Dr Pranesh Padmanabhan
NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow
School of Biomedical Sciences
Researcher biography
Dr Pranesh Padmanabhan, an NHMRC Emerging Leadership (Level 2) Fellow and Senior Research Fellow, heads the Molecular and Systems Medicine Group at the School of Biomedical Sciences and Queensland Brain Institute. His group combines experimental, mathematical modelling and quantitative imaging approaches to uncover pathomechanisms of several infectious and neurodegenerative diseases, aiming to develop and optimise treatments.
Dr. Padmanabhan began his research career as a chemical engineering PhD student at the Indian Institute of Science. He focused on hepatitis C virus infection, innate immunity, and treatment optimisation through mathematical modelling. He received the Kuloor Memorial Medal for the best PhD thesis. In 2015, he secured a competitive three-year University of Queensland postdoctoral fellowship, joining the Queensland Brain Institute to integrate computational modelling and molecular imaging approaches and to address basic and translational neuroscience problems.
Throughout his career, Dr. Padmanabhan has secured over $2.6M in grant funding as the lead chief investigator and published in top-ranking journals, including Nature Computational Science, Nature Aging, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Nature Reviews Neurology, Nature Communications, PNAS, EMBO Journal, Journal of Cell Biology, Journal of Controlled Release, eLife, and PLoS Computational Biology.
Book Chapters
Joensuu, Merja, Martínez-Mármol, Ramon, Mollazade, Mahdie, Padmanabhan, Pranesh and Meunier, Frédéric A. (2020). Single-molecule imaging of recycling synaptic vesicles in live neurons. Single molecule microscopy in neurobiology. (pp. 81-114) edited by Nobuhiko Yamamoto and Yasushi Okada. New York, NY United States: Humana Press. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0532-5_5
Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Raja, Rubesh and Dixit, Narendra M. (2020). Bistability in virus–host interaction networks underlies the success of hepatitis C treatments. Phenotypic switching: implications in biology and medicine. (pp. 131-156) edited by Herbert Levine, Mohit Kumar Jolly, Prakash Kulkarni and Vidyanand Nanjundiah. London, United Kingdom: Academic Press. doi: 10.1016/b978-0-12-817996-3.00024-4
Padmanabhan, Pranesh and Dixit, Narendra M. (2016). Models of viral population dynamics. Quasispecies: from theory to experimental systems. (pp. 277-302) edited by Domingo, Esteban and Schuster, Peter. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/82_2015_458
Journal Articles
Lee, Jonathan L. F., Song, Jae, Amor, Rumelo, Bolton, Jonathon, Thompson, Andrew, Götz, Jürgen and Padmanabhan, Pranesh (2025). High-resolution imaging reveals a cascade of interconnected cellular bioeffects differentiating the long-term fates of sonoporated cells. Journal of Controlled Release, 385 113974, 1-15. doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2025.113974
Zhu, Tianyi, Tan, Jing Zhi Anson, Zhang, Lingrui, Huang, He, Das, Sooraj S., Cheng, Flora, Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Jones, Mathew J. K., Lee, Mihwa, Lee, Albert, Widagdo, Jocelyn and Anggono, Victor (2025). FTO suppresses DNA repair by inhibiting PARP1. Nature Communications, 16 (1) 2925, 2925. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-58309-0
Leinenga, Gerhard, Padmanabhan, Pranesh and Götz, Jürgen (2024). Improving cognition without clearing amyloid: effects of tau and ultrasound neuromodulation. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 100 (s1), S211-S222. doi: 10.3233/jad-240616
Cruz, Esteban, Nisbet, Rebecca M., Padmanabhan, Pranesh, van Waardenberg, Ashley J., Graham, Mark E, Nkajja, Godfrey, Tapaswi, Swara, Connor, Bradley J., Robinson, Phil and Götz, Jürgen (2024). Proteostasis as a fundamental principle of Tau immunotherapy. Brain, 148 (1), 168-184. doi: 10.1093/brain/awae254
