Bala Koritala

PhD-level translational scientist with expertise in identifying molecular targets for cardiovascular disease, cancer, and sleep disorders. Secured and managed over $1.5M in research funding, led NIH-supported projects, and authored 13 first-author publications. Demonstrated excellence in program and project management, including oversight of cross-functional teams, regulatory compliance, and strategic collaboration with clinicians and stakeholders. Skilled in mentoring, managing budgets, and align scientific innovation with organizational goals. Passionate about working in fast-paced environment to translate research into clinically actionable insights.

Core Competencies: 
- Investigating disease mechanisms to identify molecular targets for diagnostics and therapeutics.
- Designing and executing research studies involving human subjects, animal models, and cell culture systems.
- Managing regulatory documentation and ensuring compliance with institutional and government standards.
- Proficient in large-scale data interpretation, analysis, and visualization.
- Leading grant writing, scientific publications, and project management aligning with funders and collaborators.
- Supervising direct reports and cross functional teams, with International and multi-cultural work experience.
- Mentoring junior researchers and engaging stakeholders across research and developmental efforts.

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center |Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Cardiovascular Research

Principal Investigator (recent title: Assistant Professor) | From July 2022

- Leading research on the mechanisms underlying the high prevalence (up to 80%) of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in patients with cardiovascular disease, focusing on spatial level regulatory elements in cardiac tissue.

- Developed and applied epigenetic and transcriptomic approaches to identify biomarkers for evaluating OSA disease progression in both pediatric and adult populations through longitudinal studies involving healthy subjects and patients with and without Continuous Positive Air Pressure (CPAP) treatment.

- Investigating the role of mitochondrial function and cardiac energy metabolism in OSA pathophysiology.

- Exploring the effects of intermittent fasting on energy metabolism and its potential therapeutic implications.

- Responsible for direct supervision, mentoring, lab operations, and cross-functional collaboration.

Project Manager (Research Associate) | From June 2020

- Established preclinical models of OSA to study its impact on cardiovascular health.

- Investigated the impact of OSA on genes and proteins of multi-organ circadian rhythms and associated real-time physiological parameters (sleep-wake cycles, heart rate, blood pressure, etc).

- Identified molecular targets contributing to circadian clock dysregulation in OSA mouse model.

- Managed mentoring, lab operations, and collaborative research efforts.

Washington State University | Cancer Research

Project Manager (Post-Doc) | From November 2018

- Assessed time-of-day differences in cisplatin efficacy using both in vitro and in vivo breast cancer models.

- Explored underlying mechanisms contributing to time-of-day variation in cisplatin treatment effectiveness.

- Discovered DNA damage associated with circadian disruption as a key pathway linking night shift work to increased cancer risk, based on a controlled simulated shift-work study in humans.

- Evaluated the impact of circadian clock restoration during shift work on tumor progression.

Rutgers University | CircadianClock Mechanism Research

Project Manager (Post-Doc) | From August 2016

- Studied how habitat defines the reproductive fitness in Neurospora.

- PhD in Biomedical Sciences (magna cum laude) | Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Germany (2016)

- MSc in Biology | Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Germany (2014)

- MTech in Biotechnology | Amity University, India (2011)

- BTech in Industrial Biotechnology | Bharath University, India (2009)