of Biological Chemistry. He is the recipient of numerous national and international awards including the JE Trufant Excellence in Research Award conferred by Rush Graduate College, the Young Investigator Educational Enhancement Award presented by American Society for Neurochemistry, RRIA award by MJF Foundation, Certificate of Merit by Indian Institute of Chemical Biology and many more.  In order to pursue his long-term research interest to develop cutting-edge molecular therapies against various metabolic disorders, he left Rush 2020 to form Sotira Scientific, a BioTech company with three other partners. His discovery of KeptideTM, an intranasal therapeutic for COVID-19, received a fast-track non-provisional patent (#11,078,242)in 2021. He has also secured a patent ( # 10,617,664) for three memory-inducing drugs that can improve the hippocampal function of memory and learning.   Since 2021, he is serving as chief scientific officer at Simmaron Research INC, where he is continuing his scientific journey to decode the molecular mechanism of chronic neuroinflammatory diseases. He is also an associate editor in the Journal of Alzheimer's disease for the year 2022.

Research Interest: Metabolic impairments in neurons, microglia, astroglia, and neural stem cells contribute to the pathogenesis of neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases. Intracellular abnormalities such as defective mitochondrial metabolism, impairment of autophagy, misfolding of α-synuclein, aggregation of amyloid-β, and deficit in neuronal plasticity directly regulate the loss of neuronal function resulting in neuromotor and neurocognitive impairments. Roylab is interested to apply an array of biochemical strategies to understand the molecular mechanism of neurocognitive disorders.  Recently, our research identified Atg13, a regulator of early autophagy vesicle formation, that becomes metabolically defective in ME/CFS patients that directly contributes to the ROS and RNS production in microglial cells.

Publications (10 selected in last 5 years; 2021-2026):

  1. Gottschalk G, Peterson D, Knox K, Maynard M, Whelan RJ and Roy A. Elevated ATG13 in serum of patients with ME/CFS stimulates oxidative stress response in microglial cells via activation of receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE). Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience 2022:103731.
  2. Ruan BT, Bulbule S, Gile B, Reyes A, Chheda B, Bateman L, Bell J, Yellman B, Grach SL, Berner J,  Peterson DL, Kaufman D, Roy A, Gottschalk CG et al: Low-dose rapamycin alleviates clinical symptoms of fatigue and PEM in ME/CFS patients via improvement of autophagy: a pilot study. Journal of Translational Medicine 2025, 23(1):1148. (
  3. Roy A, Kundu M, Chakrabarti S, Patel D, et al. Oleamide, a sleep-inducing supplement, upregulates doublecortin in hippocampal progenitor cells via PPARα. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 2021.
  4. Toriola MA, Timlin E, Bulbule S, Reyes A, Adedeji OM, Gottschalk CG, Barua A, Arnold LA, Roy A: Genetic depletion of the early autophagy protein ATG13 impairs mitochondrial energy metabolism, augments oxidative stress, induces the polarization of macrophages to the M1 inflammatory mode, and compromises myelin integrity in skeletal muscle. Inflammation Research 2026, 75(1):26. DOI:
  5. Bulbule S, Gottschalk CG, Drosen ME, Peterson D, Arnold LA, Roy A. Dysregulation of tetrahydrobiopterin metabolism in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome by pentose phosphate pathway. Journal of Central Nervous System Disease. 2024;16.
  6. Drosen ME, Bulbule S, Gottschalk G, Peterson D, Allen LA, Arnold LA, Roy A: Inactivation of ATG13 stimulates chronic demyelinating pathologies in muscle-serving nerves and spinal cord. Immunologic Research 2025, 73(1):27.
  7. Rahman, A.F.M.T.; Bulbule, S.; Belayet, J.B.; Benko, A.; Gottschalk, C.G.; Frick, D.N.; Arnold, L.A.; Hossain, M.M.; Roy, A. JRM-28, a Novel HDAC2 Inhibitor, Upregulates Plasticity-Associated Proteins in Hippocampal Neurons and Enhances Morphological Plasticity via Activation of CREB: Implications for Alzheimer’s Disease. Cells 2024, 13, 1964.
  8. Gottschalk CG, Peterson D, Armstrong J, Knox K, Roy A: Potential molecular mechanisms of chronic fatigue in long haul COVID and other viral diseases. Infectious Agents and Cancer 2023, 18(1):7.
  9. Rahman, A.F.M.T.; Benko, A.; Bulbule, S.; Gottschalk, C.G.; Arnold, L.A.; Roy, A. Tetrahydrobiopterin in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Friend or Foe? Biomolecules 2025, 15, 102.
  10. Gottschalk, C.G.; Whelan, R.; Peterson, D.; Roy, A. Detection of Elevated Level of Tetrahydrobiopterin in Serum Samples of ME/CFS Patients with Orthostatic Intolerance: A Pilot Study. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24, 8713.

Project and Funding:

  1. Pilot observation clinical trial on Rapamycin in ME/CFS: Funded by grants from Hesse foundation and VK ventures; SolveME catalyst awards.
  2. Understanding the role of autophagy in ME/CFS funded by NIH (R21NS129021); Ramsay award from SolveME.
  3. SIMMPYRA 1 &2 on TNBC tumors. SIMMPYRA 1&2 are small molecule inhibitors of STAT3 with potential therapeutic benefits in TNBC and ovarian cancer.
  4. SIMMPYRA3 on Alzheimer’s disease.

Total Publications: 65

PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=avik+roy

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com.tr/citations?user=cLPRR20AAAAJ&hl=it ( h-index: 29 and i10 index: 41)