Götz, Jürgen and Padmanabhan, Pranesh (2024). Ultrasound and antibodies — a potentially powerful combination for Alzheimer disease therapy. Nature Reviews Neurology, 20 (5), 257-258. doi: 10.1038/s41582-024-00943-1
Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Kneynsberg, Andrew, Cruz, Esteban, Briner, Adam and Götz, Jürgen (2024). Single-molecule imaging of Tau reveals how phosphorylation affects its movement and confinement in living cells. Molecular Brain, 17 (1) 7, 7. doi: 10.1186/s13041-024-01078-6
Chen, Liyu, Song, Jae, Richter-Stretton, Gina, Lee, Wendy, Padmanabhan, Pranesh and Götz, Jürgen (2024). Multimodal evaluation of blood-brain barrier opening in mice in response to low-intensity ultrasound and a claudin-5 binder. Nanotheranostics, 8 (4), 427-441. doi: 10.7150/ntno.95146
Aguado, Julio, Amarilla, Alberto A., Taherian Fard, Atefeh, Albornoz, Eduardo A., Tyshkovskiy, Alexander, Schwabenland, Marius, Chaggar, Harman K., Modhiran, Naphak, Gómez-Inclán, Cecilia, Javed, Ibrahim, Baradar, Alireza A., Liang, Benjamin, Peng, Lianli, Dharmaratne, Malindrie, Pietrogrande, Giovanni, Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Freney, Morgan E., Parry, Rhys, Sng, Julian D. J., Isaacs, Ariel, Khromykh, Alexander A., Valenzuela Nieto, Guillermo, Rojas-Fernandez, Alejandro, Davis, Thomas P., Prinz, Marco, Bengsch, Bertram, Gladyshev, Vadim N., Woodruff, Trent M., Mar, Jessica C. ... Wolvetang, Ernst J. (2023). Senolytic therapy alleviates physiological human brain aging and COVID-19 neuropathology. Nature Aging, 3 (12), 1561-1575. doi: 10.1038/s43587-023-00519-6
Padmanabhan, Pranesh and Dixit, Narendra M. (2023). Modelling how increased Cathepsin B/L and decreased TMPRSS2 usage for cell entry by the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant may affect the efficacy and synergy of TMPRSS2 and Cathepsin B/L inhibitors. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 572 111568, 111568. doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2023.111568
Padmanabhan, Pranesh and Götz, Jürgen (2023). Clinical relevance of animal models in aging-related dementia research. Nature Aging, 3 (5), 481-493. doi: 10.1038/s43587-023-00402-4
Chen, Liyu, Cruz, Esteban, Oikari, Lotta E., Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Song, Jae and Götz, Jürgen (2022). Opportunities and challenges in delivering biologics for Alzheimer's disease by low-intensity ultrasound. Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, 189 114517, 1-18. doi: 10.1016/j.addr.2022.114517
Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Kneynsberg, Andrew, Cruz, Esteban, Amor, Rumelo, Sibarita, Jean‐Baptiste and Götz, Jürgen (2022). Single‐molecule imaging reveals Tau trapping at nanometer‐sized dynamic hot spots near the plasma membrane that persists after microtubule perturbation and cholesterol depletion. The EMBO Journal, 41 (19) e111265, 1-16. doi: 10.15252/embj.2022111265
Balbi, Matilde, Blackmore, Daniel G., Padmanabhan, Pranesh and Götz, Jürgen (2022). Ultrasound-mediated bioeffects in senescent mice and Alzheimer’s mouse models. Brain Sciences, 12 (6) 775, 1-12. doi: 10.3390/brainsci12060775
Desikan, Rajat, Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Kierzek, Andrzej M. and van der Graaf, Piet H. (2022). Mechanistic models of COVID-19: insights into disease progression, vaccines, and therapeutics. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, 60 (1) 106606, 106606. doi: 10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2022.106606
Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Desikan, Rajat and Dixit, Narendra M. (2022). Modeling how antibody responses may determine the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines. Nature Computational Science, 2 (2), 123-131. doi: 10.1038/s43588-022-00198-0
Garg, Amar K., Mittal, Soumya, Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Desikan, Rajat and Dixit, Narendra M. (2021). Increased B cell selection stringency in germinal centers can explain improved COVID-19 vaccine efficacies with low dose prime or delayed boost. Frontiers in Immunology, 12 776933, 776933. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.776933
Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Kneynsberg, Andrew and Götz, Jürgen (2021). Super-resolution microscopy: a closer look at synaptic dysfunction in Alzheimer disease. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 22 (12), 723-740. doi: 10.1038/s41583-021-00531-y
Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Desikan, Rajat and Dixit, Narendra M. (2020). Targeting TMPRSS2 and Cathepsin B/L together may be synergistic against SARS-CoV-2 infection. PLoS Computational Biology, 16 (12) e1008461, e1008461. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008461
Gormal, Rachel S., Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Kasula, Ravikiran, Bademosi, Adekunle T., Coakley, Sean, Giacomotto, Jean, Blum, Ailisa, Joensuu, Merja, Wallis, Tristan P., Lo, Harriet P., Budnar, Srikanth, Rae, James, Ferguson, Charles, Bastiani, Michele, Thomas, Walter G., Pardon, Els, Steyaert, Jan, Yap, Alpha S., Goodhill, Geoffrey J., Hilliard, Massimo A., Parton, Robert G. and Meunier, Frédéric A. (2020). Modular transient nanoclustering of activated β2-adrenergic receptors revealed by single-molecule tracking of conformation-specific nanobodies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117 (48), 30476-30487. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2007443117
Wang, Tong, Li, Wei, Martin, Sally, Papadopulos, Andreas, Joensuu, Merja, Liu, Chunxia, Jiang, Anmin, Shamsollahi, Golnoosh, Amor, Rumelo, Lanoue, Vanessa, Padmanabhan, Pranesh and Meunier, Frédéric A. (2020). Radial contractility of actomyosin rings facilitates axonal trafficking and structural stability. Journal of Cell Biology, 219 (5) e201902001, 1-S7. doi: 10.1083/jcb.201902001
Desikan, Rajat, Padmanabhan, Pranesh and Ganapathy Ayappa, K. (2020). Opening of smaller toxin pores by lipid micelle formation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117 (10), 5107-5108. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1921467117
Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Martínez-Mármol, Ramón, Xia, Di, Götz, Jürgen and Meunier, Frédéric A. (2019). Frontotemporal dementia mutant Tau promotes aberrant Fyn nanoclustering in hippocampal dendritic spines. eLife, 8 e45040. doi: 10.7554/elife.45040
Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Bademosi, Adekunle T., Kasula, Ravikiran, Lauwers, Elsa, Verstreken, Patrik and Meunier, Frédéric A. (2019). Need for speed: Super-resolving the dynamic nanoclustering of syntaxin-1 at exocytic fusion sites. Neuropharmacology, 169 107554, 107554. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2019.02.036
Kasula, Ravikiran, Blum, Ailisa, Salla-Martret, Merce, Chai, Ye Jin, Jiang, Anmin, Wallis, Tristan P., Gormal, Rachel S., Brouillet, Julie Z., Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Weeratunga, Saroja K., Livingstone, Emma K., Mollazade, Mahdie, Joensuu, Merja, Martínez-Mármol, Ramón, Collins, Brett M. and Meunier, Frederic (2019). VAMP2 Binding to Munc18-1 Domain 3a Controls the Nanoscale Reorganization of the Plasma Membrane and Vesicle Interface During Vesicular Priming. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.3362260
Venugopal, Vishnu, Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Raja, Rubesh and Dixit, Narendra M (2018). Modelling how responsiveness to interferon improves interferon-free treatment of hepatitis C virus infection. PLoS Computational Biology, 14 (7) e1006335, e1006335. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006335
Padmanabhan, Pranesh and Goodhill, Geoffrey J. (2018). Axon growth regulation by a bistable molecular switch. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 285 (1877) 20172618, 20172618. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2017.2618
Joensuu, Merja, Martinez-Marmol, Ramon, Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Glass, Nick R., Durisic, Nela, Pelekanos, Matthew, Mollazade, Mahdie, Balistreri, Giuseppe, Amor, Rumelo, Cooper-White, Justin J., Goodhill, Geoffrey J. and Meunier, Frederic A. (2017). Visualizing endocytic recycling and trafficking in live neurons by subdiffractional tracking of internalized molecules. Nature Protocols, 12 (12), 2590-2622. doi: 10.1038/nprot.2017.116
Padmanabhan, Pranesh and Dixit, Narendra M. (2017). Inhibitors of hepatitis C virus entry may be potent ingredients of optimal drug combinations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114 (23), E4524-E4526. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1704531114
Bademosi, Adekunle T., Lauwers, Elsa, Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Odierna, Lorenzo, Chai, Ye Jin, Papadopulos, Andreas, Goodhill, Geoffrey J., Verstreken, Patrik, van Swinderen, Bruno and Meunier, Frédéric A (2017). Erratum: In vivo single-molecule imaging of syntaxin1A reveals polyphosphoinositide- and activity-dependent trapping in presynaptic nanoclusters. Nature Communications, 8 (1) 14492. doi: 10.1038/ncomms14492
Bademosi, Adekunle T., Lauwers, Elsa, Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Odierna, Lorenzo, Chai, Ye Jin, Papadopulos, Andreas, Goodhill, Geoffrey J., Verstreken, Patrik, Van Swinderen, Bruno and Meunier, Frederic A. (2016). In vivo single-molecule imaging of syntaxin1A reveals polyphosphoinositide- and activity-dependent trapping in presynaptic nanoclusters. Nature Communications, 7 (1) 13660, 13660. doi: 10.1038/ncomms13660
Joensuu, Merja, Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Durisic, Nela, Bademosi, Adekunle T. D., Cooper-Williams, Elizabeth, Morrow, Isabel C., Harper, Callista B., Jung, WooRam, Parton, Robert G., Goodhill, Geoffrey J., Papadopulos, Andreas and Meunier, Frederic A. (2016). Subdiffractional tracking of internalized molecules reveals heterogeneous motion states of synaptic vesicles. Journal of Cell Biology, 215 (2), 277-292. doi: 10.1083/jcb.201604001
Padmanabhan, P. and Dixit, N.M. (2015). Modeling Suggests a Mechanism of Synergy between Hepatitis C Virus Entry Inhibitors and Drugs of Other Classes. CPT: Pharmacometrics and Systems Pharmacology, 4 (8), 445-453. doi: 10.1002/psp4.12005
Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Garaigorta, Urtzi and Dixit, Narendra M. (2014). Emergent properties of the interferon-signalling network may underlie the success of hepatitis C treatment. Nature Communications, 5 (1) 3872, 1-9. doi: 10.1038/ncomms4872
Padmanabhan, Pranesh and Dixit, Narendra M. (2012). Viral kinetics suggests a reconciliation of the disparate observations of the modulation of claudin-1 expression on cells exposed to hepatitis C virus. PLoS One, 7 (4) e36107, e36107-e36107. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0036107
Padmanabhan, Pranesh and Dixit, Narendra M. (2011). Mathematical model of viral kinetics in vitro estimates the number of E2-CD81 complexes necessary for hepatitis C virus entry. PLoS Computational Biology, 7 (12) e1002307, e1002307-e1002307. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002307
Conference Papers
Sun, Jinda, Parker, Sandra, Lee, Jonathan, Gorman, Declan, Li, Xaria, Albornoz Balmaceda, Eduardo, Bellingham, Mark, Clark, Richard, Woodruff, Trent and Padmanabhan, Pranesh (2025). Live-cell single-molecule imaging of a new fluorescent C5a receptor antagonist reveals the heterogeneous spatiotemporal dynamics of C5aR1 at the plasma membrane. 30th International Complement Workshop 2025, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 14-19 September 2025. Munich, Germany: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.imbio.2025.152969
Joensuu, Merja, Blum, Ailisa, Mollazade, Mahdie, Lanoue, Vanessa, Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Small, Christopher, Mahrhold, Stefan, Krez, Nadja, Rummel, Andreas and Meunier, Frederic A. (2018). Super-resolving botulinum neurotoxin type A molecules: from surface landing to internalization in synaptic vesicles. TOXINS 2019: Basic Science and Clinical Aspects of Botulinum and Other Neurotoxins, Copenhagen, Denmark, 16-19 January 2019. Kidlington, Oxford, United Kingdom: Pergamon Press. doi: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2018.11.122